The Cloth Nappy Revolution
Not like Granny’s Day
Today’s nappies are bottom-shaped and use velcro, poppers or Nappy Nippa clips instead of pins. They are easy to use, easy to wash and fun to show off. Waterproof wraps come in fashionable prints and funky colours – you could have the trendiest baby in the changing room!
Today’s washing machines mean no boiling or handwashing – most stains will come out first time at 60° c. You don’t even have to soak nappies (wetpailing) if you don’t want.
Cloth nappy users are passionate about their nappies – do you feel that way about disposables?
Happy Baby
Many babies in disposables suffer from explosive poo, often right up to the back of the neck and many parents simply accept this as what happens with nappies. With the right cloth nappy, poo stays where it should be and everyone stays clean and calm when that smell appears! Ask yourself how much of your washing load is caused by leaky disposables.
A dry cloth nappy can indicate that your newborn baby may not be breastfeeding successfully or that a child may be unwell or becoming so. With modern disposables you have no idea of what is normal in your child’s urine production.
In Europe, the use of additional padding is accepted practice in paediatric hospitals as a method for managing hip displacement in newborns.
Most toddlers will fall repeatedly on their bottom as they learn to walk, and the extra padding provided by real nappies can soften the blow considerably. Many cloth-using parents find a padded bottom makes their baby easier to carry than a slippery slim one.
Next time you think about buying some underwear for yourself, consider the choice between disposable paper pants and cotton ones – not a hard decision to make, is it?
Environment
Cloth babies’ poo goes into the sewerage system instead of open rubbish dumps. Using Non-bio powder, home-made gloop or a laundry ball minimises environmental impact.
9million disposable nappies are used per day in Britain and go straight into landfill sites. Your child would contribute an average of 4500 disposables nappies to the UK landscape in its nappy-wearing lifetime.
It’s estimated that disposable nappies will take anything up to 500 years to decompose - every disposable ever made is still here somewhere.
4 and a half trees are destroyed to keep one baby in disposable nappies for 30 months.
Many local authorities now have a recycling schemes which means each dustbin is emptied every 2 weeks. How long would you want a bin full of dirty nappies outside your home?
Cost
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Friends of the Earth estimate the cost of using cloth nappies per annum per baby is only £40 including detergent, water, electricity and wear & tear on washing machine.
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Pack of 38 Pampers Babydry Size 3 = £5.57 in Asda, Eastleigh = 14.7p per nappy. Multiplied by 4500 changes = £659.61 (price correct as at Jan04)
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20 onesize shaped nappies @£8.99 each + 16 wraps @£8.00 each + 20 fleece liners @ £1.00each + 1 bucket @ £5.95 + £120 for 3 yrs utilities = £453.75 + a little extra detergent each week.
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Next time you look at the disposable nappies in supermarkets, notice how quantity and price per pack vary from size to size within the same brand so the price per nappy changes too. It's not made easy for you to keep track of your budget.
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You don’t have to go 100% cloth straight away – as long as you have a bucket you can use as much or as little as you like, perhaps just at night to start with. Buying one or two of a nappy style/brand at a time allows you to see what suits you best and helps spread the cost longterm.