Diaper Cover Round-Up

Diaper Cover Round-Up

Diaper covers are an essential item needed for cloth diapering. Diaper covers go over the cotton diaper itself to keep your baby’s clothing, your furniture, and even your lap dry when baby wets or soils the diaper. Today’s diaper covers are stylish, practical, and easy. Choose diaper covers that fit your baby’s body type for the best results.

You have several options of diaper cover styles. You can check out different styles in Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area at Babyrama, Diaper Eez, or DearBorn Baby. Also, if you prefer online shopping you can check out the offerings at Lagoon Baby.

Wrap-Style Diaper Covers

Wrap-style diaper covers, like Thirsties Duo Wrap, have wings that wrap from the back of the diaper to the front. The wings fasten with Velcro or snaps in the front of the diaper. This style of diaper cover eliminates the need for any type of fastener of the diaper underneath. Pre-fold or flat diapers are simply tucked into the wrap diaper cover. This style is one of the easiest types of cloth diaper covers to use. They often have elastic on the legs and back to provide a better fit for the diaper cover and to prevent leaks. This style of diaper cover probably will provide the best fit, and you don’t have to worry with fasteners, something that makes them very popular with Aunties and baby sitters.

Pocket Diaper Covers

Pocket diaper covers, like Apple Cheeks or Funky Fluff LUX, have an inner pocket which is stuffed with a pre-fold diaper or a custom-designed absorbent layer. The absorbent layer inside the pocket wicks moisture away from the baby’s skin to the inner layer. These diapers are probably the cotton diaper that’s most like disposable diapers. Child care workers and sitters may prefer them because of their ease of use, especially if parents send them already assembled and ready to go. The disadvantage, though, is that pocket diapers have to be stuffed before use, and after they are soiled you do have to take the layers apart for washing, a task that is not particularly pleasant.

Side Snap Diaper Covers

Side snap covers are much like wraps, except that they fasten on the sides rather than on the front. Because there is less fabric overlap at the sides, it can be difficult to get a good, snug fit with side snap covers. However, these sometimes allow for better airflow under the diaper, so babies with particularly sensitive skin may need a cover like the Motherease Air Flow. Side snap covers do require that the diaper underneath is secured by a fastener.

Pull-On Diaper Covers

Pull-on diaper covers fit over the diaper like a snug pair of undies. They have an elastic waist and leg bands to keep messes and wetness contained, and they are quick and easy to put on the baby. The diapers must be fastened before you put the cover on. Usually, pull-on diaper covers are made from wool, fleece, vinyl, or waterproof nylon. One advantage of vinyl or nylon pull-on diaper covers is that they are most inexpensive style of diaper cover. A disadvantage of pull-on covers is that particularly runny poops may not be completely contained. Another problem with them is that a messy cover has to be pulled down the baby’s legs, making a small mess much bigger. Also, they’re not adjustable, so getting a good snug fit, something that’s important for containing messes, may be difficult. Sustainablebabyish and Woolybottoms both make wool diaper covers, and Bummis makes a pull on pant with a colorful fabric exterior and a PUL interior.

Different brands, sizes, and styles of diaper covers fit differently, so if you have a friend who uses cotton diapers, ask if you can check out their stash. Also, it’s wise to look at several brands, sizes, and styles before you make your final choice as to what kind will suit you and your baby best. At Comfy Cotton’s office you can look at various sizes and styles of diaper covers before you make your final selection. If you’re considering cloth diapers, you may want to think about using a diaper service and get out of some laundry-duty.

Cloth Diapering On The Go

Cloth Diapering On The Go

One big question that newcomers to cotton diapering have is “How do I handle diapers when I am not at home?”

The biggest difference between changing at home and while out is getting the soiled diaper from the public restroom to your house. And yes, at first it may seem strange to carry a dirty or wet diaper around in your diaper bag rather than tossing it in the closest trash can, the wet bag is effectively your portable trash can (without the waste).

After you’ve done it the first time and realize that the wet bag really does trap the odour and wetness inside, you’ll find that it’s no big deal and actually take pride in the fact that your baby’s diapers aren’t filling the local landfill with waste.

Speaking for ourselves, we’re grateful to moms and dads who chose to actively keep diapers out of the garbage and our environment; so with that in mind, here are a few tips that make cotton diapering while out and about simple:

  • Cotton diapers need to be changed more frequently than disposables, so you will want to pack plenty of diapers in the bag.

 

  • Some cotton diapering moms give in and use disposable wet wipes for diaper changes while on the go. That’s okay. However, if you don’t want to do this, pack several small baby washcloths and a bottle of water to dampen the washcloth while you’re out. Just roll the washcloths into the soiled diaper and take care of them when you get home.

 

  • After changing the baby, don’t worry about swishing the cotton diaper in the toilet. Honestly, it will be way nastier to do that in a public restroom than to simply fold or roll the soiled diaper into the wet bag and swish at home. If you’re a Comfy Cotton Client, simply drop the soiled diaper into your lined pail at home, waste and all, and you’re done!

 

  • When you arrive at home, immediately empty the wet bag, treating the diapers the way that you normally do. Don’t procrastinate this chore because it won’t get better with time!

 

  • Have several wet bags. This will ensure that one is always clean when you need it. Also, don’t skimp on wet bag quality. Do you really want to carry a cloud of stinky diaper odour everywhere you go while you’re out?

 

  • If you tend to keep a bag packed, be sure that you keep abreast of the sizes of the diaper covers stored in it. You don’t want to get out in public and realize that the only diaper cover in the bag is way too small for your baby.

Although on the surface, it may seem easier to use disposables when going out, it’s really not that big of a deal to change cotton diapers when shopping or running errands. In fact, it’s not any more complicated to use cotton diapers than disposables wherever you happen to be.

Environmental Impact of Disposable Diapers

Environmental Impact of Disposable Diapers

When trying to find the intersection between giving our babies what’s best and taking care of the earth, cloth diapers are a natural solution. If you’re not convinced that it is worth it, we’ve compiled some information to help you better understand what disposables are doing to our environment.

Disposing of Disposables

To begin our conversation on environmental impact, let’s start with a few facts about disposable diapers as reported by CBC News:

  • Disposable diapers account for 96 percent of diaper sales in North America.
  • 4 million disposable diapers are sent to Canadian landfills every day.
  • It takes between 250 and 500 years for a disposable diaper to decompose.

Brand new unused disposable diaper.

There is some disagreement on the decomposition time, however, all studies agree on this point: all disposable diapers make their way to a landfill and stay there. If your parents used disposable diapers, your old diapers are still laying around underground somewhere and will probably still be there for some future generation to uncover during an archeological dig. Lovely.

Soiled disposable diaper 3 yrs landfill, still wholly intact.

Beyond the Landfill

There’s more to the story than just ancient diapers in a landfill. Consider that the contents of a cloth diaper are treated as sewage (as it should be!) while disposable diapers send this nasty waste to the landfill. Think about that for a second: we flush our own poop to have it professionally treated before being unleashed on the environment but have no problem sending our baby’s poop enclosed in a diaper to a trash heap.

Bear with us as we ask you to think about poop for one more minute. Most landfills are engineered to keep waste from leaching out into the environment or into the water system. However, they are not fail-proof and there’s no accounting for the potential of spreading disease by small animals, insects, and other critters who have access to what’s on top.

That archeological dig is getting grosser by the minute.

No Chemical Romance

Disposable diapers are made from an assortment of natural products and a shocking cocktail of chemicals. First, there is TBT, a substance that does not degrade in the environment and is listed by the US EPA as extremely harmful to aquatic life. Then there is the byproduct of the bleaching process called dioxins which are recognized by the World Health Organization and the US EPA as being one of the most toxic. Let’s not forget about all the dyes used to make disposables pretty and the fragrances used to make them less stinky. It’s an awful lot to let loose on the earth just for a contraption to catch poop.

Is it All Safe?

Most experts will say that all those plastics, poop, and chemicals are safe, especially in the quantity found in a single diaper. The minuscule amount of TBT found in one diaper won’t kill a fish–but what about the accumulation from billions upon billions of diapers that will sit for hundreds of years? What about all that antique poop? 

We say: skip the whole mess entirely by choosing cotton diapers that are all natural, and can be washed and reused over and over again. If you don’t like the idea of dealing with poop at home, try a cloth diapering service that will pick up your dirty diapers and deliver fresh ones. It’s as simple as disposables without the harm to the environment.

Want to learn more? Contact Comfy Cotton Diaper Service. We do it all–including saving you from late-night runs to the store for more diapers!

Over 28 Years Serving Toronto’s Cloth Diaper needs

Over 28 Years Serving Toronto’s Cloth Diaper needs

A thriving business going on 28 years is an accomplishment.

We are proud to have served and continue serving parents in the Greater Toronto Area. Saving the planet one cloth diaper at a time. Have a look at the following infographic filled with interesting data accumulated over the past 28 years.

Diapers in Toronto Green Bins

Diapers in Toronto Green Bins

The city of Toronto allows diapers in the green bin. So does York region and Vaughan.

Great news, right?! Not exactly. The fact that these cities and regions accept diapers in green bins does not mean that disposable diapers are now magically biodegradable, sadly, they are not.

In fact, the large amounts of plastic, pulp, and chemicals that make up each disposable diaper do not compost. They remain in our landfills, leaching toxins and waste into the soil, well, pretty much forever (300-500 years is the estimate).

Toronto, Vaughan, York and other regions accept diapers in green bins out of convenience to parents because green bins are emptied weekly whereas garbage and regular recycling is picked up every other week.  Great news for our noses, but no change in the impact disposables have on our soil, water, and environment. Diaper liners made of biodegradable material may be separated out but the diaper itself is then sent to landfills. The trip to the green bin depot is simply an extra trip. Basically a waste of truck space, gas and human resources within the GTA.

We think cities need to make it clear to well-meaning parents who place disposable diapers in green bins that diapers, despite being collected in the green bins, do NOT end up being composted. They are simply transferred to landfills.  So what do you do when you want to make a true impact on reducing the environmental footprint of diapering?

There are three proven options:

  1. Use a diaper service to deliver, pickup and wash diapers so you have nothing to do except change your baby.
  2. Buy or make re-useable diapers and wash them at home (if you’re washing at home, this is a very helpful article on how to get a better clean at home).
  3. Use eco-friendly disposables (they may cost more and use some level of toxins or gels but far less so than regular disposable diapers).

Does your city allow disposables in the green bin? We’d love to know how cities help families who diaper be as ecological as they can and want to be.

Happy diapering!