The first thing that came to my mind when I hear the word cloth nappies was gross. I pictured the mums off of Call The Midwife who were washing towels of poop in their sink back in the 50s. To me, a cloth nappy was a towel wrap around a baby's bottom loosely pinned by a safety pin. Why would anyone do cloth nappies on the 21st century? When you have disposable nappies that can last up to 12 hours and then be taken out immediately. Cloth nappies came to my attention when I was trying to minimalise our baby things. So, like a good millennial, I search on YouTube for videos explaining the world of cloth nappies (I had no intention to convert, I only wanted to understand why others do it). By the end of my research, I was converted and bought all I needed! Here is how I started.
Lesson 1: Saving The Planet One Nappy At A Time
The very first video I bumped into was by Emma Ross. She explains so well her journey into cloth. She opened my eyes to how much damage disposable nappies can be to the earth. I had no idea about this! Approximately 90-95% of American babies use 27.4 billion single-use, plastic nappies every year. This generates 7.6 billion pounds of rubbish each year—enough waste to fill a football stadium 15 times over or stretch to the moon and back 9 times. Every year. Disposable nappies are the 3rd largest consumer item in landfills and represent 30% of non-biodegradable waste. Even though it may seem as if an individual child doesn’t contribute much to those numbers, each baby wearing disposable nappies creates about 2000 pounds of rubbish over the course of two years. It takes hundreds of years for disposable nappies to decompose when exposed to sunlight and air. Since nappies are dumped into landfills, covered and not exposed to sun or air at all, nobody knows how many hundreds—or even thousands—of years they could be around. So just but hearing the unintentional damage I was causing, I started to feel like maybe I could give this a try...
Lesson 2: What Kind Of Cloth Nappies Are Out There
To my surprise, cloth nappies have evolved from towel wrapped around a baby's bum to the cutest, most adorable prints on fitted cloth nappies. They come in all shapes and designs! This totally won my over because I love the thought of our little one running around with cute prints on his bum. This video by Oh No Rachio! was so helpful in getting to know all the brands and makes out there.
Lesson 3: Deciding and Buying (Go to my Personal Care Page to find the links!)
After watching that video I decided that the best fit for me was pocket nappies that were waterproof on the outside and had poppers so they could last from birth to toddlerhood. I was going to start part-time because I still felt uncomfortable with going on outings and having to change him loads and carry the heavy nappies around in my bag. And at night I felt uncomfortable putting him in cloth because he sleeps so soundly through the night and pees a TON! It is totally doable but for me, I wanted just to start off slowly. Any change towards cloth is a win for our planet! But if you feel like you can do full-time you rock! Some cloth nappies can be very expensive out there but they all end up soaking up pee haha. It's a great idea to buy preloved nappies (buying them from someone else) because then you can help the environment more (and it's not gross having secondhand nappies, they actually work better and are super affordable!). I bought 30 nappies (which lasts about 3 days) from Littles & Bloomz off amazon. I change my little one also every 2 hours so I use about 6-7 a day. I recommend buying them one by one so you can get all the designs you want. They only charge shipping at the end of your order for the lot. Buy them with the charcoal inserts. The charcoal soaks up so much more and it dries so fast! Then I bought these biodegradable bamboo liners to put in the nappy against his skin so he does feel too much wetness and to catch his poos (so it doesn't make such a mess) and then to throw that in the toilet. I bought these cotton wipes to clean up any messes. They dry so fast and are easy to store. I also bought some wet bags to keep the soiled nappies in before I put them in the wash. I recommend also buying a smaller wet bag so you can keep clean wet cloth wipes in so you don't have to always get up to the sink. There are many ways to store all your cloth nappy stuff. Some mums are so creative! I just bought a standing caddy so I can keep all this stuff organised and on hand. The last thing to buy is the washing detergent. I just bought the Tesco Non-Bio powder detergent. And there you go! You have all you need to get started!
Lesson 4: Cloth Nappy Routine
When I started I was so nervous about how it would change our day. Emma Ross has a great video showing her routine with cloth nappies. I will explain my routine. When you first get your nappies and inserts you need to prewash them 5 times. This will help them become more absorbant with actually start using them. Wash them at 30 degrees with minimal detergent. Then just hang dry them. Mine usually dry within the same day. When I fold the dry nappies I slip the insert into the pocket of the nappy with the liner on top and fold the nappy and put it in the caddy. This way it is ready for more to use at the moment. I wet 10 cloth wipes and put them in my small wet bag to store them for the day use. Every 2 hours I will change my baby's nappy. I take off the soiled nappy. Use the liner to wipe off some poo if needed. If peed, I'll just use one cloth wipe. If pooed, I will use more haha. Then I grab the clean nappy, make sure the insert is in straight, spread the liner along the top and fasten the nappy onto my baby. I straight away take the soiled liner to the toilet and flush. Then I take the soiled nappy and put it straight into the washing machine. I used to use the wet bag to collect the days worth of nappies but now I just put it straight into the machine (I start the wash only before going to bed). If there has been a poopy nappy I will start a rinse cycle immediately and then a wash at the end of the day. So I repeat the pattern until bedtime. If we go out (and I know we will be out for more than 2 hours) I just put him in a disposable. Right before I head to get ready for bed I will start the final rinse cycle with no detergent (this link will tell you everything you need to know about washing and drying). Right before going to bed I will start the washing cycle. The dial should be on cotton and 60 degrees. I put in my detergent and start the cycle. I use a disposable nappy at night because our little on pees a TON at night and sometimes links! So I just deal with a disposable nappy so he is not uncomfortable with 4 inserts in a cloth nappy haha. I wash at night because it saves energy and money. As soon as I get up I will hang the wash! And then we start the routine over.
Lesson 5: Resources and Support
There is so much help out there! You are not alone. So many women are making the chose to help the earth and change popular culture. Here are some links that could help you out on this journey:
There are loads of videos on YouTube (this Q&A video is brilliant).
The Nappy Lady is an absolute guru in this area! She will answer every question!
Some local councils in the UK offer a Real Nappy Incentive voucher scheme to encourage the use of real nappies over disposables. So go over to their website and see if you can claim a voucher!
There are Facebook groups you can join (Cloth Nappies UK, Cloth nappies for sale and advice parent to parent UK, Pre-loved Cloth nappies and accessories). These are places where you can buy preloved nappies, ask questions and find ideas!
Also, you can shoot me a message (tap the message bubble in the right corner of your screen). You can ask me anything! Even if you only start with a few cloth nappies you are doing amazing! Slowly you will get the hang of it and will eventually feel comfortable making the switch to full-time! I really do love using cloth. Not only because it helps the environment but it helps my little be aware when he is wet and it's easier to potty train with! And I love watching his cute little bum in these nappies. Anyway, I hope I was able to help a bit on deciding if you wanted to start and how you can do it.
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