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One of the big decisions facing the newly pregnant mother is what type of nappies to use. Nappy changing takes up a big part of your time and concentration for the next three years or so with each child, so getting it right is important. And it is something that new mothers everywhere talk about endlessly, so you need to have an opinion on it.
There are perfectly good arguments for using cloth nappies and also for using disposable ones. These can be broken down into four main areas: comfort for the baby, convenience for the mother, cost and environmental impact.
The most vigorous arguments for using disposable diapers (as they are called in the USA) are put out by the companies which make them. These are large multi-nationals such as Kimberley-Clark who obviously want customers to buy their products. There is a lot less money in the promotion of cloth nappies and so it can be harder to find conclusive evidence about them.
Consumer organisations are good places to find out comparisons that are not tainted by commercial decisions. In an article published in August 1999 by the Australian Consumers' Association, disposable nappies take up approximately 3.5% of the volume of all urban solid waste. You are entitled to make up your own minds as to whether this is too much or not. It is easy to say that it is too much to dispose of when there is an alternative, but so much of our waste could come under this category. Reducing our waste in all aspects in necessary.
Is your baby going to be more comfortable in cloth nappies or disposable ones? This is a difficult question to answer. The manufacturers of disposables claim that their nappies keep the baby's bottom drier (with the use of new technologies 'drawing the wetness away from the skin'.) Proponents of cloth nappies claim that baby's bottoms cannot breathe in a plastic nappy and that cloth nappies are far better for the skin. Ask any mother's group and you will find people who swear by one or the other. Some children get terrible nappy rash using disposables; some suffer more with cloth nappies. Manufacturers claim that their nappies are less prone to leaking, the cloth nappy camp claim that disposables leak all the time but cloth nappies don't.
Which type of nappy is more convenient for the mother? Old-style cloth nappies, which required folding and pinning, were definitely less convenient than the newest style of slim-line, Velcro-tabbed disposable. However there are many types of shaped cloth nappy available now that make changing much quicker and easier. Disposable nappies are much more convenient when out of the house, as they can be thrown out and not taken home in a plastic bag. Cloth nappies have to be washed, dried and folded, if you use the flat ones. Despite some figures that I have seen suggesting that you can wash your cloth nappies twice a week, unless you have a huge supply of them they really need to be washed every day.
Disposable nappies certainly cost more than cloth nappies, no matter how the figures are broken down. Available figures vary so much that I will not quote any as I have never found any consistency between them, other than to say that cloth nappies are cheaper all round. Disposable nappies vary widely in price, but the cheapest ones usually have to be changed far more frequently, making them no cheaper in the long run. Some figures for the price of disposables include the cost of nappy wipes, and don't for the use of cloth nappies, however many users of cloth nappies use nappy wipes as well. Cloth nappies vary widely in price also. The traditional flat squares are very cheap, last for a long time and find an honourable retirement as cleaning cloths. However they require fasteners (very cheap) and overpants (range from the cheap and horrible to the expensive ones that come in seven different sizes - you need to buy half a dozen for every few months of the baby's life in nappies - and they can still leak). Shaped cloth nappies are increasingly popular, as they are much easier to use. However they usually also come in different sizes to suit the baby's age and therefore supplies need to be replaced as the baby grows. If the shaped nappy itself is not sized, its diaper covers will be. Either way you need to buy a supply for each age of the baby. Some of these covers cannot be washed in hot water or with nappy soakers, so you have to put up with them being stained almost immediately. Some have plastic liners, thus minimising the 'breathability' that is supposed to be the advantage of cloth nappies. Some leak instantly.
The environmental impact of the two types of nappy is much argued over. In 1991 it was stated that disposable nappies use 70% more energy than cloth nappies per nappy change (Lehrburger, Mullen, Jones, Diapers: Environmental Impacts and Lifecycle Analysis, January 1991). The manufacturers of disposables are quick to point out the environmental impact of producing cotton (pesticides, bleach) and of washing it - all that hot water and detergent and electricity use in tumble drying them. Disposable nappies obviously use large quantities of wood pulp, plastic, and energy both in their production and their transport to and from manufacturer/warehouse/store/consumer. Users of cloth nappies may claim that they wash their nappies in warm water and vinegar and always linedry them, thus reducing the environmental impact even further. Others use detergent, nappy soakers, hot water and tumble driers and have far more impact on the environment.
Ultimately it is up to the consumer to read figures and facts and find something that they are comfortable with, and then see how their baby likes it. If you happen to have a baby who is allergic to disposable nappies you might not have much choice. If you have a baby who gets thrush in cotton nappies but thrives in disposables, you also have little choice. Caveat emptor.
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