6 - Sunday, June 18, 1989 - Lynn Valley Echo Jisposablie diapers are posing a threat EACH BABY goes through one-half ton of disposable diapers in its diapering years. Sitting in a landfill, it isn’t until 300 to 500 years iater that those disposables even begin to decompose. . So says Jerri Mercer, one of two West’ Vancouver women who are working to have the area declared a “disposable diaper-free zone.”’ The other woman is Andrea Miller, who has become well known for her recycling informa- tion coffee parties and talks. “Plastic diapers can’t be used any more,"’ emphasized Miller. According vo the pair, the threats posed by the use of disposable diapers are numerous and serious. Mercer quotes Dr. Mirzda Peterson of the Environmental Protection Agency who has stated that large numbers of intestinal! viruses can remain alive in disposable diapers for up to two weeks. Such viruses can be leached out of the diapers iuto the under- ground water supply through the rainwater. The Canadian Medical Associa- tion has stated that diaper rash is _ three times less likely when parents » use cotton diapers, and Mercer br- _ ings up the more serious concern that urinary infection from infre- quent changing, dehydration from polymers (which absorb up to 80 times their own weight) and toxic shock syndrome are also being associated with the disposable. Added to this, say the two women, the vast number of trees required to produce the 18 billion disposables currently manufac- tured annually are being squandered for a product that is used only once then thrown away. As startling facts such as these gradually come to light, some FOR BOTH environmental and health reasons, Andrea Miller (teft) and friend Jerri Mercer are trying to ban the use of disposable diapers in West Vancouver. Reports say the diapers take hundreds of years to break down parents who previously gave little thought to the environmental im- pact of disposables are switching to cotton. Lynn Valley’s Sue McMordie is one such mother. Prior to having her first child, there was no ques- tion in her mind that she would use disposables because of their con- venience value. “*I wasn’t really tuned in to the environment prior to becoming a in Jandfills and can infect the water system with dangerous viruses. ‘just as convenient mom,”’ she said. It was only when she found herself throwing a shopping bag full of diapers into the garbage each day that the Magnitude of the situation hit home. When her daughter Lisa was two-and-a-half months old, MceMordie switched to a brand of form-fitting cotton diapers — no folding or pins — that she says are as the photo Mike Wakefield disposables. **And they’re so nice and soft on» your baby,” she added. Information provided by . her cottca diaper company shows that the total cost of diapering a child in their Indisposables brand over a two-year period is approximately $603.11 — including small and large diapers, inserts, nylon pants, one diaper pail and laundering costs. By comparison, says the com- pany, it would cost parents about $2,015.36 to diaper their child in disposables for the same two-year period. And, as McMordie points out, the cloth diapers can be reused when a second baby comes along. “Quite a few of my ‘mom’ friends are using cloth now,’’ said McMordie, who is hoping more parents will make *+-: switch from disposables. Meanwhile, anyone who attends one of Andrea Miller's recycling talks will get an earful about the envizonmental hazards of plastic in general, and disposable diapers in particular, “J would like West Vancouver to be the first disposable diaper- free zone in America,"’ she said at a recent meeting at her home. Three brands of form-fitting cotion diapers are currently avail- able. For information on ordering Indisposables, call Jerri Mercer, 922-2338, or Lisa Reid at 986- 8853. Sweetheart diapers are pro- duced by Baby Love Industries in Calgary, and catalogues are often distributed through Grace Hospital and pre-natal classes. Babykins are available in stores. Children must learn to settle themselves THERE ARE some children who have a very difficult time “‘learning’’ to sleep for long «than one four-hour period, getting themselves down from light to deep sleep over an eight-hour period. Tiicre are three such cycles of | light to deep sleep in an eight-hour stretch. immature nervous systems — as are found in premature infants and infants who have been through ill- nesses or other stresses — maintain the four-hour sleep-wake cycle much longer. Infants who have a hypersen- - sitive, hyperactive nervous system and a driving, intense temperament are also likely to be difficult babies at night. They have a difficult time learning how to calm themselves at each light sicep cycle. When I am confronted with a sleep problem in a baby of four to ~ five months, I asséss how much of ‘it is coming fron’ the baby and how much is the result of the en- vironment. Learning to sleep at night is an issue of independence. No baby is likely to achieve a mature 12-hour sleep unless she is allowed to de- velop her own independent means of getting into deep sleep again after each light sleep or REM (rapid eye movement) cycle. When a single parent, Alice, asked me what to do about her | daughter Tina’s sleep, I needed to explore her own feelings about go- ing to Tina at night. In her situation, she might * blame herself all too quickly for any upset in Tina. Although a second parent in the home might. have his own reasons for rushing to a fussy baby, being the only parent leaves one vulner- able to a kind of deep-seated self- questioning that can easily make it harder to let a baby work out her own restlessness every four hours at night. After weighing with’ her own . reasons for, going to. Tina, and Tina’s new reasons for coming up to a semi-wake state, I asked if Tina had found ways to comfort herself yet. Does she get herself to sleep when you put her down? I suggested that Alice stop feeding her every time she whimpers. ‘‘It doesn’t sound as if she really needs or wants it when she wakes up at night. Go to her after a few minutes. Five to 10 would give her a chance to comfort: herself and try to get under control on her own. If that doesn’t work, then go to her but don’t reinforce her by picking her up. You may be waking her up unnecessarily. Just pat her or rock her in her bed to help her get back to sleep. “If she has a ‘lovey’ or a com- forting pattern, help her find it at ° night. You won’t be deserting her in any way and you may be teaching her patterns for taking ~ care of herself at night. Although this may seem hard now, you may be. saving yourself some future grief.”” A week later Alice called me to say she couldn’t believe ict, but she knew that I would. It had taken three nights oniy, and only one peried of 10 minutes of fussing each night, before Tina began to sleep through regularly. ‘“‘And she seems relieved!’’ There are.a few other techniques for helping to solve this sleep problem, which appears to be a universal one for single parents and of concern to most working ones. One is to prolong the bedtime routine and closeness. Instead of a short ritual, make it a longer one in which you share the events of the day. : - For a small child verbal sharing is impossible.. But sharing motor and cognitive gains is not. You can help her get up and down in her crib, praising her for the latter. You can share all the new ac- complishments — pointing, clapp- ing and so on — but always aim at leaving her in a situation of getting herself to sleep in the end, Sit by her and pat her, or lie down near her, but leave it to her to get to sleep on her own and with her favorite blanket or ‘‘lovev’’. A firm resolve is necessary to end the teasing episodes that are bound to result from your being there. But, leaving her to cry it out alone is too brutal and isn’t even necessary. None of these ‘‘solutions’’ will work unless you are ee LADIES’ HEELS MEN’S TOPY SOLES ial T. BERRY BRAZELTON, M.D. sure in your own mind that you want your baby to learn to be in- PRS Zs $4g00 FULL DRYCLEANING SERVICES AT LYNN VALLEY dependent at night. She'll be ready and will know it when you are.