On our blog today, Valentina speaks about her personal experience using cloth nappies since their sweet little boy Ocean was born in February 2020. Since then, Valentina has taken cloth nappies to heart as you will see from this informative article.
How did you hear about cloth nappies?
I discovered reusable diapers before I even got pregnant and thought it was a brilliant idea. It was similar to what our grandmothers used to do, just with a modern twist.
When did you decide to go for it?
We met Brenda when I was pregnant at the Christmas Eco Market, where she explained the various models of reusable nappies. They were all so beautiful and colourful that you would have liked to buy them all! That's when we decided we wanted to use these reusable nappies for our baby.
What were your reasons for deciding to give cloth a go?
Three simple reasons:
For the health of the baby
To save money
Above all, respect for the environment
For the health of the baby:
- Washable diapers prevent babies’ skins from continually coming into contact with toxic chemicals.
- Washable diapers help babies’ skins to breathe better.
- Washable diapers reduce irritation and diaper dermatitis.
- Washable nappies help to encourage a correct and balanced development of the hips thanks to their shape that keeps the baby's legs better apart.
- Washable diapers encourage potty training because they make the baby feel more wet, unlike disposable ones.
- Washable diapers allow you to understand, through feeling how wet the nappy is, if and how much the baby is eating during exclusive breastfeeding and, particularly during hot periods, if the baby is sufficiently hydrated or needs additional fluids if the diaper is dry or not very wet.
- Washable diapers help ‘cushion’ falls when the baby is learning to stand up and taking the first steps.
Economic savings:
- The choice of washable diapers saves hundreds of euros compared to disposable ones.
- The cost of a kit of washable nappies for a child, which will last from birth to potty, ranges from €250 to €800 depending on the model chosen, against €1200-€1800 spent in two and a half years on disposable ones.
- Washable nappies do not produce waste and therefore do not require money spent on disposing waste. Disposable nappies produce about one tonne of waste over two and a half years.
Respect for the environment:
- Both washable and disposable diapers have an environmental impact. However, the production and disposal stages of disposable nappies have a much greater impact. In addition to the use of energy and natural resources (water and wood pulp), their production requires large amounts of chemicals and bleaching agents, some of which inevitably end up in the surrounding environment through waste water and fumes in the air.
- Once in landfill, disposable nappies take between 300 and 500 years to decompose and release harmful chemicals into the environment.
- The biggest environmental impact caused by washable nappies is the consumption of energy and water - albeit in smaller quantities than disposable nappies - during their washing and drying, and the synthetic pesticides and fertilisers used in conventional cotton growing. This impact can be controlled by choosing fabrics from organic crops and using a high energy performance washing machine, always doing a full load, washing at medium-low temperatures (40 or 60 degrees) and air drying instead of mechanical dryers.
To reduce the impact of reusable nappies on the environment you can also implement these measures:
- Banning softener - it is useless and reduces absorbency.
- Use environmentally friendly detergents.
- Reuse washable diapers on more than one child. You can also sell them or give them as gifts.
- Try to potty train your baby as soon as possible.
What is your nappy stash made out of?
Our Bambino Mio nappy stash consists of 8 Mioduo nappy covers, 21 Mioduo prefolds, 20 Mioboost nappy boosters and 1 wetbag. In winter clothes take longer to dry, so we opted for 2-part nappies because reviews said that they dry quickly and it's actually so!
Do you use them full time?
Not knowing what life was like as parents, we decided to use disposable diapers for the first month so we could understand the rhythm of our baby and how many diapers he would need. After a few weeks we decided we wanted to try using cloth nappies. We now use these nappies all the time. When we go out, I always carry 2/3 reusable diapers and 1 disposable diaper. This is because Ocean is unpredictable and in half a day can get even dirtier than normal.
We are very happy with our reusable nappies. During the day we use nappies without a booster, whilst during the night we add a booster. When we are out we use the wet bag to store dirty diapers, whilst at home we have a bucket where we put all the dirty nappies in.
What’s your washing routine like?
Every two days I put everything to wash. We adopted the technique of "when there are still 5 clean we wash". I wash the diapers on their own. I always wash them at 60° with soap powder.
What are your final words?
These diapers are very nice and colourful. Now that it's hot, Ocean only wears a t-shirt and a nappy. True they're a little bulky at first in the newborn stage, but Ocean got used to them right away. We made a great choice and I wouldn’t look back!
