Worth it or worthless: chlorine free pull-ups
Lately, chlorine has appearing more and more in the news, and not just as a nasty-smelling ingredient in the public pools. And, you know -- if its mere presence in pools is causing respiratory and lung problems -- I can't help but wonder what it is doing to the kids who wear chlorine-laden diapers every single day for the first few years of their life.
Chlorine creates dangerous toxins, particularly dioxin, which is suspected to cause cancer. Even if there is no real proof that small amounts of chlorine in store-bought diapers can cause any real harm, why risk it? The only real purpose of chlorine in diapers is to make them gleaming white and attractive -- which actually is kind of insane when you think of what diapers are there to do.
Although my son is nearly out of his diapers (fingers crossed, tongue rolled and penance said faithfully), I've been trying to live cleaner, especially with products that touch him, so I decided to give Seventh Generation pull ups a test-drive.
Now, Seventh Generation makes the only chlorine free diapers on my grocer's shelf. The price? $ 23.99 for a pack of 32 -- about 75 cents a diaper. Huggies makes the cheery bright white version for $ 18.99 for a pack of 32 - 60 cents a diaper. That's quite a big difference, especially since lack of chlorine and decoration is the only palpable difference between these brands.
As this review states - Seventh Generation diapers are not bio-degradable and they still contain the same super absorbent gel strip that the big commercial brands carry. The only difference is the lack of chlorine in the product.
So -- is it worth it to pay $ 6.00 more for a pack of chlorine free diapers? It is, in my book. The simpler the better, even if it's not quite simple enough.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
linda 4-01-2008 @ 3:48PM
where do you live that it costs $18.99 for 32 count huggies??? if not on sale, 32 count huggies (size 4) costs $9.99 at my local target. on sale, about $8.50. with target and/or manufacturer coupons, it can be as low as $6.00. so in my book, no, the non-chroline version is not worth it.
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Renee Douglas 4-01-2008 @ 4:25PM
My baby currently wears size 2 diapers. I have bought Seventh Generation diapers on Amazon.com. 192 size 2 diapers costs 42.99 which is about 23 cents/diaper. This also comes with free super-saver shipping. A great deal and no chlorine!
Heather 4-01-2008 @ 4:34PM
Not to push the cloth on you, but if he's almost out of diapers anyway, why not invest in a few cloth trainers? Good ones will hold an accident or two, but you just toss 'em in the wash instead of throwing them out. You can even resell your gently used ones and get almost half your money back when you're done.
Just a thought. Try: http://www.snap-ez.com/InfoTrainers.html or any online store that sells cloth diapers to find a selection.
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SKL 4-01-2008 @ 5:12PM
I am not a big fanatic about Chlorine, but WOW that's a lot of money for a pull-up diaper. I get 29 for $8.50. That's too much already, but I have a few reasons why I decide to bite the bullet.
I agree with the poster who suggests cloth training pants. There are some really good "waterproof" ones. I have a ton of them. I only use them part of the time, because my 18mo gets nervous when wearing them and tends to have more accidents than when she's in a diaper. (My 15mo seems to pee every 20 minutes and I'm not willing to put her on the pot that often.) However, if your only reason for using pull-ups is to protect your furniture in case of an unusual miss, I'd suggest the waterproof, washable training pants.
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Kim 4-01-2008 @ 5:43PM
I am all for chlorine-free products but if I'm going to pay more for diapers, I'd rather pay for gDiapers that DO biodegrade. We have been using them for a few months and like them a lot.
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Eva 4-01-2008 @ 8:42PM
I also recommend cloth. You've posted several times worrying about the chemicals etc. in disposables, and cloth is the easy, cheap, environmental solution. Esp if you buy them used!
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Monica 4-02-2008 @ 12:05AM
Yeah, that's a SERIOUS huggies rip off. I can get 184 pampers for $40 on amazon.
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Alicia 4-02-2008 @ 4:28AM
I've used Sventh Gen. Diapers for DD (now 7 months) and liked them for awhile.. but I feel they mb aren't as breathable as some of the more staple brands. We switched back to Pampers (Cruisers)-- man those things are high-tech! It's helped with diaper rash a little making the switch back. Cost hasn't been a factor, as we get our diapers off of Amazon or Diapers.com where the bulk pricing makes the cost differences from brand to brand almost indistinguishable.
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heather 4-03-2008 @ 11:23AM
How about using the potty training underwear instead of pull ups. Pulls ups are still diapers.
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