Be warned that this will be a TMI (too much information) post, including talk of ladyparts in general, and mine in particular.
I haven’t yet posted about cloth diapering, but our 19 month old son has been cloth diapered from birth and we love it. I initially made the decision to cloth diaper out of concern for polluting the world with more plastic. Consider that it will take an estimated 300 years for plastic to break down. The first piece of plastic created in the late 1800s still exist. Recycling is a nice gesture, but by all accounts is more of a gesture than an actual solution. In any case, end-product plastics like soiled diapers and sanitary napkins cannot be recycled anyway. So, they just sit in trash dumps…forever.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-plastic. I think plastic is a marvelous invention that is greatly abused in overly disposable culture.
As I learned more about the chemical constituents of disposable diapers, my resolve to avoid them deepened. Plainly put, I want to delay my child’s exposure to the toxic substances within my control for as long as possible. Popular disposable diapers are known to contain dioxin, a well-known carcinogen banned in most other countries, just ask the World Health Organization. This chemical is a by-product of the bleaching process used to make popular disposable diapers, sanitary napkins and tampons white. Thankfully, dioxin-free alternatives of all of them are now widely available in health food stores and on the Internet.
I’m talking a lot about diapers when this was supposed to be too much information about periods! Well, my female friends, we all know that sanitary napkins, diapers, and Depends are pretty much the same thing. I could personally not justify going back to the same old disposable pads for myself, while keeping SJ’s bum wrapped in soft cloth. Which feels better on your lady parts: cloth or plastic? The answer to this led me to try out cloth menstrual pads.
Of course there’s still the question of tampons, but I’ve never had any love for those. I never liked the feeling of them and possibility of Toxic Shock Syndrome turned me off as a teen. Trying cloth pads, led me to the world of menstrual cups and sea pearls.
To use any of these may take shedding anti-woman views on our bodies and periods ingrained since infancy. The first being that menstrual blood is dirty, nasty, unsanitary, etc. Without romanticizing it at all, menstrual blood is kind of the bomb. For one, it’s been inside your body, so it’s probably more sterile than anything you touch as you go about your day. It’s also highly nutritious because it would have been used to nourish a growing person had you become impregnated. The second thing is that you’ll probably have to touch yourself. It’s ironic when you think about it, but we’re conditioned to believe that unless we’re bathing, our vaginas are for other people to touch: doctors, sexual partners, etc.
ALL of that being said, I’ve tried out three different alternatives to disposable menstrual products. Here’s my take:
Cloth pads
Among the natural parenting folks, these may also be known as mama pads because so many of us come to them after trying cloth diapers. The market on these is quite vast. There are lots of handcrafted options available through Etsy and direct websites, in addition the established companies like Party in My Pants, Lunapads, and Glad Rags. The fabric choices range from flannel and organic cotton to wool and bamboo. I have tried the PIMP liner and a few cotton and wool pads from Etsy sellers. They are all super cute and make me feel like my lady parts are well-dressed. However, I have yet to find a leakproof one that I like. Call me picky, but flannel and wool aren’t exactly the temperature regulators I want between my legs.
Menstrual cup
A menstrual cup is worn internally to catch the menstrual flow. The most surprising thing I learned from using one is that despite how it may look (and feel) most of us don’t shed very much blood each day. The most popular cups are DivaCup, Instead Softcup, Mooncup and Mooncup UK. The differences between them are slight, but enough to make one a loyalist. I’ve only tried the DivaCup and it’s always leaked. I’ve read women who also have a retroverted cervix say they had the same experience. I’m going to try trimming the stem and give it another go round because it could be really useful during travels.
Sea sponge tampon
I was complete skeptic of the sea sponge. Sounded unsanitary and gross. But, when I needed to replace the DivaCup and couldn’t find a reasonably priced one by Jade and Pearl, I decided to try the sponge because it was available. LOVE IT! It didn’t leak and I completely couldn’t feel it. I cleaned it with baking soda before using and it rinses very easily between uses. My only issue with it is that I had to trim it a considerable amount before it fit. The one on the left in the photo is what I ended up with after trimming to fit me. I couldn’t see using outside of home though, since it has to be rinsed every few hours on the same schedule you would use a disposable tampon (depending of flow heaviness).
So, I’m still working on getting a full regimen together. In the meanwhile, I’ll give the DivaCup another shot when the sponge is inconvenient. The cloth pads I’ve tried so far make good back-up.
Have you tried any alternatives to disposable menstrual products?
I’ve found that lots of Kagle exercises have reduced the amount of leaking by the diva cup. I think after vaginal child birth, your body is considerably (and understandably) a bit stretched. With time and practice, I’ve reduced the leaking to the point where I can almost wear it w/o a pantyliner. However, my flow is way more than mentioned on the label (I fill up the cup, yes fill to overflowing) every 40 minutes during my first 2 days of my period, part of the leaking issue for me too. I still very much like the Diva cup and hope you can try it again as it is rather convenient and much less wasteful than traditional “sanitary” product.
Thanks for adding that Mollie. I’ve actually experienced the leaking in the times I tried prior to giving birth. But, I recently moved to the Stage 2 cup and am gonna give it another try. Have you tried any of the other menstrual cups?
I was just thinking that my period would be back soon and I was thinking about how I was going to “handle” that. My haven’t had a cycle since right before getting pregnant with Halle(April 2010). But, I weaned her a few weeks ago, so I am looking for it.
I had heard of the diva cup before, but I had no idea what it was! LOL! I don’t that after these 4 babies I would be safe to use that w/o leaking. I think I would have to start with the cloth pads. Thanks for the TMI!
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LaSandra, I have no clue about the leaking. They have a different size to use if you’re over 30 or have pushed out a baby do maybe it would work. Lots of women swear by the menstrual cups. I think it’s worth a try. Just buy it off the Internet if you do because the DivaCup costs like $20 more in store.
Thank you for posting your experiences with this. I’ve been considering using these alternatives for some time now but I wasn’t completely sold with all the positive reviews I’d got.
I’m all about the DivaCup, I’ve been a loyalist for almost two years now. It does take a little practice and it sometimes still leaks on heavy flow days, but a lunapad pantyliner is a great backup. Despite it all, it most definitely beats using disposable pads/tampons.
Thanks for sharing this, Anayah. It may sound silly, but I never really thought about alternatives to traditional pads and tampons. I want to look in to these products more now. So, thanks for that!
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Thanks for reading and commenting. I didn’t expect so many people to be interested in the topic!
Nina & Jessica: If you try out any of these alternatives, please give a reportback.
MissMoore: Thanks for the DivaCup co-sign. I have yet to speak with anyone who has used it and wasn’t a convert afterward. I’m giving it another shot, too.
Great Post!
I’ve tried some of these, and can’t deal, lol. I occasionally use the Instead cup- but it has plastic parts so that’s not really in the spirit of this post, lol. But for those still leaking (I mean looking, lol) those leak too and are difficult to remove without a mess- even for those used to doing so.
I also wanted to add that TSS is actually rare, and that for those who had a challenging time with tampons, you may need to adjust the size and/or absorbency of the tampon. Once I did that, I no longer felt them. I only mention it because it’s still a natural option.
Good point, Chunk. TSS is rare and disposable tampons can be a good option for people who don’t like reusables if you’re using the unbleached/chlorine-free and dioxin free ones for people. Same goes for pads, although then you’re really getting back into the endless disposable plastic cycle again.
Anayah,
Thanks for this post! A friend recently explained why she started using cloth diapers for her baby and I wondered, “why are we using some of these same products/chemicals every month?!” I had only heard of the Diva Cup. It’s good to know there are other options out there.
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OMGoodness, Tiffany! I just revisited your blog and I’m in love all over again. I wanna be good with the crafts, too! You’re inspiring me to get moving.
Anyhoo, we’ve been cloth diapering since the beginning and it’s a lot simpler than it may seem. Also, SJ is now all about potty learning now at 20 months. I don’t know if that’s really early, although lots of cloth diapering people say the children are more aware of their stuff in them. In any case, I thought I would be so ready for him to move on, but this has me scrambling to keep up.
I have to say, I have been using cloth diapers as pads around the house all of my “woman-hood”. Nothing fancy. They are VERY thick but when I use a disposable pad, I’m always paranoid about leaking. I cut them in half and fold into thirds. If I need more protection, I will fold one in half long-way and then wrap one in thirds around it. I still remember the first time I told my new husband! I keep a small bucket in the bathroom and soak them and rinse them when I’m in the shower and wash them with my towels and washcloths. Doesn’t take any time at all to “mess” with them. My teen son doesn’t know I’m “weird” and might be in for a shock that his future wife always buys Always! (pun intended)
I haven’t used tampons since I had him. I tried a few times, and seemed more trouble than they were worth. A few years ago, I tried a cup and I liked it ok. But one day, I had it in, and it fell out while I was peeing and the toilet sucked it up! I hadn’t even flushed, but it went away anyway! I liked it but I didn’t want to spend that much on another one. My sister gave me another one (The one I had was a harder, thicker, rubber-y kind. It was a brownish red. The one she gave me was a thinner, clear more comfortable-looking one) but it didn’t work very well, so I gave up on it.
All this being said, I do still use disposables when I’m out and about because the diaper rags do make me look, um.. kind of like I’m wearing a diaper! But I use way less of them than I would be using if I didn’t use cloth. Murphy’s Law causes me to always start my period when I’m out shopping, so I buy a box/bag when that happens and that’s the only time I’ve had to buy them because they last a lot longer.