survival diapers

For all the breeders out there, I haven't seen much about caring for infants and toddlers when situation X develops. So I thought I'd add this here.

We discovered that our youngest child is allergic to disposable diapers. More specifically, allergic to chlorine mixed with formaldahyde, which the mfg-ers use to bleach and fluff the cotton filler in diapers. In fact, it turns out ALL our kids had the same allergies, and the doctors and hospitals just told us we must be crappy parents to let our kids get so many diaper rashes.

I know that ATS is not for promoting specific products, but this is a case when one product rises above the "pack" and addresses enviromental, sustainability, and emergency preparedness issues.

Most of you are too young to remember cloth diapers, and being poked with the pins. Well, cloth diapers have come a long way.

There are several products on the market, and I have experience with several of them. One is called the "g diaper." It has velcro and fasteners, so there's no poking or lost pins. It consists of a durable cloth outer cover, a snap-in plastic liner, and then a paper insert. We have found some cloth inserts for another brand that work though.

The fabric is space agey, and all you do is rinse them on "hot," then wash them on hot with borax, and then soap. Clothes dryers are bad for velcro, so you hang them out to dry.

We used the cloth inserts at home, and washed them the same way. On the road (or in a bugg out / camping situation), you can use the paper inserts. When you get rid of one, there's a seal you break on one edge; then the diaper will decompose in about 15 days. It can be flushed, even with a septic system. Disposable diapers cannot be flushed, and are projected to last 500 years or more in landfills.

The system of diapers, liners, and isnerts seems expensive initially; but when you compare that 40 diapers ( a slow week) will cost you 25 bucks at least, then you see that 15 weeks of disposables pays for all the diapers your kid would ever use.

The biggest downside is they are only available over the net or in health food stores. Most smaller health food stores don't seem to carry them--I guess a lot of foodies don't have small kids.

If this thread seems too "special interest group" for you, just remember that if our petroleum-based, just-in-time distribution system ever collapses, the diapers in stores will only last a week.

So if you have kids, or ever will have kids, or will have children in your survival community, you'll be thinking about this post eventually.



all the best.

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