Palo Alto Goes For Guinness Record, Diaper by Diaper

In celebration of Earth Day weekend, parents, babies and staff gathered at in Palo Alto Saturday morning to try and make a change—a diaper change, that is.

, a birth and parenting resource center, was the site of a world-wide attempt at a Guinness World Record for the most simultaneous cloth diaper changes on Saturday at precisely 9:30 a.m. PST.

At approximately 400 locations world-wide—of which Blossom Birth was one—parents and their babies gathered at the stroke of 9:30 to all change a cloth diaper at once, in an attempt to spread awareness of both the Earth-friendly and baby-friendly qualities of cloth diapers, as well as raise money for the world-wide nonprofit organization, the Real Diaper Association.

“I think it’s exciting,” said Debra van Duynhoven, Sustainability Manager for the City of Palo Alto, who participated in the event with her 7-month-old son, Ethan, and served as the official witness to the Guinness Book for the world record attempt. “It’s exciting to get the world to do something different to benefit the environment, and I think it’s great that we have a community, like Blossom Birth and the city of Palo Alto, that want to help out and be sustainable.”

In addition to participating in the challenge at 9:30 a.m., moms, dads and Blossom Birth staff gathered to enjoy each others’ company, and trade tips on the best cloth diapers on the market.

Hannah Mestel, a Blossom Birth volunteer and mom to 5-month-old Alexandra and 4-year-old Rebecca, credits cloth diapers with helping her to potty-train her older daughter.

“My older daughter was out of diapers by 22 months old, and I think cloth diapering helped with that, because she never lost awareness of when she was wet,” Mestel explained. “The whole purpose of disposable diapers is to keep your child as dry as possible, so they’re not always as aware of being wet.”

Cloth diapers have certainly evolved over the past few decades—with modern brands like bumGenius and gDiapers, it’s no longer a rectangular-shaped white cloth that you have to fold like origami and fasten with safety pins to put on your child. Modern brands come sewed together in the shape of a pair of underpants, and usually only require that you change out a thick, cloth insert for each diaper change. They also come in a variety of colors and designs to choose from.

Natalia Khilko, mom to 7-month old fraternal twins, Amaris and Yari, said she uses cloth diapers the majority of the time, but will occasionally use a disposable for long, out-of-the-house trips. She added, thanks to cloth diapers, her twins have almost never had a diaper rash.

“Diaper rash has never been an issue for us, with the cloth diapers, thank goodness,” she said.

Khilko said, she washes the cloth diapers and inserts in her own washing machine at home about every three days or so.

“It’s very convenient, and the smell is not bad at all,” she said.

Lisa Lakata, mom to Dylan, 16 months, gets her cloth diapers from Tiny Tots Diaper Service, which picks up the dirty diapers from her home, cleans them in their facility with environmentally-friendly, low-water machines; and delivers them back to her.

“I find that the cloth diapers are not any more difficult or expensive than disposable, especially with Tiny Tots service,” she said. “I also like the benefit to the environment, and I’ve heard that they facilitate potty-training faster.”

Mora Oommen, director of the Blossom Birth center, greeted moms as they arrived at the center Saturday morning, made sure everyone knew the Guinness World Record rules, and timed the challenge. She said the goal was 10,000 cloth diapers changed simultaneously, between all 400 locations world-wide. That also meant, $10,000 raised for the Real Diaper Association, since each participant agreed to donate $1 for inclusion in the world record report.

The Real Diaper Association works to spread awareness of the benefits of cloth diapering, and to encourage more families to switch from disposable to cloth.

Visit Blossom Birth online at www.blossombirth.org.