It just so happens that choosing cloth to diaper your child is much more than an aesthetic decision, there's a great deal of science to support those instincts as well. 

Many studies have taken into account environmental concerns, health issues, and cost analysis to help parents become better informed and make a thoughtful choice about diapering.

While much of this information may be overwhelming, it is our honest intention to simply inspire greater awareness of our impact as consumers. We have a profound opportunity to change our culture by voting with our dollars.

We hope to be a helpful resource for your family. Please contact us with any questions you have and visit our links page for more on all sorts of relevant topics. Thanks again for taking the time to take a closer look!

Environmental Concerns

*Disposable diapers generate 60 times more solid waste than cloth

*Disposable diapers use 20 times more raw materials. Over 300 lbs. of wood and 50 lbs. of petroleum feedstocks and 20 lbs of chlorine are used to produce disposable diapers for ONE baby EACH year

*It is estimated that it takes a disposable diaper about 250-500 years to decompose under optimal circumstances, long after your children, grandchildren and great, great, great grandchildren will be gone.

*Disposable diapers are the third largest single consumer item in landfills. In a house with a child in diapers, disposables make up 50% of household waste.

*Over 92% of all single-use diapers end up in a landfill.

*Throwaway diapers use twice as much water as cotton diapers, mostly in the manufacturing process. This single-use life cycle perpetuates continued consumption, causing undue stress on our natural resources.

*One ton of garbage is created for each baby who uses disposable diapers

*Average Cost Per Diaper

Conventional Disposable........................24 cents (ie:Pampers)

Mother Herb Cloth..................................41 cents

Progressive Disposable~Chlorine and Gel-free         (ie: Tushies, or 7th Generation)..............44 cents based on 12+lb average market price

*Average Cost per Month

Conventional Disposable                                 (not including wipes)...........................$65/month

Mother Herb Cloth                                                 (not including wipes)...........................$98/month

Progressive Disposable                                      (not including wipes).........................$110/month

*Total Cost for One Child from Birth

Babies who use cloth diapers potty train on average about one year earlier than those children in disposables, which continues your savings when choosing a cloth diapering system.

Progressive Disposable                                     (not including wipes)..........$27.50/wk for 3 years                                                                 =$4,290
Mother Herb Cloth                                            (not including wipes)..........$24.50/wk for 2 years                                                                 =$2,548 That’s a SAVINGS OF $1,742!

Conventional Disposables                              (not including wipes)..........$16.50/wk for 3 years                                                                 =$2,535

PLUS: Mother Herb Diaper Service is using 7/8ths less water than you would washing diapers at home.

You’ll save on your energy bills having us do the work, not to mention the hassle-free benefit of not having to launder your own diapers.

Calculations are based on 60 cloth diapers per week on average over the time a child is diapered. Store-bought diaper prices are subject to fluctuation. These calculations are estimates. It's our intention to bring you accurate comparisons.

*Your baby will need anywhere from 6,000- 9,000 diapers during their first three years of life.

*Americans spend about 7 billion dollars on disposable diapers every year, with only 5% of Americans cloth diapering.

*Often one can find dirt-cheap disposable diapers at big box warehouse or toy stores. We figure stores are supplying that product at a low profit margin specifically because they know once you’re in the store you’ll spend money on other things. How often do you go to the store for one item and end up coming home with 3 or 4 or more?

  Take this thought into consideration when considering cloth wipes as well. Often times when you run out and go to the store, you may be spending money on other things you may otherwise not have.

Unless otherwise noted all facts are courtesy of the Real Diaper Association.

Please visit the Real Diaper Association’s website for reference and sources of facts as well as other useful information pertaining to cloth diapering.

Together we can change the world, one diaper at a time.
 

Health Issues

*Now that we’re all taking a closer look at food labels before we buy, we should extend that same purchasing power to the diapers we place against our baby’s precious skin. 

Keep in mind that infants and children have what is called a high body surface to volume ratio. What this means is that proportionately babies have more skin for their sized body as compared to an adult.

Therefore, babies get a higher "dose" of chemicals, as well as greater likelihood to an adverse reaction.This same logic is one of the reasons why it is not recommended to put chemically laden sunscreen onto babies under six months of age.

*Disposable diapers contain traces of dioxin, and extremely toxic by-product of the paper-bleaching process. It is a carcinogenic chemical, listed by the EPA as the MOST toxic of all cancer-linked chemicals. In small quantities, dioxin causes birth defects, immune system suppression, skin and liver diseases, and genetic damage in lab animals. It is banned in most countries, but not in the U.S.

*Disposable diapers contain Tributyl-tin (TBT) a toxic pollutant known to cause hormonal problems in humans and animals.

*Disposable diapers contain Sodium Polyacrylate (SAP), a type of super absorbent polymer, which becomes a gel-like substance when wet. SAP was banned from tampons due to the risk of toxic shock syndrome.  The AMA has since diluted the fear of this risk with diapers since the chemical is "contained", although this chemical may still cause skin irritations and severe allergic reactions including vomiting, staph infections, and fever if ingested or in contact with the skin.  This chemical is also found in Seventh Generation disposable diapers.

*Some studies show there is a rise in urinary-tract infections in babies as caregivers often change conventional gel-filled disposables less frequently than either cloth diapers or gel-free disposables, due to their super-absorbency.

*Infertility rates in males may be linked to throwaway diapers because “diapers lined with plastic raise the temperature of the scrotum far above body temperature and can lead to a total breakdown of normal cooling mechanisms,” according to a study published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood. This heat-up may stop a boy’s testicles from developing normally.

*Chlorine is a toxic, yellow-green gas that’s one of today’s most heavily used chemical agents. Its unfortunate popularity in the paper bleaching process and household cleaning products is creating widespread risks to our health and the environment.

On October 27th, 1993, the American Public Health Association unanimously passed a resolution urging American industry to stop using chlorine. In the use of paper bleaching (one in the same process for paper diapers) 10% of chlorine used ends up combining itself with organic molecules naturally present in the wood to create compounds known as Organochlorines.

Like dioxins, they are extremely long-lived, high efficient travelers that have spread throughout the global environment. Every human now carries organochlorines in their body. Scientists are concerned about them entering our bodies because they mimic hormones, in that they are shaped like hormone molecules, and they can slip into cells in place of our hormones and cause terrible effects.

These may include lower IQ, reduced fertility, genital deformities, breast cancer, prostate cancer, testicular cancer, dramatic reductions in human sperm counts, and abnormalities within the immune system through endocrine disruption.

Research has now begun to conclusively link dioxin and organochlorine exposure to birth defects, cancer, reproductive and developmental disorders.

This information on chlorine was edited from http://www.seventhgeneration.com