The Diapering Dilemma

Cloth vs. Disposable

By Shel Franco

There's no doubt about it: What goes into your baby must come out of your baby. The doubt begins when you try to determine the best way to dress your baby's bottom. If you are like most parents, you want the ease of disposables and the low cost of cloth all rolled into one. You want to rest easy, knowing you are helping rather than hindering the environment. Simply put, you want to make the right decision.

Shelley Haggert of Windsor, Ont. wrapped three children in cloth diapers before she realized disposables suited her lifestyle much better. "When my third [child] was about 3 months old, I quit the cloth habit forever and started clipping coupons again." What took Haggert so long? Why guilt, of course. "Earth Day came back into vogue while [my] first was still in diapers, and all of a sudden it was a sin to use disposable diapers," she says. "[I thought,] 'What kind of earth was I going to leave my children?' I had to do my part to save the planet."

Landfill space is a hot commodity, and disposable diapers are among the top five items found strewn within the mess. Worse yet, it can take up to 500 years for a disposable diaper to break down. It seems reasonable for environmentalists to be concerned. But there are two sides to every story. And the truth is, cloth diapers require resource draining activities as well. Some studies show that cloth diapering has four times the burden on water supplies than disposables. Not to mention the energy consumed when diapers are washed and dried in electric or gas powered appliances.

Is one or the other better for baby's skin? Each side would like to think so. Cloth diapering proponents warn of allergic reactions to the chemicals used in disposable diapers. In response, the disposable crowd talks about rashes brought on by tiny bottoms sitting in unabsorbed urine. What's the real story? "Probably any diaper is going to be generally safe, as long as it's changed when necessary," says pediatrician Dr. Michael Fischer, of Austin, Texas. "There don't appear to be any dangers inherent in using disposables. Likewise for cloth. Children can get allergic reactions to any number of things, and that could include a chemical in the disposable diaper, or the fasteners in a cloth diaper." Dr. Fischer adds that in most cases, knowing your baby's elimination signals so that prompt changing can occur is much more important to safeguard against rashes than the diaper you choose.

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• Back to Basics: Not-So-Scary Stuff
• Back to Basics: Taking Care of Baby
• Diaper Rash Discussion Board