Cloth Nappy Week 2012 is upon us and I am about to embark on a journey, pink cape and all, around the country to promote the use of Modern Cloth Nappies.
As parents today we often have no idea about anything to do with kids until you have one and then there seems to be an overwhelming amount of marketing telling you that you need all of this stuff to grow a baby. And by default, disposable nappies are seen as a necessity by many parents. I was recently astounded by some marketing material which suggested that parents using cloth nappies have to wash, dry and fold their nappies, and this may be using up quality time which many parents may prefer to save for their families!
In fact, most parents have no idea that the latest and greatest cloth nappies dry fast, are really absorbent, trim fitting and don’t require any folding, soaking or ‘hard work’. The hardest thing sometimes is to get into a routine – many people simply alternate clothes washes with nappy washes and some people just throw it all in together! Modern cloth nappies have become easy, low cost, eco friendly alternatives to disposables and will not cost a family any more time than what their daily washing routine already does.
I have to say, I never found it hard to put the nappies in the washing machine and turn it on! I would hang them out with everything else so that would only take about a minute extra to hang them up by about 8 pegs. The other fantastic thing about modern cloth nappies is the lack of folding. I just pulled them out of the washing pile and used them again.
It is amazing how many parents I come across who accept the fact that disposables leak and yet find it unacceptable if they have a slight leak out of a cloth nappy- when using disposables I found I was actually doing far more washing than I expected because they always leaked through my newborn’s clothing and bedding- essentially creating more washing.
Another common complaint is ‘having to handle the poo when you use cloth’. By using flushable liners in reusable nappies, we don’t have to deal with any of the nasty stuff, you simply just flush it away! I am amazed at the number of parents I have spoken to, who have not read the small print on disposables where it quite clearly states that any solids should be disposed of down the toilet. It appears that most parents just wrap up the nappy, poo and all, and dispose of it into the bin to go into our landfills – just because it is a disposable nappy.
With our economy the way it is and with the price of disposable nappies increasing, disposables may actually cost your family more time than you think. Consider how many extra hours a parent may need to work each week just to pay for the $50 worth of disposable nappies their baby is likely to use per week. The amount of time one parent would have to work just to earn enough to purchase their disposable nappies would far outweigh the amount of time it would take for mum or dad to turn on the washing machine and hang out 3-4 loads of washing a week.
So our mission this coming week is to get out there and tell as many parents as possible how easy cloth nappies are to use, show them how they are new and changed and hide 600 of them around the country for parents to find.
We are having over 20 events including coffee groups and Cloth Nappy Workshops around the country and I have been given over $40,000 worth of prizes and cloth nappies to give away at, during and after the events. You can check out all of the upcoming events here and join in all of the fun.
I hope to see you on the road and check out my website if you have any questions about cloth nappies.
Have you checked out the Cloth Nappy Week events??Â