Saturday
Oct082011
Disposable Diaper Sales are Down: What is the Real Reason?
Saturday, October 8, 2011
The Wall Street Journal printed an article last week about how sales of disposable diapers are decreasing and sales of diaper rash ointment are increasing.
In the article, they raise a number of different issues, but ultimately blame the economy and suggest that parents are having to make tough financial decisions, one of which is leaving their baby in a wet or dirty diaper for a longer period of time in order to cut back on costs.
The good news is that I don't think the issue is as cut and dry as the Wall Street Journal makes it sound. Certainly, the economy could be one of the issues that is impacting diaper sales (and I'll discuss that below), but I do think there could be other contributing factors too. One of these is raised briefly in the WSJ article and then quickly dismissed, whereas the others didn't even seem to be on their radar at all.
So, what are the possible reasons for a decrease in sales of disposable diapers?
If you are planning to have a baby yourself, then saving up for diapers and putting money aside is one good option. You can also register for cloth diapers instead of registering for all the baby products people think they need and then never use. In our case, we purchased all the cloth diapers that we needed before our babies were born, so as long as we could afford to buy the small amount of laundry detergent that they required, we were fine. It was tough making ends meet while I was on maternity leave (especially the first time), so it was really nice to not have to spend money on diapers.
If you have friends who are planning to have babies, you can tell them how much money they can save by cloth diapering. You can also pass along your cloth diapers to them when you are finished with them, thereby making it that much cheaper for them to cloth diaper.
If you want to give to families in need, you can certainly contribute to programs that provide disposable diapers to low income families or take disposable diapers to your local food bank. Although I am a huge supporter of cloth diapers, I do recognize that it is challenging for families that have to lug the diapers to a laundromat or that have their children in a daycare that doesn't accept cloth diapers.When I donate disposable diapers, I lean toward the green brands to at least minimize the impact they are having on the environment as much as possible.
However, in addition to or instead of donating disposable diapers, you can also donate used or new cloth diapers. There are a number of organizations, ranging from food banks to cloth diapering non-profits that are reaching out to low income families, teaching them about cloth diapering, and helping them access cloth diapers. As my friend Kim from Dirty Diaper Laundry once wrote, "give a family a pack of disposables, diaper a baby for a week. Give a family a cloth diaper kit, diaper a baby(s) for a lifetime." Ultimately, it would be less expensive in the long run to buy a family a washer, dryer and enough cloth diapers for their baby than to provide them with a fully supply of disposable diapers. Plus they would be able to use the washer and dryer for other purposes too and use the diapers for more than one baby.
Ultimately, like with infant feeding and so many other parenting issues, there are a variety of different factors that go into the choices that parents make. I would love to see a situation whereby parents are educated about the options for diapering (benefits and drawbacks of different diapering methods) and are supported by society in the choices that they make. I do think that should include making it possible for low income parents to keep their babies bums dry, whether in cloth diapers or disposable diapers. I do support long-term solutions to help make cloth diapering accessible to more families (training, washers and dryers, diapering kits) as well as short-term stop gaps (i.e. donations of disposables) to help families using disposables to get through tough times.
The volume of diapers sold in the U.S. slipped 1% in the four weeks ended Sept. 4 from a year earlier, extending a string of similar or steeper declines stretching back to August 2010, according to Consumer Edge Research, whose retail-sales tracking doesn't include Costco Wholesale Corp. or Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Dollar sales fell nearly 3%, indicating parents are both cutting back and trading down to cheaper private labels.
...
Meantime, sales of diaper-rash ointment have increased 8% over the past year, according to market-research firm SymphonyIRI. Analysts and pediatricians say the higher sales likely reflect either less frequent changes or a shift to lower quality diapers.
In the article, they raise a number of different issues, but ultimately blame the economy and suggest that parents are having to make tough financial decisions, one of which is leaving their baby in a wet or dirty diaper for a longer period of time in order to cut back on costs.
Why might sales of disposable diapers be decreasing?
The good news is that I don't think the issue is as cut and dry as the Wall Street Journal makes it sound. Certainly, the economy could be one of the issues that is impacting diaper sales (and I'll discuss that below), but I do think there could be other contributing factors too. One of these is raised briefly in the WSJ article and then quickly dismissed, whereas the others didn't even seem to be on their radar at all.
So, what are the possible reasons for a decrease in sales of disposable diapers?
- Parents Cannot Afford to Buy Diapers: Certainly, as WSJ suggested, one reason for the decline in sales of disposable diapers could be that people cannot afford them. Unfortunately, low income parents do not appear to be able to access diapers through programs like WIC in the United States in the same way that they can access food. Some families have apparently been trying to re-use disposable diapers and there has been an increase in cases of diaper rash in low income areas (according to doctors interviewed by the WSJ).
- Parents are Buying Diapers in Bulk at Discount Retailers: Interestingly, the data in the WSJ article doesn't include data from sales at Costco and WalMart. So there may not be a decrease in diaper sales at all. Parents may just be buying them in bulk at discount retailers in order to save money.
- Parents May Be Giving Cloth Diapers a Try: There are no good statistics on the use of cloth diapers, although most reports on the issue put the use of cloth diapers in North America at between 5% and 10%. It wouldn't take a significant increase in the use of cloth diapers to have an impact on the sales of disposable diapers. It is entirely possible that the 1% decrease in the sales of disposable diapers comes from increased use of cloth diapers, both new and used. While there is no concrete data on increases in cloth diaper sales in the past year, there has certainly been an increase in online searches for cloth diapers (source: Google Trends).
- Parents May Be Trying Elimination Communication: There is also a trend toward increased use of elimination communication, whereby parents skip diapers altogether and start pottying their babies right from birth. While this hasn't caught on as much as cloth diapering, it may be having a small impact on diaper sales.
- Parents are Having Fewer Babies: The WSJ article mentions that the US birth rate has declined. That may also be contributing to a decrease in infant diaper sales (although the increasing aging population is probably contributing to an increase in adult diapers, so it should balance out).
- More Absorbent Diapers = Fewer Diaper Changes: Another factor mentioned in the WSJ article is that more absorbent diapers may mean that parents do not feel the need to change diapers as often as they did before.
What can you do?
If you are planning to have a baby yourself, then saving up for diapers and putting money aside is one good option. You can also register for cloth diapers instead of registering for all the baby products people think they need and then never use. In our case, we purchased all the cloth diapers that we needed before our babies were born, so as long as we could afford to buy the small amount of laundry detergent that they required, we were fine. It was tough making ends meet while I was on maternity leave (especially the first time), so it was really nice to not have to spend money on diapers.If you have friends who are planning to have babies, you can tell them how much money they can save by cloth diapering. You can also pass along your cloth diapers to them when you are finished with them, thereby making it that much cheaper for them to cloth diaper.
If you want to give to families in need, you can certainly contribute to programs that provide disposable diapers to low income families or take disposable diapers to your local food bank. Although I am a huge supporter of cloth diapers, I do recognize that it is challenging for families that have to lug the diapers to a laundromat or that have their children in a daycare that doesn't accept cloth diapers.When I donate disposable diapers, I lean toward the green brands to at least minimize the impact they are having on the environment as much as possible.
However, in addition to or instead of donating disposable diapers, you can also donate used or new cloth diapers. There are a number of organizations, ranging from food banks to cloth diapering non-profits that are reaching out to low income families, teaching them about cloth diapering, and helping them access cloth diapers. As my friend Kim from Dirty Diaper Laundry once wrote, "give a family a pack of disposables, diaper a baby for a week. Give a family a cloth diaper kit, diaper a baby(s) for a lifetime." Ultimately, it would be less expensive in the long run to buy a family a washer, dryer and enough cloth diapers for their baby than to provide them with a fully supply of disposable diapers. Plus they would be able to use the washer and dryer for other purposes too and use the diapers for more than one baby.
The Bottom Line
Ultimately, like with infant feeding and so many other parenting issues, there are a variety of different factors that go into the choices that parents make. I would love to see a situation whereby parents are educated about the options for diapering (benefits and drawbacks of different diapering methods) and are supported by society in the choices that they make. I do think that should include making it possible for low income parents to keep their babies bums dry, whether in cloth diapers or disposable diapers. I do support long-term solutions to help make cloth diapering accessible to more families (training, washers and dryers, diapering kits) as well as short-term stop gaps (i.e. donations of disposables) to help families using disposables to get through tough times.
Reader Comments (52)
Did they track sales from companies like Amazon.com? I know lots of mothers that now get their diapers from there.
It seems like most people I know are either cloth diapering (some only part time) or buying in bulk. It seems like most people start out with the brand names, but move to Costco brand or other bulk brands to save money. Honestly, I find both Costco and Presidents Choice just as good as any brand name, I actually feel a little ripped off when I need to pick up a quick pack of brand name at the grocery store.
It can be "challenging" to have to lug diapers to the laundromat?!
I'd put it more as "insane"!
When we lived in a third floor walkup apartment with a laundromat down the block, doing laundry was a huge ordeal. All the added laundry of a new baby, plus needing to watch the baby while doing it, made it nearly impossible. There is no way on earth that we would have considered cloth diapering.
And it wasn't about not being able to afford a washing machine; we lived in a rental apartment that was not equipped for a washing machine and did not allow one.
I imagine that many low-income families live in circumstances similar to how we lived back then, and cloth diapering just isn't a realistic solution for them.
This. I cloth diaper and love it but I suspect not having any distance, stairs, or elevators between my washing machine and the rest of my home helps a lot.
Cheap rental housing rarely comes with a well equipped and well maintained laundry room. Women who use a laundry room need to be able to use more than one machine at once to makes cloth diapers not be a time sink, and in my experience this doesn't happen in many cheap rentals.
I would have loved to try cloth diapering, I never knew much about it until I spent time on TLB facebook page. Unfortunately I live about five blocks away from the laundromat and my baby was born in the summer. Add to that the fact that it doesn't have air conditioning and the baby got heat rash everytime we tried to do laundry, so now hubby has to do it at night when I'm home to watch her. Our lease states that we are not allowed to install a washing machine otherwise I would have because its definitely cheaper than paying 7.50 for each use of a machine and we've lived here 3 years.
I didn't consider cloth for very long, we share the washer with 3 other apartments, down 2 flights of stairs, $2.50 to wash and dry a load. I wish it had been a more realistic possibility for us.
I enjoyed this information about using cloth diapers...and found the discussion about why the sales of disposable have dipped recently.
It is sad that diapers are a scarce commodity for some here in the states. Social resources here have diminished greatly in the past several years and programs that provide diapers are one of the sufferers.
There are however programs like "every little bottom" sponsored by Huggies and various charities that focus on the needs of babies and children.
Thank you for this post expanding on the WSJ's article...enough diapers cloth or disposable are a definite problem that I would say most people do not know or hear about.
We, and many of our friends, haven't contributed to disposable diaper sales at all. We have 2 kids in diapers, but we have used cloth diapers since birth for both so we've never bought a single disposable. I know that wouldn't work for everyone, but thankfully it's worked for us! :-)
Full disclosure, we used 'sposies (flirted with cloth but never committed), but I wonder if the increase in ointment sales is due to rashes caused by 'sposies (regardless of how often they are changed.) Didn't one company pull their "new and improved" diaper from the market recently due to chemical burns babies were getting? :(
We used PC brand the first time around because they were actually better on our baby than the brand names (which leaked). We then ended up going with mostly brand names for the second mainly because getting the less expensive brands meant going out of our way to the stores that carried them (fortunately we didn't have the leakage issue).
But I suspect cloth must have an impact -- when I was having my first (only 7 years ago) no one I talked to was considering or had used cloth (besides maybe my mother!), but now I find I know lots of people that use them, and even among people that don't use them there is a much greater awareness and acceptance that it is a good option.
Economics could also just convince people to speed up toilet training. (Which has been trending to a later and later start over the past few decades).
Flats are nearly indestructable, simple to handwash, dry quickly, and can cost about $1 each. If daycares would be willing/allowed to use them, parents would be willing to wash them in the tub at night and hang them up with a fan blowing on them (or even toss them in the dryer for a few minutes if there's on-site laundry), nobody would have to reuse disposables.
I was dissapointed with all of the recent articles about the decrease in disposable diaper sales because, as you noticed, most didn't even give cloth diapers a mention. It was the same when the NY1 article about reusing disposables was written.
I get that using cloth diapers is difficult in MANY situations, but supplementing with flats and handwashing/laundering them to save money that can then be put towards food, or using them full time is possible.
I had over 200 people take a challenge to use flats (the 1 layer diapers our grandmothers used, usually made of birdseye cotton, and cheap at around 1.00 each) and handwash them for 7 days. The "Flats and Handwashing Challenge" was meant to prove that no baby should be left in a dirty, unsanitary diaper.
http://dirtydiaperlaundry.com/flats-and-handwashing-challenge-survey-results/
Many challengers used the "Flour Sack Towels" from Target, which cost 4.00 a pack for 4. Throw in upcylced or inexpensive covers and you could easily diaper a baby for less than 60.00.
It doesn't help uninformed parents when major disposable brands tout that their diapers won't cut into the fun babies are having since they last for 12 hours!
I do believe that cloth diapers are contributing to the decline in disposable sales, but as you pointed out, there are more factors at play.
What I would like to see, in an ideal world, would be a diaper service that is supported by the government that would provide and wash diapers for those families who need it most and do not have a washer/dryer.
For those that do have washing access, the non profit you mentioned is a great way to help. I send most of my review diapers to Giving Diapers, Giving Hope. I encourage others to donate their used cloth diapers when they are through with them as well.
Thanks for this article, wonderful job as always!
I think that you have a much better grasp of some of the issues preventing cloth diaper use for many women than most of those that propose them. I thank you for this. So many in the attachment parenting community are extremely privileged and judge those who lack those privileges rather harshly for failing to meet their standards. In terms of it's effect on children, clearly it is much more important for less privileged families to be putting their efforts into breastfeeding, smoke-free households and co-sleeping than into fighting to use cloth. I appreciate the fact that you recognise for many families, cloth simply isn't feasible. In fact, there are many programs in place to help families access disposables at very low cost. The Social Development Councils in many towns in Ontario offer low cost diapers, baby care items and baby foods. And yes, the effect of Wal-Mart on the cost of diapers cannot be underestimated. Their sales, if you watch the flyers closely and get to the store fast enough, before they (ALWAYS) sell out, allow you to diaper a child for as little as 20 dollars a month.
But the thing that I think you have missed in your analysis, whether considering the monetary cost or less tangible ones, is the value of a woman's time. Even with laundry facilities on hand, which as you correctly point out, is a privilege few lower economic class women have, the amount of a woman's time required to wash, re-wash, wash again, strip, rinse, dry or hang-dry fold, put away and then use, because cloth diapers require MANY more changes than sposies, is something that MUST be considered. Single mothers with no help from spouses or family, especially those with several children, may have to give up sleep entirely to add the extra several hours each day to her workload that cloth diapers call for. And that is without considering either hand-washing or use of a laundromat. And none of this is pleasant work. Nor is it going to make that big of a difference to any individual child's welfare. There may be a case to be made for cloth diapers being more ecologically sound (although, given the extremely negative impact of conventional cotton agriculture and processing, plus the impact of washing, it might not be the case. Only a full life cycle analysis can say)but in terms of it's effect on a woman and her family, making the case for cloth is a pretty hard sell.
I think it actually makes much more sense to put our efforts into spreading the word about elimination communication than into trying to convince more women to go the cloth route rather than sposies. EC offers many benefits over diapering of any kind, cloth or disposable. (I learned about it too late to use it for my children, but my eldest daughter loves the idea and plans to use it for her children. i personally tried cloth first, and after severe rashes forced me to switch to sposies, embraced the VAST decrease in workload)
If I had been told about EC 20 years ago with my first child, or 10 years ago with my second, I think it would have actually been the REAL solution. With EC, cloth even becomes feasible because the majority of the time, no diaper is used so that the quantity decreases significantly. EC also seems to fit organically into the building of a breastfeeding relationship. It seems to offer the child th benefit of a better relationship with their own body and the empowerment of gaining control early and avoidig the problems of late training. In the long run I also think EC represents a net savings of time for a Mother over any form of diapering and then late training.
If we truly want to offer a more viable alternative to women of lesser means, I think EC is the only way to go. Cloth diapering as an alternative to sposies is as feasible and reasonable as suggesting exclusive pumping of breastmilk as the altenative to formula feeding. More work, less benefit and a GIANT pain in the ass. Poor women aren't stupid, there is a reason very few of us choose cloth!
I'm not sure that I would chose to cloth diaper if I didn't have a washer and dryer in house (but I might). But, there are people who do. Just because you wouldn't choose it doesn't mean others wouldn't. I know a single mom who hand washes her son's diapers nightly.
Thanks for the summary. I liked these points in particular:
"Ultimately, it would be less expensive in the long run to buy a family a washer, dryer and enough cloth diapers for their baby than to provide them with a fully supply of disposable diapers. "
" I would love to see a situation whereby parents are educated about the options for diapering (benefits and drawbacks of different diapering methods) and are supported by society in the choices that they make."
The Real Diaper Association is all about education and support - - including support by changing systems to allow for easier cloth diapering. Your piece points out that we're on the right track!
Anyone know about whether diaper rashes occur more or less frequently with cloth diapers vs. Disposable diaper?
As a Cloth Diapering mom without a washing machine and dryer in the home, I personally hand wash every morning & line dry. It's cheaper than going to a laundry mat, relatively easy & quick, & from first hand experience I prefer washing them by hand instead of using a laundry mat because of how many rinses you need to do--most laundry mats don't have the option of adding another rinse or a pre-wash.
Dan - The studies are split on this (though many of the studies are Procter & Gamble studies so possibly questionable). That said, there was an interesting inquiry done here last year: http://www.zrecommends.com/detail/final-results-of-our-pampers-dry-max-testing/
We buy diapers at Wal-Mart; they have more diapers per box than other stores but still price match, so you can get amazing deals.
The biggest barrier to us using cloth diapers is concerns over cleanliness. Are there any studies showing whether cloth diapers actually get clean? The only person I've known who used them IRL stopped because they quickly became stained and the parents were concerned that they weren't sanitary. We didn't have a washing machine when my son was born so it wasn't a realistic option for us, but if I saw something convincing about the cleanliness, now that we have a washer, I'd definitely consider it seriously for next baby!
Could you describe your handwashing technique? I never thought it would be described as "Quick & Easy" and it would be a life-saver if my machine ever breaks!
Well, I can only talk for myself and not with studies but in my experience, yes, cloth diapers do get stained - but do stains necessarily mean "unclean"? I don't think so. My diapers don't smell out of washer, or even really when the baby wets/dirties them. My baby also gets less diaper rash with cloth than disposables.
This was a few months ago, so the ruitene has changed since then a bit, but here's the post on my blog about the process: http://hippiemamakat.blogspot.com/2011/06/find-out-friday-handwashing-cloth.html
I think I spend about 25 min total on it, most of the time being hand-wringing everything in between rinses. It feels like it takes longer just because I let it soak a bit in between so the soap rises to the top and is easier to get out (entire process being about 2 hours, plus drying time). If you do it every day it doesn't take nearly as long. And once a week I DO make a trip to the laundry mat just because I need a day off. haha Feel free to ask any other questions via comments on my blog! :)
I agree, it is the same for me. Stains don't equal dirty. It's like spilling tomato sauce on a shirt, you wash it, and sometimes a stain is there, but it is still clean. As far as rashes go, I know it varies by baby, but while my daughter has never had a rash in her cloth, she does get red in disposables, the few times we've used them (traveling, or when she's in the church nursery)
I have been cloth diapering our daughter since birth, and it can be a pain to lug the diapers to the shared laundry room in our complex, but it has saved us so much money! My husband and I share diaper laundry duties, and since we did them from the start, we treated it as the norm and disposables as the exception when needed, which helps. I've suggested cloth to many moms, but I understand it isn't for everyone, especially if laundry facilities aren't easily accessible and there is a premium on time. I guess the way I feel about it for my family is, I don't wear disposable clothes or underwear, so my little girl doesn't either. Circumstances have allowed us to be able to use cloth, since we don't mind going downstairs and across the complex to wash them when needed.
I would love to think that EC is making a dent on disposable sales, and I'd like to think that cloth diapers ARE making a dent, albeit a small one. But I suspect that the bigger reason is the Walmart reason - if places like Costco and Walmart aren't factored in, then the picture isn't complete. So many people online say they're buying from those places.
It would be great if earlier potty training was a reason too, but I think that's unlikely - the average age for potty training is going up, up, up. I practice part-time EC with my son, and he's about 50% potty "trained" at 19 months. I'm pretty pleased with that - but my mother laughs and points out that my brother and I were out of nappies altogether by that age (in the 70s), as were most of our peers - and she doesn't believe there was any nasty, coercive training either (and she does happily admit to CIO so she's not hiding anything LOL). I'm sure not all children were trained by then, but that was the goal. People simply believed that children were able to use the potty earlier than many of us do now - thanks in large part, I believe, to super-chemically-absorbent diapers.
I hadn't stopped to think that cloth diapering in some cases is now easier for the advantaged. In terms of time commitment, I was working a 50-hour week and still cloth-diapered my daughter - I didn't find it a huge time commitment - but having in-house laundry sure helped. I've used a more old-fashioned approach to cloth-diapering my son since I am home with him, and it definitely takes more time - we use wool and fitteds, which take longer to wash and dry, but keep him almost constantly rash-free (I suspect that many people whose children experience rashes with cloth might do better with this system, but it's not daycare friendly!). I have to agree that EC would be a much better option than either cloth or disposable diapering for many families - definitely much cheaper - my diaper stash is smaller now than when my daughter was in diapers, and I'm washing less frequently too.
Did those parents toss out all the onesies and sleepers that got stained when the disposable diapers leaked poop all over everything? (maybe they did!) Pretty much the same difference.
Some diapers are easier to get clean than others - systems like flats and prefolds that are thinner when unfolded are very easy to clean. Microfibre inserts seem to hold on to ammonia smell more than others - but they seem to be less in favour now than hemp and bamboo anyway.
Me too--if they don't track online services like Amazon Mom, I would think these results aren't very useful.
We didn't always have disposables--they're a relatively new invention! Does that mean people who hand-washed all laundry going back decades & centuries used unclean clothing & diapers? No. As long as you hand wash or reg. wash diapers correctly, they're clean.
Cassaundra:
The amount of work that is required depends a lot on the choice of diaper. We used all-in-one diapers, so all that was required was turning the wet bag (where dirty diapers were stored) inside out and shoving it with the diapers into the washing machine, then transferring them to the dryer, then shoving them into the drawer under the diaper table. Those were three steps that took between 60 second and 120 seconds each and had to be done two to three times per week.
I do know a lot of people who spend a lot more time on diapering, but the approach that we took really wasn't a time burden at all. Elimination communication would have been, in my mind, a much bigger time investment.
As a mom who did exclusively pump for 2 months, and who worked and pumped for about two years total, I agree that it is a giant pain in the ass, but one that was absolutely worth it for me.
I don't know for sure Corey, but my guess would be that they did not include those.
I've heard a number of other techniques from other cloth diapering families, but our technique is about as simple as it gets. We wash on cold (no extra rinses or steps) and dry in the dryer.
Lynette:
That sucks. Not just from a diapering perspective, but in general. Not being allowed to install a machine and then being forced to pay those high prices is ridiculous. You'd think the landlord would at least provide laundry in the building if they aren't going to allow you to have a machine in your apartment.
Would it be feasible/reasonable/advantageous for regulated daycare providers to be required to cloth diaper upon request at no extra charge? Maybe just centres, not home-based providers? Hell, if the centre were big enough, perhaps it could be required to provide and launder cloth diapers upon request? Haven't thought it through, just thinkin'.
Regarding diaper rash. My first used to get some rashes until I switched to unscented (disposable) diapers. Otherwise, we've pretty much always been rash free for three kids. In telling people this, I'm surprised at how many people don't realise that most diapers are scented. Heavily scented. I'm also amazed that hospitals don't use unscented diapers.
I'm dabbling with EC with my 3-m.o (catching most #2s but using disposables in between) and also considering switching to cloth. I've been doing some reading about all the various options and was simultaneously annoyed, amused, and reassured when I read at one vendor's website that choosing supplies is the hardest part of cloth diapering. (I'm pretty sure she hadn't factored in the laudromat issue.)
I've only started trying EC, since coming across some information that really cleared up some massive misconceptions I had about it, namely that it was for conditioning the baby to eliminate on a schedule (rather than responding to baby's cues) and that it is was all-or-nothing, including all night.
We tried cloth but we just couldn't stick with it. We moved to Compostable Diapers and are in LOVE! We tried a couple different kinds, but now we solely use Broody Chick Diapers. I feel better that I am making a more eco-friendly decision for my family and I am all about doing less laundry :o)
Anyone else using compostable diapers?
most brands of disposable diapers are sold by companies that test on animals.
Well, don't use the towels at hotels then if rewashing cotton is unsanitary. Don't forget the linens at germy hospitals......of course they are clean!!! Hot water sanitizes and if you think they are due for a little bleach, throw some in the wash!
I'd suggest something like the WonderWash for anyone who would like to try cloth diapering but doesn't have access to nearby washing machine. I have one just to conserve energy and keep our house cooler in the summer. it was a PITA to begin with because it took me quite a few washes to get the hang of it (mine was used and didn't come with directions!), but once I figured out how much water/detergent/clothes to add to each cycle, it became super easy!!! Just imagine, clean clothes/ diapers in 2 minutes!!! I love my WonderWash, and actually got mine for $5.00 at a garage sale, but even at full price, they'll pay for themselves VERY quickly, especially if you wash other things in there that you'd normally take to the laundry mat. You can find them via Amazon or places like these: http://beprepared.com/product.asp?pn=MC%20W100&sid=AMAZONADS THey're awesome for camping too!
I have 3 live-in kids and 1 step daughter. I've been cloth diapering my 8 month old for 7 months in an apartment. We share the laundry machines with 2 other apartments and it costs $1.25 per load and $1 to dry. I use flats and covers so I can save $ and line dry them (they dry so much faster). Plus I can handwash if I need to. It's not the ideal situation but we make it work because of the cost, the environment and our baby's health. Everyone has there own reasons and I don't judge but you can make anything work if you are motivated and committed to a cause (or saving money! Lol).
Not all areas support diaper composting. We live in Ottawa, and diapers are not allowed in the green bin. If they're going in the dump, there's barely any difference between compostable and disposable, as they're all wrapped in plastic garbage bags.
I have tried Broody Chick diapers though, on the odd occasion we use disposables, because of the lack of petro-chemicals in them. I've been impressed.
Hi Juliette - We had trouble finding someone that would take it in the beginning - but luckily a diaper service in our area started offering a composting service! Yipppeeee
I have seen a bunch of cloth diaper cleaning services start to offer the composting service as well.
I cloth diaper in my home, but if I shared a washer with other people, I would definitely check with the other people before I did it. It is human waste, and it would likely bother some people sharing the machine.
What's the difference between washing diapers and washing things with pet waste, or sheets after a flu bug or anything like that? In fact, I would think a baby's waste is a little 'cleaner' than ours considering they don't eat what we do.
I agree that time can be an issue, but if a mother is privileged enough to have a washer/dryer in her home time to wash diapers shouldn't be an issue for most people. I have worked full-time since my daughter was born and with a big stash (20-25) of pocket diapers it's been manageable. A load of diapers every 4 days or so, stuffing/folding takes less than 5 min. Granted, I also use disposables part time.
One of the reasons I think disposable diaper purchases are down are because of that increased absorbency. I am able to leave a disposable on my daughter for at least twice as long as cloth if she doesn't poop, and her skin is always dry when I change her. I saw a commercial for diapers last night that said they have a 12 hour capacity!
Several things stopped me from cloth diapering.
With my 1st (7 years ago), it was mostly lack of availability. I had no IRL support, we lived in a rural area, with walmart as our "closest" shopping area. They only had flat folding diaper cloths w/pins & rubber covers, like my mom used with us. I had no one to tell me about the other options available, and when I did find things online... Well, with a colicky baby, learning the ropes of breastfeeding on my own, and running a new biz, the idea of researching diapers (again, without support of someone saying, hey diapers are easy, try these, buy this many, with these supplies) and adding MORE laundry to our plate of things to do was just too daunting.
With my 2nd (4.5 years ago), the primary factors keeping me from cloth diapering were knowing that he'd be our last baby, thus knowing I'd only get <2 years of wear from the diapers (I do "early" potty training with my kids), the massive investment up-front for all-in-one diapers (these are around $20+ a piece!) so that I *could* only wash a couple times per week, and again, though I had IRL support at this point, there was SO MUCH variety in who used what, which kind, how to wash, inserts, covers, etc., that with two kids, biz to run, laundry for four, and all the other stuff in life I felt overwhelmed. I tried a couple of different brands, but I only around 8 diapers. That's ONE DAY for a newborn. I couldn't justify spending any more time or money on researching & trying diapers out, so we stuck with the "natural" dispoables.
I am sorry that cloth diapering didn't work for us, I wish it had as it fits in with the other things in my life that I try to do to help curb our stress on our environment.
That said, even with our privilidge (that term is sure being used a lot on this thread), I found cloth diapering difficult. I can't imagine being low-income, with no support, no on-site laundry. When you're struggling to make ends meet - finding food, work, transportation, child care etc. - it just doesn't seem reasonable that "helping the environment" would even play into your decision-making. When Walmart only has prefolds, but two aisles of disposables, cloth-diapering isn't even on the radar.
We used prefolds and our process was exactly the same as yours, Annie. People would notice we were using cloth and sigh that they could *never* have done such a thing because it was sooo much more work (and if they had more than one kid, they usually added that we would change our ways as soon as we had to juggle multiple kids). I didn't and don't understand this perception. The only "extra" work involved is transferring diapers to the dryer. You take the diaper off and throw it in the garbage. I take the diaper off and throw it in a dry bag. You take the diaper pail and move it to the trash at the curb. I take the dry bag and throw it into the laundry machine. I got to skip going to the store to buy diapers. (Come on, admit it - how many disposable-using parents made at least one run to the store to buy diapers very late at night? Because all those parents talking to me about how much work it was to wash diapers turned out to have done so, and even if you shop online at Amazon or whatever - having to constantly replenish your supply is WAY more work.
Now, about EC'ing. We totally did this, and I wrote about our experiences and recommendations in detail here: http://parenthood.phibian.com/?ID=139. My daughter didn't quite meet our goal of being 100% out of diapers by 18 months but she was close and we certainly used many, many fewer diapers during the other 14 months or so.
Having had experience with disposables, cloth and EC'ing, it's laughable to me that anyone could claim EC'ing is less work. Less work overall, sure - you aren't changing diapers for three or more years (folks who are doing this because they say that toilet training is too hard? I am seriously in awe. Changing that many diapers was too much work for me to contemplate!). But there is no question that the upfront investment is much greater, especially overnight. It was totally worth it for us and I would recommend it to anyone. But cloth diapering is much easier!
Which brings me to the main reason I wanted to respond to this post: I think the main reason for lower disposable use is that our society is disturbingly comfortable with letting infants sit in their own waste. The number of people who have told me - "oh, the diaper can hold a little more", or "I just changed her/him, the diaper can't be dirty again yet" or "it's only a little wet", or "Better wait ten minutes to make sure baby has finished filling the diaper" is horrifying to me.
When we value our personal convenience as parents over basic human hygiene, it's not terribly surprising to learn that some nursing homes put seniors into adult diapers for staffing reasons and it isn't uncommon for seniors (especially those without all of their faculties) to be left sitting in their own waste for hours. A few years ago there was even a debate about how often seniors should expect to have their dirty diapers changed in an overworked health care system. I hope that ideas will have changed by the time that I need that sort of care.
Those of you with children still in diapers, please please consider how you want to be treated as a senior before letting your kid sit in a wet diaper "until it's convenient to change them". Especially if you have older kids. Because they are watching and learning.
I really, really wanted to give cloth diapers a go with my child, because of the environmental effects of diapers in landfills (please do not say with the increased energy use of washing diapers, the effects are equal--it is completely wrong!). However, this isn't a viable option for working mothers. Daycares won't accept them; I've asked around. Until we change the system of how we take care of babies in groups, cloth diapers will never truly be a solution.
No Drama Mama:
One possibility for working mothers who need to use day care would be to buy a smaller stash of cloth diapers and use them evenings/weekends.
I personally switched to cloth when my son was 9 months old after Pampers diapers caused my son to develop a rash even with a completely dry diaper. I was changing him before he'd even gone (as I got concerned I was not changing often enough) and I started to wonder what the heck was in the diapers giving him a chemically looking rash when he'd not even wet them.
It saved us a lot of money to cloth diaper.. and I only own 10 diapers. I washed every day and switched to learning pants and then underwear as soon as I could with him, which was at 2 years old which seems to be much younger than anyone I know who has kids now that age.
I finally put the cloth diapers in the basement today (he's 2.6). I boxed them up a month ago, but, I dunno, it seemed like a milestone. He is still such a little one. It tears me up ;*)
I will say it wasn't quite as *easy* (like in the moment easy, as I have to wash twice with hard water) to use only 10 cloth diapers as it was to use sposies but I think cloth diapers helped with potty learning and really the reaction to those diapers and switching to cloth kind of set off a little internal alarm in me that I am grateful that it did. What else am I exposing us to ?? What else could I recycle ?? I think it kind of woke me up.
The cynic in me, though, says that most people will never wake up like I did, so, Walmart... Walmart matters.
Maybe they're not factoring my sort into their opinion, too, though. I do know I mention cloth diapers and try to tell folks it's really not any harder than maybe an extra load of laundry.. but most people unfortunately don't seem to bite. I offered my diaper stash to one of em, too. For free. She said no thanks. Her loss. :)
[...] * Some parents prefer cloth diapers because they are washable. Diaper can not use water and soap to be used again. You can not do the same with disposable diapers because you have to throw it immediately when it was used. But, say some parents save more with disposable diapers, because you do not have to buy soap detergent and save even more money for water, electricity and energy. Since disposable diapers are discarded immediately after use, it is not necessary to spend money on laundry detergents and soaps to clean water strata. There is also no need to use electricity for washing machines or even getting physical in washing diapers. * Another thing to consider in the question washable vs. disposable diaper is the availability of these products on the market. Since disposable diapers are now widely used worldwide, it is probably easier to find a bunch of them in grocery stores compared to cloth diapers. In some places, layers of special fabric is difficult to find and if you find one, there are few brands so that you select with fewer options. * Since disposable diapers are more available, it is probably cheaper than cloth diapers. Usually when a product is in demand, there are more brands to choose from, so that the options for a consumer to choose more in terms of quality, brand and price. * Disposable diapers are designed to make it more convenient to use because it has leak guards, wetness indicators. For more than disposable diapers attended by parents, it has improved the quality and now has a warning leak that make the diaper habit of leaking urine or waste on its sides to hold the baby to dry. He also wetness indicator to show that parents, it's time to change for them. These features of disposable diapers make a better choice because it makes life more comfortable and easier to manage. * In the number of cloth diaper vs disposable diaper, it was found that the use of a disposable diaper is safer for your baby's skin. This is because disposable diapers, the liquid such technology becomes a gel. If this happens, the baby's skin is not impregnated in wet conditions, but the baby's skin is kept dry. If the baby's skin is kept dry, it is not prone to rashes and skin irritations. Drought also makes the baby more comfortable during his playing time and sleep time, because he was not irritated by rain. cloth diapers vs. disposable diaper iaper [...]
Thank you for your sharing, looking forward to your next published, preparing for both in advance of your birth can help you and your baby get the best start in life, such as the reusable diapers.
Thanks for posting wonderful post. i think Ecoloical diaper can be used as safe source to protect children from rashes. Most of parents only think that diaper is only to protect house clothes from getting wet
חיתולים אקולוגיים