Their myths are my facts

This post is part of the Real Diaper Facts carnival hosted by Real Diaper Events, the official blog of the Real Diaper Association, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to cloth diaper education. Participants were asked to write about diaper lies and real diaper facts. See the list at the bottom of this post to read the rest of the carnival entries.

The cloth diapering community is up in arms over Procter and Gamble's recent post on their Pampers website: Myths and Facts on Sustainable Diapers. It seems they are now on the offensive because so many parents have complained about their new Dry Max diapers that they being investigated by the CSPC (Consumer Product Safety Commission). There has been quite a bit of media attention on the topic. Cloth diapers have been getting more media attention as well and judging from their "article" they seem to be a little nervous. So I decided to weigh in with my two cents.

Myth: Cloth diapers are better for my baby.
My Fact: When Tate was born in August 2008, our local hospital provided Pampers Swaddlers for us to use. I was planning on using g diapers and prefolds as much as possible once we got home. Now, I have to wonder if I missed some key warning signs that he was having a reaction to the chemicals in the disposable diapers. Tate was so swollen that we were unable to have him circumcised before we left the hospital. Also before we were able to go home, his doctor recommended that we have the urologist check him out. We waited all day to see him and then he was no help. He said he hadn't seen anything like it, but as far as he could tell everything was normal. How very reassuring! Thinking back, when we did take Tate in for the procedure, he was wearing a g diaper because the doctor made me close it up for him.
Once we got home, I was alternating between g diapers and the hospital's "gift," Pampers. One evening, when he was only about a week old, we were over at my parents' house and Tate was wearing a disposable. My heavy wetter had a gusher of a diaper leak! Michael was drenched. When we opened the diaper, it was dry, but everywhere it was touching was bright red. My mom had to point it out to us. Michael ran home to shower and then to the store to try another brand. He had the same reaction to the other brand. Lucky for us, I had prefolds on hand. My mom came over to give us a demonstration on how to use pins. We made the switch 100% and since then, we have had very few problems. When we have, it has been related to teething or food allergies. Cloth diapers have been better for my baby.

2 Myths: Cloth diapers are better for the environment and disposable diapers are harmful to the environment.
My Facts: I think these two myths go hand-in-hand. I recently read an article on the Huffington post explaining how much oil it takes to make disposable diapers. Given the amount of oil currently spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, I personally think people should be thinking twice about what that oil is being used to produce and ways to reduce their consumption. It takes 3.5 billion gallons of oil to make 18 billion diapers that are just tossed.
The next thing to think about, aside from the chemicals, is that those 18 billion diapers are certainly NOT clean when they end up in the landfills. I have always heard that it says on the disposable diaper boxes that poop is supposed to be dumped in the toilet before throwing it away. I wasn't able to find much documentation to support it. Nor do I know anyone personally that does it. I found disposable diaper contamination as the main topic in an article appropriately titled, "Out of sight, out of mind." Another article I found mentions the topic. It also supports that the fact that all of the contaminated water from dirty cloth diapers is sent to the sewer and then the wastewater plants.
The other big question in regards to the environment is, how long does it actually take for disposable diapers to decompost? I love the answers I found on greenanswers.com. Each person that responded to the question provided documentation to back up what their comment. It is clear no one really knows how long it takes. I saw anywhere from 100 to 500 years. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) even estimates it could take somewhere around 450 years.

Myth: The materials that make up Pampers diapers are depleting our forests.
My Facts: I feel like this topic overlaps the environment issues too. I found one Canadian article states a baby in disposable diapers for two years will consume four and a half trees. Not many kids, especially in disposables are out of diapers by age two, so the number is probably a lot higher. I also read that "producing disposables uses 20 times more raw materials and 3 times more energy than cloth diapers."
The Pampers website claims that they get their wood pulp "from scrap wood chips from lumber and saw mills," but what are they doing to replace those resources? Cloth diaper companies are giving back. For example, sustainablebabyishsloomb♥ has partnered with Trees for the Future and will plant a tree in Southeast Asia, for every diaper sold, in order to help offset their carbon footprint. Envibum offers four different diaper colors and when you purchase a certain color, $2 is donated to a specific cause. Those are just two specific examples; I know there are more.
Quite a few articles I read talked about the amount of cotton used to make cloth diapers  and the negative effects it had. Obviously, they were going on the assumption that all cloth diapers are still cotton prefolds. Nothing is mentioned in any of the comparison articles I read about using hemp or bamboo; materials that are more absorbent and grow back faster. I never read about synthetic materials used such as microfiber or Lollidoo using fleece made from recycled plastic bottles.

Myth: Developing countries prove that cloth diapers are better than disposable diapers.
My facts: Virtually every time I googled the subject, Kim Rosas' Dirty Diaper Laundry post kept appearing. Ironically, her blog is the first place I learned about elimination communication , which was another common theme that was frequently mentioned with diapering in developing countries. From what information I gathered, most children in such places are potty trained using these methods long before their counterparts in more developed regions. Disposable diapers are often improperly disposed of causing all sorts of environmental hazards. The best thing to say about this myth is that most cloth diaper moms would absolutely agree: cloth diapers ARE better than disposable diapers.