Comments on: Pink & Green Parenting: Saving Money and the Planet (Even If You Must Use Disposable Diapers) http://queercents.com/2007/12/18/beyond-the-valley-of-the-diapers-saving-money-and-the-planet-even-if-you-must-use-disposables/ We're here, We're queer, and We're not going Shopping without Coupons Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:23:21 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: A Mom http://queercents.com/2007/12/18/beyond-the-valley-of-the-diapers-saving-money-and-the-planet-even-if-you-must-use-disposables/comment-page-1/#comment-218798 A Mom Wed, 03 Jun 2009 23:42:01 +0000 http://www.queercents.com/2007/12/18/beyond-the-valley-of-the-diapers-saving-money-and-the-planet-even-if-you-must-use-disposables/#comment-218798 This is a great article. I too, try to be green. I always thought I would use cloth diapers. Correct that. I always KNEW I would use cloth diapers. However, if there's one thing I've learned in life, it's that as soon as you plan to do something and act holier-than-thou about that said planned act, you will not be able to follow through with that plan. I had who I thought was the perfect mate and was pregnant. I was 32 and had been wanting to be a mom for a very long time. My mate became abusive and I had to flee to safety and to make a long, horrific story very short, I found myself to be a single mom. I was on bedrest from nearly miscarrying from the abuse. Needless to say, my economic situation was poor, at the time in my life that I most needed extra funds. When I looked into the initial start-up costs of cloth diapers and a diaper service (I did did not have access to a washer and dryer), I simply could not afford to be green. I had to go the "evil" plastic route. While I still feel very guilty about using plastic diapers, I know that it saved my sanity as well. Sometimes, in certain circumstances, people might have to make choices that aren't the greenest. To make up for it, I never use a car. I figure all of that walking and bus-taking has to make my carbon foot-print a bit smaller. I take my baby in his little carrier to volunteer for the local recycling agency. I recycle, recylcle, recycle and have been explaining to my baby what I'm doing when I do so since he was a baby. All of his thrift store clothing, we pass on to other domestic violence survivors' children. It's a way of life for him. We also have gone to farmer's markets since the beginning, to not further add to the problem of pesticides and poisons being added to our earth. The result? I don't know yet, but I like to hope that all of this effort will make a bigger difference on his long-term memory and future actions than some diaper wearing he won't even remember when he gets older. I hope. And I will insist that if he makes a baby, he has to cloth it up.<p class="top-comments">Current score: <span class="top-comments-karma" id="karma-218798">0</span> <small>(to vote for this comment, please visit the site)</small></p> This is a great article. I too, try to be green. I always thought I would use cloth diapers. Correct that. I always KNEW I would use cloth diapers. However, if there’s one thing I’ve learned in life, it’s that as soon as you plan to do something and act holier-than-thou about that said planned act, you will not be able to follow through with that plan.

I had who I thought was the perfect mate and was pregnant. I was 32 and had been wanting to be a mom for a very long time. My mate became abusive and I had to flee to safety and to make a long, horrific story very short, I found myself to be a single mom. I was on bedrest from nearly miscarrying from the abuse. Needless to say, my economic situation was poor, at the time in my life that I most needed extra funds. When I looked into the initial start-up costs of cloth diapers and a diaper service (I did did not have access to a washer and dryer), I simply could not afford to be green. I had to go the “evil” plastic route.

While I still feel very guilty about using plastic diapers, I know that it saved my sanity as well. Sometimes, in certain circumstances, people might have to make choices that aren’t the greenest. To make up for it, I never use a car. I figure all of that walking and bus-taking has to make my carbon foot-print a bit smaller. I take my baby in his little carrier to volunteer for the local recycling agency. I recycle, recylcle, recycle and have been explaining to my baby what I’m doing when I do so since he was a baby. All of his thrift store clothing, we pass on to other domestic violence survivors’ children. It’s a way of life for him. We also have gone to farmer’s markets since the beginning, to not further add to the problem of pesticides and poisons being added to our earth. The result? I don’t know yet, but I like to hope that all of this effort will make a bigger difference on his long-term memory and future actions than some diaper wearing he won’t even remember when he gets older. I hope. And I will insist that if he makes a baby, he has to cloth it up.

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]]> By: Linsey Knerl http://queercents.com/2007/12/18/beyond-the-valley-of-the-diapers-saving-money-and-the-planet-even-if-you-must-use-disposables/comment-page-1/#comment-103574 Linsey Knerl Thu, 07 Feb 2008 14:56:50 +0000 http://www.queercents.com/2007/12/18/beyond-the-valley-of-the-diapers-saving-money-and-the-planet-even-if-you-must-use-disposables/#comment-103574 Great article! As someone who has come along way towards being more respectful of our earth, I too, have struggled with the diaper issue. To date, we have tried the gDiapers, but found that my very weak septic system with even weaker water pressure couldn't flush down even the most dissolved diaper insert. (But I love the idea of them, seriously.) If you could commit to composting the pee diapers, it could really make it doable. Our saving grace were the 7th Generation diapers. They make a mean pull-up, and once you get over the kids asking why their diapers look dirty (they're brown like a paper bag), you'll find they are just as absorbent as the premium competitors. Plus, I have found them to be just as cheap by snagging them from Amazon when they are 20% off and then using the Subscribe and Save feature to get an additional 15% off plus free shipping. Super affordable! Thanks for the awesome discussion!<p class="top-comments">Current score: <span class="top-comments-karma" id="karma-103574">0</span> <small>(to vote for this comment, please visit the site)</small></p> Great article! As someone who has come along way towards being more respectful of our earth, I too, have struggled with the diaper issue.

To date, we have tried the gDiapers, but found that my very weak septic system with even weaker water pressure couldn’t flush down even the most dissolved diaper insert. (But I love the idea of them, seriously.) If you could commit to composting the pee diapers, it could really make it doable.

Our saving grace were the 7th Generation diapers. They make a mean pull-up, and once you get over the kids asking why their diapers look dirty (they’re brown like a paper bag), you’ll find they are just as absorbent as the premium competitors. Plus, I have found them to be just as cheap by snagging them from Amazon when they are 20% off and then using the Subscribe and Save feature to get an additional 15% off plus free shipping. Super affordable!

Thanks for the awesome discussion!

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]]> By: Pann http://queercents.com/2007/12/18/beyond-the-valley-of-the-diapers-saving-money-and-the-planet-even-if-you-must-use-disposables/comment-page-1/#comment-97648 Pann Sat, 19 Jan 2008 16:50:06 +0000 http://www.queercents.com/2007/12/18/beyond-the-valley-of-the-diapers-saving-money-and-the-planet-even-if-you-must-use-disposables/#comment-97648 I've heard of cloth diaper liners that are made of some kind of rice paper - these liners allow you to "peel away" the solid stuff so that you can flush it, and make life a little easier in the diaper washing arena. I wonder if these could be used successfully in a disposible diaper, so that you end up putting less poop in the landfill. Diapers themselves are harmful, sure we know that, but it is also harmful having human waster in the landfill, too. Perhaps flushing away more of the human waste is another way to offset the use of disposables. I myself no longer have kids in diapers, with the exception of the occasional night time pull-up. Here's a question: which uses more resources / is more harmful? One pull-up used a day (for that nighttime wetting) or one set of sheets and blankets that have to be washed each day because they were wet during the night?<p class="top-comments">Current score: <span class="top-comments-karma" id="karma-97648">0</span> <small>(to vote for this comment, please visit the site)</small></p> I’ve heard of cloth diaper liners that are made of some kind of rice paper – these liners allow you to “peel away” the solid stuff so that you can flush it, and make life a little easier in the diaper washing arena.

I wonder if these could be used successfully in a disposible diaper, so that you end up putting less poop in the landfill.

Diapers themselves are harmful, sure we know that, but it is also harmful having human waster in the landfill, too. Perhaps flushing away more of the human waste is another way to offset the use of disposables.

I myself no longer have kids in diapers, with the exception of the occasional night time pull-up. Here’s a question: which uses more resources / is more harmful? One pull-up used a day (for that nighttime wetting) or one set of sheets and blankets that have to be washed each day because they were wet during the night?

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]]> By: Jennifer http://queercents.com/2007/12/18/beyond-the-valley-of-the-diapers-saving-money-and-the-planet-even-if-you-must-use-disposables/comment-page-1/#comment-90241 Jennifer Sun, 23 Dec 2007 01:05:21 +0000 http://www.queercents.com/2007/12/18/beyond-the-valley-of-the-diapers-saving-money-and-the-planet-even-if-you-must-use-disposables/#comment-90241 Homemade soda pop! Very cool. My dad used to make homemade beer--good stuff, and cheap!<p class="top-comments">Current score: <span class="top-comments-karma" id="karma-90241">0</span> <small>(to vote for this comment, please visit the site)</small></p> Homemade soda pop! Very cool. My dad used to make homemade beer–good stuff, and cheap!

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]]> By: Tara http://queercents.com/2007/12/18/beyond-the-valley-of-the-diapers-saving-money-and-the-planet-even-if-you-must-use-disposables/comment-page-1/#comment-89979 Tara Fri, 21 Dec 2007 22:55:32 +0000 http://www.queercents.com/2007/12/18/beyond-the-valley-of-the-diapers-saving-money-and-the-planet-even-if-you-must-use-disposables/#comment-89979 We also use disposables because well, I am just not up to cloth diapers. We don't use the plastic diapers though, and we overcompensate with other little tricks that are good for the environment also. We are making our own Soda Pop, Laundry Detergent, and soon after the new year we will be brewing our own beer.<p class="top-comments">Current score: <span class="top-comments-karma" id="karma-89979">0</span> <small>(to vote for this comment, please visit the site)</small></p> We also use disposables because well, I am just not up to cloth diapers. We don’t use the plastic diapers though, and we overcompensate with other little tricks that are good for the environment also. We are making our own Soda Pop, Laundry Detergent, and soon after the new year we will be brewing our own beer.

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]]> By: Jennifer http://queercents.com/2007/12/18/beyond-the-valley-of-the-diapers-saving-money-and-the-planet-even-if-you-must-use-disposables/comment-page-1/#comment-89234 Jennifer Wed, 19 Dec 2007 01:23:28 +0000 http://www.queercents.com/2007/12/18/beyond-the-valley-of-the-diapers-saving-money-and-the-planet-even-if-you-must-use-disposables/#comment-89234 Nina, I can tell you're meant to be a parent if you find even articles about *diapers* fun! Liza, I've heard that other folks had problems with earlier models of the Diaper Champ, too. The 2007 vintage (which we have) supposedly fixed that seal problem, but time will tell. Thanks for the link; I'm hoping to dip a toe-- er, tush--in the realm of cloth dipes when we move to our new house, which is equipped with all the mod cons. DivaJean, overcompensation rules!!! Thanks for all the feedback, folks.<p class="top-comments">Current score: <span class="top-comments-karma" id="karma-89234">0</span> <small>(to vote for this comment, please visit the site)</small></p> Nina, I can tell you’re meant to be a parent if you find even articles about *diapers* fun!

Liza, I’ve heard that other folks had problems with earlier models of the Diaper Champ, too. The 2007 vintage (which we have) supposedly fixed that seal problem, but time will tell. Thanks for the link; I’m hoping to dip a toe– er, tush–in the realm of cloth dipes when we move to our new house, which is equipped with all the mod cons.

DivaJean, overcompensation rules!!! Thanks for all the feedback, folks.

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]]> By: DivaJean http://queercents.com/2007/12/18/beyond-the-valley-of-the-diapers-saving-money-and-the-planet-even-if-you-must-use-disposables/comment-page-1/#comment-89186 DivaJean Tue, 18 Dec 2007 18:21:40 +0000 http://www.queercents.com/2007/12/18/beyond-the-valley-of-the-diapers-saving-money-and-the-planet-even-if-you-must-use-disposables/#comment-89186 We use disposables too. And we try to overcompensate in other areas like you as well.<p class="top-comments">Current score: <span class="top-comments-karma" id="karma-89186">0</span> <small>(to vote for this comment, please visit the site)</small></p> We use disposables too. And we try to overcompensate in other areas like you as well.

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]]> By: Liza http://queercents.com/2007/12/18/beyond-the-valley-of-the-diapers-saving-money-and-the-planet-even-if-you-must-use-disposables/comment-page-1/#comment-89158 Liza Tue, 18 Dec 2007 15:30:04 +0000 http://www.queercents.com/2007/12/18/beyond-the-valley-of-the-diapers-saving-money-and-the-planet-even-if-you-must-use-disposables/#comment-89158 We used the diaper champ too, until the seal broke and it quit being anything more than an inconvenient and extra-stinky garbage can. Now we use a regular lidded trash can with a foot pedal to open it. I'm of the "<a href="http://lizawashere.com/2007/04/22/the-lazy-parents-guide-to-part-time-cloth-diapering/" rel="nofollow">Lazy Parenting</a>" school of cloth diapering<p class="top-comments">Current score: <span class="top-comments-karma" id="karma-89158">0</span> <small>(to vote for this comment, please visit the site)</small></p> We used the diaper champ too, until the seal broke and it quit being anything more than an inconvenient and extra-stinky garbage can. Now we use a regular lidded trash can with a foot pedal to open it.

I’m of the “Lazy Parenting” school of cloth diapering

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]]> By: Nina http://queercents.com/2007/12/18/beyond-the-valley-of-the-diapers-saving-money-and-the-planet-even-if-you-must-use-disposables/comment-page-1/#comment-89149 Nina Tue, 18 Dec 2007 14:41:36 +0000 http://www.queercents.com/2007/12/18/beyond-the-valley-of-the-diapers-saving-money-and-the-planet-even-if-you-must-use-disposables/#comment-89149 Jennifer: Although I can't relate to this article just yet... it's food for thought and a fun read too with all the black plastic fantastic magic!<p class="top-comments">Current score: <span class="top-comments-karma" id="karma-89149">0</span> <small>(to vote for this comment, please visit the site)</small></p> Jennifer: Although I can’t relate to this article just yet… it’s food for thought and a fun read too with all the black plastic fantastic magic!

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