The Pampers Drama

If you aren’t in the cloth diapering community, you may not know about the drama that’s been going on with Pampers lately.  There is a large group of moms out there that are claiming the new Pampers – Pampers Dry Max – have been giving their children terrible terrible diaper rash.  This post from my friend Kim over at Dirty Diaper Laundry sums it up pretty well.  Since Kim posted that article, Pampers has been in the news, and has been investigated by the US Consumer Product Safety Division.  So needless to say, Pampers hasn’t kept quiet.  They recently published a list of “myths” and the “facts” behind them.  The Real Diaper Association is asking that those of us who support cloth diapering get out the word that the real myths are in Pampers’ statement.

I’m not going to pretend to be a cloth diaper advocate.  I will admit, I cloth diaper mainly for selfish reasons – I think it’s cute, and it saves us money.  As I’ve said before – the benefit to the environment isn’t why we started cloth diapering… although it’s not necessarily BAD either .  I’m not going to speak to these myths as though I was a cloth diaper expert because the truth of the matter is – I’m not.  I also don’t want to get called out for being a hypocrite so I’ll just share with you upfront: M WEARS PAMPERS.  He wears them every day at daycare.  I put him in one to take him to school in the morning, and he’s in them until he gets home in the evening.  I’m not just saying he wears disposables… he wears the actual Pampers brand (though not dry max).  He wears cloth in the evenings, overnight, and full time on weekends.  So that being said… I think I am pretty un-biased when it comes to this subject.  The following Myths and Facts were taken from the Pampers website, and between each I’ve added MY opinion.  My opinions are just that – my personal opinion based on my experience.

Myth: Cloth diapers are better for my baby.

Fact: Disposable diapers like Pampers were developed to offer babies benefits that cloth diapers could not meet. That goes beyond convenience to helping keep babies’ skin dryer and more comfortable by reducing leaks and locking wetness inside the diaper in a way that cloth doesn’t. As a result, doctors and parents simply don’t see the same level of diaper rash that used to exist before disposable diapers.

My response: We have very few leaks with cloth.  When we do have leaks it’s usually because A or I didn’t put the diaper on correctly.  We have NEVER had a poop blowout with cloth, whereas with disposables we have them probably about once a week.  in fact, I’d say we still have poop blow outs at daycare about once every 2 weeks.  Diaper rash?  M is on a pretty regular schedule with diaper rash.  Monday there is no diaper rash.  By Wednesday it’s pretty bad.  By Friday his butt is raw and usually will bleed if you wipe too hard.  Friday night he gets home and is put into cloth for the weekend.  By Sunday the rash is completely gone.  Keep in mind I have yet to purchase any cloth diaper safe diaper rash cream… so the improvement can’t be attributed to what creams we use.  Is it the cloth?  i don’t know.  Honestly, I don’t.  I THINK it is… but there’s not any way to tell for sure.

Myth: Cloth diapers are better for the environment than disposables.

Fact: In October 2008, the United Kingdom’s Environment Agency published an update to its 2005 Life Cycle Assessment study on cloth versus disposable diapers. The update confirmed the earlier study’s findings that there is no clear winner in terms of environmental impacts between disposable and cloth diapers in the U.K., once all factors such as water, energy, detergent, and disposal are considered.

My response: I just don’t believe it.  Granted, most of my research has been done on very pro-cloth diapering sites.  But I just have a really difficult time believing any reliable study would show that throwing diapers into a landfill is more environmentally friendly than using cloth.  Many cloth diapers come from “up-cycled” materials.  Cloth diapers can be used with multiple children, or passed to another family.  I understand the argument that we are using more water, and electricity or gas because of laundering the cloth diapers… but I will say we haven’t noticed an increase in our gas, electric or water bills since starting cloth.  If it’s true – I’d be interested in reading more, but for some reason I can’t seem to find the actual study anywhere.  I can find hundreds of sites talking about the study… but none that actually show the results and how these conclusions were made. (weird huh?)

Myth: Developing countries prove that cloth diapers are better than disposable diapers.

Fact: Our product provides key benefits in terms of skin health, dryness, and even sleep. In China, for example, we’ve learned that babies and parents are frequently awakened during the night each time the baby soaks the bed, because the baby has no diaper or a very thin piece of cloth. As a result, studies have shown that a disposable diaper can help a baby there get a better night’s sleep. In another test, we have also seen less fecal contamination spread around the home using disposables versus cloth or nothing. Clearly, we have a lot to learn about how to help with basic hygiene needs in countries that have very different access to clean water to wash with, and how to best dispose of products after use. We’ve also learned about hygiene for older children through our Always feminine care business – where in many parts of the world girls are forced to miss school one week each month during their period because they don’t have enough pads or fresh water. We are working in those regions to better understand what they do with products after use, and how to work with local agencies and other businesses to ensure the best long-term system to manage it.

My response: Pampers, I applaud what you are doing in other countries.  I do.  But have you ever heard of Elimination Communication? EC isn’t for me.  It isn’t for a lot of people.  But in many countries – it is the norm.  I’m sure there are a lot of places where babies aren’t in diapers because their parent’s can’t afford it… but don’t group everyone into this category.  EC is a choice.  It is an option.  And nobody should assume that a baby without a diaper is without a diaper because it’s too expensive.  I’m slightly offended by this part of the last statement “less fecal contamination spread around the home using disposables versus cloth or nothing.” OK, I get the nothing part.  Babies without diapers still poop.  But cloth causes more contamination?  How exactly?  I have to say – I honestly feel like using cloth has gotten the poop level of our house to drop!  With disposables we took dirty diapers – poop and all – and tossed them into the diaper genie.  Once the diaper genie was full, I’d take out my big sausage roll of dirty diapers and tie it off.  And eventually (once one of us didn’t have our hands full) we’d bring the dirty diaper log downstairs and out to the trash.  Now?  Now I flush M’s poops.  He poops, it goes in the toilet and down the drain and IT’S GONE.  No more poop in the house.  I know what you’re thinking “no matter how much you try that diaper is going to have little bits of poo on it”  Sure.  I buy that.  But with disposables – the poop would sit in M’s room for a week or more.  With cloth?  Within a day or two the diaper is tossed in the laundry and all poop is cleaned off.

Myth: Disposable diapers are harmful to the environment.

Fact: All of the component materials in Pampers diapers are gentle to consumers and safe for the environment. Pampers diapers are made of materials that are also frequently used in a wide range of other consumer products. We are committed to continuing to reduce our environmental impact. For example, Pampers has decreased its diaper weight by one-third and packaging weight by two-thirds. And innovative technologies, raw materials, and product design improvements have led to significant reductions in energy, water use, emissions, and waste at our plants. We are working so that our diapers in the future will have less impact on the environment than even today’s diapers.

My response: Gentle to consumers eh?  Let’s take a look at the Pampers material list: ….. Interesting…. when I do a search for anything with the words Pampers and Materials I come up with a ton of links to this recent drama, the exact Pampers article I’m pulling from… and a whole lot of information on the Pampers website about how the materials are sustainable.  NOWHERE can I find a list of the actual materials/checmicals/etc that go into a diaper.  What I WAS going to address was that many sites, such as The Real Diaper Association say that most disposable diapers use sodium polyacrylate – a material that has been banned from use in tampons because it was proven to increase the likelihood of toxic shock syndrome.

Myth: The materials that make up Pampers diapers are depleting our forests.

Fact: The pulp used in our diapers comes from well-managed forests in North America. In some cases, we source our pulp from scrap wood chips from lumber and saw mills. Our pulp suppliers are required to be certified by an independent third party as practicing sustainable forestry. Certification includes standards and criteria for replanting trees, protecting biodiversity, water, air and soil, and for obtaining broad stakeholder input into the forest management plan.

My response: Good for you Pampers.  As far as I know… the fabric my cloth diapers are made of didn’t have to come from mills that are certified as practicing sustainable forestry.  That’s how few trees have to be cut down to make them.

As I said, I’m not an expert on cloth diapering.  I’m not a cloth diaper advocate.  I like cloth diapering for OUR FAMILY.  I do what I think is best for M and our family and our individual situation.  I’m happy to talk about the pros and cons of both sides.  But I will say that I personally prefer cloth.  I have no experience with Dry Max diapers, and have no reason to blog about this apart from the fact that I find it interesting.  I’m not trying to turn you away from Pamper’s diapers.  I’m not trying to tell you they are a bunch of liars.  I’m just saying that in MY experience – the things they are saying aren’t accurate.  If you’d like more information on cloth diapering, I’d be happy to talk to you about what I know… or point you in the direction of someone who will really know what they are talking about.