.png)
Hannah is another Nappy Library volunteer - she has done brilliant work getting our Crowdfunder set up to help raise money to buy new nappies. Any support you can give our fundraising is massively appreciated.
Why did you start thinking about using cloth nappies?
I first saw cloth nappies when a friend used them on her baby about 11 years ago, I looked after him a couple of times so got to do a few nappy changes and thought they were great and that I'd like to use them if I had kids someday.
When did you start looking into it?
Fast forward a bunch of years and I was pregnant with my son. I'd told my husband about cloth nappies and we're both keen to reduce our environmental impact where we can so he was well up for giving it a go. I think I started looking into it around the second trimester of pregnancy- the choice had definitely expanded since I'd first seen them all those years ago!
What were any concerns/misconceptions you had before you started? How did you overcome these?
I wasn't concerned as much as overwhelmed - there was so much choice, so many options and I just couldn't get my head around it. I tried to watch some YouTube review and tutorial videos as well as take the good ole Nappy Lady questionnaire and read what I could. Eventually I started to feel like I was getting my head around it!
When did you start using cloth nappies?
We had all the best intentions of using cloth straight from birth... and then he was born! We were expecting to go overdue as it was our first baby, so when I went into labour the day before our due date and delivered 6 hours later- we were rather taken aback and completely unprepared! So we did end up buying a pack of disposables which got us through the first couple of weeks. He was probably about 2/3 weeks old when we tried our first reusable in real life!
How did you find it?
It wasn't quite what we imagined at first. We had some Little Lamb 2 part nappies and some Close Pop-ins and it took us a little while to feel OK with how they worked. We ended up getting a couple of all in one type nappies to try and ended up much preferring them.
How did you get past any issues you found? Where did you go for advice?
Facebook has been a great resource for a lot of my parenting questions and cloth nappies were no exception; both by asking and seeing answers to other people's problems, I felt able to overcome problems. I also decided early on to not give myself a hard time over it- I kept seeing posts from frustrated mums selling their entire stash because they kept having issues. I figured that any cloth nappy I used was one less in landfill and that it wasn't all on me to solve the world's rubbish problems. I think that mindset really helped me feel like I could take a break if I needed to and also to ask when I had a problem.
Any tips or tricks?
I think my biggest tip is to take it easy on yourself. Almost all problems have a solution, and it's OK to take a break if you need to. Oh, and sodium percarbonate (violets or bio D mineral bleach) is basically magic dust that works wonders on stains!
Favourite brand?
My favourite brands are TotsBots as they're made in the UK and use recycled plastic in their PUL (waterproof wrap). I also really like Close Pop-in wraps the best, the double gusset and stretchy tabs are brill - I think they may also now use recycled plastic in their PUL too? [Their new endangered species collection has a PUL which is made from 100% recycled plastic bottles!]
Favourite print?
My 2 favourite prints: Wimblebum from TotsBots on the left and Stripe Elephant, a BabiPur exclusive print from Close Pop-in on the right!
If you are thinking of getting started on your reusable nappy journey but aren't sure where to start, get in touch and we can help you with advice and hiring kits.