Settling Disposable And Cloth Diaper Debate - Advantages And Disadvantages Revealed

Back before disposable diapers made their introductions on society in the 20th century, mothers and grandmothers used cloth diapers to cover their baby's genitals. These were usually well absorbent cloths that turned into a comfortable nappy.

The worst fear of using these diapers was the constant worrying of pricking your fingers or worst yet, your baby's skin with the pins that fastened them. This no more true than a squirming baby trying to get his or her diaper changed.

Suddenly, the same mothers and grandmothers who used cloth diapers and pricked their fingers could now you a disposable diaper.

The first disposables out were completely unfitted, flat and uncomfortable.
The diapers just needed to be unfolded, flattened, pulled up over the baby's private area and then fastened with the tape around the middle. It was the instant diaper.

What ended up better than that was there was no more need to constantly wash clothes. No pails of dirty diapers that were soaking in borax. No more laundry service to take those diapers and bring them back. All disposable diapers had to do was be thrown away in the trash after being wrapped up.

No doubt the disposable mom generation had Pampers to break what was then and what is now. Numerous times mothers, grandmothers, aunts and older female relatives and friends would say, "in our time, we had to do this... we didn't have Pampers."


Advantages to Disposable Diapers -

Disposable diapers have numerous advantages over cloth diapers. These are:

- Cleaner
- Much more sanitary
- More convenient
- Less laundry to do
- Eliminates smelly diapers (by taking the diapers outside instead of leaving in a pail.)
- No more fear of pricking baby with diaper pins
- No more worrying if the diaper will fall off from missing some cloth when diapering.

No doubt the advantages of disposables were welcoming. Yet, there were no disadvantages being seen right off the bat. What people know now was not prevalent then. Mother Nature was being hurt by this new invention in baby care.

Three Facts On The Disadvantages of Disposable Diapers

- Diapers, unlike other things, do not degrade. Roughly 19 billion disposable diapers are thrown into cities' landfills.
- By making disposable diapers, over a million tons of wood pulp are used each year.
- Waste contains heavy metals, industrial solvents and dioxins.

It would seem that disposable diapers are very bad for the environment, especially one that has limited resources. Should mothers' convenience ruin Mother Nature and the planet?

It does seem that environmentalists have a point about disposable diapers hurting the planet.

Cloth diapers challenged

On the flip side of the coin though, diaper makers have said that cloth diapers are just as bad with all the cleaning detergents needed to get the cloth diapers unsoiled. Harsh chemicals like bleach and borax can have harmful repercussions on the environment.

Not only can chemicals hurt the environment, but the utilization of water and the energy (or fuels) needed to warm up the water temperature to a safe temperature to disinfect the diapers. All this is just as detrimental to Mother Nature.

The use of disposables or cloth diapers is really a moral judgment for both mother and father to choose from. What is more convenient for them and the baby? What is less harmful to the environment? The only thing to do is make a responsible, informed and knowledgeable decision when choosing between both kinds of diapers.