Cloth Diapers Vs Disposable Diapers
June 16, 2008
Should you go with cloth or disposable diapers? Long ago in a far away galaxy, everyone used cloth diapers. Then disposable diapers came on the market, and by the 1980s nearly everyone had switched to them. As landfills became inundated with diapers, environmentalists urged a switch back to cloth diapers. Cloth diapering proponents bring up the fact that tons of used disposables have piled up in our landfills. In fact, throwaway diapers make up the third most common item in our landfill spaces, behind paper products and food containers. Since the average disposable takes about 500 years to break down in a landfill, the proportion of diapers there is ever-increasing.
Some parents combine the two, using cloth at home and disposable when they are going to be out all day. The choice that is right for you and your baby may be different from the one that’s right for your friend and her baby. The best thing to do is know the advantages and disadvantages between cloth and disposable diapers, talk with your doctor, discuss it with your wife or husband and make a decision on what you think is best for your baby. Whichever diaper you decide on now, you may find that your baby develops diaper rash more frequently later or has some type of allergic reaction.
The sheer number of diapers being bought, used, and disposed of in our trash are mind-boggling. Industry statistics indicate that as many as 18 billion disposable diapers will be used in the U.S. this year (1988) –the end products of a market valued at more than $3 billion. Chalk up more than half of that to Proctor & Gamble, maker of Pampers and Luvs; 30% to Kimberly-Clark’s Huggies; and the rest to various generic or “house” brands.
It¹s easy to see how the numbers add up. In the midst of a baby boomers’ baby boom, 98 percent of all households using diapers use some disposables. And, as many parents know, a child can run through 8,000 to 10,000 diapers before becoming fully toilet trained. The pros for disposable diapers include the ease of use; disposables seem like the easier choice. They are an all-in-one product, with less fuss than cloth. Throw-away; disposables can be thrown away once used, unlike cloth which will need to be washed. Easy to travel with; disposables are the easy choice to use when traveling.
So which is best? That’s still not an easy question to answer. First, there are more than two alternatives. The old standby, the reusable cloth diaper, isn’t what it used to be. Some types now have double or triple layers and a multi-ply, fiber-filled center strip, making them more absorbent than older styles. Some styles of cloth diaper also now come with Velcro strips, eliminating the need for those large safety pins your parents may have used. You can launder them at home or turn that job over to a diaper service.
Then there are various styles of disposable diapers. These range from fairly simple plastic-covered paper diapers to the latest high-tech, gender-specific cartoon-covered, elastic-legged, absorbent gel material (AGM) disposables.
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