A MOTHERS EXPERIENCE OF USING 'REAL' NAPPIES
| Published: 9th March 2007 20:34 |
THE USE OF 'REAL' NAPPIES AS OPPOSED TO DISPOSABLE ONE'S
If anyone had told me 5 years ago, that when I had a baby, I would use real nappies I would have laughed at them, but that is exactly what happened and what's more, I wouldn't change it for anything. The nappies are now on baby number 2 and doing fine. This is my story - I hope you find it interesting and thought provoking. I will happily answer any questions you have about my experiences - contact me.
When I was about half way through my first pregnancy four years ago, I decided to look into using real nappies as I was concerned about a number of issues to do with disposables. The two main issues for me were the cost and the environmental impact disposables have. The two main types of nappy that I knew about were Cotton Bottoms and Bambino Mio (both prefold nappies). I duly looked at both their websites and was horrified to discover the cost of using disposables was nearly £2000 per child. Not to mention the fact that each and every disposable nappy that has been thrown away is still in the landfill site it was dumped in and will still be there in hundreds of years, (unless of course it has been incinerated, but that's a whole new issue). The length of time quoted for disposables to decompose ranges from 200 - 500 years. I think that they really don't know how long it takes for them to decompose as they haven't been around all that long yet! The more I thought about it the more I didn't want to contribute to this problem so I thought more earnestly about using real nappies.
Then came the problem of deciding which ones to use. There seemed to be about as many different types and systems as there are disposable nappy brands, if not more. I ummed and ahhed about ordering trial packs and never got round to doing anything about it. Then I read a letter on the letters page in one of the "mother and baby" magazines from a very satisfied mum recommending a website about real nappies. I eagerly logged on and was surprised by what I found. The website of the Nappy Lady (www.thenappylady.co.uk) is a mine of information and advice, and it is presented in a balanced way - somewhat surprising from someone selling real nappies. The information on this site suggests that the cost of using disposables actually ranges from £700 - £820 using main brand nappies - quite a difference from the other websites I had looked at! You can see then that the financial argument is not quite as strong as some manufacturers would have you think. However, once you've got your real nappies, they'll easily do for child number 2 or 3, so there is a substantial saving if you intend to have more than one child.
At the time I first found the site you couldn't even order online. This was because they like you to complete a questionnaire about using real nappies first, and then they will advise you which ones will meet your needs best. The questionnaire is quite detailed and includes all sorts - eg will you have more than one child in nappies at once, is there a history of skin sensitivity/eczema in your family, details of your laundry/drying facilities and the reasons why you are considering using real nappies. Once this has been completed a nappy advisor will contact you with her recommendations - the reasons for which are all explained in great detail. You can then order samples and whatever you don't want you send back for a full refund.
My advisor recommended two types of nappy - Motherease, which is a one size nappy, and totsbots - which is a two size system. Both nappies would need waterproof wraps and Motherease Airflow (popper fastening) or Rikki (velcro fastening) were recommended. Both nappies are shaped just like disposables. After ordering one of each we chose to use totsbots as they were really cute! We bought 15 nappies in each size and started off with 4 wraps in medium and 4 in large. We hired 6 newborn size wraps from the Nappy Lady, but in hindsight I wish that I had bought them, as our son was small and we used the newborn size wraps for ages and ages. We have since bought one more wrap in medium and large. The nappy advisor also suggested using muslin squares as a nappy to begin with as even the small totsbots nappy is quite bulky on a newborn, so we bought 2 packs of these as well. The nappies are fastened either with velcro or a nifty little thing called a nappy nippa - no pins needed. We also bought 9 fleecy liners (excellent as a stay dry layer next to baby's bottom) and 6 booster pads (fleecy on one side, extra layer of terry on the other). All in all we spent about £380, so you can see a substantial saving even from the lowest cost of disposables. We also started using paper liners as well as the fleecy liners because it made it a bit easier to dispose of the poo. These cost around £2 for 100, but we cut them in half as they were too big, so about a penny a nappy change, but if your baby hasn't pooed they can actually be washed and reused!
Well, what I haven't mentioned so far is the washing. It's a doddle! When you change your baby you just drop the poo and paper liner into the toilet and put the nappy and liner in your nappy bucket - one word of advice here, I opted for the cute matching nappy bucket which was fine when my son was in the small nappies (just) but was too small when he was in the bigger size of nappies. I just used a kitchen bin with a really good lid and it worked fine. I didn't soak the nappies - seemed like a lot of extra work to me, and I didn't like the idea of handling sopping wet nappies. There was no smell problem, as all the poo goes down the loo. You only need to change the wrap if the nappy leaks poo onto it (very, very rare - only happened to me about twice with my son), otherwise you use a clean wrap at night. Some suggest one wrap for night and one for day, but we managed fine on a clean wrap at bedtime. Anyway, back to the washing, every 2 - 3 days (depends on how many poos!) I just put all the nappies, wraps and liners into the washing machine, set it off on a 60° cycle and left the machine to it! In winter I did use my tumble drier to dry the nappies, but in the summer I managed mostly with the washing line outside. I also know other mums who use real nappies and manage perfectly well without a tumble drier. Average annual costs for laundering nappies are about £33 (Women's Environmental Network and Real Nappy Association figures).
When my son was about 9 weeks old we took him on holiday, but where we were staying did not have a tumble drier and we weren't sure that the weather would allow us to dry the nappies, so we used disposables. What a nightmare that turned out to be. Every time he pooed (which was very often) the nappy leaked and we had to change his clothes. Thankfully, they were relatively easy to dry, being a lot thinner than his nappies. I absolutely hated using disposables, and only did so when I absolutely had to. It was more of a convenience thing with me, as in my experience the disposables actually created more work overall as I had to change my son's clothes more often, not something he enjoyed!
For me, my real nappies worked brilliantly and I wouldn't hesitate to suggest using them. I would never want to make anyone feel guilty for using disposables, you have to do what works for you, and after all 5 years ago I wouldn't have considered using anything else, but that was because I didn't know about real nappies like I do now. If you are even considering not using disposables, have a look at the Nappy Lady website or one of the myriad others (a google search came up with over 1 million sites!) and find out more.
Things have moved on a lot in the world of real nappies and there are now many more varieties available, some with incredible drying times of just 10 mins in a drier, so surf the net a bit, ask around and you'll be surprised at what you find. Most hospitals and midwives now have information about real nappies, you could try the Real Nappy Helpline on 0845 850 0606, or look at www.realnappycampaign.com.
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