While the virus is still in full swing and the world attempts to adapt to our new normal, we decided to celebrate Cloth Nappy Week 2022 as advice posts on our socials over the course of the week. Our theme is #startwithone. Why this theme? Many parents think they must choose either disposables OR cloth nappies when in reality you can do both. Every time you use a cloth nappy that’s one less disposable sitting in landfill for up to 500 years. If you used one a day until toilet training that’s over 1000 nappies saved from landfill.
You may want to try cloth but feel overwhelmed with all the terminology, the various types and brands available. You may also see conflicting advice on social media making it difficult to decide. Let’s face it though that happens with all aspects of raising children.
Let’s break this down. What’s putting you off?
- What if it leaks through everything?
What’s the worse that can happen? You get a bit of wee on the clothes or bedding. Trust me it isn’t the worst thing that’ll come out of your baby. Also, poonami’s happen regardless of nappy.
- What about all this wash routine stuff I hear about?
The nappy can be put into the wash with other baby items as long as it’s a hot wash as per ANA guidelines it’ll wash fine. https://www.australiannappyassociation.org.au/fact-sheets/
- I can’t afford to buy too many to start.
Buy a bundle second hand so you can try a few brands and a few styles. The main thing to check for is that the elastics are good and the PUL (outer fabric) is intact and not delaminated. If you are buying from a stranger like off Marketplace, make sure you do a strip and sanitize https://www.clothnappyhelp.com.au/strip-and-sanitise.html
If you prefer to buy new there are many multibrand retailers that can help who also have Afterpay.
Parenthood is hard enough without putting extra pressure on yourself so if you love cloth but feel it a bit daunting just start with one. Chances are after a while disposables will seem boring. A baby cloth butt with dinosaurs, rainbows or geek prints are far cuter. After a while you’ll wonder why it scared you in the first place.
