"Diaper Wars"

I watched Nightline the other night and one of the stories was on the "diaper wars" between big diaper companies trying to get the largest share of the market. The reporter stated that some parents had posted on facebook that their babies developed a rash or irritation from the new Pampers DryMax. Pampers spokeswoman said she was "surprised" to hear this claim and they chalked it up to "advocates of cloth diapers" spreading rumors. I thought it was interesting. I'd heard that to make disposable diapers more absorbent they were adding gels and fibers (not natural) that may or may not be a health risk in the long run. Of course, not having a baby in the house, I'm not too concerned about it, right?

So the next night Journey was visiting at her great grandma's and needed a diaper change. Rather than run home and get a cloth diaper, Stephanie borrowed one from her sister in law. Journey wore ONE disposable diaper for only a few hours. The next morning it appeared that she was burned. She cried and cried. The Dr. looked at it today and said it was in fact a chemical burn caused by the diaper.

Nevermind that landfills are brimming with plastic diapers that will never disintegrate, or that they cost way more to use, but how about the fact that the disposable diapers can be harmful to your baby??

When Stephanie was a baby I used cloth diapers. I remember being excited about "prefolds", which people now use to make burp cloths. Back in The Day you had a large square of birdseye and you had to fold it every which way to fit your baby and then use diaper pins (scary!). So the prefolds eliminated a lot of that work and I found some little clippy things that eliminated in the pins. I also used liners so I didn't have to rinse a poopy diaper in the toilet (disgusting).

But now, with extra absorbent FITTED diapers and cute covers, why would anyone use disposables? With enzyme sprays, you don't even use a diaper pail with water. There lots of websites that discuss how to use cloth diapers, the different styles, and the cost comparisons. It just seems SMART to use them nowadays.

Here's a link to the Nightline story:

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/diaper-wars-battle-babys-bottom/story?id=11252355