Cloth Diapers

It is no surprise to any regular reader of this blog that we’re having a baby. Well, more to the point, my wife is. I am cheerleading. It will also come as no surprise to regular readers that we are interested in minimizing our babies exposure to the toxic chemicals regularly contained in many of the daily-use products required for raising a baby. For example, our crib has a non-toxic finish, and our bamboo flooring in non-gassing.

As the baby could come anytime now, we’ve spent some considerable time this week looking into cloth diapers. I know there are studies saying not to use cloth for environmental reasons — this one, for example.  I won’t get into the whole debate – others have done much of that! Instead, I’ll share with you what I’ve found in my research, and what we’ve decided to do for now…

If you are set on using disposables, there is good news — you can still do so without having such a negative environmental impact. Check out Nature Care Diapers, disposables that are compostible, and made from GM-free corn – not plastic! Another option is the Seventh Generation diapers, which are also chemical-free, but not compostable. The gDiaper is marketed as an option for mothers not willing to commit to cloth, but looking to drop a smaller load in the garbage can (or toilet): they have a compostible insert that can be flushed. However, they may be too good to be true – the city of Vancouver completed a study on the impact of flushing the insert after the gDiaper was released in North America. Also, the liners contain some of the same harsh chemicals as plastic-based disposables (and if I could find the site I found the other day, I’d link to it!) If that doesn’t turn you off, consider that the cost of the liners (around 40 cents each) is the same as a Seventh Generation diaper, and is almost 5 cents more expensive than the Nature Care. As such, we have some Nature Care disposables on hand for when we are going out, however, we are going to try to use cloth.

Before deciding what to buy (and try) we consulted with my mother (who used cloth just 29 years ago on me), my sister (who started using cloth a couple years ago, and will start all over again in a couple months) and my sister-in-law (who is using cloth right now.)  We took everything they said, processed it, threw it out, considered it again, threw it out again, and then decided what to do.

We considered pre-folds – these are essentially diapers that are an absorbent cotton, hemp, or bamboo liner, that you “prefold” before you put them on the baby, and are held in place by pins (sometimes) and a plasticy, though not always plastic, liner (always).  The advantage of pre-folds is that they dry very quickly, and are less expensive than other cloth diapers to purchase. As we investigated, we found that if you buy organic prefolds, they aren’t all that cheap – around $10 each – compared to non-organic, which can be as cheap as $1.50 or $2.00 each. This brings the cost of using them up substantially, as over the non-potty-trained years a child will require 3 sizes of prefolds (though I read that the smaller prefolds make great dishcloths when they no longer fit…)

The complete opposite of the prefold is the “all-in-one” – this is essentially a cloth diaper that you use like a disposable, except for the whole “dispose” part. It is a multi-layered cloth diaper that goes on like a disposable, and the whole thing gets thrown into the wash after being used (and after the parent scrapes the doo doo off, of course.) We considered the Bum Genius Organic (these diapers come with great names) — however, with a diaper of this girth (it is also a one-size diaper – more on that later) to launder and dry the entire thing every poo poo or pee pee would consume a lot of energy and water. My sister-in-law noted that the all-in-ones she bought took a long time to dry. In terms of cost, this option would be more than pre-folds to start, as well as launder.

The middle-ground of these two types is the pocket diaper — this is similar to an all-in-one, but has a removable pad that takes the brunt of your baby’s gastrointestinal force, and is removed to launder, allowing it to dry more quickly. Swaddlebess has a partially-organic pocket diaper that we inherited a few of — however, when looking into the cost of small, mediums, and larges, we were a bit taken aback.

At this point, we went back and considered the prefolds again – we were given a couple of those, as well. In the end, we ordered some of the Econappi, which is a pocket diaper with an insert that can also have an additional layer of absorbency added in on top (like you would with a prefold). Also, it is a one-size diaper (like the Bum Genius) which means that the size of the diaper can be adjusted using snaps — both claim to work for babies from 7 to 35 pounds (we’ll see, I suppose…) We figure the Econappi is a good compromise, and will give it, along with our inherited and gifted diapers, a try. Worst case scenario, we buy something different. Stay tuned for more of the messy details!

The crib is ready…the countdown is on!

In less than 50 days, we could be the owners of a brand new baby. And, after last weekend, we now have a place for said new baby to sleep! We wanted a crib that was as eco-friendly as possible, without making us as poor as possible. We decided on a Canadian-made birch crib from College Woodwork. Though they use non-voc finishes, we were a bit leary to have any sort of stain or paint on the piece of furniture that our brand new baby will spend a lot of every day in for the beginning years of his or her life. We ordered the crib unfinished, and began the search for a natural finish that would seal the wood. We heard of people using food-grade oils on cribs, but some websites cautioned against this as the oil sometimes turns. Eventually, we contacted a local Ma and Pa paint shop, and they recommended Claphams Beeswax Salad Bowl Finish – to quote the Grandpa who ran the store – “You could spread that stuff on toast and eat it!” As we applied it to the crib, we noted that it does smell nice enough to eat.

Here is what the crib looked like mid-application – the left hand side shows what the crib looks like post-application.

Here is another shot – this one is more artsy, for Ben. Sadly, the room was rather dark, and I couldn’t get the whole crib to be in focus. But you can see what I was trying to do.

Baby is coming…

In a mere 72 days, our family will increase in size 50%. The additional 50% will begin life somewhere around 8 lbs, and consume approximately the next 18 years of our lives.  I am so excited.

We’ve been working like mad to get the house ready for the new arrival – so far, 500 sq. feet of bamboo flooring is down, with just 225sq. feet left to go. The filthy old carpet has been removed, as well as the vintage linoleum tiles located underneath the carpet (no asbestos in the backing – phew!) We’ve received numerous hand-me-downs from our siblings and siblings-in-law, and have ordered a crib. We’ve decided on an unfinished Canadian made birch crib. With all the talk of the VOCs in paint, carpet, underlay, heck, pretty much everything, we’ve decided we’ll finish the crib with some sort of food-grade oil. With the carpet gone, and  low-VOC environmentally friendly bamboo on the floor, we should be doing our best to limit our new addition’s contact with all that is environmentally evil. We are going to do cloth diapers (there is some debate over this one, if you poke around the internet) but as we are inheriting most of the diapers, it seems foolish not to use them. Also, we use Pink Solution for laundry (and all our household cleaning), and it has no phosphates, which is one of the criticisms of the soap used to launder cloth diapers. We also have a high-efficiency front-loading washer, which should minimize the water used. We did buy some disposables, but they are compostable (whether or not our bin will be able to handle 8-10 of these a day for the first couple weeks until we can move to cloth is unknown.) And, yesterday while buying a water bottle to replace my sadly lost (and much dented) Klean Kanteen, we picked up two stainless steel sippy cups which, though we won’t need for some time, were half price. So, onward we move…after this (long) weekend, the flooring in the baby’s room should be done, and we can start getting that together.

At work, my job has changed somewhat, as I’ll be working half-time for the next ten weeks to coordinate the development of the learning model for the shared facility that will house the new school. The goal is to open the building (which will integrate many human services with the learning program of the school) in fall 2011, which seems like a long time away. However, we are hoping to be able to implement the grade 9 program next year, to iron out some kinks, and then implement grades 9 and 10 for the year following. The school will combine project-based learning with service learning and cognitive apprenticeships, and house around 400 students grades 9-12. It is very exciting to be a part of the program development – I have been so lucky in my career to continually land myself in really engaging teaching environments.

While many schools do project-based learning, or have apprenticeships, ours will be the first to fully integrate the learning into the daily operations of the facility, which will likely house a library, a food store, the community association, a health clinic, and a police station. It’s a great challenge to get all these partners to come to a common understanding, but there are some great, visionary people in leadership positions with the parties involved, and  they see the potential benefit to those in the community, and are willing to work through the difficult pieces.

In addition, I’m finishing up another masters class (just one class and a thesis left after this one!) It’ll be nice to be able to focus solely on my thesis proposal – however, I’ve been able to tailor almost all of my coursework thus far towards my area of research (project-based learning with “at-risk” youth), which is nice.

So, nothing dull about my home life, or my work life — who could ask for anything more?