Disposable Diaper Rash: A Cloth Diaper Testimonial

by Heather Zenzen

The day we brought our first child home from the hospital, a daughter we had named Grace, was one of uncertainty. We relished in the bliss that we had a new baby daughter to take care of and to love, but at the same time, we were unsure of what to do with her. Do we hold her all the time, even if she's just sleeping? Do we put her in the swing? The bouncy seat? Her crib? What if she stops breathing? What's going on with the spit-up? What's going on with that rash?

Grace was two days old when she came home from the hospital. During one of the many diaper changes that day, we noticed a red rash on her little butt. So, we broke out the diaper rash ointment and applied it. That was the beginning of a long and agonizing experience with diaper rash.

No matter what we did, that rash didn't go away. Luckily, it didn't seem to bother Grace all that much at the time. We asked our pediatrician about it at her two-week checkup, and he told us to continue applying the ointment and doing frequent changes. We did just that, but the rash still didn't go away. In fact, it got worse. Much worse.

By the time Grace was four months old, her rash had become rough and scabby. It would bleed intermittently, and it had become very painful for our dear little girl to endure. We had moved on from the over-the-counter diaper rash cream and were now filling a prescription ointment that the pharmacists referred to as "Butt Butter" or "Butt Paste". The prescription was costing us $15 per week, as that was our insurance co-pay. The frequent visits to the doctor's office to assess her rash were costing $15 as well each time we went. All the doctors would say was to keep applying the ointment and continue to do frequent changes. Well, frequent changes were quickly dwindling our pocketbook as well. Disposable diapers are not cheap. Add in wipes to the mix, and we were spending way more than we ever anticipated just on diapering our little bundle of joy. Of course, none of this compared to the pain we would feel as our daughter writhed around and screamed after diaper changes due to the burning sensation Butt Butter would cause over her sensitive little bottom. Thinking back to those days, I just cringe. 

All of this continued until our daughter was about 20 months old. During one of my daughter's ECFE roundtable discussions with other parents, another mom mentioned that she had started cloth diapering her daughter. Thinking she was nuts, visions of folded diapers, pins, and plastic pants danced in my head. But then she clarified matters for me; cloth diapering had been revolutionized! Now there are all-in-one diapers, which are just like disposable when it comes to ease of use. There are fitted diapers, which need covers, but you can use fabrics such as wool and fleece to facilitate this need. Poop was no longer a dunking issue; fleece liners allowed it to be "flicked" off into the toilet, and messier situations could easily be dealt with by using tissue liners or a spray gun attachment to your toilet. Needless to say, I was intrigued. She continued on to mention the monetary savings that cloth diapering offered and the environmental damage that disposable diapering was causing. Later that evening, I started my research.

During that research I learned that those disposable diapers and wipes were the likely culprit behind Grace's bleeding butt. The toxins found in disposable diapers are scary, to say the least, when considering that they are applied directly to a baby's most sensitive area. They contain dioxin, a chemical by-product of industrial processes, including the paper-bleaching process.¹ Its toxicity is second only to radioactive waste.² Dioxin is thought to be one of the most known toxic chemicals.³ Disposable diapers also have been found to contain TBT, one of the most poisonous substances known to man. TBT can severely affect one's immune and hormonal system.⁴ And then there's sodium polyacrylate, the substance that turns urine into gel. This material was in tampons until around 1985, when its link to Toxic Shock Syndrome caused it to be removed.⁵ It may also be interesting to note that females involved in the manufacturing of sodium polyacrylate have suffered from female organ problems, weight loss, fatigue, and slow-healing wounds. However, no studies have ever been conducted on the long-term effects of this substance being in contact with a child's reproductive organs for 24 hours a day and upwards of two or three years.⁶

Needless to say, we made the switch to cloth. Within days, Grace's diaper rash totally cleared up, for the first time since she was two days old. I'm just confused as to why her pediatrician never bothered to cite our use of disposable diapers as a possible culprit of her rash.

We now are blessed with another little girl we named Ava. Ava has been cloth-diapered since the day she was born. The only rash Ava has ever endured was when, like her sister, she was about two days old. Luckily, this time we were immediately able to identify the culprit - disposable wipes that were used on her little tushie. As soon as we switched to using cloth wipes, that rash disappeared and has never returned. It will not be missed.

Sources:

^1,3 Greenpeace. No date. Deadly Dioxin Facts. [online] Available from: http://www.greenpeace.org.nz/toxics-map/deadly.htm  [Accessed 14 August 2004].

² Campbell, Jonathan. 1997-2004. What Is Dioxin? [online] Available from: http://www.cqs.com/edioxin.htm  [Accessed 14 August 2004].

⁴ Greenpeace. May 2000. New Test Confirm TBT Poison in Proctor & Gambles Pampers. [online] Available from: http://archive.greenpeace.org/pressreleases/toxics/2000may152.html  [Accessed 2 July 2004].

⁵ McConnell, Jane. June 1998. The Joy of Cloth Diapers. [online] Mothering Magazine. Available from: http://www.mothering.com/9-0-0/html/9-3-0/9-3-diapers88.shtml#7  [Accessed 14 August 2004].

⁶ Calwell, Ginny. No date. Diapers! Disposable or Cotton? [online] Available from: http://www.ecobaby.com/problems.htm  [Accessed 14 August 2004].