Ideal Bite

Eco Training Pants

Not wild and crazy about diaper duty?

09.03.2009

Submitted by alara on Wed, 09/02/2009 - 11:00pm.

Health & Care

The Bite:

Take a shot...at toilet training. Prep your kiddo with chlorine-free or reusable training pants instead of conventional ones - and avoid bringing plastic and polluting chems to the party.

The Benefits:

Keeping out uninvited toxins. Most disposable training pants use wood pulp to absorb liquid, but traditional brands also treat it with chlorine, which pollutes water and air with cancer-linked chems.
Whooping it up for healthier skin. The oil-based plastics in regular trainers are less breathable, contributing to diaper rash - not so with cotton or eco-disposables that use plant-based fibers like cornstarch.
Not getting wasted. About 3.5 tons of disposable diapers/training pants end up in U.S. landfills each year. Reusables help shrink that number, plus these eco-disposables biodegrade faster than plastic ones.
Celebrating better cotton. Organic cotton trainers support eco farming practices such as planting non-genetically modified seeds.

Personally Speaking:

Wanna Try:

Washable Trainers

Imse Vimse - organic cotton training pants that keep clothes dry when accidents happen but won't irritate skin; in solid colors and animal prints ($14/pair).
Under the Nile - organic Egyptian cotton trainers with two layers of ultra-absorbent terry liner; in off-white color ($11/pair).

Disposable Trainers

Nature Babycare - everything we like about its diapers, but in a training pant: chlorine-free, no oil-based plastics, and ultrathin for easier movement; biodegradable packaging ($13/22 pants).
Seventh Generation - hypoallergenic, fragrance-free training pants made with chlorine-free wood pulp ($12/29 pants).

Resources

Potty Training Charts - free, printable "job well done" charts to encourage potty training; use a marker to check off successes and good tries.

Timeout

Mama Biter Irma Tagliavia puts eco-disposables on her 2-year-old Aurora...and looks forward to not having to use them at all.

Bang For The Bite

If 10,000 Mama Biters switch from plastic-based disposable training pants to eco-disposables, in 3 months we'll keep the weight of 4,500 party animals in plastic and toxins out of landfills.

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