The Dangers of Cloth Diapering

Cloth diapering was my first step into the world of GREEN. I am going to come out and warn you that
cloth diapering is the green gate way “drug”. I came across cloth diapering when I was pregnant with my
first baby. I’m the type of person that read a snippet on cloth and thought it completely made sense and
was something I wanted to do. I’ll be honest and say I was not the most earth conscience person on the
planet. I didn’t know, or really care =/, about being green. BUT cloth diapering made sense…I was on a
budget and needed to save money where I could.

So, we started cloth diapering. Since then we’ve adopted many more green concepts into our home.
After cloth diapers, we quickly adopted cloth wipes into our diapering routines. Made more sense right?
If I’m washing my diapers, I don’t want to be picking out dirty wipes. We quickly found we love how
versatile they are. They’re great to have on hand for runny noses, dirty hands, and cleaning up messes.
Soon after cloth diapering we needed to find more ways to save money, and turns out when we want to
save money our options are usually greener. We started making our own laundry detergent. This saves
us a ton of money, and cuts down on our plastic waste! No detergent bottles to throw away! Soon after
making our own detergent, we found recipes for deodorant! Much healthier for our bodies and also cuts
down on plastic!

It wasn’t long after my first baby and liking all the cloth diaper pages and blogs, that I discovered mama
cloth. Maybe I really have an open mind but it was a no brainer for me there too. I sewed up my own
stash of mama cloth and have never thought about going back! So much more comfortable and better
for my body!

Once we started researching chemicals in detergents and deodorants, we quickly realized we needed to
reevaluate the food we are putting into our body. We are definitely not perfect and we’re starting slow,
but week by week we’re trying harder to cut out processed foods and put more raw, fresh produce into
our bodies.

We’re now looking into possibly switching into family cloth. Just saying that sentence makes me laugh.
3 years ago, there is no way I would have ever even considered something so green.

Smartiparents, you have been warned: Side effects of becoming a cloth diaper addict may include
considering and/or adopting green lifestyle changes.


Contributed by: Alex

How does Cloth diapering make Pollyanna green??

Cloth diapering our children, as you all may know, is better for the environment. Anything in general if reusing instead of disposing of it is being green.  Reusing cloth diapers over and over is avoiding us adding on more waste to landfills. It’s pretty amazing to know that if using disposable diapers from birth to potty training each baby will need about 6,000 diaper changes each diaper will need 250-500 years to decompose. Is that crazy or what?

We only have one earth; we need to take care of it. I mean there is only so many landfills. I’m sure we don’t want to live near waste landfills.  Cloth diapering my son’s is helping the earth be a bit greener. While some may say the investment is too much, you can get some good deals on new and used cloth diapers! Plus in the long run you will be saving yourself a lot of money, the environment, and the well being of your baby(s).  Not only do I use cloth diapers on my son but also use cloth wipes. Cloth wipes very simple to use. They're the same as using regular wipes except you're not throwing them away! They also don’t have harsh chemicals and will not irritate your baby's bum. There is many other ways to being green, but cloth diapering is just one way I help out the environment. We also use cloth napkins in our home, as we do not buy hand napkins. I will be cloth diapering two baby boys very soon as well. I want the very best for them and I will do everything in my power to accomplish that. I want to be able to change the world a little bit at a time.

How has cloth diapering your little ones made you greener???

How Cloth Diapering Made Nicole "Green"

Cloth diapering ended up taking over a lot of my life after I started in.  When I first started, I decided to start researching on why disposable diapers were being put down so much in the cloth diapering world.  What I found was HORRIBLE news to me.  The statistics of how long it might take for just one disposable diaper to decompose and realizing how many of those I put into the world is stunning!  That is when I started to research everything.

I found out how long it took for trash bags to decompose first.  And that is when we bought a hose.  Now we just put all the trash in the trash can, throw it out, clean out the trash can outside and repeat.  No trash bags for us which means that our trash decomposes MUCH faster than what it used to.  Not only that, now we only throw out about a total of 1 1/2 trash cans a week...which is awesome for a 4 person family!

We also decided to go to cloth wipes.  When we did that, of course the cloth wipe solution came with it...which meant that everything we were using for the babies bottom was now all natural.  So we just assumed that we should do the same thing for all of our showing/bathing soaps and shampoos.  Also our detergent.  We were buying natural detergent for the diapers anyways, so it just made sense to switch over to all Eco Sprout.

We also use unpaper towels and napkins and NEVER use disposable plates or cups...what a waist of money all that was as well!!!

I think cloth diapering has just really opened up mine and my families life on how easy it is to live a bit more naturally and a bit "greener".  Not to mention, I would LOVE for my planet to be safe for my great great great grandchildren to be living in instead of them all living on top of our trash!  Think about it :-)

Contributed by: Nicole

Cloth Diaper: Gateway to All Things Green?

I started my cloth diaper journey as a necessity. In order for me to stay at home with my son
most days, our family decided that we needed to cut back on expenses here and there. When
I found out about cloth diapers, I saw this as a HUGE way to decrease monthly baby expenses.
But as I learned more and more about the added benefits to using cloth diapers, besides saving
money, I began to have a “greener” outlook on life. Let me explain…

Not only are cloth diapers more environmentally friendly than disposables, but they make you
think about all of the chemicals that would have gone on your little one’s bum. The chemicals
found in disposables are not present in cloth diapers, thus your baby is not being exposed
nearly 24 hours a day to chemicals. This got me wondering…what other chemicals is my family
being exposed to that I never really thought about… detergents, fabric softeners, food, and
cleaners just to name a few. I quickly realized that these harmful chemicals were all around me.

Slowly over time my thoughts and attitudes about these harmful chemicals started to change.
I no longer wanted my son or my family to be as exposed to them. I started to do research
and discovered that there were little things I could change that wouldn’t break the bank. For
instance:

1) We grow our own garden, this saves us from having to buy organic produce during the
spring and summer seasons. When there is extra money in the budget, we try to splurge
on fruit and meats without added hormones, pesticides, etc.

2) I make my own cleaning solutions. Many with vinegar and other all natural ingredients
found around the house.

3) I make my own powdered dishwashing detergent.

4) I use Wool Dryer balls instead of fabric softener or dryer sheets.

5) I try to recycle as often as possible…either putting items in the recycling bin, or re-using
glass jars or containers.

So are cloth diapers really a gateway to going “greener.” For my family and I, the answer to that
question is yes. It was not a huge change all at once, but more so a gradual realization of what
was surrounding my family’s immediate environment.

What about you? Do you think cloth diapers are a gateway to other “green” lifestyle changes
in your families’ life?