Where to find facts about cloth vs. disposable?

Kim - posted on 02/05/2010

http://www.thenewparentsguide.com/diaper...
http://www.borntolove.com/facts.html
http://www.borntolove.com/e-concerns2.ht...

And this is a typed up thing I have on my computer with sources at the end:

The Top Ten Reasons for Choosing A Cloth Diapering System:
1. Cotton is the most natural diaper you can put next to your baby's skin. There is no need for gels or chemicals.

2. Do you know how a disposable diaper works? Do you know what's in a disposable diaper (there are no ingredients listed on their package)? Try this --- cut a disposable diaper in half. Pour water on half and watch what happens. There are tiny chemical crystals that turn into a spongy gel when water hits them.

3. The Environment. A baby will use either 7,000 disposable diapers or 80 cotton diapers. A disposable diaper is used for 2 hours - a cloth diaper is used for 3 years. Think of all the resources used to produce a product that will last for only 2 hours and then be thrown away. Think about where all the billions of throw-away diapers are going to end up.

4. Less diaper rash. Studies have shown there is less diaper rash with the use of cotton diapers than with disposable diapers.

5. Cloth costs less-a lot less. You will save about $2000 if you use cloth over disposables. While disposables are priced very cheaply for the newborn sizes, as your baby grows the diapers start costing a lot more.

6. Cloth diapers are easy to use. In your mom's day you needed pins, rubber pants, and time to fold a long flat cloth into a diaper. Now with cotton prefold diapers and Velcro diaper covers, it is quick and easy to change your baby.

7. Babies Potty Train earlier when they use cotton because they can feel the wetness.

8. It takes a cup full of crude oil to produce the plastic for one disposable diaper.

9. Babies learn by imitation. You can teach them by example the responsible way of dealing with waste. You don't just wrap it up and throw it away.

10. Medical and News Reports from Germany and England now suggest there is a link between the use of disposable diapers and infertility in boys (due to lower sperm count).

Top Ten Environmental Reasons For Choosing Cloth Diapers:
1. Disposable diapers use 2x as much water as cotton diapers.

2. Disposable diapers use 3x as much energy as cotton diapers.

3. Disposable diapers generate 60x more solid waste than cotton diapers.

4. Disposable diapers use 20x as much raw materials as cotton diapers

5. One billion trees per year are destroyed to make disposable diapers---approximately 4.5 for each baby who uses them

6. It takes between 200-500 years for a disposable diaper to decompose.

7. Disposable diapers are the third largest single consumer item in landfills, and represent 30% of non-biodegradable waste

8. 1 ton of garbage is created for each baby who uses disposable diapers

9. 1 cup of crude oil is used for the plastic in 1 disposable diaper

10. 18 billion disposable diapers are used in the U.S. each year * enough to stretch to the moon and back 9 times

The sources for the facts listed above are the following: Sierra Club, Californians Against Waste, Rhode Island Solid Waste Management Agency, Lehrberguer Report on the Impact of Diapers on the Environment, Greenpeace, Environmental Defense Fund, Center for Policy Alternatives

Heather - posted on 01/30/2010

www.pinstripesandpolkadots.com I have found to be the best source. They have a great chart for laundry detergents that list the additives such as brighteners, enzymes, and chemicals that can hurt both your baby's sensitive skin and your CDs. By far they are more ocmplete and can link to other sites regarding other info. Also check out hte basics link, to answer every question you probably have ever had about cds-
http://www.pinstripesandpolkadots.com/ba...

Anna - posted on 01/26/2010

I believe I found some links through cottonbabies.com.

Jeanne Marie - posted on 01/26/2010

Most of the information I have came from an Environmental Science class I took at my university three years ago. We had about 12 different books for the course, some of which touched on this topic indirectly by talking about the substances used in disposable diapers as opposed to the diapers themselves. It primarily had to do with the chemicals and plastics used which contained estrogen inhibitors and other similar chemicals. I want to say the book that had the most information on the topic was Our Stolen Future, but I also have about 500 pages of articles too that we were given. Most of the information had to do with causing harm to the development of reproductve organs, low sperm counts in boys, and under developed genetalia in boys. I know the Pittsburgh Post Gazette ran some articles on this back two years ago as well since these same chemicals contaminate the rivers there, and they found that the many of the fish populations were showing these same deformities. Sorry I don't have more concrete sources for you, but hopefully this can get you moving in the right direction.

Kaitlyn - posted on 01/22/2010

If you check out this site:

www.diapersupply.ca (it's Canadian, but has some good facts in it, even if your not from Canada)

Just go to the "New To Cloth?" part, which is part way down on the left side and it talks about the differences as well as talks about the different cloth diapers and options.

Also I was reading what someone was writting about the chemicals and such and there's a video from CBC's Doc Zone that's pretty interesting and talks about that issue. http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/doczone/...

Pretty handy, good luck!

Stefie - posted on 01/21/2010

I don't remember the sites I used when I first started CDing. I had issues with rashes is why I started. My DD would wet a diaper every two hours from the day she was born! The little pebbles seemed to react to her skin. I have to believe that since she switched to cloth rashes have diminished. I love I know exactly what I am putting on her skin.