Top Ten Cloth Diaper Myths Revealed (continued 3)

Top 10 Cloth Diaper Myths Revealed (continued)

9. I can’t handle the mountains of laundry that cloth diapers will create.
Truth: Caring for babies in general can cause mountains of laundry and cloth diapers will only create one to two extra loads of laundry per week. “While while I am washing my diapers I get so many other things around the house done that I hardly notice the time it takes to wash them,” says Ganim. A great tip for this is to have enough cloth diapers around to avoid doing frequent laundry. If laundering that extra amount seems overwhelming while dealing with a newborn, consider a diaper using a diaper service to get you over the three-month mark.

10. Cloth diapers are bad for the environment because they use a lot of water, electricity, and detergent to launder.
Truth: Each baby using disposable diapers adds one ton of diaper waste to our landfills which can take five hundred years to decompose. Do we really want to leave such a lasting impact on our planet when diapering our children?

According to a report from the Women’s Environmental Network, The Real Diaper Association reports that
• Disposable diapers are the third most common consumer product in landfills today.
• A disposable diaper may take up to 500 years to decompose.
• One baby in disposable diapers will contribute at least 1 ton of waste to your local landfill.

Need more facts? Jane McConnell reported for Mothering Magazine that:
o In Canada and the US more than 20,000,000,000 disposables are discarded into landfill sites each year!
o It takes 500 years for disposable diapers to decompose.
o 82,000 tons of plastic is needed each year to make disposable diapers in the U.S.
o 1.3 million tons of wood pulp is needed each year to make disposable diapers in the U.S.
o 250,000 trees are used up each year to make disposable diapers in the U.S.

If you’re interested in converting to cloth diapers, a great way to gather information about cloth diapers is to talk to moms who use them. If you see a mom using cloth diapers at a playgroup, ask her all about them. Chances are she will enjoy telling you about her experiences with them and the amount of money she’s saving, and she can most likely recommend products for you to try.

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