Selecting a Good Diaper Pail
Author: Angela Heidt
Diapers are one of those unavoidable nuisances of parenthood, but with a good diaper pail you can at least eliminate some of the hassle and smell of dealing with dirty diapers. While many diaper pails claim to get rid of odors and are easy to take care of, the reality is that you are never going to fully get rid of the smell of diapers from the nursery or changing area, and you will have to clean out the pail regularly.
First of all, you want your diaper pail to be easy to use. You shouldn't have to complete a complicated sequence of events just to get your diaper in the pail. There should be the least amount of touching as possible, as the last thing you want is to touch more dirty diapers. Also make sure that changing out the bags or filters is quick and easy.
Paramount to a good diaper pail is how well they contain odor. On a hot summer day in your baby's nursery, you do not want to be greeted with a blast of marinated diaper smell when you open the lid or enter the room. Basically, you need a good seal between the lid and the pail and the odor should be contained.
Of course, there are limitations to how much we want to spend on a diaper pail. The simplest diaper pails (or garbage cans as we laymen call them) can run $5-10: while the futuristic, battery operated jobs will run you $40 or more, plus the cost of bags, filters, and batteries. Consider whether the top end models really provide a good value, and solicit the opinion of other parents to see what they like/dislike about their pails.
In an effort to be environmentally friendly for your baby's future benefit, you may also want to consider how 'green' your diaper pail is. Those fancy pails that put each diaper in its own bag are definitely not environmentally friendly, and only add to the huge amount of waste sent to the landfill each year. If you want to bag your diapers, find bio-degradable bags instead.
Hopefully, with a little research and some luck you can find the perfect diaper pail to keep your home smelling fresh and your diapers contained. Now if only you could potty train your baby from birth…
