Cloth Diapering: One Step in Saving Mother Earth

The world's population had been growing in number by the day. And to suffice man's needs, we people had always been greedy towards mother earth. We take everything what we could from her and leaving nothing but marks of our deeds. We keep hurting our planet to the extent that we repeatedly make her cry. In return, mother earth whip us with her wrath.

Have we learned our lesson?

Through the years, man's innovative ways to improve his life status did he brought himself to where he is now. Highly upgraded technologies surround him from his home that connect him to the outside world. It indeed benefited him but these technologies and other daily necessities had one way or another are releasing waste products to our environment that slowly brought destruction to it.

Thankfully, there are those who have eyes to see and ears to hear the pleas of our planet. Their advocacies to save planet earth every possible way had eventually made us a responsible citizen...

The government supports the movement by implementing rules to maintain and balance the use of our natural resources. An example of this is the use of eco-bags and paper bags in place of plastic ones.

Another one is the use of cloth diapers over disposable ones. Disposable diapers are one of the contributing objects that fill up land fills. The outer cover of it was made of plastic wraps, thus, it is non-biodegradable. It takes decades before it will eventually decomposes.

To keep up with people's hectic schedule that we opted to use the easy-to-use-and-discard diapers. However, these were causing harm to our baby's sensitive and delicate skin and to the environment. Just imagine the number of babies born every minute worldwide. These babies use diapers until they are fully potty trained. Most of us use disposable diapers which is more convenient.

When I have my firstborn until my thirdy, I prefer to use newborn cloth diapers when they were still a newborn. We have what we call lampin, a flat piece of cloth which is changed immediately once it was wet or soiled. But, a mom who is trying to have a bit of sleep at night would prefer to use disposables. And when I have my youngest just this July who was admitted to the hospital for a week after delivery, we have been using disposable diapers. During that time, the weather was very bad that lampins were not able to get dried. In twenty four hours the baby would have more than 10 diaper changes. That is because newborn poop more often than older babies and it requires more nappy change even if it was not yet peed on.

Me and the other mothers have a little chat regarding the use of cloth diapers and disposables. One said she didn't listen to her sister who told her to invest on lampin than on disposable. So that when we were at the hospital she realised that those disposables she bought earlier were not enough to last for three months. When in fact she already spent thousands in it.

Today, there are cloth diapers that can be used just like disposables.

So in this article, we will talk about the pros and cons of both cloth diapers and disposables. There are also different types and the fabrics used where we could choose from according to our preferences.

Pros

Disposable diapers

• Easy to use. One can just fit it in a baby without hassles.

• Easy to dispose. When soaked or soiled you can just take it off and toss it in the thrash bin.

• More absorbent. A baby could stay in it a lil longer

Cloth Diapers

• It is gentle on baby's delicate skin. Because it is made up of cloth and contains no toxic materials that causes any irritation, diaper rash or urinary tract infection.

• Economical. Build up your stash and there's no need to keep buying. Yes, the cloth diapers are pricey but once you were able to build up the minimum number of cloth diapers your baby will be using in 2 or 3 days then you're all good. No need to keep buying because you will just be washing it and reuse. Do the math, in a day a baby will be changing her nappies 8-10 times, multiplied by 30 days by 12 months then times three years. Let's say the ideal price of a pad of diaper is 9pesos. 8x7=63 number of diapers in a a week. 63x4= 252 in a month. 252x12=3024 in a year multiplied by 9pesos equals 27,216 pesos in 1year. How much more when it will take three years for a baby to completely be out of his nappies. On the other hand, cloth diapers cost 2 to 8 dollars each some are even more expensive. So lets do the math. 8dollars x 10 nappies in a day is $80. You will be spending 80 dollars for a day's use. But you still need to have a stash for 3 days more. $80 x 3 is $240. Now, that is what you will be needing for three years for your baby until potty trained. A lot cheaper than disposables, as I've mentioned there are other brands which cost 2dollars each.

• Eco-friendly. You're not throwing any of it which will cause harm to the environment.

• Reusable. Redundant may it seem but yes because it can be kept once a baby is fully out of his nappies and reuse it again for the next baby. Or give it away to your brother or sister for their baby to use. And if not, it can be sold at a cheaper price as a secondhand or what we say pre-loved and have some of your money back.

• Fits newborn to three-year old toddler. It has velco or snaps which is perfectly adjusted to baby's size. See, you can really save using it.

Cons

Disposable diapers

• Contains toxic materials. These materials causes irritation to a baby's sensitive skin that'll lead him to have diaper rashes and urinary tract infections.

• Expensive. It was already stated above how much a disposable diaper costs.

• Not eco-friendly but contributes to landfill. Disposable it is that once used can't be use again but to throw it away which contributes in filling up landfills. Sometimes it's also a problem where to dispose it off because not everywhere there is a garbage truck collector. An example was this, a bag of used diapers was left in an empty lot beside our house. I got really frustrated and post it on Facebook because passers-by would think it was me who left it there because we were the only one with a baby around the area. It was an XXL size of a diaper an indication it was used by a bigger toddler, 2-3 year old. So you see, it was really a problem on disposing it. Another thing was that, the plastic materials for its cover takes years to decompose.

Cloth diapers

• Requires time to learn the skill of wearing it. Unlike disposables which is easy to wear to a baby, cloth diapers require a little time for a parent or a caregiver to fit it properly to a baby.

• Soaked up easily. It's literally made of cloth, hence, a diaper change of 2 hours interval is required. Especially during the day when a baby is up and active that he keeps peeing. However, there are others which were designed for heavy wetters or for night use.

• Laundry fill. If disposable diapers contribute to landfill, cloth diaper is to laundry fill. It was already a given because it is made of cloth. You can wash your laundry fill every two days to save on water. Because it requires also effort in washing it that it should be done separately from the other baby garments. (I will be writing a separate article in washing it).

• Needs wet bag. When going out it is a must to take a wet bag where wet and soiled diapers are placed and carry it back home. Well, it also applies with disposables because it can't just be tossed anywhere.

There are different brands of cloth diapers in the market to choose from. The better the material the more expensive it is. Different types of it was also produced. I think I will just make a separate article for this because it is also lengthy.

Closing thoughts

More and more mothers are already switching to cloth diapers which is very good. I made a facebook post regarding cloth diapering but it seemed it was less noticed especially when they have learned about the price. Well, they prefer to use disposables and dispose also their money with it. What I can say is that, they should also adopt the use of cloth nappies because the pandemic is taking much of our finances.

Looking at the seller's sale whom I bought my stash of cloth diapers, I felt happy because her stocks are always sold out every time she restock. Her posts also said that she is having new customers opting for cloth nappies. I hope one of them is my facebook friends who happen to see my post.

Indeed, adapting cloth diapers as our babies diapers is like adapting BCH. It requires explanation, patience and understanding for those who don't have an open mindset towards it.

Mother earth will gradually restore its health if we change our ways. It may be a slow progress but one step at a time is also a big thing. Saving it is for the betterment of future generations.

Moreover, I am also using cloth sanitary napkins which only allows me to wash it once used and not to dispose it off. It does not only add to the garbage as disposables do but also saves some of my penny as well as helping and saving mother Earth.

Thank you BCH and read.cash I was able to buy my baby's stash of cloth diapers.

11-13-21

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