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Posts Tagged ‘diapers’

With all the decisions new parents have to make you wouldn’t think diapers would be such a tough one, yet it is one that parents routinely struggle with: cloth or disposable diapers? This article lays out the pros and cons of both to help you make the right decision for you and your family.

Disposable Diaper Pros

• Disposable diapers are extremely convenient, no doubt about it. It makes changing your infant a quick and easy process. When you’re shopping and you have to change a messy cloth diaper, you don’t get to just drop it in the garbage, you have to haul it around with you.

• - Disposable diapers seem to fit better. The adjustable adhesive fasteners make it easy to fit any size or shape baby. This is not always so with a cloth diaper which always seems to stretch out once you have it on your child and certainly more so once it’s been soiled.

Disposable Diaper Cons

• - Disposable diapers are petroleum-based products, which means they’re just downright awful for the environment. Carbon emissions are created in the manufacturing of disposable diapers, fuel is used in the transportation from manufacturer to store and diapers don’t biodegrade but sit in landfills for decades.

• - Disposable diapers also contain a number of chemicals, which may harm an infant’s sensitive skin.

• - Disposable diapers are more expensive than cloth diapers even if you have a diaper service.

Cloth Diaper Pros

• - Cloth diapers can be environmentally sound, particularly if you purchase organic cotton diapers. And while cloth diapers have to be laundered, which does contaminate the water supply and use water, they can be washed with biodegradable detergent. This makes them more environmentally friendly than disposable. However, if you have a diaper service then you’ll also have to weigh in the fact that delivery is contributing to greenhouse gases.

• - Cloth diapers, if they’re organic cloth diapers, don’t have harmful chemicals which means they’re not going to be as likely to irritate your baby’s skin.

• - Cloth diapers don’t fill landfills since they’re reusable.

• - Cloth diapers are generally less expensive than disposable.

Cloth Diaper Cons

• - They’re inconvenient, particularly for moms on the go.

• - They don’t necessarily fit as well, though some cloth diapers being manufactured today do have a better fit and fastening system than the old rectangle and diaper pin method.

• - If cloth diapers are not organic, then the cotton used to make them is grown and harvested with pesticides, chemical fertilizers and other environmentally harmful chemicals.

Disposable diapers are more convenient, though more expensive but they are generally an environmentally unfriendly practice. There are some more natural disposable diapers but for many they leave a lot to be desired. Cloth diapers, if they’re organic, are the most environmentally sound practice. The downside is they’re inconvenient. Ultimately, the decision to buy disposable or cloth must meet your personal beliefs as well as your lifestyle and family needs.

1. Know who you want to help you for the first week or two that you are home with baby.

It’s unrealistic to assume you can do it all on your own or that you have to! And if you don’t plan ahead, you could have every neighbor, cousin and coworker stopping by to gawk at your new little one. While it’s nice that people care, set limits because you and baby need rest and one-on-one time.

Be honest by letting others know how they can be most helpful (visiting at a certain time so you can nap or bringing a meal for your family). People genuinely do want to help you so relish in it!

2. Know that a new baby uses a lot of diapers, and not always “newborn” size.

You can never have too many diapers on hand! Most babies outgrow the newborn size very quickly so make sure you have size one available too. If getting out of the house proves difficult, don’t forget miraculous two-day shipping via the Internet!

3. Know that your breasts will probably become engorged when your milk comes in and you should have a breast pump available.

Don’t delay the purchase or rental of a breast pump because you don’t think you’ll need it until you introduce the bottle or return to work! Engorgement happens and it happens fast. Being ready with a breast pump, even an inexpensive manual one, will bring you much needed relief. While it is different with every baby, your milk typically comes in three or four days after delivery.

4. Know that it’s okay if your baby does not sleep in her crib or bassinet right away.

Those first couple of nights at home with your baby are likely to be challenging. Because it is so important that you get some sleep and that baby doesn’t get her nights and days mixed up, consider letting your baby sleep in her carrier, swing or bouncy chair. It’s unrealistic to think that baby will automatically sleep wonderfully in her bassinet (and if she does you will be surprised and overjoyed)!

5. Know that you will bleed for a while.

I had no idea this would happen. Seriously. I knew that there would, naturally, be a lot of blood during the delivery but I had no idea about the immense amount of menstrual-like bleeding that would take place afterwards. And having not had my period for the last nine months I had no women’s products on hand. Make sure you have plenty of pads to address this issue! This postpartum bleeding could last up to six weeks. If bleeding is excessively heavy, bright red (for more than 7 days after delivery), accompanied by a discharge that smells bad, a fever or chills, you need to contact your health care provider or go to the emergency room.

6. Know that babies like to be warm.

It was during my pregnancy that I was first introduced to the concept of swaddling a baby. Sounded kind of silly to me, but it totally made sense. Learning how to swaddle your baby could help your baby sleep for longer than 20 minute increments (which was super important to me). And because you should never cover an infant with a blanket, I recommend using bag sleepers (or sleep sacks) once your baby outgrows swaddling.

7. Know that batteries are every mother’s best friend.

If a new mom could choose one item to invest money in, I would highly recommend it be batteries. Everything from baby swings to freakish dancing Elmo dolls require these little power packs. Not much is worse than having a hysterical newborn who won’t stop crying unless she’s constantly in motion except having a hysterical newborn who won’t stop crying and then finding out that the batteries in her swing are dead [again]! Stock up on batteries– lots and lots of batteries.

8. Know that you need to take care of yourself.

Perhaps the best piece I advice I could offer for the postpartum period is that as a new mom you need to take care of yourself! I know, I know, you just had a baby you’ve got loads of wash to launder, dozens of diapers to change, lots of bottles to scrub and oh-so-much cuddling to do. And, don’t get me wrong, all of those things are important (especially the last one) but it is also very important that you take a few minutes to yourself. I always rolled my eyes when someone said I needed to be napping while my baby napped (especially after the delivery of my third) but it really is important. Most other things can wait. Your body just underwent huge stresses and it needs to recover. Taking time for yourself might look like napping but it could also be a nice, hot shower while hubby holds baby or a short walk down the block while grandma spoils baby. Whatever it is, it is necessary and you deserve it!