Friday, March 19, 2010

Chew On This

I don't know if I would worry so much about my choice of diapers if I didn't live near one of the most "environmentally conscious" cities in America. Sometimes it seems as if I'm the only person in a 20 mile radius that isn't obsessing over her carbon footprint. Don't get me wrong, I care about the environment. I believe we should be good stewards of the planet as we should be with our own bodies and lives. I also believe in and teach my children to avoid wastefulness.

When I was pregnant with my first child, I considered the cloth diaper option. I did some research and discovered I would be required to dunk and rinse the poop out in the toilet (sticking my hands in the toilet, even with rubber gloves, is a task I avoid at all costs) and with a breastfed baby this would be taking place at least after each feeding, 8 times a day. After the dunk, diapers would be piled into a pail half full of water where they would stew until such a time as I got around to filling my washer (where all my other clothes are washed, eewww!) with the soiled diapers and washing them. I don't think so.

So I checked out diaper services. This option relieved me of the anxiety of knowing my own clothing would be swirling around where my baby's poopie diapers had been sloshing just prior. However, since most services only pick up dirty loads once a week, I had to smell a pail filled with stinkiness for a full 7 days. That, in combination with caring for a newborn, I decided posed too big a risk of pushing me right over the edge of postpartum psychosis.

Well, here I am with my 3rd baby in disposable diapers. My glorious freedom tainted ever so slightly with guilt. Alas, I heard of a new hybrid option!! A reusable diaper cover filled with an absorbent flushable insert- genius! I got excited. I check out the website. I won't name these diapers here because I feel it is unfair since I haven't actually tried them. I did, however, watch the demo video with an open mind. I got excited as I saw the adorable newborn wearing the precious, colorful diaper cover. The mom/developer cheerfully explained the process of inserting what looked like an overgrown maxi pad (not unlike those they send home from the hospital for mom). Hhhmmm. Anyway, I was skeptical of the pad's ability to handle my baby's breastfed BM's. She showed how to fasten it and baby modeled sweetly. Cute! Then she discussed disposal options. You can compost the insert pad. Well, we already discussed that I don't garden so that's not appropriate for me. Or... you can flush it. Now we're talkin'! So she carries the soiled insert to the bathroom tosses it in the toilet and flush. NO, not yet. She produces a long plastic stick (comes with the diaper starter kit) with which you must swish the diaper around in the toilet to break up the material before flushing, lest you clog the toilet. One look at the giant poop-encrusted swizzle stick hanging on a hook next to her toilet and I was OUT!

I found yet another option today. Maybe this is the perfect solution!
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1 comment:

  1. S~March 25, 2010 at 1:50 PM

    LOL!!! I LOVE that SNL skit!! and oh my, can't believe anyone would cheerfully hang anything poop encrusted in their house anywhere! I don't care that IS the bathroom! Stick with your Luvs... all will be ok, don't you fret!

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