To clarify, I don't intend to spend all month washing nappies. That might be boring! Each month I'll be setting myself a challenge. It doesn't seem right to have a blog with an eco-parenting slant without mentioning the 'n' word (nappies) so my first challenge is switching (back) to 'real' or washable nappies.
I started this challenge a week or so ago. Today seemed a suitable day to write about it - the first day I've had good enough weather to dry the nappies outside! I'd expected, as little L was born in April, to be drying nappies easily outside all summer. How wrong was I! A few months later, after a determined (but wobbly to begin with) attempt at potty training instigated by little M two days after little L was born and a lot of rain I finally feel on top of the laundry basket enough to attempt this!
I was also reminded yesterday on a trip to A&E with the girls after an incident with a large Peppa Pig book (that pig has a lot to answer for!) that real nappies are still a bit of a rarity - another prompt to share my experiences on this topic. "What's that?" the doctor asked on seeing little L's lovely pink nappy. He'd never seen a washable nappy before apparently. Thinking about it, I've never seen anyone at the baby clinic with them either. More than half my antenatal group, my sister and several other friends used at least some real nappies, and there's a local shop where I can peruse and prod samples to my heart's content so I live in a little bubble where I think it's normal to use real nappies. They certainly slim down the contents of your bin and don't do too badly in terms of water and energy use so I think they make sense - although I'm pleased to see some disposable nappy brands improving their eco-credentials to make these a greener option too.
To find out about the vast array of nappies on the market these days - and there are some really cute ones - you could look here or here. So I'm not going to explain all about different nappies in detail here - just share a few of my experiences of using real nappies before and getting back on the wagon with number 2 so that anyone reading this who wants to give it a go has bit more information at their disposal.
I actually got on really well with real nappies for most of the time that little M was in nappies. We had a nappy laundry service from these lovely people. I never had to remember to buy nappies - the nappy van turned up each week to take away my dirty nappies and drop off freshly laundered ones. I found I had far fewer leaky nappies that I'd had from disposables, my conscience was clear and everything was hunky dory. Little M was born in October and we live in a smallish flat with no tumble drier so the laundry service was great - better than having the flat festooned in damp nappies taking days on end to dry. When little M went to nursery we carried on with laundry service. We'd give the nursery one of these wet bags each day, then bring the day's dirty nappies home and tip them straight into the nappy bin ready for the weekly collection. Two problems I experienced were space for storing clean nappies and the nappy bin; and that as little M got older the nappies became quite bulky. Lots of the lovely hand-me-down clothes didn't fit very well over the nappies. Two problems I thought I might have, but didn't, were nappy rash and nasty niffs from the nappy bin. To solve the clothing problem I got a few of these super slim nappies to wash myself.
So this time I'm going it alone. I've got a reasonable stash of nappies from last time so just got myself a small nappy bucket (the bin I had before was only on loan from the laundry service), and a couple of mesh laundry bags. I'll report back on how things go in a couple of weeks but so far I've discovered that the nappies I have definitely don't dry in two hours as they claim to. I can't imagine what temperature your home needs to be to achieve this - mine seem to be taking about a day and a half indoors at the moment. Bring on the sunshine please!
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