I told my mom that, when DH and I move into our house next month, I'm planning on line drying DD's dipes. She completely freaked! She said that the diapers could get contaminated w/ dust, pollen, mold spores, and pesticides. I generally take everything she says w/ a grain of salt b/c she can very very dramatic and is quick to jump to ridiculous conclusions. However, I'm reluctant to dismiss this entirely b/c my baby's health could be an issue and we do live in an area w/ poor air quality. Can anybody shed some light on this issue?

I've never heard of any dangers of line drying diapers. As long as they're drying in the sun, they won't get moldy. (And sunshine is a great natural bleach.) Pesticides? I don't know. I suppose if your next-door neighbor is spraying weed-killer on his lawn it would be best not to hang the dipes on that day. I line dried my children's diapers and it saved us a lot of $ on electricity because they take forever to dry in the drier.

Line drying will naturally bleach out poo stains. Even my FIL - a PhD - agreed that the sun is a natural germ killer.

Pesticides might be a concern however I really don't think that something dried outside would get contaminated unless the application was very close. Plus, they spray down at the lawn, not up into the air.

Pollen could be a problem if your family is susceptible to allergies. If this is a concern you could check the allergy reports and not hang the dipes out when the pollen is high.

I have a really cool reel clothesline I got at www.lehmans.com. It is attached to the deck about 15 feet above the ground and is a plastic or vinyl covered wire with a tightener to take up the slack. I never have to prop up a clothes line and I can stand in once place, never have to move the basket, which I put on a chair so I don't have to bend to reach the clothes. The clothespins are held in an old fannypack we had laying around so they are right at my fingertips. Lehmans also sells an apron for holding clothespins but I think it's way overpriced. The reel clothesline kit is kind of expensive, but I think it is well worth it. I searched long and hard for a reel clothes line and this was the best quality on the market.

I love hanging out laundry. :)

ITA with everyone who's posted. this is a defintite the pro's outweighing the cons. if pesticides are so heavy in your area that they could drift up to your laundry then you've got bigger problems to deal with.

:thumb

I just thought of something else.

Where does all the air going through your dryer come from...well, it sucks out the air out of your house and then...gee, all that polluted outdoor air gets sucked into your house.

I think that you could argue that the dryer is actually worse b/c it will pull the dirty outdoor air into your house and run a large volume of it through your diapers.

Line dry 'em! :thumb

Thanks for all the replies! That lehmans.com site was great and so was that point about the dryer sucking in air from house!! Thanks again for the info. :D