Modern Natural Baby to Join Guinness World Records Attempt

Modern Natural Baby in Ferndale will join a global Guinness World Records attempt at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 20, during The Great Cloth Diaper Change.

Participants in the annual event held at locations around the world will attempt to break last year's record of 8,251 cloth diapers changed simultaneously, Modern Natural Baby owner Emily Murray said Monday.

Murray has capped participation at the Ferndale location to approximately 40 ticket-holders because of space constraints, she said. Modern Natural Baby will expand in August or September when the shop moves to a larger location inside the former Dollar Castle site at 200 W. Nine Mile Road, she said.

In recognition of the world record attempt, Ferndale has designated April 20 as Cloth Diaper Day in the city and wished Modern Natural Baby good luck with a formal proclamation (see attached PDF).

"Ferndale continues to be an advocate in promoting awareness in a greener way of living," the proclamation reads. "The fact is that each year 25 billion disposable diapers go into landfills and those diapers take hundreds of years to decompose. That means one baby will contribute 2 tons of garbage into a landfill in just disposable diapers alone."

Maureen Lucas of Troy, who shopped for a baby shower gift Monday at Modern Natural Baby, said cloth diapers were de rigueur when she was a new mom years ago in Ferndale.

"My daughter was born April 21, 1973, and every day was cloth diaper day," she said. "I used cloth and rubber pants and pins."

[Do you prefer to use cloth or disposable diapers for your baby? Leave a comment!]