This picture cheers me up. A (Chinese?) baby wearing the traditional “split pants” or kaidangku. Eden would say this kid is “free in the breeze”. Having been a cotton dipe mom, this image intrigues me. How? Hmmm. All I’ve ever been able to discover is that the Mom of this kid knows his/her “elimination cues” and can jump to the rescue at a moments notice. Learn more about this form of communication at diaperfreebaby. Seems like this would work well out on the farm where mishaps could be absorbed by the great outdoors. But what about indoors? On the street? Apparently this toddler fashion is on the outs in the big cities of China. Why? Does the sight of baby buns offend? Piddle on the cement, maybe. Poo piles on the sidewalk, certainly. But does that actually happen? I couldn’t find many details. What I did find is that purveyors of disposable diapers, the makers of such favorites as Pampers and Huggies, have a huge hand in pushing out this “quaint” and “unhygienic” practice. (More here) They have their sights set on duping millions of toddlers’ parents into converting to disposables on the grounds that it’s cleaner, more modern, better for “mental development” (?!) and the environment (!!!!!) and raking in the big bucks while they're at it.
Speechless.
Sooo, let’s take a centuries old, natural, practical and free solution to baby poo that happens to require an intimate parent/child bond and replace it with what? Something manmade, unbiodegradable, possibly toxic (dioxin, sodium polyacrylate) and expensive in so many ways (the energy required to manufacture and the cost to poor families). I acknowledge that the answer isn't cut and dried (diapaerdebate) but is probably easier than we think. Like reprioritizing and putting profit lower on the list. Or better yet, let's redefine profit!
When, oh, when will we wise up? Until we do, I will enjoy this picture of a babe “free in the breeze’.
Photo: I have had this picture in my image files for years because it makes me smile but I don't know who took it. I call it "China Pee"
4 comments:
I was ready to EC with Mira Margaret, but I couldn't get the cues. I had the book, a yahoo group, lots of web sites for reference and I still got peed on a lot. I don't think it's for everyone. Maybe we'll give it another chance now that I know her a little better. If she makes a mess in the house I'm cool with just cleaning it up. I'll probably continue to put her in prefolds on excursions, though.
Do you know Laureen?
You radical earth mama, you. That's so cool that you gave it a go. I'd be interested to hear if you have success if you try again. I think I would have been game if I had known about EC back when but I'm content to have mastered the 30 second cloth dipe quickchange (and thankful it's been years since diapers were an issue). Thanks for the Laureen link. Great blog. I love her "Unschooling Birth" post. Self educating on homebrth was my segue into unschooling as well.
EC update: not so good. I miss more than I catch. She's such a busy little walking/running thing and my attention hasn't been 100%. That's what it takes--you have to be with the baby all the time. But I don't know if it's really an all-or-nothing proposition. Maybe we'll go free in the breeze when the other aspects of life slow down (Sasha had dental surgery yesterday.) Then I can be 100%, even if it's only 50% of the time.
It is very, very sad if split pants and bare bottoms are on the way out... I've read that in Inida, too, Pampers and Huggies are activley campaigning to diaper them all, what a shame !
I'm an Italian mom of three, and I did my own version of kandangku, with my three girls, Marina now six, Sara and Emma, 4 . As soon as warm weather came, when they were approximately 1 yo., I just left them bare bottom most of the time, naked, with a tee shirt or a dressa, whatever. My eldest was the trend setterm as she hated diapers absolutely, , both cloth and disposable. So I let them run about naked all the time in the yard and at home they had an hour or so of naked time every day, usually in the late afternoon before taking a bath and going to bed. Yes, they did wet the floor from time to time, BUT it is not the end of the world if it happens (no carpets) and I effortlessly started to potty train them, and they were completely reliable before they were two.
Let's hope that at least some chinese (and Indian) moms will oppose this exceedingly ugly western product, disposable diapers.
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