At Happy Heinys we have done our best to make every possible combination of diaper available to all parents. We are truly your one stop diaper shop. A little bit of everything. For the first 6 yrs of our company all of our pocket diapers were only available in a hook and loop version. We found that many parents preferred the ease of the hook and loop diapers. Especially when it came to those midnight changes, when you don't want to turn the light on for fear of waking everyone else up in the house.
Then you have our very wonderful husbands whom just by nature have larger hands and well if your husband is anything like my husband, the easier the better when it comes to changing the babies diapers. My husband is the best when it comes to helping to care for the kids but during the diapering years if I had thrown a diaper with snaps at him, well let's just say if it made it on the baby it would not be on correctly. I also know for a fact if his only choice was snaps, he would do everything possible to avoid changing diapers.
Soon after we started selling our hook and loop closure diapers we quickly became known as the "daddy friendly" diapers. Nice wide pocket for big hands and easy hook and loop to close the diaper. They could do it blind-folded. Moms praised the fact that now with their choice of using cloth their sweet sweet husbands no longer had an excuse not to change the diapers and often times some moms stated that they "saved" their happy heinys for their husbands.
Unfortunately as baby gets older, there can be a slight issue with the hook and loop closure on the diaper. You see sometimes it can be a little too easy for some babies to rrrrrriiiiiiiiippppppppppppp off and it makes this wonderful rrrrrrrriiiiiiiippppp sound and the funny thing is mom comes running in fear. Of course the same thing cane happen with disposable diapers, hence all of the adults today whose parents still lovingly speak of their brown colored wall art early in the morning. Well, it's the same thing. Not all babies go through what we call the stripping stage but the fact of the matter is some will. For these kids snaps will always be the best choice. Hence the debut of our snap closure diapers. You asked and we have provided.
It's quite ironic though, when it comes to deciding what type of closures you should buy for your baby. Even though the snaps can be a saving grace for some sneaky little ones they can also be a night-mare for a rambunctious toddler who would rather do anything than lay down for what seems like a life0time to get their diaper changed.
So what would be best for you? Well, it's a personal decision and it really does greatly depend on what type of diapers you are going to go with. If you are going to use sized diapers, this means that you will purchase at least 3 different sizes of cloth diapers during your babies diapering days. For the smallest size, make your life easy and go with the hook and loop. As your little one starts becoming their own person and starts learning new fun tricks, when you size up you may realize I better go with the snaps.
Today my baby is almost 8 yrs old, the original Happy Heiny. But if I had a little one my choice would be simple: I would use the mini one size from birth to 15 lbs. This is the only true diaper out there that will fit a 5 lb baby with those cute little chicken legs. Plus they will fit up to a true 15 lbs so they are not a huge waste of money like most XS diapers are. You would use these for at least 3 months if not closer to 6. Then I would switch to a combination of the snap and hook and loop closure diapers. I would have the snap for over-nights knowing that if my toddler had a little too much time in the morning they may decide to do some wall painting so I would want the protection. Yet I also rather enjoy having a helpful spouse so I would make it as easy as possible for him. To me it is the best of both worlds.
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Friday, April 30, 2010
Giveaway time!!
Today we are giving away a Tie Dye Pocket Diaper with SNAPS. You choose your size. This is not a onesize.
Ways to enter are below. Please post back to us here or on facebook and let us know how you entered. Each one counts as ONE ENTRY so you can do all of them as many times as you wish to increase your chances of winning.
- Become a follower of our blog.
- Follow Happy Heinys on twitter www.twitter.com/happyheinys
- Fan / like us on Facebook. www.facebook.com/happyheinys
- Tweet about our giveaway on Twitter after you follow us. Use #clothdiapers #giveaway @happyheinys
- Tweet @happyheinys mentioning they follow our blog for #clothdiapers #giveaways
Good luck today! We will select the winner at 9pm CST. Have fun with it. We love reading all your tweets!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Interesting News on Hybrid Diapers
We have many parents who us gDiapers contact us and ask if our Happy Heinys inserts will work with their sling style pants. The great news is Yes, our Med size hemp stuffin fits the sling of the med and large gDiaper cover just perfectly. The small fits the small.
We tend to look a gDiapers as a great bridge to full cloth diaper usage diaper but I was just doing some reading and saw a very interesting comment.
From Winnipeg Canada, this is from Bill Watters who is a senior project engineer that works for the CAO secretariate in Winnipeg : "A toilet system is meant for rapidly degradable human waste," said Bill Watters. "Other things don't belong in there. Diapers don't belong in there. They can cause a problem with your home plumbing, but they can also cause a problem with the city system."
Bill Watters says send any diaper you use to the landfill -- where they belong.
He said his department gets about 100 calls a month for backed up sewers, and added there are many items you should never flush down your toilet."
This is on the heels of threads available online regarding Drain Technicians seeing the dollar signs and thanking the manufacturers of the G-diaper for their new found income from unclogging drains as seen here.
In another report from the City of Vancouver here. "The city is not saying do not use the g-diapers but what it is saying is that for those who use gDiapers should not flush the inserts, they should instead throw the inserts into the trash because they are unsure of how the insert will react in the plumbing.
Please don't get this post wrong. As I said, I look at gDiapers as a bridge diaper to cloth diapers. It has the reusable cover and many moms will realize that washing an insert is just as easy as washing the cover without having to purchase extra disposable inserts. But for those with old plumbing, those living in shared buildings like apartments and condos, be for warned. But please try it and throw them away, especially if it is being used as a stepping stone.
We tend to look a gDiapers as a great bridge to full cloth diaper usage diaper but I was just doing some reading and saw a very interesting comment.
From Winnipeg Canada, this is from Bill Watters who is a senior project engineer that works for the CAO secretariate in Winnipeg : "A toilet system is meant for rapidly degradable human waste," said Bill Watters. "Other things don't belong in there. Diapers don't belong in there. They can cause a problem with your home plumbing, but they can also cause a problem with the city system."
Bill Watters says send any diaper you use to the landfill -- where they belong.
He said his department gets about 100 calls a month for backed up sewers, and added there are many items you should never flush down your toilet."
This is on the heels of threads available online regarding Drain Technicians seeing the dollar signs and thanking the manufacturers of the G-diaper for their new found income from unclogging drains as seen here.
In another report from the City of Vancouver here. "The city is not saying do not use the g-diapers but what it is saying is that for those who use gDiapers should not flush the inserts, they should instead throw the inserts into the trash because they are unsure of how the insert will react in the plumbing.
Please don't get this post wrong. As I said, I look at gDiapers as a bridge diaper to cloth diapers. It has the reusable cover and many moms will realize that washing an insert is just as easy as washing the cover without having to purchase extra disposable inserts. But for those with old plumbing, those living in shared buildings like apartments and condos, be for warned. But please try it and throw them away, especially if it is being used as a stepping stone.
Ewwwwww Cloth Diapers REALLY??
I bet if I asked everyone who has purchased and used Happy Heinys if they ever received that comment 99% of them would say YES.
I would do anything to get it out to the public that todays cloth diapers are NOT the gross ucky kind that our parents/grandparents used on our bottoms.
Ugly, stained prefolds, big diaper pins, baby getting stuck several times over their diapering lifetime, bleach buckets, hand swishing in the toilet, hand wringing out in the toilet, more bleach in the washer, and hanging them up to dry only to have them stiff and hard. Let's not forget the hot and crinkly plastic pants. Nothing would ever fit over the cloth diaper butt.
When talking cloth diapers many parents still have that same visual. But in reality it is not that way. In fact, it could not be easier. Less fuss, less mess, less waste, less chemicals, less work.
The Happy Heiny pocket diapers are super easy to use. Let's talk about the One Size diapers. These will come to you with 1 diaper and 2 inserts. The diaper is kind of like a glorified diaper cover that is form fitting to your baby (read that as trim as compared to other cloth diapers). The diaper has a water proof layer that is not crinkly but is actually soft and then next to baby you have a stay dry layer. You simply take your insert and stick it right inside the pocket formed by the 2 layers just described.
Here is one of the cool parts, you can choose just how much absorbency that you want. This means if you are just sitting around the house and will be changing baby with each poop/pee then you just use 1 insert. But if you are going to the grocery store, picking up the older siblings, and then stopping off to pick up dinner you will want a little extra protection so now you will add 2 inserts. At night-time you are one of those blessed parents whose child actually sleeps through the night, add 1 more insert. No need to wake a baby just to change a diaper.
The thing with cloth diapers though vs. disposable diapers is cloth diapers are only as good as their absorbency. This means if you put only 1 insert in and the baby has wet the diaper. The insert is now very wet, if you do not change the diaper the diaper WILL leak. This goes for any brand or style of cloth diaper.
Disposable diapers have these chemicals called SAP's in them. Also known as Super Absorbent Polymers. You know the gel beads on your babies bottom when the diaper is sopping wet. That's them. These beads are able to absorb more and more liquid while continuing to grow. The problem with this is these SAP's are a member of a group of chemicals that can cause some pretty severe health issues. So even though these gel beads are great at absorbing a lot, is it worth the potential risk?
A baby who is under 3 months really should be changed 8-10 times a day. Not only when the diaper is super squishy, you know the squish test. If this is being done then I promise you will have no problem switching to cloth diapers. Just remember, instead of having built in gel beads, you have to add your absorbency. I have had moms tell me that they will use 5 or 6 inserts for their heavy wetting, nursing through the night, baby, who wakes up dry. Diaer inserts can be wrung out but baby is dry.
For me and my family a dry baby is a happy baby and a happy baby means mom is happy and when mom is happy everyone gets to be happy. Which is exactly what Happy Heinys will do for you and your family. Babies heiny will be happy, soft, and dry.
Stay tuned for the washing experience.
I would do anything to get it out to the public that todays cloth diapers are NOT the gross ucky kind that our parents/grandparents used on our bottoms.
Ugly, stained prefolds, big diaper pins, baby getting stuck several times over their diapering lifetime, bleach buckets, hand swishing in the toilet, hand wringing out in the toilet, more bleach in the washer, and hanging them up to dry only to have them stiff and hard. Let's not forget the hot and crinkly plastic pants. Nothing would ever fit over the cloth diaper butt.
When talking cloth diapers many parents still have that same visual. But in reality it is not that way. In fact, it could not be easier. Less fuss, less mess, less waste, less chemicals, less work.
The Happy Heiny pocket diapers are super easy to use. Let's talk about the One Size diapers. These will come to you with 1 diaper and 2 inserts. The diaper is kind of like a glorified diaper cover that is form fitting to your baby (read that as trim as compared to other cloth diapers). The diaper has a water proof layer that is not crinkly but is actually soft and then next to baby you have a stay dry layer. You simply take your insert and stick it right inside the pocket formed by the 2 layers just described.
Here is one of the cool parts, you can choose just how much absorbency that you want. This means if you are just sitting around the house and will be changing baby with each poop/pee then you just use 1 insert. But if you are going to the grocery store, picking up the older siblings, and then stopping off to pick up dinner you will want a little extra protection so now you will add 2 inserts. At night-time you are one of those blessed parents whose child actually sleeps through the night, add 1 more insert. No need to wake a baby just to change a diaper.
The thing with cloth diapers though vs. disposable diapers is cloth diapers are only as good as their absorbency. This means if you put only 1 insert in and the baby has wet the diaper. The insert is now very wet, if you do not change the diaper the diaper WILL leak. This goes for any brand or style of cloth diaper.
Disposable diapers have these chemicals called SAP's in them. Also known as Super Absorbent Polymers. You know the gel beads on your babies bottom when the diaper is sopping wet. That's them. These beads are able to absorb more and more liquid while continuing to grow. The problem with this is these SAP's are a member of a group of chemicals that can cause some pretty severe health issues. So even though these gel beads are great at absorbing a lot, is it worth the potential risk?
A baby who is under 3 months really should be changed 8-10 times a day. Not only when the diaper is super squishy, you know the squish test. If this is being done then I promise you will have no problem switching to cloth diapers. Just remember, instead of having built in gel beads, you have to add your absorbency. I have had moms tell me that they will use 5 or 6 inserts for their heavy wetting, nursing through the night, baby, who wakes up dry. Diaer inserts can be wrung out but baby is dry.
For me and my family a dry baby is a happy baby and a happy baby means mom is happy and when mom is happy everyone gets to be happy. Which is exactly what Happy Heinys will do for you and your family. Babies heiny will be happy, soft, and dry.
Stay tuned for the washing experience.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Reusable Diapers ARE Better For the Environment
OK, here at Happy Heinys we already know this. It is a no brainer for me personally, I just need to look at my Sarah Grace, the original Happy Heiny, and I know that the use of reusable cloth diapers decreased HER need for hospitalizations and medications by 50%.
A new study that was just released by the Environment Agency in the UK states that using cloth can save 40 per cent CO2 emissions. This is just for child #1 by the second child this decreases again by about 40 per cent.
Biba Hartigan of Women's Environmental Network (WEN) said: "At last, this report supports what WEN has been stating for decades - real nappies are best for the environment with 40 per cent carbon savings to be made over disposables. It's easy to make a difference with a sensible washing routine. It's just common sense. And parents can save money with real nappies too."
This study did not take into effect the impact that disposable diapers have on the landfills which most of us will agree is a huge impact with over 1 ton of diaper waste per child.
There are also quite a few flaws with this report, one large flaw is it was backed by disposable diaper companies. Unfortunately without a 100% completely independent study we will not know the full impact of all of the benefits to using reusable cloth diapers. But I do know a couple of things:
When I was a baby and cloth diapered:
A new study that was just released by the Environment Agency in the UK states that using cloth can save 40 per cent CO2 emissions. This is just for child #1 by the second child this decreases again by about 40 per cent.
Biba Hartigan of Women's Environmental Network (WEN) said: "At last, this report supports what WEN has been stating for decades - real nappies are best for the environment with 40 per cent carbon savings to be made over disposables. It's easy to make a difference with a sensible washing routine. It's just common sense. And parents can save money with real nappies too."
This study did not take into effect the impact that disposable diapers have on the landfills which most of us will agree is a huge impact with over 1 ton of diaper waste per child.
There are also quite a few flaws with this report, one large flaw is it was backed by disposable diaper companies. Unfortunately without a 100% completely independent study we will not know the full impact of all of the benefits to using reusable cloth diapers. But I do know a couple of things:
When I was a baby and cloth diapered:
- it was highly unusual to have diaper rash
- infertility issues were less
- asthma was less common
- landfills were not nearly as full
- we did not have as many chemicals, bacteria, viruses floating around in ground water near landfills
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Today, How We Run
So here we are at today. It is October 27, 2008 and it is 1:49 pm. A somewhat typical day here at Happy Heinys /Baby Frenzy (our store front).
Many people are shocked when they walk into our store and find out that our products are also made here. We have a wonderful warehouse that also has the perfect boutique room in the front.
Our warehouse is 2 stories and is built out as far as we can build it out. In other words yes we have again outgrown our building. Upstairs we have our cutting table set up in 1 room. We also store about 1/2 of our fabric up there (the rest is in an off-site storage unit). We are able to fork-lift the fabric upstairs through a double door my wonderful contractor husband put in. He also made the perfect fabric storage units that hold 2-3 colors each. This makes it super super easy for us to not only pull and cut but also reorder without ordering too much of one color or worse not enough of another. In this same room we also have: strip cutter which measures and cuts all of the aplix and elastic perfectly for each item. This is how we are able to ensure that each item has the correct amount of stretch on it. Yes it is possible for someone to pick up the wrong size of elastic but this rarely happens. This truly helps with quality control. We also have a pair of electric snap presses in here that are running continuiously as well as a manual foot press.
Once everything is cut, it is then taken into the room next door. Once again my husband was able to build in containers for the cut fabric and supplies to be stored. It is really in this room that the magic happens. These beautiful women who love to sew sit happily and work all day. It is funny because there have been days where we have been filming stuff and they are asked to do specific things. It upsets them to be taken away from their work. They would much prefer to be sewing then on TV or in a magazine any day. I honestly could not ask for a better group of seamstresses.
Our head seamstress has actually been with me since that very first order of several hundred boat print trainers to Japan roughly 6 yrs ago. When the time came that she was about to be laid off from the contract seamstress company I was using, I hired her, there was no way I could lose her. I just could not speak highly enough about this woman. She is not only my head seamstress but she is also a very good friend. I have never had a fear of her trying to steal our business or do harm to us or even worse to leave us. Without her things would run but it would be more stressful for me. I no longer have to worry about anything upstairs she does it all. Plus to top it all off she makes great egg rolls, a favorite of mine when they are truly Asian made, like hers.
Our second in command is just as valuable. Our second in command is the best when it comes to product modifications and sewing in general. So good that everytime the kids come in here they usually leave with something special for them. Since my youngest is a bit of a weird fit, my second in command makes allof her PJ's as well as many other beautiful items. My daughter is definitely spoiled by all the girls upstairs and they enjoy having her up there "helping" out. We have been working on some new ideas that will hopefully be available by the end of the year and it is our second in command who is doing the developing of all the items that need sewing.
We then have the remaining girls, they snap, sew, serge, and repeat all day long. They are an absolutely terrific group of beautiful women. What is even greater to me is that when you look around my company and store you will find people from several different corners of the world. We are all united her for one cause, to diaper one baby at a time in cloth.
After each product is sewn it is brought downstairs and placed on the shelves for packing. The one size are wrapped first with the inserts and belly band and everything else is just put away. A typical day means 5-6 people packing boxes to go out, it is my desire to have shipping happen as soon as possible, in other words I want it all done now. But that being said, when you walk in you will almost always hear laughter coming from the packing room. Talking about what was done over the weekend, what someone said on the radio, the latest celebrity news, the kids, and of cuorse our spouses. You have to be careful though because if you say something you just may be hearing about it for the next week or longer. We truly have a lot of fun here.
During the school breaks you will often find up to 11 kids wandering around the shop as well. None of us have babysitters. And when school is out we have 2 choices everyone stay home or try to go on as normal. We go for the latter. The kids all have their own areas as well as their own playthings. The older kids enjoy helping out and getting paid. They have become expert belly band wrappers as well as excellent packers. My 9 yr old loves to run the store and does so with such knowledge, more than a child of that age ever should have. The younger children often have a large pile of scraps that they use to make not only outfits for themselves but also for their dolls, teddy bears, and parents. It really is a work enviroment that in condusive for anyone who comes here both adults and children, men and women, American and immigrant.
Many people are shocked when they walk into our store and find out that our products are also made here. We have a wonderful warehouse that also has the perfect boutique room in the front.
Our warehouse is 2 stories and is built out as far as we can build it out. In other words yes we have again outgrown our building. Upstairs we have our cutting table set up in 1 room. We also store about 1/2 of our fabric up there (the rest is in an off-site storage unit). We are able to fork-lift the fabric upstairs through a double door my wonderful contractor husband put in. He also made the perfect fabric storage units that hold 2-3 colors each. This makes it super super easy for us to not only pull and cut but also reorder without ordering too much of one color or worse not enough of another. In this same room we also have: strip cutter which measures and cuts all of the aplix and elastic perfectly for each item. This is how we are able to ensure that each item has the correct amount of stretch on it. Yes it is possible for someone to pick up the wrong size of elastic but this rarely happens. This truly helps with quality control. We also have a pair of electric snap presses in here that are running continuiously as well as a manual foot press.
Once everything is cut, it is then taken into the room next door. Once again my husband was able to build in containers for the cut fabric and supplies to be stored. It is really in this room that the magic happens. These beautiful women who love to sew sit happily and work all day. It is funny because there have been days where we have been filming stuff and they are asked to do specific things. It upsets them to be taken away from their work. They would much prefer to be sewing then on TV or in a magazine any day. I honestly could not ask for a better group of seamstresses.
Our head seamstress has actually been with me since that very first order of several hundred boat print trainers to Japan roughly 6 yrs ago. When the time came that she was about to be laid off from the contract seamstress company I was using, I hired her, there was no way I could lose her. I just could not speak highly enough about this woman. She is not only my head seamstress but she is also a very good friend. I have never had a fear of her trying to steal our business or do harm to us or even worse to leave us. Without her things would run but it would be more stressful for me. I no longer have to worry about anything upstairs she does it all. Plus to top it all off she makes great egg rolls, a favorite of mine when they are truly Asian made, like hers.
Our second in command is just as valuable. Our second in command is the best when it comes to product modifications and sewing in general. So good that everytime the kids come in here they usually leave with something special for them. Since my youngest is a bit of a weird fit, my second in command makes allof her PJ's as well as many other beautiful items. My daughter is definitely spoiled by all the girls upstairs and they enjoy having her up there "helping" out. We have been working on some new ideas that will hopefully be available by the end of the year and it is our second in command who is doing the developing of all the items that need sewing.
We then have the remaining girls, they snap, sew, serge, and repeat all day long. They are an absolutely terrific group of beautiful women. What is even greater to me is that when you look around my company and store you will find people from several different corners of the world. We are all united her for one cause, to diaper one baby at a time in cloth.
After each product is sewn it is brought downstairs and placed on the shelves for packing. The one size are wrapped first with the inserts and belly band and everything else is just put away. A typical day means 5-6 people packing boxes to go out, it is my desire to have shipping happen as soon as possible, in other words I want it all done now. But that being said, when you walk in you will almost always hear laughter coming from the packing room. Talking about what was done over the weekend, what someone said on the radio, the latest celebrity news, the kids, and of cuorse our spouses. You have to be careful though because if you say something you just may be hearing about it for the next week or longer. We truly have a lot of fun here.
During the school breaks you will often find up to 11 kids wandering around the shop as well. None of us have babysitters. And when school is out we have 2 choices everyone stay home or try to go on as normal. We go for the latter. The kids all have their own areas as well as their own playthings. The older kids enjoy helping out and getting paid. They have become expert belly band wrappers as well as excellent packers. My 9 yr old loves to run the store and does so with such knowledge, more than a child of that age ever should have. The younger children often have a large pile of scraps that they use to make not only outfits for themselves but also for their dolls, teddy bears, and parents. It really is a work enviroment that in condusive for anyone who comes here both adults and children, men and women, American and immigrant.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Why use Cloth Diapers?
There are many reasons to choose to use cloth diapers and in my opinion with today's easy style cloth diapers there are very few reasons why one should not use them.
Just a handful of reasons:
Cost of diapers: Americans spend 7 billion dollars on disposable diapers EVERY year. As a cloth diaper manufacturer it was up to us to figure out exactly how much does a disposable diaper cost. So I took myself down to the local costco one day and walked over to the disposable diaper aisle and looked at the per diaper price. I opted to use the standard Huggies in the extra large box size 2 option since this held the most amount of diapers. Each diaper cost was $.25 now I know that a quarter doesn't sound like a lot of money and really it isn't but when you start adding things up it is a lot of money.
A baby who is from newborn to 3 months should be changed every day AT LEAST 8-10 times per day. Now I know that the disposable diapers add enough chemicals in them to "hold back the hoover damn" but I also know that I would not want to sit on top of a bunch of soggy gel beads for several hours a day. We have had some customers who were under the impression that because a disposable diaper help so much they only needed to change them when the hcild had a bowel movement and right before bed. This equaled 2 diaper changes per day. We do not recommend this way of thinking at all. This leaves the child sitting in urine all day long which can lead to severe diaper rash.
Back to the cost: If you change your babies diaper 10 times a day for the first 3 months you are looking at spending $2.50 per day, $17.50 per week, $75 per month, and for the first 3 months of life you will spend $225. This is onl,y if you are purchasing lower cost diapers or purchasing diapers at a big box store. If you are like most parents and you have to make the quick trip to the grocery store you will spend even more money.
From 3 months on you will need to change your baby 6-8 times a day. For this equation we will simplify and just stick with 7 changes per day. You are looking at spending $1.75 per day, $12.25 per week, and $52.50 for the month.
By the time your child has reached 1 yr old you will have spent at least $697.50. That is just 1 yrs worth of disposable diapers. By the time your baby is 24 months old you will have spent at least: $1327.50 We also have to keep in mind that as our babies get older and move up in size in diapers they begin to cost more per diaper and there are less in each package. But to help us to err on the cheaper side of disposable diapers we will keep the per diaper price at $.25.
Many toddlers will potty learn right around the age of 3. Again we will keep the diaper prices the same even though as they get older not only does the price go up but as they begin the potty learning process you will most likely start to purchase the pull ups which are even more expensive. By the time your toddler is the age of 3 and completely potty learned you will have spent a minimum of $1957.50.
All of this money has gone down the proverbial drain. You have nothing personally to show for it. And unfortunately the community now has 1 ton of diapers added to the landfill that will not decompose for upwards of 500 yrs (see RDA)
So what about Reusable Diapers? Do they REALLY save money? Absolutely YES. Especially the One Size diapers by Happy Heinys. Each One Size diaper costs $18.95 and it comes with the reusable diaper plus 2 reusable absorbant inserts. A parent can easily purchase 12 of these diapers and have them last from birth to potty training, roughly 8-35 lbs, and only spend $227.40. This also doesn't include any additional discounts that may be applied for package pricing. Can you really do it with just 12 diapers, yes you can. Since you are changing baby up to 10 times a day, with 12 diapers you will have to do an extra load of laundry every single evening. Start in before bed and it is done when you wake up the next morning. If you can purchase an extra 6 diapers for $113.70, a total spent of $341.10 you will be able to go even longer in between wash loads. We do not recommend purchasing more than 24 One Size diapers per child. There really is no need.
So right away for just the diapering purchase you have saved yourself a minimum of: $1616.40 for your first child. One of the beautiful things about reusable diapers is that they do last for more than 1 child. Yes you will have to replace some of your diapers but you will not have to purchase a whole new stash of diapers with each child. This makes your savings even greater.
Also, one more large plus is the resale of cloth diapers. Yup you read that right. There are many moms who prefer to purchase used clean items and if your used diapers are still in good shape you can resell them for a min. of 1/2 what you paid for them. So that $341 is now closer to $150 is you take the time to resell them.
OK, I know what about the water and detergent and electricity. I may be saving money in the purchase of these products but my bill is going to go up so it all evens out doesn't it? Well not necessarily so. There is an additional cost for the water and other utilities. This cost, based on San Diego, CA rates equals about $.01 per diaper per load. So if you are washing 12 diapers in a load then you should see no more than a $.12 increase in your bill. For detergent, you do not need to buy a special detergent, the whole washing process will be another tangent later on, but with detergent I personally prefer Tide to every other brand available. My second choice and my #1 natural detergent choice is Country Save. Both of these are priced reasonablly and easily attainable. You will need slightly less than 1/2 scoop per load. That's it.
One interesting piece of information that many parents are unaware of is that it actually takes 2.3 times more water to make and use a disposable diaper than it does to wash a reusable one. (3) That is a huge amount of water if you ask me.
There is always the water debate, especially here in California where Happy Heinys are made. I can't count the number of times I have driven by the dump only to watch them watering the dump down to prevent fires and keep the dust down. This is something done daily as a prevention, a huge waste of water. And with 1 ton of diapers per baby in that dump, with over 4,000,000 babies born each year that is an awful lot of diapers.
In the US alone OVER 27 BILLION diapers are sold and then put into landfills.
While speaking about the dump debate, disposable diapers make up 50% of household waste when a toddler lives in the home. Disposable diapers are the third largest single consumer item in landfills. Over 92% of all single use diapers will wind up in your local landfill.
Disposable diapers generate 60 times more solid waste and twenty pounds of chlorine are used to produce disposable diapers for 1 baby each year. (4)
Each year over 300lbs of wood and 50lbs of petroleum feedstocks are used to produce disposable diapers for ONE baby for ONE year.(4)
Health Issues:
FACTS:
In 1955 before disposable diapers were widely sold and used it was estimated that only 7% of babies had diaper rash. By 1991 long after disposables became the diaper of use that number jumped up to 78% of babies. (6)
The most common reason for diaper rash is excessive moisture against the skin (5)
Disposable diapers contain traces of Dioxin, an extremely toxic by-product of the paper bleaching process. It IS a carcinogenic chemical listed by the EPA as the most toxic of all cancer linked chemicals. In small quantities dioxin can: cause birth defects, immune system suppression, cause skin and liver disease. It is banned in most countries EXCEPT THE USA. (1)
Disposable diapers contain Tributyl-tin(TBT) a toxic pollutent known to cause hormonal problems in humans and animals.(2)
Disposable diapers contain Sodium Polyacrylate, a type of super absorbant polymer (SAP), which turns to a gel like substance when wet. This chemical can cause skin irritation and severe allergic reaction including vomiting, staph infections, and fever.
One Final thing to consider, Everyone deserves to wear real clothing made of soft and comfortable materials. Most adults would never ever consider wearing clothing made from paper and plastic, or worse yet wear underwear made from paper or plastic. Don't our babies deserve the same consideration as us adults?
1. Allsopp, Michelle. Achieving Zero Dioxin Sept. 1994 Greenpeace
2.Greenpeace, New Tests confirm TBT poison in Proctor and Gamble Diapers May 15,2000
3. Armstrong, Liz and Adrienne Scott Whitewash Exposing the Health and Enviromental Dangers of Women's Product 1993 HarperCollins
4.Lehrberger C, Mullen and CV Jones 1991 Diapers Enviromental Impacts report to NADS
5.Boiko 1997 Diapers and Diaper Rashes Feb 1997 Dermatology Nursing
6.Weiner, F 1979 The relationship of diapers to diaper rashes in the one month old infant The Journal of Pediatrics 95:422-424
Just a handful of reasons:
- Cost of diapers
- The Environment
- The Health of our Children
Cost of diapers: Americans spend 7 billion dollars on disposable diapers EVERY year. As a cloth diaper manufacturer it was up to us to figure out exactly how much does a disposable diaper cost. So I took myself down to the local costco one day and walked over to the disposable diaper aisle and looked at the per diaper price. I opted to use the standard Huggies in the extra large box size 2 option since this held the most amount of diapers. Each diaper cost was $.25 now I know that a quarter doesn't sound like a lot of money and really it isn't but when you start adding things up it is a lot of money.
A baby who is from newborn to 3 months should be changed every day AT LEAST 8-10 times per day. Now I know that the disposable diapers add enough chemicals in them to "hold back the hoover damn" but I also know that I would not want to sit on top of a bunch of soggy gel beads for several hours a day. We have had some customers who were under the impression that because a disposable diaper help so much they only needed to change them when the hcild had a bowel movement and right before bed. This equaled 2 diaper changes per day. We do not recommend this way of thinking at all. This leaves the child sitting in urine all day long which can lead to severe diaper rash.
Back to the cost: If you change your babies diaper 10 times a day for the first 3 months you are looking at spending $2.50 per day, $17.50 per week, $75 per month, and for the first 3 months of life you will spend $225. This is onl,y if you are purchasing lower cost diapers or purchasing diapers at a big box store. If you are like most parents and you have to make the quick trip to the grocery store you will spend even more money.
From 3 months on you will need to change your baby 6-8 times a day. For this equation we will simplify and just stick with 7 changes per day. You are looking at spending $1.75 per day, $12.25 per week, and $52.50 for the month.
By the time your child has reached 1 yr old you will have spent at least $697.50. That is just 1 yrs worth of disposable diapers. By the time your baby is 24 months old you will have spent at least: $1327.50 We also have to keep in mind that as our babies get older and move up in size in diapers they begin to cost more per diaper and there are less in each package. But to help us to err on the cheaper side of disposable diapers we will keep the per diaper price at $.25.
Many toddlers will potty learn right around the age of 3. Again we will keep the diaper prices the same even though as they get older not only does the price go up but as they begin the potty learning process you will most likely start to purchase the pull ups which are even more expensive. By the time your toddler is the age of 3 and completely potty learned you will have spent a minimum of $1957.50.
All of this money has gone down the proverbial drain. You have nothing personally to show for it. And unfortunately the community now has 1 ton of diapers added to the landfill that will not decompose for upwards of 500 yrs (see RDA)
So what about Reusable Diapers? Do they REALLY save money? Absolutely YES. Especially the One Size diapers by Happy Heinys. Each One Size diaper costs $18.95 and it comes with the reusable diaper plus 2 reusable absorbant inserts. A parent can easily purchase 12 of these diapers and have them last from birth to potty training, roughly 8-35 lbs, and only spend $227.40. This also doesn't include any additional discounts that may be applied for package pricing. Can you really do it with just 12 diapers, yes you can. Since you are changing baby up to 10 times a day, with 12 diapers you will have to do an extra load of laundry every single evening. Start in before bed and it is done when you wake up the next morning. If you can purchase an extra 6 diapers for $113.70, a total spent of $341.10 you will be able to go even longer in between wash loads. We do not recommend purchasing more than 24 One Size diapers per child. There really is no need.
So right away for just the diapering purchase you have saved yourself a minimum of: $1616.40 for your first child. One of the beautiful things about reusable diapers is that they do last for more than 1 child. Yes you will have to replace some of your diapers but you will not have to purchase a whole new stash of diapers with each child. This makes your savings even greater.
Also, one more large plus is the resale of cloth diapers. Yup you read that right. There are many moms who prefer to purchase used clean items and if your used diapers are still in good shape you can resell them for a min. of 1/2 what you paid for them. So that $341 is now closer to $150 is you take the time to resell them.
OK, I know what about the water and detergent and electricity. I may be saving money in the purchase of these products but my bill is going to go up so it all evens out doesn't it? Well not necessarily so. There is an additional cost for the water and other utilities. This cost, based on San Diego, CA rates equals about $.01 per diaper per load. So if you are washing 12 diapers in a load then you should see no more than a $.12 increase in your bill. For detergent, you do not need to buy a special detergent, the whole washing process will be another tangent later on, but with detergent I personally prefer Tide to every other brand available. My second choice and my #1 natural detergent choice is Country Save. Both of these are priced reasonablly and easily attainable. You will need slightly less than 1/2 scoop per load. That's it.
One interesting piece of information that many parents are unaware of is that it actually takes 2.3 times more water to make and use a disposable diaper than it does to wash a reusable one. (3) That is a huge amount of water if you ask me.
There is always the water debate, especially here in California where Happy Heinys are made. I can't count the number of times I have driven by the dump only to watch them watering the dump down to prevent fires and keep the dust down. This is something done daily as a prevention, a huge waste of water. And with 1 ton of diapers per baby in that dump, with over 4,000,000 babies born each year that is an awful lot of diapers.
In the US alone OVER 27 BILLION diapers are sold and then put into landfills.
While speaking about the dump debate, disposable diapers make up 50% of household waste when a toddler lives in the home. Disposable diapers are the third largest single consumer item in landfills. Over 92% of all single use diapers will wind up in your local landfill.
Disposable diapers generate 60 times more solid waste and twenty pounds of chlorine are used to produce disposable diapers for 1 baby each year. (4)
Each year over 300lbs of wood and 50lbs of petroleum feedstocks are used to produce disposable diapers for ONE baby for ONE year.(4)
Health Issues:
FACTS:
In 1955 before disposable diapers were widely sold and used it was estimated that only 7% of babies had diaper rash. By 1991 long after disposables became the diaper of use that number jumped up to 78% of babies. (6)
The most common reason for diaper rash is excessive moisture against the skin (5)
Disposable diapers contain traces of Dioxin, an extremely toxic by-product of the paper bleaching process. It IS a carcinogenic chemical listed by the EPA as the most toxic of all cancer linked chemicals. In small quantities dioxin can: cause birth defects, immune system suppression, cause skin and liver disease. It is banned in most countries EXCEPT THE USA. (1)
Disposable diapers contain Tributyl-tin(TBT) a toxic pollutent known to cause hormonal problems in humans and animals.(2)
Disposable diapers contain Sodium Polyacrylate, a type of super absorbant polymer (SAP), which turns to a gel like substance when wet. This chemical can cause skin irritation and severe allergic reaction including vomiting, staph infections, and fever.
One Final thing to consider, Everyone deserves to wear real clothing made of soft and comfortable materials. Most adults would never ever consider wearing clothing made from paper and plastic, or worse yet wear underwear made from paper or plastic. Don't our babies deserve the same consideration as us adults?
1. Allsopp, Michelle. Achieving Zero Dioxin Sept. 1994 Greenpeace
2.Greenpeace, New Tests confirm TBT poison in Proctor and Gamble Diapers May 15,2000
3. Armstrong, Liz and Adrienne Scott Whitewash Exposing the Health and Enviromental Dangers of Women's Product 1993 HarperCollins
4.Lehrberger C, Mullen and CV Jones 1991 Diapers Enviromental Impacts report to NADS
5.Boiko 1997 Diapers and Diaper Rashes Feb 1997 Dermatology Nursing
6.Weiner, F 1979 The relationship of diapers to diaper rashes in the one month old infant The Journal of Pediatrics 95:422-424
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