Why Use Cloth/Real/Washable Nappies
Real Nappies are good for Baby
- Cloth nappies do not contain chemicals. The majority are made out of bamboo, cotton or polyester. Both my girls have eczema and their bums have always been great.
- Toddlers wearing real nappies potty train quicker, it's about 6 months quicker. Isla potty trained at 2, Eilidh started at 18 months!!
- Reusable nappies are not terries with pins anymore. They do not need to be boiled etc. They are as easy as a disposable to use, and most come with poppers or Velcro to fasten them.
- What would you prefer to wear? Disposable paper pants or cotton? There really is no choice!
Real Nappies are good for the Environment
- Each baby will need between 4500-6000 nappy changes from birth to potty training. This equates to 2.5 tonnes of rubbish if the baby is wearing disposable nappies.
- Every disposable nappy that has ever been thrown on to a landfill site will probably still be there
- At least 8 million nappies are thrown away each day in the UK.
- Each year in Fife, we throw away over 20 million disposable nappies.
- 4.5 trees are used to make the pulp for disposable nappies for 1 baby over 2.5 years.
- 1 cup of crude oil goes in to make one disposable nappy
- Disposable nappies use: 3.5 times more energy; 2.3 times more waste water; 8.3 times more non-renewable raw materials; 90 times more renewable raw materials than washable nappies. Disposable nappies create 60 times more solid waste and require 30 times more land than washable nappies.
- Some council rubbish collections, i.e. us in Fife, are reduced to every 2 weeks, this means that your gray bin could have around 160 smelly nappies in it before it is emptied...lovely!.
Real Nappies are Great for your pocket
It is considerably cheaper, about £500-£600, to use washable nappies rather than disposables even when taking the cost of running the washing machine into account. The amount that you can save will depend on several factors:
What type of re-usable nappy you use.
If you will be using the nappies for more than one child.
Whether you use a tumble dryer to dry them.
The Guardian newspaper published an article in 2006 showing that the cost of disposable nappies, disposables wipes and plastic nappy sacks is £14.50 per week. This means over 2.5 years that it would cost parents a STAGGERING £1885...this is for one child! This report can be downloaded here. Just think what you can save if you use them for 2 or 3 children.
Real Nappies are convenient
The majority of modern nappy systems use either Velcro or poppers, so they’re easy to use. Comfortable, soft cotton means you get a snug fit, which can help reduce leaking. Fewer leaks means less washing!
Laundering them is just as easy. The majority of nappies just need popping in the washing machine and a 40 or 60-degree wash cycle. Many are specially designed to dry quickly (particularly helpful if you don’t have a tumble drier).
Using real nappies doesn’t increase the likelihood of your baby getting nappy rash either. My own daughters have only had nappy a few times, usually coinciding with teething. I was reassured that at the time they were wearing cotton washable nappies and their sore bums were not exposed to the super absorbent chemicals found in disposables.
The environmental impact of using disposables makes challenging reading. Even if you consider the amount of energy and raw materials required to manufacture and repeatedly launder cloth nappies, the impact made on the environment is far less than that made by using disposable nappies. A recent reported concluded real nappies are 40% better for the environment compared with disposables.
How do Real Nappies work?
Cloth Nappies are very simple these days, in fact some are as easy as disposables.
Most fasten with Velcro or poppers, and in general cloth nappies follow the same basic principles:
- Nappies are either one part or 2 part. One part means that the nappy is all in one, there is only one part to put on baby. There are some examples - click here. Two part ones have the nappy and separate waterproof cover. Click here to see these.
- Either type, put a flushable paper liner or re-usable fleece liner inside the nappy. Put the nappy on baby, and if its a 2 part put the waterproof cover on too.
- When the nappy is soiled, take the nappy off your baby - if using a cover then it can be re-used.
- Flush the paper liner down the loo
- The nappy can then be put in a mesh bag inside a lidded bucket with no need to soak.
- When the mesh bag is full, usually every 2-3 days, lift it out the bucket and put it straight into your washing machine.
- Most nappies need washed at 40 or 60 degrees centigrade, using half to a third of the detergent that the manufacturers recommended.
- You do not need to use fabric softer, this will stop the nappy from being absorbent
- Most nappies can be tumble dried, but this is not necessary with the latest fast drying fabrics.