Let's Talk Cloth Nappies

Hello, me lovelies! Firstly I want to just say that I will be writing a lot more about cloth nappies and help parents (young or old!) take the step towards reusable nappies and what they will need, what nappies are out there and where you can buy them. If you can't tell from my blog's design that I love cloth nappies in every shape, colour, fabric and size. So to begin with I'm gonna tell you a little bit about cloth nappies.

Now many people think cloth nappies are luxury and expensive when the truth is actually the opposite. In the UK we don't pay tax on products that are considered essential in life such as milk. Cloth nappies were once the only nappies parents could use on their babies as thus an essential for a family and when disposables were made they were a luxury that only parents with disposable income could afford such a product and so people pay tax on them. In modern times cloth is hardly used and disposables are seen as essential when they cost a fortune for the amount you require in a single child's life, plus there's tax involved.

I hear you asking me "aren't cloth nappies expensive to buy?" and upfront they seem costly as you are paying around £9-£13 per nappy, however you will be using that single nappy over a long period of time. And to add to the cheap factor of cloth nappies they will last a good long time and can be used on your second child or however many you wish to have in the future, or you could give them to someone or even send them to a charity for babies in poorer countries in adoption centers. For example, I own about 10 cloth nappies and all except one of them are one-size nappies which in total cost me around £110 in total. Now that sounds like a large sum to pay but when we used disposables we would use around 8 nappies a day which is about 240 nappies used per month. Now Pampers sell a large box of nappies for around £25.99 so over 24 months that's over £600... wow! I'm actually shocked by that myself.

The next issue I bet you are questioning is the washing and the cost of cleaning cloth nappies. You will be amazed by how little it costs at around £1 a week of washing. I kid you not! I find any of the wet nappies can go into a 30C or 40C wash and if you are worried the load is going to small then you can easily put in some soiled baby clothes or dirty kitchen towels in with them. Just remember to NOT use any fabric softener as this will DAMAGE the absorbency of the cloth nappies. I am lucky to have a washing machine that has a "mini wash" setting for any small loads so if I just have some nappies that need washing I can stuff them in and half an hour later they are washed and ready to dry. Oh and drying couldn't be easier. Well the sun is the best way to dry them as the magical powers of the sun helps remove stains. Of course we are in the UK so sunshine isn't exactly around all that often, but you can hang them outdoors, on an airer (which we do if we can't hang them outside our balcony windows)  or if you are don't mind the cost you can put them on a low heat tumble dry, although I suggest you check with the brand first if this is okay as some companies suggest you don't use a tumble drier with their cloth nappies.

I hope this has made you consider trying cloth nappies. I will talk more about the types of cloth nappies that are out there, don't worry you don't have to use terry nappies like the old days if you don't want to, they have changed so much since then!

If you are on Twitter then why not follow @petitmew (that's me!) and Eve from Baba+boo (follow her as @babaandboo) - she runs #nappuvino for everyone to ask any questions they may have about cloth nappies and generally have a good chat with other parents.