Wednesday, April 25, 2007

I love the smell of nappisan in the morning!


I've just had a piece published on NewConsumer.com about real vs disposable nappies. You can probably guess what side of the debate I'm on (if not, check the picture for a clue).

What I find funny about using real nappies is the reaction from other parents: "So you're still perservering with those?", "Oh, you're brave!", and of course "We thought about it, but...". OK, so I'm not doing the washing, but it really isn't that difficult. The only real problem is that most baby clothes are designed for the slightly slimmer disposable-clad derriere.

We're going on holiday in June to a cottage in Scotland with no washing machine, so we'll be on the eco-disposables from Nature Babycare. We've test driven them once or twice and they seem OK, but as we've never used Pampers or whatever, I can't tell you how they compare.

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4 Comments:

At 11:26 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

If you haven't already found it: clothes for cloth nappies

 
At 7:59 AM, Blogger Lee said...

We used cloth for our first child for his first 1 1/2 years, but after switching to disposables, have never looked back. And, yes, we're 'Greenies'.

Why? Well, they're far mor convenient for a start. We now have two in nappies, and its as much as we can do (both of us are workers) to keep up with the nappisan loads and washing *without* nappies as well! And cloth nappy advocates seem to fail to mention the fact that with cloth nappies, the leaks and stains (requiring far more washes each week of the babies clothing) are many, many more.

Here in Australia, water use, rather than landfill, is the big environmental issue, and in that respect disposables come out ahead. Our family does about 5-6 loads of washing a week, but when we were using cloth (with just ONE bub), we were doing triple that. Lots more water, a precious resource here.

The choice is for parents to make, based on conditions in the place they live. Where landfill is a problem, cloth may well come out ahead. But here, for us, where we are on 100% green power, landfill is no issue, and water most certainly is, the balance tips in the other direction.

And as for me, the one who does the washing, I favour disposables. Any sane 'domestic engineer' would!

You may 'love the smell of nappisan in the morning', but in all honesty, are YOU the one doing the lionesses' share of the washing?

 
At 9:41 AM, Blogger Gareth Kane said...

Hi Daharja,

I agree with you that it is horses for courses.

You're right, I'm not washing them myself, but then I'm not on maternity leave! We're only doing one nappy wash per day max.

Cheers,

Gareth

 
At 1:46 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm using cloth on my baby boy. I find comments about leaks and stains with cloth nappies quite odd, as I find cloth to be more reliable than dispos, therefore less washing of clothes to do. I've never yet experienced the 'up the back' poo explosions that we had with disposables, in a cloth nappy. I'm also happy doing the washing, as I only do a nappy wash every 2-3 days and wash his clothes once a week.

 

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