fox@nimbus.DEC (Roberta L. Fox DTN 297-2110) (01/24/86)
I used a diaper service for the entire time my daughter was in
diapers, and recommend it to any one:
It was cheaper than disposables.
My daughter got diaper rash from one change of just about any kind of
disposable.
It was _a lot_ easier than doing it myself:
I don't know if it's a function of breast feeding, but my
daughter got dirty diapers several times a day. When the diaper
service started me out with 96 diapers a week, I laughed. I
wasn't laughing at the end of the week; I had used all those
diapers!! Can you imagine _washing_ those "two dozen" diapers
enough times to make the equivalent of 96 diapers?
The diaper service makes a point of how many washes and
rinses it puts the diapers through. I believe it! Despite the
good advice about soaking in Dreft, washing in hot water, etc., I
found that, when I washed the diapers, there frequently
was a soap film on the diapers (we lived in a "hard-water" area)
that irritated my daughter's skin.
A previous poster mentioned that her child got a rash
from diaper service diapers. The same thing happened to the
child of a friend of mine. My friend called the diaper service,
and they gave her diapers that had been "finished" with a special
rinse (something to do with the pH). The problem went away,
never to return, and she continued to use the service, with these
special diapers, at no extra cost.
A note about disposables: most people don't like to deal
with disposing of the feces in the diaper, and the disposable
goes straight from baby to garbage pail. I don't know about your
neighborhood, but in mine, there were enough dogs, mice, and
other critters who got into garbage cans with frightening
regularity. So with disposables, not only are you using a lot of
paper, unless you're a saint, you may be contributing to health
problems.
In general, I'd say Go For It!! Of all bills I had to
pay, these were by far the ones I felt the best about.
Bobbi
USPS: 252 Aspinwall Ave, Brookline, MA 02146
UUCP: ...decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-nimbus!fox
ARPA/CSNET: fox%nimbus.dec@DECWRL