Over seven months into my first pregnancy, I have many concerns and internal conflicts about how to best raise my baby. Which car seat has the best safety rating? Do I want a bassinet or a hammock or to sleep with baby in my bed? Epidural or not? And as a die-hard green gal, there’s the question of diapers: cloth or disposable. On the one hand, disposable diapers take up precious space in our landfills, are sometimes filled with chemicals that are not good for sensitive baby skin and are costly (resource wise) to produce. Cloth diapers, on the other hand, are reusable, but ultimately one has to wash them which puts more feces into grey and black water, as well as uses an enormous amount of water. Ultimately, it comes down to a few factors. How many diapers does your baby go through? Are you willing to wash poo out of diapers? Which is more finacially feasible? What’s worse, petrified poop trapped in a landfill or contaminating the tiny amount of potable water left on earth’s surface? While normally I would be up to calculating the cost-benefit analysis of each item, I can happily report that I don’t have to! There are plenty of middle-of-the road options for parents who care about the environment and their bank accounts! Here are a few of them:
- Chemical free diapers Seventh generation diapers are available at most grocery stores (you may have to look in your health foods aisle) and run at almost the same price as most name-brand diapers, such as Pampers. They come in seven sizes and, most importantly, are chlorine-free, latex-free and completely hypo-allergenic. The down-side to these diapers is that without the chemical AGM, they don’t absorb as well as your name-brand diapers and some people may not like the light brown shade they come in.
- Bio-degradable disposable diapers Tushies Disposable Diapers, Nature Babycare Diapers, and Nature Boy and Girl are all happily bio-degradable and free of any harmful chemicals. They’re great for eco-chic parents who have enough money to support their habit. Depending on the brand, these diapers can be up to around twice the price of name-brand diapers and four times the price of your generic (ie Wal-mart) diaper. Another downside is that while these diapers may biodegrade well in your compost-bin, nothing biodegrades easily in an airtight landfill. Continue reading
