Friends Forced to Paper Over Their Differences When Deciding on Diapers

NEW YORK —  Even friends disagree about disposable diapers, especially if they are mothers.

Sandie Lange of St. Paul, Minn., an environmentally conscious new mother, lasted about three weeks using cloth diapers when her first child, a daughter named Kristen, was born.

“It was just too much,” said Lange, 23. “I’ll recycle all of my newspapers, wash out all of my cans and bottles, but I’m not going back to the ‘50s.”

Lange says that when her former supervisor, herself the mother of two, picks up little Kristen, she often frowns and says: “Oh, no, she’s in Pampers again.”

“We get into little arguments but they’re not serious,” Lange said. “You know, she’s a save-the-whales kind of person. She uses cloth diapers on both of her children. It just didn’t work out for us.”