Just When I Thought It Was Safe to Read Parents Magazine

My incredible waste of paper Parents magazine arrived in the mail yesterday. As I’ve said before, I didn’t subscribe to this publication. It was a incredible waste of trees gift from a well meaning friend. I thought there was hope for them after last year’s “Green” issue, but apparently not. I’ve thought of asking them to stop sending the magazine, but their dumb parenting advice is such great blog fodder. ;)

Their latest bit of bad journalism was an op-ed piece on cloth diapering. First they start with the usual refrain,

Cloth diapering is too haaaaaarrrrdddd!…”

Oh, whine me a river. Birth is hard. Parenting is hard. Relationships are hard. Life is hard sometimes. Get over it already!

While I do give the guy props for at least trying cloth diapering, I’m so very disappointed in his very (in my opinion) biased and inaccurate depiction of what cloth diapering is really like.

Parents magazine seems to have a real prejudice against everything involved with natural parenting. Of course, I’m sure that has nothing to do with the fact that their advertisers with the deepest pockets are formula companies, does it?) Breastfeeding is TOO hard. Don’t try to make it work. Natural birth it TOO hard. Don’t try to endure the pain (nevermind it serves a useful biological purpose and is better for you and the baby). Nighttime parenting to TOO hard. Don’t answer your baby’s cries, buy earplugs. Do not get me started on the circumcision article they published awhile back.

Women are too weak to endure the pain of birth, remember? My personal view was that if I couldn’t get through a few hours of pain to birth my kid, how was I going to get through its adolescence?

But then they got really stupid. They started attacking the environmental superiority of cloth over disposables. That’s when I got irritated.

The piece referenced a British study that claimed that cloth diapers were not more eco friendly than disposables, but anyone with any common sense could poke holes in this “scientific” study. First of all, they didn’t look at the way cloth diapers are typically used. (Did you know there is a study that said that single use disposable coffee cups were more eco friendly commuter mugs? I’m not kidding.)

Every parent I have ever known who used cloth diapers did some or all of the following:

  • They bought used cloth diapers (some or all of their stash)
  • They sold or gave away their cloth diapers when the kid was potty trained (instead of tossing them in the trash)drying cloth diapers on the line
  • They used their diaper stash for a second or third or fourth (or more) baby
  • They used their old cloth diapers as cleaning rags
  • They made or bought cloth diapers sewn from recycled flannel baby blankets

That one thing (the almost infinite reusability of cloth diapers) blows this study out of the water because it didn’t take that factor into consideration.

Many cloth diapering parents also hang their diapers out to dry (using the bleaching properties of the sun). Most cloth diapering parents also don’t rinse every diaper (flushing afterwards would point to more water use). Even if they only rinsed the poopies, they don’t do it until the poopies are solid (around 6 months) and by then, the baby is only pooping once or twice a day anyway, meaning one or two extra flushes a day.

And if you wanted, you could time your own potty usage with changing baby’s diapers. I always did this. When I changed baby, I would go afterwards so I only had to wash my hands once after all was said and done.

You see, there is this little invention called a Washing Machine. It works remarkably well for removing all kinds of soiled clothing and I highly recommend it! ;)

I love the quote on page 128 that says:

“Maybe, I thought, the disposable diaper is one of those inventions, like toilet paper, that the Western world just can’t live without – no matter the environmental impact. After all, if we really wanted to, we could wipe our own butts with cloth and throw the cloths into the wash every night.”

Ooh, what kind of freak would do a thing like that? ;)

Another issue that was never even mentioned in the article is the health and safety superiority of cloth. I blogged before about being praised by my baby’s Pediatrician for using cloth, because, to quote him, disposables contribute to asthma and are bad for baby’s skin. Cloth diapered babies experience less rash and less yeast infection, and also tend to potty train several months before disposable diapered babies. There is also a concern with our little boy’s privates being wrapped up in hot plastic for the first two years of his life (or longer).

None of this was mentioned in the article. Then at the end, this little jab:

“And while I think it’s extremely important to make sacrifices for the environment, I need to be sure that my sacrifices are making a difference – especially when the thing I’m sacrificing is the most important time of all: time with Isaac.”

Oh please! Now the author gets to feel superior as a parent because he does two fewer loads of laundry a week than me. Yes, I admit it. I had to take my attention off my babies (who were usually strapped in a sling while I did laundry) to do those two extra loads a week. Poor things! The emotional pain and suffering they must have endured. ;)

I came across this “Project Educate Parents” thread on Diaper Swappers. It’s worth a read if you want more info on why this argument is so very sillbig cloth diaper butty. Here’s another great article tackling why cloth is so much easier on the environment. Read some of the comments from cloth diapering parents to the article online.

All I’m sayin’ is, if you don’t want to do cloth diapers, at least be honest about it and admit you’re too lazy or grossed our by dealing with your kid’s poop and would rather pass along TWO TONS of biohazard waste and plastic in the landfill (per kid). Don’t come up with junk science and incredibly silly excuses already.

But, you can always make up for that by taking their recommendation to buy a diaper bag made from recycled materials. LOL!

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9 Responses to Just When I Thought It Was Safe to Read Parents Magazine

  1. chele says:

    Does it surprise you that I also cloth diapered out of poorness once upon a time? Does it qualify me to be an “almost natural mom” if I cloth diapered & made my own laundry soap out of lack of money but it accidentally helped the environment? LOL

    By the way, that same laundry soap recipe you blogged about a few days ago that I commented worked just as well on cleaning the cloth diapers as the pee pee sheets…

    And, I haven’t changed a diaper in quite awhile, but all three kids used the same cloth diapers and I still have them. They are great for all sorts of things.

    While I’m thinking about it… once I got behind on the laundry from being so sick that I didn’t get the cloth diapers washed fast enough for the next diaper change. Did you know that an adult Tshirt makes an excellent diaper? Yeah… exactly. Can’t afford diapers of any sort? Break out that old Tshirt that you never wear because you missed your mouth and got a spaghetti stain on, slob! LOL

  2. Annette says:

    I laughed at this quote:

    “Maybe, I thought, the disposable diaper is one of those inventions, like toilet paper, that the Western world just can’t live without – no matter the environmental impact. After all, if we really wanted to, we could wipe our own butts with cloth and throw the cloths into the wash every night.”

    Go figure – I wonder how all those people survived life so many years ago before we even heard of TP and landvill diapers.

    Off I go to cut up tshirts – the journey to crunchiness continues…

  3. carrie says:

    Chele, frugality and concern for the environment overlap about 99% of the time. And yes I’ve used an old t shirt in a pinch. Large tea towels work too. LOL! And a plastic grocery bag can be a cover in a pinch. (When you have one of those blowouts when you’re out and about and have no spares.)

    Annette, yep – I thought that was pretty darn funny too :)

  4. Rebecca says:

    That article was ridiculous. The British study you mention was flawed for a few reasons. I talked a bit about it here: http://greenbabyguide.com/2008/01/10/washable-vs-disposable%e2%80%94environmental-debates-to-ponder/. (Sorry for the huge link.) For that guy to try and fail at cloth diapering is one thing . . . but then to pass off his failure as better for the Earth and his child is laughable.

  5. Nell Taliercio says:

    I didn’t renew my Parents magazine sub…I, like you, never found anything good from it…except maybe a laugh or two. I love my Mothering Mag!

  6. bethany says:

    thanks for the reminder of why to NOT get another parenting mag … ditto Nell, my Mothering mag rocks! And they never get thrown out either … just kept for reference or passed on to another mom.

  7. Joanne says:

    In theory I agree with cloth diapers. I have been raising children for 42 years. We have 3 homegrown-3 special needs adopted and did care for more then 20 profoundly disabled children/young adults.

    When the child became a teenager and still in diapers, through cognitive disabilities, I changed to disposable. The girls with menstuation/stool/etc. experienced too many infections. When I switched to disposable that ended.

    Also, think about chainging an adult still in diapers. Gross for most. My life has been taking care of special needs children and providing parent support. Many parents with Special Needs Kids reported they were made out to be less then “natural” in their parenting by using whatever it took to just get through the day.

    This is just an FYI that while most children are healthy their are so many that are not. Their parents deal with incredible situations on a daily basis.

    While cloth are better, disposable diaper do provide a service for a certain population.

    Thanks for letting me make a statement. Also, if you know of someone with a special needs child, do what Jenny McCarty (actress with autistic son) says….be a friend and offer to babysit so the parents can have a break. I couldn’t have gotten through my parenting without my wonderful life long friends.

  8. carrie says:

    That is a great point Joanne … we do what we have to to get through the day sometimes. There are things like I would like to do but just can’t realistically do.

    Thanks for sharing that example :)

  9. Michelle says:

    Wow it is so nice to hear that I am not the only one that finds the advice in “THAT” magazine ridiculous!! From suggestions about nutrition (like suggesting French Fries (not home made) as a quality source of vegetables) to giving ASPARTAME a THUMBS UP as a good sugar substitute it has some of the worse parenting advice I can think of!

    Thanks for taking the time to rant it is always nice to stumble across like minded individuals. If anybody is interested I have a healthy living web site that you may find interesting drop by and let me know what you think http://healthy-holistic-living.com.

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