Every once in a while, in my search for the latest in cloth diaper news, I come across an interview or write-up that smacks of biased journalism.

When Dani Tobey, owner of babycottonbottoms.com in Colorado Springs, CO, gave an interview to her local paper, I can imagine she had high hopes for a fair representation of her start-up business.

However, Tobey’s interview with journalist, Amanda Brown, is anything but fair; the published article, YOUR SPACE: Mother is ’sitting on a whole lot of diapers’ reaks of an undercurrent of sarcasm.

From the start, Brown trips over her own analogy when she writes, “Dani Tobey figures she did a good thing by cashing in her 401(k) last year to invest in something that, well, wouldn’t go down the toilet.” Brown is speaking of Tobey’s investment in a large inventory of modern cloth diapers; the analogy doesn’t quite make it - disposable diapers don’t flush down the toilet - that waste ends up in our landfills.

Brown’s apparent bias against cloth diapers serves as transitions between interview quotes; lazy, underhanded ‘pokes’ typically reserved for playground bullies, not skilled newspaper journalists.

When Tobey says her new cloth diaper business is “…kind of recession proof, because people have to buy diapers” and that “People turn to cloth diapers to save money.” Brown’s assessment of this business model is “Yeah, but most parents want to toss, not wash, the output from their little bundles of joy. After all, dirty diapers are…just that.”

When Tobey makes mention of her Diaper 101 Classes…Brown reframes strong product support and pro-active customer service by hailing cloth diapers as “complicated”.

In spite of the “crud” found in this interview, the truth is that modern cloth diapers ARE DIFFERENT. And though the perspective shift is difficult for mainstream journalists to wrap their minds around, Tobey and other online and brick & mortar retailers of cloth diapers can help any who are interested.

Whether or not our country is in a “true energy crisis” is left to be seen, but as consumers, few of us in the United States have escaped the soaring prices at the gas pump, grocery stores, restaurants, etc…

Why the speedy rise in energy and transportation costs? Dow Chemical blames the cost of crude oil. Crude oil prices have doubled, even from this time last year, a 17 year high. To offset their soaring costs, Dow Chemical Co. announced a 20 percent price increase in their products, effective June 1, 2008.

Since Dow makes chemicals that go into everything from antifreeze and coolants, to toys, textiles, detergents and disposable diapers, it will come as no surprise that Americans are about to start paying substantially more to purchase basic staples and also, disposable diapers.

Dow is the biggest maker of polyacrylate, the absorbent chemical gel found inside every disposable diaper. When they raise the price of polyacrylate for their disposable diaper manufacturers, consumers will see the trickle down rise in pricing for disposable diapers.

They aren’t the only major chemical company affected either; just the first to announce a price increase-others are soon to follow.

How will this be reflected in the cost of diapering a baby in disposables?

A trip down the grocery aisle, plus a quick calculation of how many diapers a baby will go through in any given day, gives a rough expenditure of about 50 to 65 dollars a month spent on diapers–before the price increase. With Dow Chemical’s price increase of 20 percent on everything, YOURS and MY checkout receipt will reflect a rise of 10 to 18 dollars a month JUST IN DISPOSABLE DIAPERS.

For one reason or another disposable diaper prices have gone up considerably over the past few years. Day care providers who only 5 years ago paid about 22 cents a diaper for Pampers Cruisers^™ are now paying 34 cents for that same disposable diaper.

Beat the rising costs of disposable diapers - USE CLOTH DIAPERS instead!

Set aside any environmental argument you have heard regarding cloth diapers versus disposable diapers and simply focus on the FACTS - the actual COSTS. Following Dow’s announcement, cloth diapers have now become the most economical means to diaper your baby, period.

The Real Diaper Association has an excellent breakdown on the cost of disposable diapers in their Diaper Facts. According to the RDA, based on an average change of 8 diapers per day for a period of 2 years, a single baby will need about 6,000 diapers. Eight diapers a day might not seem like a lot, but 6,000 diapers certainly does-especially 6,000 disposable diapers with a trickle down price increase of about 20 percent.

Not only are disposable diapers expensive, but they are not a wise expense since a disposable diaper used just once is considered trash. Cloth diapers are REUSABLE; the initial investment pays you back, wash after wash, year after year, and through subsequent children.

Cloth Diapers cost less than one tenth the cost of disposables.

Based on estimations made by the RDA, the cost of using cloth diapers is about one tenth the cost of disposables. With the upcoming increased pricing, that will be less than one tenth. Now is the time for parents and caregivers to check out how far the cloth diaper industry has come in making modern cloth diapers that are easy to put on baby, easy to care for, much softer and more comfortable, and of course, considerably less expensive.

Earth Day is April 22, 2008 and there are many different organizations counting down, and planning events, for that day in the meantime. Challenges are being issued and topics are being discussed at the local and national levels. What are you doing? Did you ever consider that you can make EVERY DAY an Earth Day with a few simple modifications in your approach to the “stuff” you do and buy on a daily basis? You can.

Strong proponents of cloth diapering babies, we like to encourage parents and guardians to consider using cloth diapers as a way to cut back on the massive consumption of paper products and the growing landfills. According to the Real Diaper Association’s Diaper Facts, “Disposable diapers are the third largest single consumer item in landfills, and represent about 4% of solid waste. In a house with a child in diapers, disposables make up 50% of household waste.” We’ve covered the topic of growing landfills more than once here at CDB. It is a real concern and a really simple way of making every day an Earth Day.

In today’s DryBees Press Release, customer April Willis of Beaver, WV, said the ease of use of cloth diapers and not needing to go to the local store for a weekly disposable diaper run is wonderful.

“I can’t think of a better way to give going green a chance than adding super cute and soft cloth diapers to my baby’s wardrobe,” Willis said. “They’re just so cute and I feel better about my small contributions to a greener Earth and my son likes his contributions to a rash-free heinie. Once I started putting him in cloth, I knew I was never going back to disposables.”

An often belabored concern with going cloth is ease of use, but don’t let that get in your way. Cloth diapers, unlike disposable diapers, offer an endless variety of choices. One of the more popular choices are pocket diapers. When demonstrating how to use pocket diapers, ]parents are surprised when pocket diapers go on baby with the ease of a disposable diaper - it’s true, they do.

Though some might want to challenge the environmental soundness of some cloth diapers, it is common sense that a single use item will never beat out a reusable item, when it comes to which is the greener choice.

If choosing cloth diapers isn’t your choice for Earth Day, then make sure you choose something else. EVERY DAY is an Earth Day and whether or not we want to claim responsibility for where the earth is headed, we still remain responsible.

“All the vendors are out of stock. All the suppliers who sell the stuff to the vendors are out of stock. It’s huge, and it’s not shrinking.”

What is it? IT is the bumGenius! brand that Jenn and Jimmy Labit started from their home; now it is one of the best-selling cloth diaper brands on the market. They sell and market items like the bumGenius! DELUXE All In One Diaper and the bumGenius! One-Size Cloth Diaper, known to many as a pocket diaper.

Selling cloth diapers both through their retail store and their online store, the Labit’s plan on expanding to a larger store in March of this year, adding other natural parenting items to come alongside their cloth diaper sales. This is remarkable growth from a couple who started their company with just $100 and no loans.

Why cloth diaper when disposable diapers are so convenient?

Casting aside the obvious environmental argument, cloth diapering is a smart financial decision. “The bumGenius! One-Size Diaper, designed to fit babies from birth through potty training, sells for $17.95 each. In all, it costs about $200 to $500 to cloth diaper a baby, compared to up to $2,000 over a couple of years for disposables.”

Source: Cloth diapers hold piles of money for local company in the Business section of STLtoday.com

I’m always nervous when cloth diapering parents or manufacturers are interviewed. Not because I think they are incapable of sharing their convictions and their product with facts and figures, but because there always seems to be an unexpected bend in the road…something that is intended to level them and make the rest of mainsteam America feel good about their choices.

I’m not sure that The New York Times did just that, but I do still find it to be somewhat diminutive in approach, simply because it not only asks the hard questions, but asks the hard questions and then isn’t exactly answering how the other “team”, disposable diapers, stand up to the same queries.

One of the questions posed to Tereson about her Fuzzi Bunz pocket diapers was:

Q. It takes a lot of energy to make polyester, and it uses a lot of water to wash diapers. And if people use diaper services, you have to factor in the fuel used by their trucks. Aren’t you running counter to the “green” trend?

Tereson’s response:

Quite the contrary. If you ask people what “cloth diaper” brings to mind, they mention bleach, soaking, washing, lots of hard work. But use the term “reusable diaper,” and the first thing they say is “good for the environment.”

Although I’m not certain that was a complete answer to the question posed, I think the tables could easily have been turned where she wasn’t defending so much as asking the same question. “It takes a lot of energy to cut down billions of trees, as well as incredible amounts of oil to produce the plastics in disposable diapers. If people are driving their cars to the grocery store and back every time they need another pack of disposable diapers, don’t you have to factor in the fuel used by their cars and trucks? Not to mention the trucks used to ship the disposable diapers from the manufacturer, to a distribution center, and then on out to stores across the nation. Isn’t that severely depleting resources and nowhere near the “green” approach as even a polyester cloth diaper would be?”

It is easy to turn a question - and that’s just what was happening in this interview.

Deutsch point out that “Still, polyester isn’t biodegradable. Doesn’t that pose an environmental disposal problem after the baby is toilet-trained?”

Well yes, in fact, it does.

That said, these diapers will last up to 5 times as long as other cloth diapers AND THEREFORE will be used on subsequent children. Can’t say that for disposable diapers - which of course, already pose a problem in the landfills.

The arguments get old. The questions go round and round and it begins to feel a lot like the chicken and the egg argument.

Everything uses resources…everything.
Everything leaves a footprint…everything.

The point is to leave less of a footprint, to make wiser decisions in purchase choices, to reuse items that can be reused instead of chunking 12 diapers a day into the trash, that will later end up in my backyard.

When do we stop arguing and just get on board? Fuzzi Bunz pocket diapers are one of the easiest cloth diapering systems available. They are smart in that they wick moisture away from baby’s skin, leaving baby’s skin dry and rash free. The effect is that baby remains soft and comfortable. Another effect is that once the diaper is washed and dried it will go back on baby.

It is amazing how we are such a throwaway society, but we don’t throwaway the one thing that will make our world so much cleaner - our ridiculously unhealthy desire to maintain our lives of convenience.

Eventually there won’t be a choice.
Who will be looking for polyester fibers then?

Many times new versions are all in the marketing - as in, nothing about them really and truly makes them significant from the version before; at least nothing noticeable to the naked eye.

With the release of the bumGenius 3.0 One-Size Pocket Diaper you can not only SEE a difference, but you and your baby will experience the difference.

NEW bumGenius! 3.0 Features

• Of course, the stretchy tabs of bumGenius! have always made for a tighter, more snug fit at the waist, but now the tabs have been redesigned to be sleeker, trimmer, and the new material will help prevent pilling. BUT? The best part is that the new stretchy tabs will not wick moisture. This means that the tabs will not allow moisture to seep out from the diaper within. This is a major plus in this new construction - keeping baby’s clothing drier at the waistline
• Grippier hook and loop! The stretchy tabs have a new, tighter grip so the diaper stays put once you put it on.
• The slot that allows you to stuff an insert into the core of this pocket diaper is now wider. Yep, daddy can’t complain he can’t help with diaper stuffin’ anymore because it’s even wide enough for his hand. This was made possible by the redesigned tabs. This also eases the stuffing, and unstuffing, when pulling out inserts for diaper laundry.
• STOP THAT INSERT! Yep, there is a new waterproof insert stopper at the front waist of the bumGenius! 3.0. Which means now the insert can’t push all the way up to the front waistline, causing it to roll outward and wick moisture from the fleece into baby’s clothing.
• You asked and they have answered, now bumgenius is available again in extra-small. And? Because of the new patent pending insert stopper, the rise can be shortened simply by folding the stopper down in front; no extra bulk for wee little babies.

As if all those changes aren’t enough, now bumGenius! come with TWO inserts. Yep, you read right - a regular one-size microfiber insert, as well as a newborn insert. Since bumGenius! can diaper a baby from around 7 lbs. to about 35 lbs., you have the microfiber one-size inserts to carry you through. Use the newborn insert until baby’s wetting patterns pick up and then switch out with the regular insert. For night-time diapering try doubling up inserts for additional absorbency.

All the Features You Already Love are Still There!

With the bumGenius! 3.0 One-Size Cloth Diaper you’ll still get the same snug and trim fit, the same incredibly soft, non-pilling low pile inner material, snaps that match the color of the cloth diaper, a covered back slot to keep the moist insert away from baby’s skin at the back of the diaper, natural built-in gussets to hold the nastiest of messes inside, and a soft, yet waterproof and wick proof outer material.

All of this and guess what?
The PRICE STAYED THE SAME.

Disposable diapers. Are they “waste or watts? Feces or fuel?”

Yep, you read right, disposable diapers, the 3rd largest single consumer item in landfills which represents 30% of our nation’s non-biodegradable waste, might just be our future fuel. The process of making diesel from diapers is called pyrolysis, which sounds a lot to me like paralysis - a ceasing of movement. And honestly, if we were all a bit smarter WE WOULD CEASE the use of disposable diapers altogether and select from the variety of cloth diapers and cloth diaper covers available on the market today.

“‘A baby, from the time it’s born to the time it’s toilet trained, will go through a tonne of diapers,’ [Piciacchia] says, adding that the load will increase as aging boomers turn to adult incontinence products.” That is quite a bit of “raw materials” setting around. I’m all for chemically breaking down diapers into something reusable, especially as it does not involve combustion and emissions are strictly controlled, but let’s not forget that prevention is worth 2 pounds, or heck - even 3 tons, of cure.

Sure we need to clean up the past, but the future? Wouldn’t it make more sense to make the right choices, as opposed to churning up our mistakes? Disposable diapers have become our new fossil fuel only because we’re forced to do SOMETHING with them. The fact still remains that we are steadily depleting our tree supply as we’re cutting trees much faster than they can grow. Can you imagine a world without trees? Can you imagine a world without trees just so we can have paper pulp for the absorbent core of our diapers? Surely you’d rather cloth diaper your baby than look across the vast horizon and see nothing but processing plants for the new and improved diaper diesel, right?

I’ve got to hand it to Piciacchia and the boys over at AMEC PLC for their ingenius ideas of decreasing the amount of nonbiodegradable items sitting in our landfills, but should we really be working so hard to keep up with the demand?

No. I don’t think so.

Sources
Hamilton, Tyler. “Turning Dirty Diapers Into Diesel.” TheStar.com. 29 October 2007.

Elimination Communication, also referred to as Infant Potty Training, is steadily picking up speed in the United States as another alternative to dealing with baby’s waste.

In a October 9, 2005 article, A Fast Track to Toilet Training for Those at the Crawling Stage, Tina Kelley reported:

“About 2,000 people across the country have joined Internet groups and e-mail lists to learn more about the techniques of encouraging a baby - a child too young to walk or talk - to go in a toilet, a sink or a pot. Through a nonprofit group, Diaper Free Baby, 77 local groups have formed in 35 states to encourage the practice. One author’s how-to books on the subject have sold about 50,000 copies.”

Jumping forward 2 years later, the numbers are still growing as Lisa Poole reports that the diaper-free babies’ fad swells, despite critics. As mentioned, there are many skeptics, bit it isn’t stopping moms like Erinn Klatt who began practicing Elimination Communication with her son from the day he was born and says, “he has not wet his bed at night since he was six months old.”

If you’re interested in more information you’ve only to Google “Elimination Communication” or “Infant Potty Training” to turn up skads of sites with information and testimonials. Even MSNBC is asking questions, as Amy Robach looks at some of the pros and cons of potty training at birth in her interview of Lori Boucke, author of Potty Whisperer.

So why are we talking about it here? At a cloth diapering blog? Well, why not? One of the reasons that we even began using cloth diapers ourselves was to promote environmentally sound decision making. If diaper changes are eliminated altogether, I’d say those families are taking a considerable step away from massive consumption and should be supported.

For those who are interested, we say, “More Power to YOU!” However, as is mentioned in the video interview linked above, there will still be a need for diapers here and there. Perhaps night-time potty learning isn’t something your family wants to do and you need a night-time cloth diapering system. Maybe you want something for when you’re out and about running errands - a fitted trim one-size cloth diaper that’s easy to remove in a hurry. Maybe you are one of the families who have chosen to practice Elimination Communication on a part-time basis; consider the gentle approach of cloth diapering when you aren’t actively taking your baby to the potty.

For more information on Infant Potty Training or Elimination Communication, check out www.diaperfreebaby.org.

Knowing that the diapering trend has turned back towards cloth diapers and other more sustainable life choices is encouraging. On one hand, it is positive for my online cloth diaper business, but even before the business plan unfolded, I held the conviction to cloth diaper.

I enjoyed Patti Ghezz’s article, How I Became a Green Mom”, published yesterday. In her interview with Gina Costanzo, she really got to the core of how to tackle maker greener choices in your everyday life. Mrs. Costanzo said,

“I’m just taking small steps in what looks like, from my vantage point, the right way to go. In other words, I’m just being a mom.”

At the tail end of her article, Ghezz touches on “25 ways to be a Green Mama or Papa” promoting small, but meaningful “green” decisions. Many of her suggestions are not a far stretch from the recommendations I discussed in my last blog post, Carbon Diapers Reduce Carbon Footprint. It isn’t the broad sweeping gestures that stand the test of time - well, not usually. Rather, it is the day to day movements toward our convictions that get us where we want to go.

Costanzo and her husband didn’t start with cloth diapers, but instead, what they call “the easy stuff”.

“We switched to compact fluorescent light bulbs, and I looked up what my town’s recycling program accepts…Next, I wanted to do something about diapers…I chose a modern cloth diaper with snaps instead of pins called Fuzzi Bunz.”

Their daughter liked her cloth diapers so much that Costanzo was encouraged “to not only adopt a green lifestyle but also to teach Celia the importance of treading lightly on the planet.”

That is where the true change occurs. As parents we make decisions everyday that are wise or foolish, but they are OUR OWN decisions. If we don’t take the time or energy to pass on what we’ve come to learn, experience, or even just our opinions to our children, we’ve done a disservice to them.

If you cloth diaper, tell your children WHY you cloth diaper. If you have selected not to cloth diaper, tell them why you don’t. Perhaps you live in an area where the carbon footprint of a biodegradable paper diaper is “lighter” than a cloth diaper. Explain it to them.

If you recycle, compost, turn off lights, select certain bulbs, opt for solar energy, reuse, plant, eat locally grown and in season fruits and vegetables, or WHATEVER … explain to your children what you are doing and why so they understand the full ramifications of your decisions. And then, don’t give in to convenience and cancel out your words by not following up with actions.

Small changes, just like a slow, but steady river, can carve out canyons over a period of time. And when, as Costanzo said, “…convenience trumps tree-hugging”, don’t feel guilty - just keep on keeping on. It is all a part of a process of making greener choices and leading by example.

We are so excited that the winning photo was taken by a proud grandmother right here in our own Virginia Beach! Congratulations goes to 7 month old Owen; sporting his baby blue Fuzzi Bunz pocket diaper, he is absolutely the picture of a comfortably cloth diapered baby.

The contest, sponsored by Mother of Eden, LLC, received hundreds of photos for their first annual “Bunz on the Run” summer photo contest. Owen’s momma received a $1,000 (USD) check from Mother of Eden, LLC, as well as $500 (USD) worth of Fuzzi Bunz diapers and accessories.

View the full photo and the contest’s Runner Ups at fuzzibunz.com.