Speaking of Disposables…
This post has been submitted to the ParentingbyNature blog contest. I wrote this post and decided after the fact that it would be a perfect fit. I am really proud of this particular post, and when I wrote it I was almost crying! I hope if my post is selected as a finalist that you will vote for me. Thank you!
Many of you know that I attended ABC Kids Expo this year. Attending also gave me the unique opportunity to attend the RDIA’s (Real Diaper Industry Association) keynote meeting as press. I live tweeted the event as much as possible, but missed quite a bit since my son was a tad cranky. We were out of our time zone and things were just difficult. The fact that Pampers has been slyly dropping “facts” about cloth diapers being bad for our babies (see this post) made me think back to Jen’s, creator of Bum Genius and Cotton Babies, outgoing keynote speech at that meeting. Jen was the Chairperson of the RDIA and gave the reigns over to Leah Carter who is the woman behind Better for Babies (Little Beetle cloth diapers).
Jen gets loads of credit for helping usher in the modern cloth diaper revolution. Without her Bum Genius 3.0, and now the supremely affordable Econobum line and versatile Flip line, some parents may have never even heard of cloth diapers or attempted them. I began with Bum Genius 3.0’s because of their rave reviews on Diaper Pin. I was able to convince my husband to cloth diaper after showing him the 3.0’s that I purchased in North Carolina. My first brand new cloth diaper purchase; it felt so good and I fondled them forever. I put them on a teddy bear while I anxiously awaited the birth of my son. My point is the Bum Genius is a household name for cloth diapers. Ask any cd’ing mama if they have heard of them and they say yes. You can find them at some Targets even!
In the speech Jen made she notes a few things that could be coming for the industry. First, that disposable diaper companies will be (and obviously already are) taking notice of the cloth diaper industry. This means a few things. One, that they will step up their efforts to slander cloth diapers by releasing either bogus and unverified scientific evidence about the healthiness of their diapers and the harmfulness of cloth. This is evident in the Pampers quotes. Two, that they may even try to fund (and influence) studies to back up these claims. This isn’t unheard of; already there are studies claiming that disposables are no worse or even better than cloth diapers on the environment. This study says the water used to wash diapers and the manufacturing of the diapers is just as bad as throwing THOUSANDS of diapers in the landfill. Third, that if they can’t beat them, they may join them. Meaning, big companies like P&G could begin making their own cloth diapers or buy out an existing smaller cloth diaper company. This one actually scares me the most. I shudder at the thought of a behemoth company making cloth diapers. I love supporting cloth diaper companies because the majority of them are small, family run, companies started by Stay at Home Moms. Even the larger companies like Bum Genius are still run by the orginal creator. Jen’s story is pretty amazing. She started her company from nothing and is now the most recognized cloth diaper brand. No matter what you think about her, her company, or her diaper you have to respect her commitment, business savvy, and ability to start so many families on cloth diapers. We were a Bum Genius family, and still use them as the workhorse of out stash. There are plenty of diapers I like more, and plenty I like less.
What I am trying to convey is that cloth diapers are making a come back. If P&G, a multi-million dollar company, is shaking in their boots about what this means for their profits then we know we are on to something. Getting the message out about our “real” diapers is crucial. The more they slander cloth diapers, the more we have to praise them. Think back to when you began researching cloth diapers. What if you heard that they weren’t really that great for the environment. Would you have believed that? Maybe. Or what if you were told cloth diapers would give your child a cold or impair their ability to learn. A little crazy but you didn’t know any better. Maybe you would have thought twice about cloth diapers. Just maybe, you would have picked up a box of Pampers. We have to spread the message more to combat these falsities and outright lies. If our community bands together and continues converting moms, aiding them in their research, showing off our diapers at play groups, changing our babies in public, putting our babies in baby legs and cute fluff, and evangelizing on Twitter, Facebook, Mommy Forums, and blogs, we can grow our grassroots cloth campaign. We are all onto something great that is bigger than ourselves. I know this sounds overdramatic, but I am extremely proud of our cloth diapering community. We help one another, we care about the earth, our babies, and the futire. We have begun a new era, but we have also come full circle. Our grandmothers didn’t have a choice but we do.
I want to quote Erin Kimmet, creator and President of Thirsties, who said this in a Q&A I had with her (not published yet but I have to share this now. I love it) “I hope that when my kids have kids of their own, and when my grandkids have kids, they will refer to the past 30 years in history as the diaper-dark-ages! And they can brag about how their mom was a part of the diaper revolution!”
Viva la Cloth! Viva la Revolution!
Absurd Claim made by Pampers about Cloth Diapers*** edited
A tipster sent me an email with this quote:
Did you know that one of the causes of colds in babies is the wetness that cloth diapers cannot absorb? With Pampers disposable diapers, your baby can stay dry all night and is less likely to get a cold than he would with cloth diapers.
That’s because Pampers diapers absorb and lock away 100 times more wetness than cloth diapers do.
Keeping skin in its perfect, natural state.
This was allegedly excerpted verbatim from an online survery about Pampers on an unnamed survey site.
There are so many things wrong with this statement. I will dissect it.
“…one of the causes of colds in babies is the wetness that cloth diapers cannot absorb…”
Colds are caused by GERMS. Babies catch germs from their environment.
“cannot abosorb”
This is implying that the cloth diapers are not even taking wetness in. What I’m sure they meant to say is that disposable diapers have a stay dry layer. What, what was that? This just in: SO DO MANY VARIETIES OF CLOTH DIAPERS! Suedecloth and microfleece wick moisture away from baby’s skin. While cloth diapers are only as good as the materials used to make them, those materials are predominately found in nature and not a chemistry lab; they are plenty aborbent enough that the baby will not be laying in a pool of urine come morning time.
“…your baby can stay dry all night and is less likely to get a cold than he would with cloth diapers.”
Your baby can also stay dry all night long in cloth diapers. I will admit that night time cloth diapering can be a challenge for many families, but this doesn’t mean that there is no way to acheive success. I don’t even use cloth diapers with stay dry liners at night. I have used prefolds and fitteds, both of which usually leave wetness against the baby. And yes, that diaper stays on him for 10-12 hours. My baby has not gotten a cold yet this season, and I am sure the cold he got last year was not a cloth diaper related one. I am almost positive, since that time last year we were using disposable diapers for some of our night time diapering needs while I battled repelling issues with my pocket diapers.
I also want to note that our babies sleep indoors where it is warm. Do your babies sleep in tents outside? My baby sleeps in a comfortably heated bedroom with fleece pajamas. The temperature outside may get well below freezing but he is dry, he is comfortable, he is leak free, and most importantly, he has never caught a “cloth diaper cold.” Edited to add:It was brought to my attention that it is just not possible to get a cold from being wet and in freezing temperatures. This is surely uncomfortable, but even if that were true that is a far cry from a wet cloth diaper overnight in a warm room.
Methinks Pampers is threatened by the rise of the “real” diaper. What do you think? If you are upset by this new marketing ploy there are many ways to reach Pampers.
***I did not personally see this quote on the webpage and cannot verify it as true. However the tipster has no reason to falsify this information and believe it to be true.
By Phone:
(1-800-PAMPERS (726-7377)
By Written mail:
Attn: Pampers
The Procter & Gamble Company
PO Box 599
Cincinnati OH 45202
Twitter:
http://twitter.com/Pampersvillage
And email:
Edited to Add Thanks to the commenter Cloth Diapers for Us made I decided to track down the Nigerian article about cloth diapers. This made the rounds of twitter a while back. Basically, Pampers had a promotional tour to debut a new 3- Way Fit disposable. The claim made was that “Studies by child psychology experts he said shows that, ‘As babies embrace new movement and play ideas, their creativity increases through body movements and expression’”
How does this relate to cloth diapers? “Pampers is endorsed by the Pediatrics Association of Nigeria and recent studies with global academic experts show that Pampers delivers superior sleep quality over cloth diapers, resulting in babies’ improved learning and social interaction.”
Another absurd cloth diaper claim. Pampers has claimed that cloth diapers contribute to babies catching colds, and that children in cloth diapers develop at a slower rate (or fail to thrive) than children in disposable diapers. My son can get around quite well in his diapers, and he is a social butterfly. I guess all of our cloth diapered babies should just be sent to the “special school” because they have been severely impaired by cloth diapers. PSHAW.
You can read the entire article here: Vanguard: P&G Introduces Pampers 3 Way Fit Diapers.
My son is lacking a fluffy bum :(
I, the Queen of Cloth, have my son is disposables. For the time being. I came to the hard decision to use disposables on our quick trip to Tampa, FL. We leave tomorrow morning but I am not willing to leave my diapers dirty in the pail so I recently changed him from his last cloth diaper to his first disposable for a few days.
We decided to buy Huggies Pure and Natural. They are made with organic cotton and lack many of the chemicals found in traditional disposables. I have heard good things about their performance, smell (they aren’t supposed to smell like a sposie), and feel. I was hoping to find the disposables that are made from corn and break down but I couldn’t.
Why aren’t I using G Diapers? Well, I was hoping to use them but I ruled them out because I only have 3 covers. There is a laundry facility but I would be having to wash my covers quite a few times while in Tampa.
Many of you may find my decision shocking, or you might think I am lazy. I am feeling pretty bad about my decision too. But, if you saw us on our last trip you may understand why I want to simplify my life for 4 days.
Diapering Survey.
If you have a spare moment, would you participate in this survey? It is meant to find out what types of diapers parents are using and why. It isn’t just for cloth mamas, it asks questions about disposables as well. It took me 2 minutes.
Thanks in advance for taking a moment to help this mama and her study out. I hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend. I already have the sunburn to prove how much fun I have been having!
More on the Cloth vs. Sposies Debate
This is clearly a sensitive subject. To counter the allegations that are floating around about cloth diapers being just as bad for the environment as disposables Cotton Babies (makers of Bum Genius) sent out this email.
April 21, 2009
So, I learned something new recently. According to a recent UK study, we can lower the carbon (ie: environmental) impact of using cloth diapers to 40% less (!) than the carbon impact of using disposable diapers.
You can. Here’s how:
1. Wash cloth diapers in temperatures under 140 F / 60 C.
2. Line dry cloth diapers.
3. Use your diapers for a second child.If you need to know what carbon impact is… here’s a quick primer:
Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that affects the ozone layer. Lowering greenhouse gas emissions helps address global warming issues. The goal is to lower the level of CO2 (carbon dioxide) that you produce during your daily activities. Some ways to do this might be driving shorter distances, using a hybrid, walking, controlling your overall energy use, etc. If you want to learn more, its helpful to watch Al Gore’s documentary called An Inconvenient Truth.You get to choose.
Interestingly, as cloth diapering parents, we have the ability to choose the carbon impact of our diapering system. If we use disposable diapers, somebody has already made that choice for us.Why…
There is some misinformation about this issue floating around the news right now – and we thought you’d want to know the truth.That’s all. Have a great week!
Kindest regards,Jenn, Owner
Cotton Babies, Inc.
http://www.cottonbabies.com
Twittering as @cottonbabies, @bumgenius
Yes, Cloth can use energy, water, and create waste. But there are ways to lessen that too. I think this email sums it up nicely.
CBS- Disposables are equal to Cloth Diapers!
Can you believe this? CBS interviewed Jeffrey Hollender, President of Seventh Generation (a disposable diaper manufacturer) and he claims that disposables are tied with cloth in their effect on the environment. His argument being that in areas that do not have water to spare, washing cloth diapers is bad for the environment. Besides the flaws in his logic, do you really trust a man who makes his living selling “green” disposable diapers?
Watch CBS Videos Online
If you are as outraged as I am please leave CBS a comment. This nonsense should not be spread! This only validates the excuses moms who use disposables use. Instead of just saying, “I don’t have time to wash diapers.” They can now claim (wrongfully), “Cloth diapers are as bad for the environment as disposables.” Below is what I wrote to CBS in blind fury!
Do you really trust the source?!?! If it were not better for the environment then I would be wasting a lot of time washing my laundry! Yes, it used energy and water. But to counteract that energy you can line dry, which many mama do. And like others mentioned, the waste goes to a water treatment plant, not into our streams and soil. I cannot tell you how many times I have come across dirty disposables rotting after being thrown out of a car window. These parents have no shame, and neither do the disposable diaper companies. They are shaking in their boots because more and more mamas are learning that cloth diapering is a better choice for their wallets, the environment, and their babies. Now they are running a smear campaign.
While I doubt the world will completely switch to cloth the change is coming, so watch out! No amount of phony research can hide the truth!
Experimentation and Poll
For first time visitors: ignore 
For anyone who has been visiting the past few days I have made some changes and will continue to make changes. I am still getting the hang of this “blog” and ways to enhance it for readers and myself. I will be customizing the look further; I have a really cool photo shoot planned. It may happen today even!!! I did get the ads started but I don’t think they detract too much from the overall appearance. Do you? I have recently added Google Friend Connect; you can become a follower of my blog by logging in under your Google handle, Yahoo ID, or AIM username. If you have none of these- sorry. I also put my twitter up. I can’t promise I will have any exciting updates but follow me and you will be updated as soon as I post a new blog. This is a great way to keep up to date with the blog.
Like I have stated before, my next video review will be a comparison of Gro Baby Diapers and G Diapers. I think this will be very helpful for some of you who are new to cloth and can’t decide a good “on the go” diaper. Cloth is bulkier than disposables. For the space you can fit 2 regular cloth diapers or around 10 disposables!!! G Diapers and Gro Baby offer a solution for that. Keep an eye out for the review.
What diaper would you like to see a review of?
[memedex: pollid#489360]
If it is other leave a comment for suggestions! Thanks!
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