Endless rows of diapers on our backyard clothesline were a staple of my childhood. 

Being the '70s to the early '80s, my mother was an anachronism; at this point in the US, after over a decade on the market, disposable diapers had become the common choice, but my mother covered every single one of us six children in cloth. She wasn't part of any organized environmental movement, to her it was just common sense that a re-usable alternative had to be better than disposing of daily binloads of plastic (Though to her the best option of all was to let us play bare-bottomed outside, contributing to our neighborhood reputation as “the naked family”). 

2% of U.S. garbage

Three decades later, I questioned her choice. My sister- pregnant with her second child and tired of washing and toting around dirty diapers- had unearthed research pointing to the negative environmental impact of cloth. Her husband, a not atypical Seattle resident who composts, bikes to work and pushes a manual lawnmower favored re-usables, but according to her environmentalist mother friends: the water, heat and chemicals used to clean the cloth was just as harmful to the environment as all the plastic diapers she would be contributing to a landfill.

Two years later, she disposes of an average of 10 diapers daily for her 2 children (Diapers contribute to roughly two percent of US garbage). 

3000 diapers/year

Now, four months pregnant, I am faced with the same decision. How easy it would be to simply follow my sister’s lead, but I am my mother’s child- to my husband’s horror, our kitchen is overflowing with all the plastic bags, bottles and yogurt containers that I swear I’ll find a use for.  

Knowing that the average child goes through nearly 3000 pairs of diapers per year, I fear if I go with disposables my instincts will stop me from changing them more than once daily and my child will suffer unnecessary rashes, not to mention the odor. Sure that there is an alternative, I decided to investigate rumors of biodegradable diapers and flushable liners, and along the way I discovered a surprising new trend. 

Extreme caution before composting a diaper

After days reading articles on the politics, research and all the lastest inventions, here is what I have concluded: 

Biodegradable diapers don’t break down in standard landfills. Though there is at least one company that suggests composting them yourself using vermicomposting (worms), it seems this could be a health hazard: “For reasons of health and sanitation, CIWMB does not recommend vermicomposting diapers at home, and suggests extreme caution if you attempt to do so”.

The best disposable alternatives (not taking into account disposable inserts) are the greener options. Made with unbleached cotton and wood pulp, Seventh Generation, Tender Care Plus and Tushies are chemical-, and chlorine-free.

There is substantial evidence that reusable cotton diapers are the greener alternative. “Disposable nappies have nearly twice the environmental impact of home laundered nappies, and over two and a half times the impact of service washed nappies. “

Proctor and Gamble fights legistlation to limit disposables

The belief that disposables and cotton reusables are equally harmful to the environment, may be misleading and the result of an early '90s PR war. Faced with legislation in 24 US states to limit the use of disposables, Proctor and Gamble (P&G) poured millions into research which concluded that cloth diaper laundering consume more water and pollute more than plastics.

The cloth diaper association fought back with a life-cycle study that found that disposables produce 7 times more solid waste and 3 times more waste in manufacturing.

The Women’s International Network took things a step further and with their own study (finding that throwaway diapers use 20 times more raw materials, three times more energy, twice as much water, and generate 60 times more waste) which they used to challenge P&G’s claims before the UK's Advertising Standards Authority. After a ruling that its claims were misleading, P&G withdrew them.

My research left me with the sensation that it was once again a story of big money protecting an industry (disposables). In 10 years will we be discussing this issue the way we now discuss the breastfeeding controversy: how could anyone have thought formula could beat the nutrients in a mother’s milk?  

Though putting all the negative environmental results aside, I can understand how women, like my sister, don’t want to spend extra time in the laundry room. I hadn’t finished with my research yet. 

The hybrid diaper

I had heard about a new “hybrid” solution: a flushable liner with reusable cloth outer pants. I went to the website of gDiapers to find out more.

They describe the process as a two-part system where a flushable inner liner can be snapped into a reusable pair of outer pants. When the liner is soiled it can be removed and flushed and the pants fitted with a new liner ready for re-use.  

I watched their video and it did look simple, but the inner lining is fairly large and would flushing it really make the disposal problem disappear? They have an online answer:  

“When you flush… you’re putting poop where it belongs. You’d be amazed how much baby poop from disposable diapers ends up in the landfill where the potential health risk and ground water contamination from viruses and bacteria in feces are real threats… Once your baby’s waste goes through the sewage treatment process to remove pathogens and odors, the resulting solids left over can be recovered and converted to a valuable fertilizer… So, a wonderful circular process – what sustainability is about – and you’re actually helping with each flush you make!!”

There was a certain logic to disposing of fecal matter with that of grown-ups, but better yet, when they were awarded the first "Cradle to Cradle" certification. Finally, an outside source had given a diaper an unbiased stamp of environmental approval. I was ready to order.

At their online store, I found their outer pants were quite stylish (with fun colors like global blue and gumdrop purple) at prices comparable to regular disposables ($25 for the starter kit of 2 outer pants & 10 flushables, $49 for refill of 160 flushables). 

Elimination communication

Proud of my new solution, I was ready to commit to flushables, but before concluding my research, I checked out one more too-strange-to-be true website… to find I’d been one-upped by a group of women who practice “elimination communication" (EC).  

It’s a diaperless alternative and while it sounds far-fetched, there are a substantial number of mothers who are learning to read their baby’s signals (such as squirming, vocalizing, tensing the face, having a look of "inner concentration”) to determine when to take their infant to the toilet where they use their own sound cues (usually a watery sound such as "psss") to encourage elimination. 

Infants only weeks old are being held over a toilet bowel to do their thing. Diaper free parents swear by its success, touting the special bond they develop with their infants through this extra communication, as well as the total elimination of diaper rash. It sounds slightly out there, but according to a New York Times article, this is just my cultural perspective. 

“With early toilet training, there is a broad body of knowledge and experience to draw on. Parents in at least 75 countries, including India, Kenya and Greenland, embrace the practice, with Chinese babies often wearing pants with split bottoms for easy squatting (available for $1 in Chinatown, according to savvy mothers in New York).”

Of course, this type of “communication” can only take place when the mother spends a significant amount of time with her infant. She needs to be there to read the signals and for working mothers this is even more difficult than bringing a breast pump to the office. I read on the diaperfreebaby site that EC can be done part-time.  

It dawns on me that perhaps I could invent my own third way: I could invest in a starter pack of gdiapers, but try to read my infants signals to get to the toilet in time to avoid wasting a disposable liner. I now have to sell my husband on the concept of learning this new language and split bottom baby pants. I flashback to an image of my bare-bottomed younger siblings peeing on our lawn and wonder if maybe my mother had it right all along.