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Potty timeGiven the high impact of both cloth and plastic, the best option is ditching diapers as soon as possible
As our third child approaches his third birthday, my wife and I find ourselves contemplating how best to get him out of diapers. We’ve been through this drill with our two older children, once in the US and once in France, with one big difference: the social norms for “potty training” in the US suggests that it happen by about 3 years old, whereas in France the age is more like 2 years old. No doubt a good debate rages about what is better for the children involved, but there’s no question about which is better for the environment — getting your child out of diapers earlier avoids a lot of waste. I’m going to assume disposable diapers rather than cloth since it’s what we use, but it doesn’t make a big difference which you use. The environmental degradation associated with cloth is going to be different in kind but not in degree from that associated with disposables. Given that the typical American child goes through about 6,000 diapers total before being toilet-trained, with just under half occurring in the first year when the changing derby is really on, I’m going to assume that the third year accounts for about 1,000 diaper changes, in the roughly 15-20% range. If each diaper contributes about a quarter pound to a landfill, then we’re talking about roughly 250 pounds of diapers from that third year alone. And you thought a stack of newspapers waiting to be recycled was bad. But more to the point, as a society we could save 15-20% of the approximately 27.4 billion disposable diapers used in the US every year if we would adopt the French norm and get our kids potty trained by the age of 2. I’m glad that we managed the feat with one of our kids, though it took living in France at the time to do it. Why was that? Simple — my daughter did not want to be the only kid at pre-school still in diapers. It’s peer pressure, applied at a very early age, and it worked very well indeed. Predictably, back in the States where the norm is different, we haven’t been as prompt getting our youngest off the diaper train, even though we know it’s the responsible thing to do environmentally. Somehow the time just kind of…slips by. We will make a solid push to get over the line by our little guy’s third birthday however. That’s the least we can do. As a country and society surely we can help the environmental pluses involved with earlier potty training win out over inertia. (Though in a country that not too long ago was serving Freedom Fries in its government cafeteria it won’t be by following the French.) I suppose a powerful economic incentive might be to give parents some kind of break on pre-school or daycare costs if their kids are potty trained by age 2. But it’s a bit difficult to imagine the government program that would result, and all too easy to imagine the pushback from those who don’t want the government involved in toilet training in any case. Any other ideas out there, or stories to share from other perspectives? Comments
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I appreciate your insight. It is clear that diaper use in the US is very high, which is no surprise given the fact that most Americans have access to and can afford to buy disposable diapers. Before disposable diapers were widely available, American children were potty trained earlier than they are today. In many developing countries, babies are out of diapers at 3-9 months. Now clearly an infant who is out of diapers is not "potty trained" in the traditional American sense (since they cannot walk to a toilet), but they do gain muscle control and eliminate over a toilet. There is a movement in the US (alternatively referred to as "infant potty training" or "elimination communication") that advocates early training. This approach requires close and constant communication between caregiver and child, and for that reason is often infeasible for American families. However, the concepts used in achieving infant potty training can be helpful for any parents wishing to train their child, or just to attempt to get them out of diapers faster; in this sense, American families can benefit greatly from the wisdom of infant potty training. And contrary to some scientific wisdom, children trained this way do not develop psychological issues. It is not a matter of "forcing" them when they are not "ready"--it is simply a matter of giving them the skills that allow them to have a bit of freedom at an earlier age. For more information, I highly recommend the DVD "Potty Whispering: The Gentle Art of Infant Potty Training."
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Interesting stuff - we're about to have our first child, and are wrestling with similar considerations. Our neighbor did something that sounds very much like the "infant potty training" that Amanda speaks of. Essentially keeping an eye on the kid, and watching for signals that action was imminent - and then holding them over the toilet. Apparently it worked a dream - and he is one happy, confident kid!
Doesn't seem like that would cause any more issues than letting them sit in their own s**t, as far as I can tell. As long as any approach is done with caring, confidence and sensitivity, then there's no need for trauma or 'issues'.
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I had 2 kids (I'm 50) and I followed my mother who had 6 we were all trained by 18 months. Back then the norm was bragging rights on how soon your child was able to be trained. I never used disposable diapers (except on trips) it seemed crazy to me
the sooner you could quit washing diapers the better -------------- disposables were made for working moms and day care centers and our capitalistic society --- and for years we have been experiencing the backlash.
The other reason I never used them was I was concerned about the combination of urine and feces against the chemical laden ingredients of disposable itself and the toxic outgassing from those things ---- disposables just seem really wicked to me and always have ---- not to mention how ignorant people leave them all over the streets and parks and such. What about the garbage dumps ---------- what about children with diseases and the outgassing from their diseases.
The whole subject has always been troublesome to me --- how many disposable diapers have been used since the beginning and where are they all -- I bet if you spread them out it would practically cover the planet -- pretty disgusting!
The best to you all in the decisions you are making!
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Babies are born with the biological urge not to soil themselves. That's why they fuss or cry when their diaper is wet or poopy. When we put them in diapers, we essentially UN-TRAIN them from their natural urges, and then two or so years later, we force them to stop doing what we trained them to do -- soil themselves. Elimination communication trains the parents; the baby already knows what to do and simply has to be shown where to do it. Wearing the baby in a sling or other front carrier facilitates EC, as it promotes close communication for everything from nursing to elimination.
Babies/toddlers in cloth diapers tend to get out of diapers sooner than if in disposables, perhaps because they can feel the wetness more, so in that regard, cloth may be better.
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Really.
Has no one heard of gDiapers?
/shakes head/
aaron
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We have the same dilemma with our 26 month old. We used cloth diapers until he was 18 months old and then switched to disposables with the idea that it would just be for a little while until we could get him trained. Unfortunately, he has no interest the training and is happy to sit forever in his soiled diaper. We've thought about doing the 3 Day Potty Training (http://www.3daypottytraining.com) boot-camp style, but I'm concerned he'll be traumatized by the experience. Has anyone else had success with the 3 Day training?
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Interesting article, but as long as this is a topic of environmental impact before it is one of social impact, I have to bear the un-asked question: For the family using only cloth diapers, what is the difference in water usage from a load of 15-20 diapers versus the same number of toilet flushes?
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