by Mona Gallagher

Created on: January 31, 2009

Cloth diapers have become almost extinct but there's little danger of them being placed on an endangered species list. For those who continue to use cloth diapers, I salute your courage.

The majority of mothers have no concept of what it means to launder cloth diapers. Take it from one who knows, the arrival of disposable diapers forty years ago was a priceless gift to mothers everywhere. However, with emerging green life styles and the social philosophy of reusable products to create less waste, new interest in cloth diapers is being revived.

The key to clean cloth diapers is to remove the soil from the diaper by rinsing the diaper immediately after changing the infant. Initially, the chore isn't too overwhelming, but as the infant grows and his diet changes, the unpleasant odor and task of pre-washing grow in intensity.

Then, there was the problem of diaper rinsing or pre-washing immediately after removal. That is the ideal method for readying diapers for the laundry, but hardly practical for real life situations. After changing the diaper, the baby may have needed to be fed or soothed and that, as now, takes priority over immediate attention to the dirty diaper.

I'm not sure how early American mothers handled the pre-wash diaper requirement, but modern mothers from the 1940s or 50s and beyond had the convenience of a diaper pail that held the diapers in a liquid soaking solution until they could be washed properly. Under the lid, a deodorizer worked to control odors. It didn't work miracles but it helped.

The process:

1. Remove the soiled diaper

2. Place soiled diapers in a diaper pail

3. Pre-wash soiled diapers

4. Launder diapers alone; not with general laundry

5. Fold or pre-fold diapers in readiness for diapering infant

Cloth diapers today haven't changed that much and the process is much the same as it was years ago.

Each generation had it's own products and methods to accomplish the dirty diaper chores. A special mild soap flakes product was made and marketed exclusively for washing baby's diapers to help guard against diaper rash. The general process remains the same, but modern appliances make it easier to accomplish the process.

If we were to imagine an ideal solution to the green diaper process, I can conceive of a diaper that one could obtain by pushing a button on a machine that would dispense a pure fabric suitable for diapering baby and a corresponding machine that would allow the same diaper to disintegrate in a matter of moments creating reusable energy to run the machine.

Technology has its share of problems with regard to the environment, but disposable diapers are probably here to stay except for the truly committed green living mothers and caregivers.

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