NEW BEDFORD — It’s estimated that single-use diapers take 500 years to decompose in a landfill.

Start at the Bottoms is on a mission to offer a solution: cloth diapers.

“We can preserve this earth by starting with the baby's bottom," said Eileen Brennan,  owner of the environmentally smart infant shop.

"It's not really just a store, it's a mission," she said. "We don't have this kind of store around."

Along with other eco-friendly products, Brennan wants to help push out the idea of cotton baby diapering. "I just want people to be rethinking cotton diapers; it's not a prefold diaper with pins anymore that you're soaking in a tub," she said. 

"When they feel the quality of them, and see that these are meant to last and the only diapers that your baby needs because there are adjustable snaps on them, they rethink the idea."

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According to GreenMatters.com, most babies use between 2,500 and 3,000 disposable diapers in their first year of life, then requiring diapers until they are potty trained.

The total cost can be $1,500 to $2,000 for diapers, and disposable diapers account for 2% of U.S. landfill waste.

Brennan says babies can also be potty trained in about half the time with cloth diapers because they feel themselves wet and respond to it.

"If they don't feel themselves, the potty training time can almost double," she added. Grovia.com also confirms this — preference for a dry bottom is reinforced.

In 2001, the Marion native said she was inspired to open a business geared to helping the environment after observing work revolving around decreasing plastic straws and grocery bags.

"I'm a person who cares about the planet. I recycle everything, every single thing in my house," Brennan said.

When she discovered that baby diapers were the third largest non-biodegradable item in landfills, she turned her focus on a solution with cloth diapers.

"I designed my logo and my flyer and everything," she said. 

Then she put it all on the back-burner,

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Now, after working 21 years as a data analysts for a hospital, she said it was time to retire and take a stab at bringing Start at the Bottoms to life.

“I saved my money. I worked really hard. I always had this on a shelf and it just seemed like it was the right time to pull it out," she said.

She launched the website in December 2021, and in January opened the shop on the first floor of the Kilburn Mill. "It's just funny that it's an old textile mill and I'm working with organic cotton," Brennan added with a laugh.

Brennan is also hearing impaired and has to announce it to everyone that enters her shop. She says it has been a challenge with masks because she relies heavily on reading lips.

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"I don't know if people really realize what it's been like for the hearing impaired the last two years with masks," she said.

As for cloth diapers, Brennan says she doesn't want people to think she's shaming anybody that used disposable diapers. She says that despite all the facts presented, she thinks the only reason people are still using them is because it's easy.

Thus, her mission is to make using cloth diapers easier.

"Let's bring in products, let's create things, let's make this an easier task, because in the long run everybody wins," she said.

The store also sells the spray pal and the spray pan, which attaches to the side of the toilet for easy washing, all natural laundry detergent, BioLiners, and ECO dryer balls.

Brennan said she always looking for people to help create new products as well. For example, she is collaborating with a designer to create a hamper that is easier for a cloth baby diaper person to use when transferring to the washing machine.

"People want better choices, they're concerned about the environment, they want to save money and they want to be comfortable," Brennan said. "I think this new generation is ready and wants this.

"I'm here to help them."

Standard-Times staff writer Seth Chitwood can be reached at schitwood@s-t.com. Follow him on twitter: @ChitwoodReports. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Standard-Times today.