Disposable diapers. A common baby gift, especially when calls go out at the parish for stuff to give the mother who just birthed the latest addition to the parish. Where there always seems to be a stack of the toxic chemical laden things by the parish door with some new mother's name attached.
Disposable diapers are also the most commonly used baby item on the market, and a product which did not exist until just a few short years ago. They're also a product clearly poor in its sensitivity to nature.
They're poisonous to babies because of the toxic chemicals they're made of, but even worse are the chemicals released in reaction to urine or feces. They're likewise poisonous to society because they direct us away from a natural holistic ordering of ourselves by instead habituating us to a plastic, conspicuous consumption, consumerist, throwaway ordering.
There are of course green disposable diapers such as Seventh Generation or some other similar green brands. But they're akin to buying organic potato chips at the natural food store, not exactly in the spirit of the movement away from our plastic culture if you make a steady diet of them.
But neither do we eat solely for nutrition. And as good Aristotelians, in our home we eat our desserts first when our senses can appreciate flavorful foods best because eating for enjoyment is a higher act than eating for nutrition. And so to all things there is a limit and a mean which we strive for. And so we in turn can use organic disposables on occasion in moderation.
My favorite diaper are wool soakers, but what matters is that the diaper be made of natural, preferably organic, material. What's nice about soakers is the lanolin because for some reason it neutralizes urine so the way they're washed is with hot water.
Sleepwear is likewise chemical laden because of federal laws requiring fire retardants. The way around having your children sleep in those toxic waste garments is to use sleep comfort level day clothes. And as for the toxic children's bedding, likewise required by federal law, since your children should be sleeping with you, no problem, just don't buy the stuff.
In fact, most everything sold for babies is a waste, as well as harmful. A holistically oriented parent can walk through a babies R Us store and not find a single necessary item for sale. Because all a baby really needs is mommy, and the most very basic of necessities such as a diaper, a blanket and a few garments of clothing, all else is superfluous. We live in a society which is constantly creating the appearance of needs which don't actually exist.
The same holds for birthing our children because pregnancy is natural, not a disease in need of a cure, and thus hospitals are likewise not a need that actually exists. Home birth isn't just better for the earth, it's also better for the mom and her baby.
Baby goods packed stores, hospital births, Natural Family Planning, and similar are all a mistaking the medicinal for the natural.
God created a very simple and easy to live in world, if we just live simply. Simple really, but it makes sense.
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This diaper thing poisoning our babies is new for me because if the diapers really contains toxic substances that can be harmful to babies, why didn't they pull it our from the market?
ReplyDeleteThat's a good question, because we assume between the manufacturer and government regulations we would not be sold toxins to put on our children. But:
ReplyDeletetype in 'toxin' or 'toxic' along with commonly used items we put on, or smear into our skin such as shampoo, lotion, insect repellent, and similar and you can see that disposable diapers are simply one of a plethora of toxic items commonly sold.