Diaper World Record Attempt: 2nd Annual Great Cloth Diaper Change [UPDATE]

Changing diapers at a 2011 Great Cloth Diaper Change event in the Bay Area.

If you've never been to a giant diaper-changing party, this weekend is your big chance.

At 5:30 pm GMT on Saturday -- just hours before Earth Day begins -- cloth diapering enthusiasts from around the world will gather in more than 300 locations to participate in the 2nd Annual Great Cloth Diaper Change. (This story has been updated. Scroll down for new information.)

Parents in neighborhoods across the country -- from New York's Upper East side to Sarah Palin's stomping grounds in Wasilla, Alaska -- will participate. Beyond the U.S., diapers will be changed en masse in Belgium, Malaysia, Chile, Estonia, Israel and 11 other countries.

The current record for concurrent cloth diapering, which these parents will try to break, was set at last year's Great Cloth Diaper Change, and stands at 5,026. And while that might sound like an awful lot, it's actually less than the total number of disposable diapers that the Real Diaper Association (RDA) estimates a family will go through by the time their baby turns 2.

For the RDA -- which helps to organize the Great Cloth Diaper Change -- the environmental and economic benefits of choosing cloth diapers are obvious. Contrast the thousands of disposable diapers needed to raise a child with the just over 70 cloth diapers a family would need for a new baby, and "the cost of cloth diapering is about one tenth the cost of disposables."

Of course, there's a reason many parents choose not to use cloth diapers. As Crappypictures.com blogger Amber Dusick frankly puts it, "the worst part about cloth diapering is that it means more laundry" -- more time, more work and more poop to clean up.

UPDATE: April 23, 6 p.m. -
There's no official word yet on whether this year's Great Cloth Diaper Change broke the record set last year -- but click through the following slideshow for dispatches from diaper parties all over the world:

• Ventura, CA

• Cleveland/Berea, OH

• Oklahoma City, OK

• Lawrence, KS

• Savannah, GA

• Switzerland

• Bulgaria

• Chile

• Brazil

• Belgium

• Germany

• Amsterdam

• Alberta, Canada

• Malaysia

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Comments

[clothdiapers]

11:22 AM on 04/25/2012

I didn't know that in United States people also had these malicious and ridiculous comments about cloth diaper. I live in a Country where those modern cloth diapers is new, and has been very complicated, but didn't know that's where it already has over 10 years of more practical than the old diapers with pins,and made of PUL, the people were more open and accept better. Besides that I thought most people respected the opinion of others.
I think the worst that really do not understand and do not admit anywhere in the world is how people may have formed an opinion about a subject that does not know. To research before you speak! Do not go out talking about what has not the slightest idea. This for me is a stupid prejudice. Honestly if you do not like the idea, turn the page and move on, or seek to know about what it really is and how to then give his opinion. I'm tired of low comments from people who have no children, or people that just dont know the new diapers, and think that the cloth diaper are the same as the old ones, or are older people who really got tired of washing the old diapers in hand and then had to iron, I think that must have been difficult, but today it is not. Those Cloth Diaper Party is just for people know and learn that is a option in the world of diapers.

[DMDAY44]

07:44 AM on 04/23/2012

I thought I had seen some stupid party themes in my day, but this one has them all backed off!

[Dadding Dudes]

03:30 PM on 04/22/2012

When my dude#2 was 2 or 3 he sat down in his diaper on a carpeted staircase at a friend's home. His Velcro diaper-cover somehow attached itself to the carpet, and the look on his face when he tried to get up and couldn't, while we all roared in laughter, is a part of our family's legend now.
Cloth diapers may not be as convenient, but they provide many memorable moments...
www.daddingdudes.com

[DRRogers]

07:37 PM on 04/21/2012

I cloth diapers my twins and LOVED it. I think a big key is a toilet sprayer. We even worked it out with daycare to cloth diaper there. I saved $4000 in diapers alone. I also used cloth wipes, because i was already doing laundry, and saved an additional $1500. and yes this includes the cost of doing laundry. When wee were both unemployed, diapers were not an expense we had to worry about.

I never had to haul out bags of diapers to the trash. AND now that we are done having kids, i am giving them to a friend so she can cloth diaper as well, so she'll save even more plus it is an even greater reduction in the environmental impact of our family

[cjs07]

08:35 AM on 04/21/2012

I agree that the last bit might have been a little poorly worded in the article, but did any of you actually click on the link? That blog entry is the most hilarious thing I've ever seen (re: cloth diapering) and you WILL relate! I think it has just become my new favorite blog. :)

[Crystal Saling]

08:11 PM on 04/20/2012

""the worst part about cloth diapering is that it means more laundry" -- more time, more work and more poop to clean up."???????

Why would you end a peice on cloth diaper advocacy with a statement like this? I wash every other day it takes about 15-20 minutes of my time (the washer and dryer do the rest) and we've only had a few diapers ever leak poo (aka blowout!) I have less poopy laundry because my baby's poo stays inside of her diapers and I spray it out into the toilet where it is suppose to go.
Honestly, doing an interest peice does not require you to bring up another point of view especially when it's fallacious. It's like saying "we are celebrating the great weather! There are other people who think this weather sucks" Huh? nobody would write that!!!

[Mandy Schutt]

08:21 PM on 04/20/2012

here here! i was all into the piece and then was like. "huh?" weird, lame ending.

[clothdiapers]

12:01 PM on 04/25/2012

Is funny that the http://crappypictures.com/2012/03/cloth-diapers-the-good-and-the-crappy.html, its not all about the "crappy things about diapers" its also say about the good things, I think who wrote the piece took out off context.

[Kylie Olean]

01:01 PM on 04/20/2012

"More time, more work, more poop to clean up"? Really? You think that babies in cloth diapers poop more than those in disposables?
In reality, cloth diapers are far less likely to have "blowouts" - where poop escapes the diaper and gets all over baby, baby's clothes, etc.
I used disposables with my first and am now cloth diapering my second. In actuality, I find cloth to be a lot less messy than disposables were - and the economic and environmental benefits are so much better too!

[Jaynelbob]

03:42 AM on 04/20/2012

Why? Why would anyone want to have a diaper changing competition? Please tell me they're not all full.....or do they provide nose pegs?

[Michael Field-Dodgson]

12:39 AM on 04/20/2012

Good stuff - I think the evidence is there indicating which form of diaper is environmentally and economically more friendly, and events such as this bring this evidence into our consciousness.

[cdubs64]

11:19 PM on 04/19/2012

Gross.

[FordGirl027]

06:23 PM on 04/21/2012

All the disposable diapers that end up in landfills? I agree, that is gross.

[Judy Aagard]

12:13 PM on 04/19/2012

Diaper Services eliminate the need to do laundry while giving you the benefit of using cloth!