The fabulous Jenn of Monkey Butt Junction talks about the myths of cloth diapering:
Cloth Diapering Myths
by: Jenn of Monkey Butt Junction
Hi, I’m Jenn, the author of Monkey Butt Junction, and mom to my amazing six month old son, Jack. Motherhood is the best thing to ever happen to me, and even though I work full time I love to find time to write about my passions: green living, gardening, and cloth diapering. Thank you, Vanessa, for the opportunity to write this guest blog about one of my favorite topics – myths about cloth diapering.
Facts are a parent’s best friend when it comes to making the important decisions for your children and your family. Unfortunately, much of the “common knowledge” about cloth diapering is outdated, misleading and simply not true. Before dismissing cloth diapering as an old fashioned, unsanitary or tedious approach to diapering, let’s dispel some myths about cloth.
Myth: Cloth diapering requires complex pinning and ugly rubber pants. Cloth diapers have come a long way, baby. Many cloth diapers, such as Cotton Babies’ BumGenius, utilitze simple closures like snaps or velcro. Waterproof outer shells – often in cute colors or patterns – eliminate the need for rubber pants. The diaper changes that took our parents many long, sometimes frustrating minutes can be accomplished now with the same speed as disposables thanks to these improvements. Those who like the look of a neatly pinned diaper have modern options too. Prefold cloth diapers with waterproof covers, such as Bummis, are a popular diapering choice. Today’s cloth diapers are all about options – these are not your parents’ cloth diapers.
Myth: Cloth diapers are a lot of work. Cloth diapers don’t wash themselves (although if you use a diaper service, they nearly do), but they aren’t nearly the chore that many parents expect them to be. Used cloth diapers are placed in a dry or wet bin until wash day. While wash routines are a matter of preference, a common approach is to run a cold rinse cycle, followed by a warm/cold wash using a cloth diaper friendly detergent. The diapers are then either line dried or tumbled in the dryer. That sounds a lot less tedious than wrestling with an overstuffed, heavy, cumbersome Diaper Genie on trash day.
Myth: Cloth diapers are expensive. There is certainly some sticker shock involved with cloth diapering, especially when building a new stash of diapers from scratch. You can buy enough disposable diapers for your baby’s first week of life for about $15 – $20, but that same $20 will probably get you just one cloth diaper. The key lies in the fact that those disposables will cost you that $15 every week from birth until toilet training. Over the long haul, there is a clear savings with cloth diapers even when the costs of cleaning the diapers are factored in. If money is a concern, no one says you have to buy all of your cloth diapers before the baby arrives. A good cloth diaper stash can be built over time, say one new diaper a week, until a full stash has been established. That’s also a great way to experiment with different types of cloth diapers to find out what works best for your family.
Myth: Cloth diapers are unsanitary and “gross.” There will always be a little “ick” factor involved with any kind of diapering, cloth or disposable. There’s just no getting around the fact that, for the first part of your child’s life, you will be handling a lot of poo and pee. But cloth diapers are no less sanitary than disposables. In fact, parents who cloth diaper report far less diaper “blowouts” than parents who use disposables.
If that isn’t convincing, then consider these “gross” factors about disposables, and see which seems less sanitary:
- 3.4 million tons of waste from disposable diapers are dumped into U.S. landfills annually.
- There is a huge number of chemicals that are used in disposable diapers, and those chemicals have effects, known and unknown, on precious baby skin.
- Rashes, sores and boils (boils, really!) have been reported on sweet baby skin, thanks to chemicals in disposable diapers.
- Denials by the diapers’ manufacturer have abounded, despite the reports from countless consumers, that disposables can cause the above rashes, sores and boils.
Those statistics are far more “gross” than any myth about cloth diapers. Simply put, properly cleaned cloth diapers are sanitary, they do not smell and they are not germy. The are a safe, clean choice for baby, and for the planet. That’s anything but gross.
Cloth diapering does require commitments in both time and money. It isn’t a decision that should be made lightly. However, like all decisions you make for your family, it is a decision that should be made based upon facts, not fiction.
