Disposable diapers

A television ad that really used to bug me was the one where a toddler of 3 or so pulls up a diaper and crows, "I'm a big kid now!"

A child that age should be out of diapers except, possibly, a night time diaper.

I'm well experienced after babysitting my way through high school, where the first thing I did after getting home from school each day was to change my baby cousin's diaper and care for him, plus other baby sitting. On top of that, I have raised three children of my own.

Before disposable diapers took over the market, we used birdseye or flannel cotton fastened with safety pins. We laundered and reused these day after day, though the years, passing them from one child to the next.

I started with both new and passed-on diapers and finally passed them on to another expectant mother.

By age 2, my children were potty-trained and wore only a night diaper. The two younger ones were wearing training panties by the end of the first year with few accidents.

After observing babies brought up and living in disposable diapers until age 2, 3 or even 4 years, I feel this is largely because the parent or caretaker is not diligent in changing the child's diaper.

Disposable diapers are waterproof and don't seep. They have a built-in substance that draws the moisture away from the body so the baby doesn't feel the discomfort of wetness. These diapers help keep both baby and parent satisfied with the status quo, so disposables stay on and on.

Recently, however, a trend is developing as the economy tightens.

Some parents look to the economy of using cloth diapers. Some companies now make snap-on or other convenient reuseables. Even more economic are the diapers with safety pins. One mother with two youngsters still in diapers reported that she spent about $300 total for cloth diapers.

Disposable diapers would have cost her about $20 a week, or well over $1,000 per year.

Another factor in favor of cloth diapers are the fact that the child is more easily taught that it is better and more comfortable to control themselves and use a potty. This way, diapers can be discarded months or even years earlier.

Last, but hardly least, is the beneficial effect on the ecology of the world.

Much of the material used in disposable diapers is cellulose from our forests. Given the fact that millions upon millions of disposable diapers must be disposed of, this adds to the clogging of our sewage lines, overburdening our trash hauling services and overflowing our landfills.