Safe Alternatives for Baby and Child

Honestly, I have to admit, I took a big sigh of relief after reading this report by ABC News:

“A new study released in England by a quasi-government environmental organization may dampen the debate even further. After a three year 200,000 pound, ($419,000) study, the London-based environmental agency concluded that disposable diapers had the same environmental impact as reusable diapers when the effects of laundering cloth diapers is taken into account.” 1

Aaahh, refreshing to know my decision to simply throw away and create all this waste, was in no way impacting our loving, nurturing Mother Earth any differently than if I were to sweat over stinky cloth diapers on a daily bases. Cool!

Or was it?….

I used Seventh Generation disposable diapers, and was very comfortable with my decision to diaper my baby this way. That was, until I continued deeper into my research. For now I will just say, that I do have cloth diapers being shipped to me, on their way as I write this. And our cloth diapering follow up will be soon coming!

Disposable diapers are so widespread here in America, that when we term the word ‘diaper’, disposable instantly comes to mind. Not surprising, since 90-95% of Americans who have babies choose to diaper their baby with disposables. So, with this extremely large number in mind, I will start here by offering the safest alternatives to diapering our babies in disposables.
First, here is the stink on on disposable diapers, a few main pointers that have effected my decision to go cloth:

Well, once I started to read that numerous chemicals are being emitted from certain disposable diapers that can cause respiratory problems like asthma, and eye, nose and throat irritation, my sigh of relief began to shorten. Granted this study was done on rats by Anderson Laboratories, but the more I researched, the more concerns revealed themselves.

A hormone pollutant, TBT (tributyl tin), was also found in different disposables done in a study by Greenpeace. TBT, tagged as being one of the most harmful pollutants ever made, has been found in both the inner and outer layer on some disposable diapers!

Have you ever noticed those tiny gel particles on your baby’s bum during a changing? Those are a Super Absorbent Polymer (SAP), sodium polyacrylate crystals, that soak up the wetness and turn into a gel in the process. This helps to keep baby’s bottoms dry and disposable diapers extremely absorbent. SAP is “non-toxic and safe”, although it is the same substance banned from tampons in 1985 for causing Toxic Shock Syndrome. Humm.

Yet another harmful chemical, found in bleached disposables in only trace quantities, is dioxin. This is a chemical that is produced by the bleaching process of the wood pulp that can be found in the center layer of disposable diapers. Most of this chemical is a by-product, but again, trace amounts are finding their way into the bleached disposable diaper. What doesn’t find its way into the diaper, is released back in our environment. Yikes. This makes chlorine-free diapers a safer alternative when it comes to disposables.

Last, but not least, on average a disposable diapered baby will not be potty trained until 3-4 years old. The average cloth diapered baby will be potty trained by 2 years old! I wonder if this was figured into the equation by the England government when they found the impact of cloth and disposables as being equal.

So, back to the best alternatives in disposable diapers ( all of these options are TBT-free, chlorine-free and free of perfumes)…. and all can be bought with Free Shipping Options through these links:

Tushies are a wonderful alternative option when it comes to disposables, because along with being free of the above ingredients, they are also free of SAP. They are also the most expensive disposable diaper I have found, and due to the absence of SAP, you will need to change baby more often than with other disposables. For me to solely use Tushies was not practical because of cost, but this will be a great choice of disposable diaper that I will be able to use periodically with cloth!I have tried Tushies. They are thicker than all of the other disposables, and again, I found myself having to change baby girl more frequently. (So how does this impact, of using more, compare with the other options? I wonder.) But the payoff of being the most non-toxic disposable diaper available makes it a great filler.

Nature Baby claim to be “a biodegradable diaper”, 70% of which will actually do so. That is… under perfect conditions, which just aren’t found here in our American landfills. Point blank, if you throw these diapers into your trash, they will not biodegrate. Great idea though, but unless you have your own devised biodegradable system, it won’t work. What I do love about these diapers is that they seem to be packaged with the most environmentally friendly packaging of all other options. All packaging also is “biodegradable”. I have tried Nature Baby Disposables. They have a great simple leaf design on them which I liked. They feel comfortable to the touch and absorb wonderfully. I wasn’t totally stoked on the tabs though, and the sizing seemed off to me. My baby, at 15 pounds 1/2 ounce, was outgrown the size 2 which said fit up to 18 pounds. So go up a size.

Seventh Generation may very well be the most popular alternative in disposable diapers. They are chlorine free and from my research into people leaving feedback on disposables, these seem to get the most stars. Also, as of to date, this was the only company (out of Tushies and Nature Baby) that has returned my email questioning the “ingredients” in their diapers. They were extremely helpful in their answer. I have found also, that this is the most economical way to go when it comes to a friendlier disposable. You may be surprised to see our graph, comparing the cost of a number of disposables diapers popular in today’s market. Seventh Generation is shockingly only 1 cent more per diaper than Huggies when bought in bulk!

And then there is the ‘flushable’ G-diaper. This concept is absolutely groundbreaking… but it just didn’t work for us. I didn’t try this brand until my baby was crawling, maybe if baby isn’t moving yet it would be another story. But, they just seemed to not stay in place well enough for me to be sold on the great concept. (Suprising to me however, they do get some favorable reviews, so if you are drawn to try the G-diaper, don’t let me stop you.)

This ‘flushable’ concept brings up a great point however. Just as you would with a cloth diaper, make sure with any disposable diaper you are flushing the poop down the toilet. I am actually surprised at how many moms don’t do this. If you are not flushing the brown, the smell and bacteria can cause further public health concerns and further taint the plant for the future of our babies.

If you don’t see you diaper here, I probably wouldn’t put them on my baby. So, you may wish to contact the company directly with any concerns or issues you may have.

Oh yeah, those diaper genies……. not a great choice for tossing away disposable diapers. First, if you flush away the poop, they don’t stink so bad. Second, there is so much waste in all that extra plastic. And third, that diaper will more than likely never decompose wrapped up individually in more plastic. Using a diaper genie is an inappropriate choice when it comes to wanting to give our babies a livable planet to live on in the future. A safe alternative is to simply toss your disposable diapers into a used produce or grocery bag, accumulate them for the day, then toss. You can even put this bag into a 5 gallon bucket that closes air tight, or put a baby diaper bucket right in your garage if the stink is bad.

If you do choose to diaper your baby with disposable diapers, you will, on average, throw away, 5,000 diapers before your baby is potty trained! According to the EPA, this is at a rate of 18,000,000,000 per year for us Americans, making “disposable diapers the third-largest source of solid waste in landfills.” 2Another great point about this ‘environmental equals’ when looking at the diapering debate that Mindy Pennybacker and Aisha Ikramuddin make in their book Mothers and Others for a Livable Planet. Guide to Natural Baby Care is that “without disposable diapers, we might need fewer rounds by garbage trucks”. Great point!

If this is still your diapering option, choose a safe alternative for your baby and our planet:

• Do not use a diaper genie, just reuse a paper or plastic bag for the entire day.
• Flush all #2s down the toilet.
• Use chlorine free and chemical free disposable diapers.
• Have them shipped to you in bulk. This creates less pollution, less gas, and cheaper diapers. Choose an auto ship program on Amazon, which I can say is very user friendly, easy to cancel or change your order at any time. Have a friend join you on your order, and make it even more enviro-friendly.
• Take the time to potty train your baby, don’t wait until they are 3 or 4. There are many good books out there that can help parents with this. Also, you can start to familiarize your toddler with interest in the potty by reading them stories about it.
• Personally, I am not too familiar with the diaper-free alternative, but there is a growing community of people who are opting for this method. If this is something that is of interest to you, try the book Diaper Free Baby: The Natural Toilet-Traning Alternative.
• Ask you city to look into recycling diapers.

Furthermore, as you can see, the way that we choose to diaper our babies effects not only our planet, but the health of our babies as well!

Recommended Reading:

http://www.mothering.com/articles/new_baby/diapers/diaper-asthma.html
http://engr.oregonstate.edu/momentum/k12/apr04/index.html

1 Amanda Onion,”ABC News”, May 26, 2005, http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=789456&page=1, Sept. 22, 2007.
2 Mindy Pennybacker and Aisha Ikramuddin, “Natural Baby Care” (John Wiley and Sons, Inc, 1999), p. 160.

© 2007-2009 Safbaby.com. All rights reserved. This article may not be reproduced without express written consent of Safbaby.com. Disclaimer

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.