The Great Wall of Diapers

Some might say we’re crazy (hi, Mom!) but we are seriously considering using cloth diapers. We are so serious about it that we actually went to a Diapers 101 seminar today. I’m serious!! There is a neat little store in West Hartford that specializes in everything baby – mostly organic and not made with lead– and they do hour-long seminars on diapers, slings, and all things baby that make your head spin when you see how many different options there are. It is a very small place, however they have an ENTIRE WALL dedicated to cloth diapers. I never knew how many different types of cloth diapers there were nowadays. All I knew about, until I saw the Great Wall (of diapers), were those square pieces of cotton that were used for many years of dusting furniture once their usefulness as bottom-hiders expired. Not to mention the giant safety-pins (well they looked giant to me when I was that young) which were almost scarier than the poopy diapers.  

My friend Ellen summed it up this week during her visit when she said “Are you going green on me Lee?” – I guess we are going green. It all started when I was looking for better ways to clean my house. My allergist said that my asthma was likely being exacerbated (quite possibly caused) by the vast amounts of chemicals in the cleaning solutions we use around the house. And since we like the house to remain tidy….. okay, I admit, we’re a little over-tidy sometimes….yes, YES it’s me, it’s all me…. as my husband likes to tell everyone who calls “We’re cleaning our already clean house”… well, you get the idea. So, anyway, the chemicals had to go.

Now, any right-brained person who has tried to do research on something, especially on the internet, will understand when I say you cannot research greening your cleaners without happening upon loads of other information that will make you think twice about all the other things that you’re doing to the environment. Since then, not only is vinegar the most used word in my vocabulary, but we’ve eliminated paper napkins, I’ve gone through less than 1 paper towel roll in the last month, and yes, we’re now looking at cloth diapers. Did you know that disposable diapers take over 500 years to decompose in our landfills, and that each and every baby goes through 6,000 to 8,000 diapers before they are potty trained? So I thought about a pile of diapers 6,000 high in my backyard. For 500 years. Ugh.

The great wall of diapers is impressive, to say the least. There were at least 15 brands, and numerous ’styles’ from the basic cloth with the basic covers, to covers with snaps or velcro, to ‘pocket diapers’ and gdiapers, and all in ones (AIOs), and there were fleece, and wool, and cotton, and you can even knit your own…. I could go on, but I won’t. So we’re going to try one of each to see what the experience is like. Maybe I’ll have more to blog about then. LOL

And for Jaden’s potential babysitters, please don’t panic…. we will also have seventh generation greener disposables available for those of you who are allergic to cloth. )