Nappies: Towelling or Disposable?
Environmentally-aware parents-to-be agonize over the choice between
towelling and disposable nappies.
Disposables have liberated a generation of parents
but there are still some good reasons to choose towelling.
The jury's still out on the environmental question.
Disposable nappies add massive bulk to your domestic rubbish, overburdening
landfill sites. But bleaching, washing and drying towelling nappies takes
a toll on the environment too. It's just less obvious.
Towelling is 100% natural - and cheaper
Cotton towelling nappies don't contain
any of the chemicals used to create the super-absorbency of disposables.
They're more natural.
Nowadays you don't have to fiddle with folding
kites and stabbing yourself with nappy pins. You can get shaped nappies
with velcro fastenings. The more expensive ones perform better. You don't
even need to wash them yourself. Laundry services collect the dirties
and deliver clean ones on a weekly basis, but at a price.
Some laundry services drive towelling nappies
for miles to be washed in machines with biological detergents, which undermines
the environmental argument somewhat. Towelling nappies are a cheaper option,
especially if you invest for your first child and reuse them for later
babies.
Disposables are less hassle
Disposable nappies are quick and easy
to use. Once they're dirty, you bin them and forget about them. No scraping
them clean over a lavatory bowl. They don't leak as much as cloth nappies
which saves on changes of clothes and bedding (and washing), as well as
your precious time. But they are expensive, some more so than others.
The more you pay, the better the absorbency of the nappy and the less
likely it is to leak around the edges.
They're equally likely to cause nappy rash
The key is to change them as soon as
you see they're wet or dirty.
Mix 'n' match?
Some parents prefer unbleached disposables
made from recycled materials as an acceptable compromise. There's no rule
saying that you can only use one or the other - use whatever suits you
at the time. At the end of the day, it's your baby and it's up to you.
Don't worry about what other people say.
What about your grandchildren?
A scientific study from Kiel in Germany
in September 2000 suggested that the widespread use of disposable nappies,
which heat up the testicles above normal body temperature, is a significant
cause of falling fertility in Western European men.
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