Ditching the Disposables
God increasingly has convicted me of how much garbage we throw away in this disposable society. As parents of three small children, one of the most consistent and prolific forms of our garbage was disposable diapers.
When we were expecting Brianna, we looked into a cloth diaper service, even had the first batch ordered and ready to go. However, the first time we used one, she soaked it through with sweat (it was August) and it seemed bulky and awkward. The fact that the hospital provided us with disposables which lasted for the first two weeks of her life, and we had gotten used to them, didn’t help much. At the time, it seemed the only thing to do was stick with the disposables.
And so it went for two more children and four plus years, until finally, God revealed there was another way. First, one of my cousins with a daughter about the same age as Luke had been using cloth diapers for almost a year. She showed me what it looked like and affirmed she liked them much better than the occasional disposable she used when they had an outing. That planted the seed.
Then, in a conversation with another mom at St. Peter’s, I learned of a whole new generation of cloth diapers…and a new vocabulary with it. Just Google “pocket diapers” and you’ll come up with a gaggle of fun names – Fuzzi Bunz, Happy Heiny’s, BumGenius, all of which offer the Generation Next of cloth diapers.
After doing much research, I decided it was time to take the plunge and order them. So far, we’ve been pleased with how relatively easy they are to use. Sure there is a little extra work on the laundry side of things, but since a mom who doesn’t like to do laundry designed them, it really is not that time consuming. And your contact with, um, poop, goes up marginally, but you can’t avoid that reality even with disposables.
However, the benefits far outweigh any downsides...knowing we are reducing landfall waste, huge cost savings after the first year (the inital cost outlay for us equalled what we spent in one year for diapers) and saving money on diaper creams (you can’t use them with these diapers). Even the laundry detergent recommended for cleaning the diapers is environmentally friendly because it’s vegetable based and you only need a half tablespoon per load!
If you are interested in learning more about these diapers or our experience, please feel free to email me at christianlifecoach@cox.net.
For His glory,
Andrea
Have you ever tried cloth diapers? If so, what was your experience like? Any helpful tips for parents new to the experience? Post your thoughts in the comments section under this post.
3 comments:
Way to be a good steward of creation! I too am trying to reduce waste. Is this more cost effective than using disposable diapers?
For environmentally safer cleaners and recycled paper products that cost more, I try to simply use less. Even though that may not be possible for diapers, it helps keep one accountable to not over consume, while offsetting the slightly more expensive products.
~Mark
I have recently started using gDiapers with Evan, our 22 month old son. I, like Andrea, was feeling terrible about all the waste we were making. Seeing that huge trash bag of diapers go to the curb every week was just killing me. And, like Andrea, I had several seeds planted before I decided to make the plunge. It was on a whim that I walked into Green Smart Gifts, an environmentally friendly store in Lakewood, and there, sitting in the front window of the store was a starter kit of gDiapers. I only asked the owner a few questions and found myself going home with the box. I have since ordered the next size up and am trying to decide where I go from here. What drew me to these particular diapers is that they are reusable and disposable at the same time. There is an outer part that looks like most other diapers, then there's a lining, and in the lining goes a biodegradable, flushable insert. This was a good compromise for me, the "environmentalist" and my husband, the one who hates the idea of getting too close to poop. I can flush the insert and make less waste, Jeff can touch it minimally by simply putting into the diaper pail, and I know it will be gone in a matter of months instead of years, or even decades. However, my baby-sitters, our parents and Jeff aren't loving the part about cleaning the remnants off of the liner. So now I'm debating about what to do. I'm trying to find time to research other types of reusable diapers, but it hasn't happened yet. Anyone have suggestions of websites to check out?
Kristen
Kristen-
If you Google pocket cloth diapers a whole slew of websites will crop up that give you many options.
Getting up close and personal with poop is par for the course with cloth diapers as I'm finding. But, not to gross too many people out, using some toilet paper to scrape off the extras helps. You can also buy a sprayer that attaches to the toilet somehow which aids with the process (the sites carrying cloth diapers should advertise this in the accessories category).
-Andrea
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