What do we owe our children?
We owe them safety. We owe them health. We owe them happiness. But there's one more part of their birthright I hadn't thought of before I had babies of my own. We owe them the Earth we're going to pass down to them.
Q: Cloth vs. disposable, what’s more expensive?
A: Disposable diapers will set you back at least $2,000 before your child is potty trained. And if you buy premium or biodegradable options, that number will look more like $3,000.
Whereas twenty of the most expensive cloth diapers will set you back less than $500 (20 x $25). Factor in detergent and water bills, and you’re still looking at half the cost of disposables.
Q: How are cloth diapers way better for the environment ?
A: An average child will go through anywhere from four to eight thousand diapers in his or her life.
Nationwide, parents in the USA use an estimated 27.4 billion disposable diapers each year. That’s around 3.4 million tons of diapers that end up in landfills each year.
Now think about all the trees that are used to make the diapers. And all the plastic, which is made from petroleum. All the chemicals used in the process. And the water. Then all that water and chemicals returning to the environment as waste. Then the plastic packaging, the transportation – airplanes and trucks carting those diapers around the world – not to mention the energy you use driving to the store and back. And then the energy used to produce your garbage bags, the trucks to haul that trash to the landfills, the equipment used to manage the landfill.
The environmental footprint of disposable diapers is staggering.
Compare that to using the same twenty cloth diapers over and over, cleaning them with safe detergent in a high efficiency washer. There’s just no contest.The number of diapers a child uses comes from the conservative estimate of six per day x 365 x 2 years = 5475 diapers used.
Q: Are cloth diapers are more absorbent?
A: I speak here from experience. With a cloth diaper, I don’t have to change my baby in the middle of the night. With disposables, I do.Then there’s the blowout factor. Cloth diapers are generous, and they contain. Disposables, not so much.
Q: Do disposable diapers contain nasty chemicals?
A: Most disposables are bleached with Dioxin, which, in animal studies, caused nerve damage, birth defects, increased rates of miscarriages and changes to the immune system. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has classified dioxins as a probable human carcinogen.
There’s also Sodium Polyacrylate, the super absorbent gelling material, or AGM, that allows your baby to go long periods in one diaper. Sodium Polyacrylate has been linked in the past to toxic shock syndrome, as well as allergic reactions, and it’s is potentially lethal to pets.
AGMs are also linked to an increase in childhood asthma and a decrease in sperm count among boys.
Now, big diaper manufacturers point out that these chemicals exist in very small doses in the diapers, and so don’t post a risk. And, sure, more studies need to be done. But Mama Natural says, why risk it? Also, some moms find disposables cause more diaper rash.
Q: Can cloth diapers protect my baby boys jewels?
A: German scientists found that the skin temperature around baby boy’s genitals was significantly higher when they wore disposable diapers as opposed to cloth.
While the scientists called for more research, they suggested that prolonged use of disposable diapers in infants could be an important factor contributing to the decline of sperm production in adult males.
If we're going to give our children a future,
doesn't it make sense that we have to be working to preserve the planet that they're going to inherit from us?
Unfortunately, majority of baby-related products out there aren't environmentally friendly at all. This means we're trading our children's short term happiness for their long term security. As more and more parents are coming round to the idea that preserving our children's environmental inheritance is more important than ever, I knew someone had to step in.
So Earth Baby Boutique was born.
We're not about dangerous chemicals or harmful production practices.We're about finally giving parents a safe option for all the things their baby needs!We're about taking all the stress and complexity out of raising your children in a way that preserves their future.We're about making sure you can choose sustainability and responsibility...Without having to give up anything your baby needs!
There's a thousand things your baby needs to grow up happy and healthy...And now we can give them the promise of a safe future without them having to sacrifice a thing.
That is what the Earth Baby Boutique is all about.
