I was watching this feature on Fox Channel yesterday about the possibility of having kids going diaper-less at an earlier age.

The idea is to potty-train the babies so that they consumes less diapers, or none at all.

What caught my attention were the varied reactions of the mommies interviewed - as most of them were either skeptical or not at all sold to the idea.

There were some demonstrations as to how to train the child to pee in the trainer or the toilet, and how to detect when a child needs to go to the bathroom, and how to teach the child tell the mommy when he has to go.

The use of disposable diapers has become very common in many families because it offers convenience and, to some extent - comfort to the baby. Of course, this practice was originally adopted in the U.S. (talk about convenient tools, and Americans have many of them!). The Philippines only followed suit sometime in the late 70s and on to the 80s and 90s. And now, in the year 2000s, this practice has easily become sort of ‘part of our culture’, that you can now buy disposable diapers even in your neighborhood ’sari-sari’ store (variety store).

Before the advent of the mighty disposables, classic, washable  cloth diapers were widely used. The trick in using these cloth diapers is to bundle up the baby with layers of cloth diapers to contain the urine and prevent it from wetting his upper garments or bed sheets as well as preventing it from flowing to the lap of whoever is holding the little guy.

Cloth diapers are of course, less costly but it does not give much comfort to the baby. For one, the cloth can cause diaper rash because once it is wet, and the baby is not given a quick change, the urine will have prolonged contact to his delicate skin, thus causing irritation. Hence, for all their worth, when disposable diapers became available and made affordable in the market, mothers happily opted for them.

Disposable diapers however have, through the years, posed serious environmental problems. Disposable they maybe, but the question is: once they are thrown in the trash bins, are they really disposed of? They are not biodegradable since they are made partly of synthetic materials, especially the plastic lining that prevents leaks. And imagine how many babies are using these stuff all over the world! How many pieces of these are thrown everyday?

Imagine the canals and steros in the metropolis clogged by diapers thrown by uncaring individuals!

Of course, with the evolving trend among manufacturers of producing environment friendly products, biodegradable blah-blah…. we may have hope that one day, diapers will not add so much on our daily garbage heaps.

Well, one good news is - there are already flushable diapers introduced in the market. I surmise however that they are more expensive than the ordinary ones.  

So while we wait for these flushable baby pads to be more affordable and widely available, I think it is best that we start toilet training our babies. For all we know, such training can be beneficial not only in terms of less diaper use, but in the shaping of their personalities as well, to become more adaptive and more responsive individuals.