My 3 month old daughter likes to potty. A lot. And sometimes when she potties it goes all over her pants. And her shirt. The first few months we were using disposables because of the frequency, but we finally just switched to cloth diapers. Here are some thoughts on the subject:
Disposable, specifically Pampers Swaddlers- Great for newborns! Easy to use and easy to clean up. The last thing that you want to do deal with when you first bring home a newborn is anything too complicated. Unfortunately they stopped being able to contain blowouts, and of course, they are anything but eco-friendly. But it was great for a little bit. Most people know the plastic contains chlorine, but not as many know that the super-absorbent gelling materials, or AGM, is linked to an increase in childhood asthma and a decrease in sperm count among boys. Yikes. They sure are convenient though! While we decided that this is not the best option for us, we will continue to use them when we go away for weekends, etc. My mom used them and I turned out just fine. I have asthma, but I highly doubt that's from the diapers. I'm personally not willing to take the chance though. Price-wise they're good, with the Size 1's coming out to between $0.22 to $0.30 each
Whole Foods Diapers- Trying to be a little more eco-friendly while still using disposables, I tried the Whole Foods chlorine-free diapers. Size 1 says it's for 6-14 lbs, but my 10 pound baby (Miss C) was swimming in them. They also caused MASSIVE blowouts. Not good...While they don't contain chlorine, they do contain AGM. I also found they were very pricey.
G Diapers- I have a friend that absolutely swears by these, but they just didn't work for us.
They're a flushable diaper that can also be composted (for the wet ones only) and they also have a cloth cover that's cute to look at. Our house was built in 1930 though, so the plumbing just can't handle it, and I didn't have the time to compost some and trash others. They have directions on their website for how to properly flush them so your system doesn't have any problems, but I was too scared to try this more than once. I also thought that they were expensive, with the starter kit costing $28.19 for 2 covers and 10 diapers, and then you have to buy their refills which come out to about $0.36 each for the smalls. If you have the money and a good plumbing system though, I say go for it! Your baby will have an irresistibly cute bottom that's clean to boot!
Seventh Generation- These diapers are chlorine-free and claim to be biodegradable. However, NO diaper can biodegrade in an airtight landfill. You could compost it, but I'm sure you neighbors might not be big fans of that. Also, keep in mind that you should never compost human fecal matter, folks. It gets into the water supply and gets people sick. Otherwise, they're decent diapers. We had no leaks. They come out to about $0.24 for the size 1's.
Cloth diapers- This is what we've tried most recently. I love it (as much as I can love diapers), but acknowledge that it's not for everybody. There have been conflicting reports on whether cloth diapers are really any better for the environment because of the electricity and detergent used in laundering them. That's why we use a diaper service- they wash the diapers 4 times each in soap (not detergent) so they're super clean. Because they wash so many at a time though, far less electricity is used vs. home laundering. Our service,
Modern Diaper Service picks up the dirties and drop off new ones at the door every week. You can find a diaper service in your area through the
National Association of Diaper Services. The cost for us per diaper is about $0.30 after tax and delivery. However, you also have to buy diaper covers- I'm a big fan of the
Bumgenius 3.0., which are about $17/each. Baby bottoms look just as adorable in these covers as they do in G Diapers, but I've found that Miss C's pants are now a little tight.
One other down side is that if your child hates a wet bottom as much as ours does, they'll hate it even more when they're wearing a cloth diaper. On the flip side, some experts and parents believe that using cloth diapers speeds up the toilet training process because a child can feel immediately when she's wet herself and is uncomfortable. For those little boys out there, there is an added health benefit- the October 2000 issue of Disease in Childhood medical journal showed that the scrotal skin temperatures of baby boys were significantly higher when they wore disposable diapers than when they wore cloth. While the scientists called for more research, their article suggested that prolonged use of disposable diapers as infants was an "important factor" contributing to the decline of sperm production among adult males. Proctor & Gamble conducted its own study and also found that scrotal skin temperatures increased for boys in disposable diapers, although not to the degree that the German scientists showed. A summary is available
here. The full article may be found on the
Archives of Disease in Childhood. As for the all-important blow-out factor, I've found cloth diapers to be alright. The Bumgenius covers contain the poop, but can get kind of messy. I highly recommend buying more than a few.
Conclusion- There is no perfect diaper. You should weigh convenience, cost, and potential health benefits. We're going with the cloth diaper/diaper service option for every day use and will use disposables when someone else is watching her for convenience. We'll let you know how it goes!
