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My non-toxic baby guide to disposable diapers
Emily is a mother to baby Isabella, who is beginning a journey to find non-toxic baby products in a world full of disappointingly unsafe chemical filled ones. We’ve re-posted her article on disposable diapers:
I’ve been meaning to look into nappies for as long as my blog has existed. There have however been a few things that stopped me from getting to it so quickly- Firstly, diapers don’t have an ingredients list on them and so it is much more time consuming and difficult to investigate and assess their toxicity status.
I feel like at the moment, I’m in the best position I’ve ever been to test diapers. (READ: Over Christmas, Isabella got gastro for 10 days and so I started breastfeeding her day and night. Now, she breastfeeds almost continually each night and I haven’t got around to night weaning her again. – we previously used the Jay Gordon method successfully if anyone’s interested, though it’s never easy and you have to be really ready to do it.) Anyway, at the moment, I have a super hydrated baby who feeds all night and is in the same diaper from 7pm- 7am. Those morning diapers are HEAVY and we’ve had our fair share of leaks I navigate the brands!!s a!
Absorbency in a diaper is important to all of us and so I have carried out an at home absorbency test on a whole range of diapers (the results and photos are below!). I would never go back to a mainstream supermarket diaper now and am kicking myself a bit for not having investigated diapers earlier. We’re all on a journey and sometimes we just have to go at our own pace.
I wish I’d been able to get to this point earlier, but it’s important to not beat yourself up and to use that energy to promote action instead. I’ve since found some truly awesome diapers and would NEVER go back to the others now I know more.
DISPOSABLE DIAPERS
What to look for when choosing
Non-toxic ingredients: Chlorine is often used to bleach the paper liners and wood pulp in nappies. This process can leave traces of a toxic chemical called Dioxin in the diaper as well as releasing it into the environment during the bleaching process in manufacturing. Dioxins are carcinogens and are linked to many health problems. Always choose chlorine free diapers – for your baby’s health or the environment.
Fragrance free: Fragrances are frequently used in diapers to block odour. They often have endocrine disrupting phthalates in them which are linked to a whole host of negative health effects. These are unnecessary diaper ingredients as you should change a diaper frequently anyway. Diapers with fragrance should definitely be avoided.
Phthalate & lotion free: Phthalates can also hide in lotions which can be used on the inner layer of the diaper Either look for a nappy without lotion or make sure that they are phthalate free
Performance: It’s great to have something non-toxic, but if it’s hard, scratchy, leaks or doesn’t absorb well, it’s still not a product you want.
Absorbency: Needs to actually work! The diaper needs to take moisture away from the surface, distribute the liquid and keep it within it’s absorbent core.
Fit: A good fit is important for comfort and leak prevention. The elastic and pleating of material around the leg of the diaper also plays an important role in leak prevention.
Environmental impact: We want to ensure we don’t negatively impact our children’s future world too much! More and more companies are producing eco diapers nowadays and whilst I would love to think this completely offsets the problem about sending so much to landfill, there’s a lot of different components to whether something is actually eco-friendly or not.
At Ecoriginals we offset the impact of our products. Being Plastic neutral, Carbon neutral and Planting trees globally.
Biodegradability: No nappy is 100% biodegradable. A nappy can have many biodegradable ingredients, however the tabs and elastic cuffs at least a are not. Biodegradability is important – a diaper with a higher percentage of biodegradable materials will break down faster than one which doesn’t. Unfortunately though, land fill is an environment with no light and air; without this, even a highly biodegradable diapers decomposition is extremely slow.
Cradle to Grave impact: Disposable diapers can have a large negative environmental impact during aspects of its whole life cycle; from the raw materials if they are not sustainable, to the manufacture if they use chlorine bleaching, to their disposal in land fill.
Less diapers used. Less residual waste
Ecoriginals 90% biodegradable diapers with super absorbency = less diapers used and less residual waste.
At Ecoriginals we offset the impact of our products. Being Plastic neutral, Carbon neutral and Planting trees globally.
Your plastic impact with Ecoriginals is zero.
Compare that with standard disposable diapers with plastic or blended layers that have as much as 200g of plastic being discarded each day*.
*Assumes average nappy weight of 50g and 5 diapers used per day.
What are the ingredients in diapers to avoid?
Bleach with chlorine which can leave small amounts of carcinogenic Dioxin residues
Unsustainable Packaging Use unsustainable forestry to make the wood pulp and packaging
Not biodegradable and have a horrible impact on land fill
Synthetic fragrances (Endocrine disrupting phthalates are often hidden in synthetic fragrances and used as preservatives as well)
Formaldehyde containing glues holding them together
How do you compare diaper brands?
Looking at the non-toxic status of diapers is difficult. diapers don’t have ingredients lists on their boxes and I had to email companies and search their websites. A lot of supermarket brand diaper companies didn’t reply to my emailed questions. I can understand why… If you knew you were going to give answers like “yes, our diapers are bleached with chlorine and contain phthalates” you wouldn’t reply either!
Unless a company is forthcoming with how non-toxic and eco-friendly they are, I make the assumption that they are not, otherwise I’m sure they’d be telling us how wonderful they were! (Which I’m guessing is why the eco-diaper companies did write back and the others didn’t!)
Even if a diaper is non-toxic, it still needs to perform its function well as otherwise it’ll leave your baby with diaper rash which isn’t healthy either.
I have tried samples of all of the below brands. Some brands I only got a sample pack of 2, so I could feel them and try them for fit and use one on Isabella overnight and then I used the other for the absorption test.
I think it is also important that a disposable diaper is eco-friendly. We shouldn’t just be concerned about what chemicals make contact with our baby when the use of a product has the potential to come back and bite in their future world too. (And let’s face it, we go through a HUGE amount of diaper per child before they are toilet trained!)
I’ve also included the cheapest prices I could find the nappies for, which are the prices they are per nappy (size 4) when bought in bulk – newborn nappies are always cheaper than this in each brand. A lot of us mums aren’t back to working full time yet or are paying child care fees and so cost has to be thought about at least!
Absorbency test
Like what you see in the old school diaper ads, I got a certain amount of colored water (that way you can see how far the liquid is spreading.
Steps:
- 1. You will need 4 diapers to test 300 ml of liquid
- 2. Pour quantity of water evenly over the front part of the diaper
- 3. Stretched out the diaper to let the liquid distribute and absorb. (leave for 4 minutes)
- 4. Press and rub the diaper to help liquid distribution and simulate body weight and movement.
- . After 5 minutes, I pressed the diaper with a piece of paper towel to see how much residual fluid was left and not absorbed into the diaper
The Results
The Results
Non-Toxic Status: Excellent
These are elemental chlorine free and contain no fragrances, lotions or phthalates. They have non- toxic inks/dyes and glue. Safe plastics are used where applicable.
Fit/ Absorbency: Very good
These are lovely and super soft nappies to touch. They fit well although don’t have quite as tight pleated elastic around the leg making them not quite as leak resistant potentially as some nappies for a highly mobile sleeper overnight. The tabs work well and are easy to roll up once used. Absorbency is excellent. These actually topped the absorbency test. These aren’t quite as streamlined as some.
Environmental status: Very good
These are 80% biodegradable which is super impressive. They are made from FSC certified wood pulp. They also have compostable packaging. They don’t however have any independent certifications about their eco-friendliness in manufacture,
Bulk price/ nappy: 58c with subscription
