| An increasingly more common debate in the last few | | | | that the plastics, sticky tabs and chemicals used in |
| years among parents and couples has been to | | | | disposables can irritate a baby's skin. So avoiding these |
| question what type of diaper to actually use for their | | | | is a good benefit. |
| babies. People are becoming more aware of | | | | The drawbacks for some parents are that cloth |
| environmental issues. They want to know more about | | | | diapers require more changing, as the material simply |
| what they're putting in their diaper bags. There are | | | | won't absorb as much waste as the shaped plastics. |
| plastic disposables with which we all are familiar, there | | | | Depending on your perspective, some parents may |
| are the old traditional cloth diapers, and now new | | | | see that as a plus, because the diapers are not really |
| hybrids that combine an outer cloth permanent diaper | | | | a personal toilet. They probably should be changed and |
| with a inner material disposable. | | | | washed as soon as they are soiled, yeah? |
| Check out this stat: over 1% of all trash in landfills is | | | | The other drawback from an environmental |
| disposable diapers. Is that something or what? Here | | | | perspective is that significantly more detergent will be |
| are some other interesting facts to note: Over 27 billion | | | | used over the lifetime of a cloth diaper. And thus more |
| disposable diapers are used just in the USA alone | | | | chemical waste into the environment. Although in |
| every year. According to Wikipedia, that translates to | | | | reality, my guess is that this is still a substantially better |
| a potential 3.4 million tons of used diapers that go into | | | | environmental alternative that endless amounts of |
| landfills every year. That's not a beautiful thing to | | | | waded-up plastic diaper stacked high in a landfill. |
| ponder now is it. So there are clearly multiple issues to | | | | A viable and real alternative on the market now for |
| think about for those who want to make an educated | | | | parents is the hybrid diaper. One brand known as g |
| choice. | | | | diaper has a flushable inner liner with a reusable shell. |
| Let's look at cloth diapers: they have the advantage of | | | | The flushable piece degrades in water (though with |
| being washable and thus reusable. The baby will have | | | | the help of your 'swishstick' usage to break it up a bit |
| no real reaction to such a diaper. They are typically | | | | before the flush). I've not yet used these but I know |
| made of thicker cotton, or more recent offerings also | | | | one family who is a big fan and they feel better about |
| have hemp and bamboo as core materials. It's known | | | | the amount of trash they are not producing! |