DIAPER DIFFICULTY

Early in the pregnancy my partner told me she wanted to use cloth diapers. I was immediately skeptical of the idea, not just because I tend to do most of the laundry, but one of the first pieces of advice I received dealt with this issue directly; don't use cloth diapers, the environment will survive, and your life will be easier. This bit of advice was echoed by nearly every other person (parent and non parent) I spoke to during the pregnancy. I can safely say I never met a cloth diaper enthusiast.

Surrounded by this skepticism towards cloth diapers, my partner decided to look into environmentally friendly, chlorine free alternatives. Her favorite in this field is the G Diaper. After early experiments with the G Diaper proved unsuccessful (too much spillage into the liner), we learned they are most effective when the baby is a little older with a more developed digestive system (her poo was too loose). So we turned to our back up, Seventh Generation diapers.

The troubles of the Seventh Generation diapers made the G Diaper's look minuscule. The problems are profound and they range from structure, to the material; combined with their depressing brown color, there was nothing redeeming about them.

My daughter seems normally proportioned, and is in the fat part of the growth chart, but the diapers never seemed to fit properly. They never came across the waist properly, or hugged the legs correctly, which lead to my second problem; leakage. The sole job of a diaper is to keep stuff in, but these have a 50% failure rate. In a rough estimate I would say every other diaper had a substantial leak, which of course means, you are changing your babies clothes more than two or three times a day. Which means, you are doing more laundry, wasting more water, which doesn't seem environmentally responsible.

Seventh Generation also sells wipes, an item inherently destructive since they simply chemical soaked paper towels, which are used very liberally. The Seventh Generation brand are chlorine free which means they are less irritating to the skin of the baby and won't irritate diaper rash. Any while the product itself, the wipes, are 100% effective, the container that contains them, couldn't be less effective.

As more wipes are used, it becomes harder and harder to retrieve the wipes from the bottom. Most wipes have this problem, but these have it bad. I would say, as soon as 1/3 of the wipes are used the problem begins, and by the time there are less than 1/2, your frustration reaches a boiling point. By then I would say I waste between two and three wipes, just to get one. Which, I might add, is also bad for the environment.

After I overcame my initial frustration, I realized that this problem is symptomatic of many of the "environmentally friendly" products on the market. They are typically purchased simply for their small environmental footprint, and not for their effectiveness. So the consumer is left feeling good about using the product, but irritated by their poor design, or overall ineffectiveness. I am typically able to rationalize my way around buying things that make me feel good, but don't work right, but parenthood adds so many variables to the equation, I find myself facing these situations far too often. I am already paying almost 3 dollars for a roll of paper towels, that don't hurt bumble bees, can you please make them work well also.