The Leap to Cloth Diapering

I was always very vocal about using cloth diapers as opposed to disposable ones. Few days ago I visited my former co-worker who had a new baby born in the spring. She was telling me how her baby boy had always the bum rashers and she started to show me all kind of stuff she was putting on him and how nothing helped. I looked at few labels to see the ingredients and all I could do is to roll my eyes.

I am always amazed, how many parents are so concerned about all kind of stuff but exclude the diapers. No-one really cares that they contain in them traces of various toxic chemical substances which come from the processing of the paper and plastic used in their manufacture, to specific chemicals intentionally added to them. Then they go and take all kind of more chemicals and just add to the issue. Are they insane? Are people today really so very convenient that they don't really care to expose their newborns to these cancerous chemicals?

There is a few great articles, but I'd like to mention one with the same name, written by Virginia Blanco, "The Leap to Cloth Diapering" In there, she mentiones "that from the bleaching process to make the diapers super white disposable diapers are riddled with traces of byproducts such as dioxins and furans (organochlorines), which are “extremely persistent and toxic."

"Dioxins and furans have also been linked to learning disorders, autism [3], birth defects such as spinal bifida shortened lactation periods in nursing mothers, and various diseases such as endometriosis and diabetes. Dioxins have been targeted for elimination under the Stockholm Convention."

So parents, if you have a newborn or a toddler in diappers, please do some research and then decide whether it's really worth to just be convenient and use the disposable diapers, or whether it's worth to take that little extra effort and use the cloth ones. If you invest in your children today, it will benefit them tomorrow. It's not only expensive and not ecological, but also the health of our children is at stake.

The full article with great references to other sources can be found here.