Huggies has a group of six brand ambassadors for their “Every Little Bottom” campaign that’s designed to raise awareness about a new study showing 1 in 3 American moms struggle to provide their babies with diapers. As a result, babies are left for prolonged periods in soaked diapers that often result in rashes. To help combat the problem Huggies is donating 20 million diapers over the course of eight months to diaper banks.
The mom bloggers involved are participating in diaper drives across the country. Whitney of Rookie Moms is one of the ambassadors and last year when she set out to get 1,000 diapers donated she ended up with 2,500 that she took to a local women’s center.
Jenny from Jenny On The Spot shared how diapers even got expensive for her family, one of the reasons she wanted to be part of the program. “More than once I remember counting diapers to see if I could make it to payday before having to buy another package.”
Although they are financially comfortable they found it tough at times when there were two babies in diapers and one in pull-ups. For moms living at the poverty level the situation can be dire. Jenny said, “These moms have had to cut back on food, utilities, like heat or electricity, or even child care in order to provide enough diapers for their babies.”
Each of the bloggers involved are being compensated as consultants; in turn they are using their online influence to help spread the word about the need and how Huggies is addressing it.
{photo credit: CarbonNYC}
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Check out this fantastic organization that is dedicated to helping low-income families diaper their babies without putting 20 million diapers in the landfill.
The Cloth Diaper Foundation, formerly Miracle Diapers, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, dedicated to helping qualifying families all over the United States get a jump start on cloth diapering. Cloth diapers are a more natural, healthy alternative to disposables that reduce overall waste, thereby helping the environment. As a supplementary program, it is not our wish to be a family’s sole source for cloth diapers; rather, we assist families while they build their own supply of diapers. We accept donations given by caring individuals and redistribute them to families in need.
http://www.clothdiaperfoundation.org/
Thanks for covering this, guys, and for your comment below, Pamela. The Cloth Diaper Foundation sounds great. When we talk about the need for diaper donation, the conversation often turns to cloth diapers because they are reusable which is both economical and better for the planet. Unfortunately women living in poverty with their babies do not frequently have access to a washing machine.
Another problem with cloth is that you need special detergents, ones you can often only get online or in speciality stores. I have thought about this a lot, since I heard about the campaign. While I’m really horrified at the statistics about how many diapers the average kid uses (7,000 if they are diapered until age 2.5!!!!) I just don’t see any way around using disposables for low income moms. Instead of pointing the fingers at poor women who don’t have many options, why don’t we ask why parents of means aren’t using them?
oh dear! I hope you don’t think I was pointing fingers. It is more difficult to cloth diaper when you do not own a washing machine. I can’t imagine sitting in a laundromat all the live-long day to wash my diapers.
You do make a good point… we should be asking why parents of means aren’t cloth diapering. Why anybody who owns a washing machine isn’t cloth diapering. When I started cloth diapering my two boys, I did the math and figured I could diaper them forever in cloth for what it would cost to disposable diaper them for three months. That is not a huge investment, even for people who are doing just slightly better than living paycheck-to-paycheck.
Great discussion.
aww that’s amazing!