Please note, these articles solely express the view of the author and NOT the view of the National Childbirth Trust.

Cloth or Disposable?
by Lucy Kirkland, Spring 2007

When pregnant with my daughter three years ago, I started to realise how many different ways there are to bring up a child; stay at home mum, nannies, nursery, grandparents care, breastfeed till they are two, breastfeed for six months, bottle feed, do both, arghhhhhh TOO MUCH INFORMATION!. Then, just as I thought that I was getting to grips with everything, a friend whispered something about ‘Real’ nappies. Real nappies, what on earth are they I thought? How real do they have to be when full of…..well anyway you get the message.

When the penny dropped and I realised she was talking about cloth nappies, my initial reaction was that they were having a laugh. It is our mums that were up to their elbows in the proverbial, not us. Things have moved on, we now have nice little disposables that can get wrapped up and thrown away, no mess, no smell and definitely no washing.

However, the more I thought about it and got involved with having my baby, the more I wanted to find out more. I found there is a whole new world of cloth nappies; stuffables, prefolds, Slinkys, Bamboozles, Fluffles, birth to potty and the best name I have seen yet; the Whambamboo! There is also a plethora of environmental information out there. Who sponsors the survey, definitely effects the results (as always). However it is closer than you may think for one baby, although in my opinion the cloth nappies have it by a whisker. Also, what they don’t take into account is that when baby number two comes along (like mine did 5 months ago). You just get out all your cloth nappies and start using them again (so long as you didn’t buy a full set of pink Rainbow Tots for your first daughter and then have a son!) I think when this happens the cloth option has to be the most environmentally friendly.

Apart from the environment, other benefits include; huge cost saving (which get even better the more children you have….) better poo holding in newborns (less shooting up the back incidents!), possibly quicker potty training as your toddler is much more aware when they are wet and no chemicals near your babies skin. I am sure other cloth nappy converts could list many more. I personally also found that my daughter got less nappy rash when in cloth nappies. One major disadvantage is that cloth nappies are very cute and can get slightly addictive…..don’t ask how many I own!

The only other thing that people mention is the washing; I don’t even think about it now. After bedtime, every second day, I bung all the nappies out of the bucket (they are not soaked in water like our mums did any more) into the washing machine and wash them with non-bio at 60o. Hang them up afterwards (or tumble-dry) and depending on which nappy you use, they can be dry by the morning (this could be a partner’s job—they always want to be more involved, don’t they!). Another option available is a nappy laundry which is no more expensive than using premium brand disposables. Nappies at laundries are washed above NHS guidelines and this may be
the most environmentally friendly option.

The majority of suppliers are online—put ‘cloth nappies’ into Google and see how many results come up! NCT Sales (www.nctms.co.uk) supplies cloth nappies and your local rep, Gillian, has samples for you to see. Please call her on 0870 423 0269 for more information. There are also couple of shops and one real nappy agent in the area. I would be careful to do lots of research before committing to a whole load of one type of nappy, there are a few people out there who think cloth nappies are hopeless only because the cloth nappy they chose did not suit their baby. Many retailers do trials and at least one web based company will hire you the whole kit for two weeks to try out with lots of different nappies to see which ones you like best. West Lothian now have a real nappy incentive scheme, including arranging loans to help you buy the nappies initially with repayments less than what disposables would cost you every week and there is at least one nappy laundry covering the West Lothian area.

All in all I think they are fab and I deny any parent using disposables to make that comment about their nappies!

References:
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk
http://www.ernn.org.uk
http://www.wrap.org.uk/

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