Cloth vs Disposable Nappies
Walk through the door of your home for the first time after giving birth and getting home from the hospital and you will know doubt have an idea as to what direction you are taking with regards to nappies. If you are have indeed decided hopefully this blog will give you a better idea of what is to come, if you are yet to decide brace yourself for some hard nappy facts - given that you are likely to use 5000+ per child. What baby bonus?
The Process Of Making a Nappy
Most disposable nappies are made from plastics, paper, and array of chemicals, dyes and fragrances.
Roughly 40% of a nappy is made up of wood pulp. The outer layer is made up of polymers made from precious fossil fuels, which made up 23% of the weight, and there is a absorbent core made from a chemical called sodium polyacrylate (SAP). Most nappies are then washed in either hydrogen peroxide or chlorine - scary.
New age cloth nappies are made from hemp, bamboo, fleece, polyester or organic cotton. Cotton is a water hungry crop that requires considerable amounts of fertiliser, unless it's organic, herbicides and pesticides to grow.
How Many Nappies Will I Use
It's estimated that most babies will go through 5000+ nappies from birth to potty training, while users of organic cotton nappies may only go through 20 nappies.
The 20 organic cotton nappies though have to be washed, painful as it may seem - not to forget soaking time and scraping number 2 into the loo. Over the nappy wearing life cycle that means around 44 extra loads of washing, 24 KWH of electricity, and 3000L of extra water.
Landfill
Over the 2.5 years your baby is likely to wear nappies the equivalent of 1/4 of the of the average car is likely to be produced in waste, ultimately going to landfill. Most disposable nappies will never decompose, especially while surrounded by other rubbish. Disposable nappies represent 4% of the total rubbish in landfill.
The Nappy Cost
Simple:
- Disposables up to $6000
- Fitted around $1000
There is no definitive answer to that yet, so the jury is still out. However, is seems clear to me that although fitted nappies do use considerable more water in the end it's felt that the benefits to the environment and your baby far outweigh the benefits of disposable nappies. Furthermore, no one study has ever looked at this issue and further considered the long-term health impacts of chlorine & petrochemicals on your babies skin - perhaps the time has come.
My advice of course is to do what suits your family best. We opted for a combination of fitted nappies with chlorine & petrochemical free nappies.