How To Choose a Modern Diaper: Fitteds, Flushables, Fleece or... Plastic

My sister, pregnant with twins, emailed me last week saying she was overwhelmed by all the options for non-disposable diapers and asked if there was a particular type I'd recommend. My sister is an idealist, a perfectionist and usually overworked, so I wrote back suggesting she first buy a big bag of disposables. This may sound flip, but it wasn't my entire answer and it's definitely a very different answer than I would have given 2 and a half years ago when starting the diapering process with my firstborn.

A hybrid diaper: part reusable, part disposable

When preparing for the birth of my first daughter, I had high ideals for how I was going to save those 4.5 trees and 2 tons of garbage- an estimate of what it takes to diaper a kid for 2 years- by avoiding disposables. Instead of relying on the cloth of my own infancy, I was going to one-up my mother and go with what I thought would be a labor-saving alternative: flushables (see video How do you flush a diaper?). This hybrid option called gdiapers, involving a reusable cloth cover with a flushable/compostable/plastic-free/chlorine-free/perfume-free FSC-certified insert, was deemed green enough to become the first consumer packaged good to be certified Cradle to Cradle back in 2006.

Since they don't sell gdiapers in Spain (where I've been living since 2006), I had my parents bring over several hundred flushable inserts along with a few reusable cloth covers. Although I'd heard they can leak with the small legs of newborns, technically they worked well for us (see my video where I brag about my system to my friend SuChin), but when I realized how many diapers a baby goes through, especially a newborn, I began to question whether it was worth the 30 cents per diaper (about double the price of plastic disposables and considerably more than cloth). I had also realized that I might not be saving myself the labor involved with cleaning cloth, since I often had to clean the poopy edges of the reusable covers.

DIY cloth nappies

So when my flushables ran out, I switched to cloth. Intimidated by the variety and price tag of many of the modern cloth diapers, I decided to make my own.

I'm not a seamstress, but all I did was cut an old towel and t-shirt into small pieces, fold a t-shirt piece around a towel strip (to make a soft outer lining) and insert them into the plastic reusable covers my mother had brought over to me. This worked great, especially when she was still breastfeeding and her poop didn't smell and had the easily-washable consistency of yogurt.

Modern cloth: more options than a Starbucks

As she outgrew my homemade strips, I decided to invest in more modern cloth nappies. Instead of trying to choose between organic cotton all-in-ones (AIOs), hemp prefolds or fleece pocket diapers (see video on Fuzzi Bunz), I decided to avoid the 10 to 20 dollar investment per diaper and purchase a medley of already-used reusables.

I found a woman on craigslist selling about 50 cloth diapers of all different types and sizes and I was soon in diaper heaven with the simple pre-folded velcro-fastening cotton/hemp/fleece nappies, complete with liners and colorful designs (Note: I'm aware there's debate over the water used for cloth diapers, but I question the statistics used, and their source. See my post Diaper Wars for more.).

Disposables: let them sag

This worked well for months until my diapers developed a build-up, either from the hard water of Barcelona or my method of simply dumping the poop-covered cloth into the washing machine without scraping first. While looking for a recipe to strip my diapers (see video on Stripping diapers with salt, baking soda and vinegar), I switched back to disposables, but used each one to the fullest of its potential:
• If you read the label, manufacturers tell you their disposables are good for up to 12 hours- thanks to the gel that wicks all moisture away from the tiny bottoms- so I took full advantage and didn't change until a poo or the diaper nearly sagged to her knees.
• To cut material use, I downsized my daughter from the larger 4 her weight called for to a 2 that fit just as well. (see video Breaking the disposable diaper size barrier). This may have been the luck of finding a different brand that fit her better, but it made me realize it's worth taking a second look at size to be sure what they put on the package works for your child.

A wardrobe of options

Until my sister asked which type of diaper I'd recommend, I hadn't realized just how oversimplistic the question was. It's a bit like asking someone what one type of shoe they'd recommend for all purposes: perhaps some of us can get by with just a pair of sneakers, but most of us need at least a few options in our wardrobe.

For my guide to greener diaper options see my extended post on Diapers: one size does not fit all.

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Comments

[Colleen Kadleck]

One aspect not mentioned here is child care. Many child care facilities only use disposables and will not use other types of diapers. So, while you can decide what you want to use at home, some of these other options are not necessarily available when your child is being cared for by others.

In addition, the numbers in this article might not accurately reflect costs regionally. I looked into g-diapers and my cost in Nebraska was more like 50 cents a diaper (when the baby uses at least 10 per day in the beginning.­..).

I read another discussion of this issue (can't remember the source) in which the author observed that the real question is not disposable or cloth diapers but bringing another person into the world--since their lifetime use of products is more of an issue than what they use in the first couple of years. In my mind, as a parent, I try to balance what I can manage financially with a larger lifestyle that emphasizes respect for the environment (so, while I don't use cloth, I do a lot of other things to reduce our impact on the environment).

[willamette girl]

google elimination communication and check it out. it isn't all that 'granola' or freaky to put a baby over the toilet and wait a few minutes for them to relax and go, this is the way our great grandmothers and aunties used to do it - we've just lost that part of our parenting history. good for baby, saved us a bunch of money, and good for the planet.

[willamette girl]

we did a combination of diapers - disposables or cloth at night (depending on teething and illness), cloth during the day. we also did 'elimination communication' with our baby starting at 3 weeks of age. by learning what her elimination cues were, and using timing, we were able to use the toilet more and more, and diaper usage was easily cut by half. by 4 months, she did almost all bowel movements in the toilet because her cues were so obvious. my husband was absolutely thrilled to learn that babies do know how to do this. babies don't want to soil themselves. they try to tell us this, but often adults are too busy or don't understand that fussing is not necessarily only due to hunger, tiredness, or gas! our daughter was out of diapers during the day by 11 months, and completely dry at night at 20 months (often she was dry all night before this, but i was too slow to get out of bed and get her on the toilet before she needed to go...) you don't have to be a stay-at-home parent to do this. even if you only have time to take little ones to the toilet in the mornings and evenings, this approach will easily cut down on the number of diapers needed, especially in the long run. potty training will happen a lot sooner, and with a lot less hassle than trying to start this process with a toddler. ugh!

[nikael]

We have been using the disposables from "Nature Babycare" that are made in Sweden 100% from corn and are compostable. You can get them in the US at diaper.com. They are light, my little girl does not sweat in them and even if you throw them away normally they will not be the same problem in the land fill than normal disposables are. I prefer the Nature Babycare diapers to gDiapers and the price is about the same (depending on the size of diapers that you need and where you buy, of course). We use diapers with our practice of "Elimination Communicat­ion"/"Natu­ral Infant Hygiene" and the Nature Babycare diapers are great for that, too, because the tabs open easily and can be closed again many times without any problem. (I am not paid by Nature Babycare, I was just really happy with their product for the last 16 months.)

[Jill Kern]

for cloth users, one option for keeping your cloth in good shape and your hands clean; my husband took a kitchen sink faucet sprayer and hooked it up to the water feed at the back of a toilet. I sprayed the poop off the diaper with a spritz or two right into the toilet and they were ready for the washing machine.

[rupert12]

Wow, what a great idea!

[Weiwuwei]

BumGenius now sells these specifically for the toilet!

[willamette girl]

that is a great idea. thanks.

[sassy14u2]

cute baby!