Real Nappy Week 2013

I cannot believe that a whole year has passed since I last wrote about real nappy week. here we are again in April, and it’s Real Nappy Week 2013 (15-19 April 2013). (that must mean Pip is very nearly one!)

you can visit the dedicated website for Real Nappy Week or it’s facebook page for official information, stats and prize draws and discounts. (there is a massive competition called clothopoly via the facebook page – I personally don’t know how anyone will find the time to search all those sites for the clues, but if you’ve loads of time, or are trying to find something to do in the last weeks of pregnancy, it might well be worth it!)

if you are planning to buy cloth nappies, this is the week to do your purchasing. almost all the online shops seem to have discounts.

and, if you’re interested, here is my post on what else you need as well as the actual nappies.

rather than rehash all the arguments for and against using cloth nappies, may I direct you here instead to the Nappy Lady’s website which sets out in detail some of the discussions. generally speaking though, users of cloth nappies praise them for environmental, cost and health reasons. (that said, I don’t think anyone would argue that disposables are bad for your baby, and it is up to each parent to consider the matter and make their personal decision.)

while I wholeheartedly support the idea of trying to reduce your environmental impact and it horrifies me the idea of 5000 disposable nappies per child being sat in landfill, I also find the cloth nappy supporter movement to be somewhat evangelical and cliquey to the point of being off putting. i also find that a number of the additional ‘pro’ points of cloth nappies also apply to disposables (such as cloth nappies offer you the opportunity to analyse the health of your child via any changes in poo [disposables offer this too] or that you will be carrying around poo or having it in your bin with a disposable [all poo should be flushed away regardless of what nappy it lands in, so neither option involves transporting or sorting poo if there is a loo to place it in] and so on).

not that I’m saying I’m pro disposables; I’m not. but I’m also realistic. I have ideals to which I try to remain true. we recycle, buy local or ethically sourced products where possible etc etc. I really do my best to not be wasteful. and yet, I also believe in my mental health and how that impacts on my daughter and wider family.

as I’ve mentioned before, we haven’t been the best at using our cloth nappies. I struggled with them on a tiny baby Pip, loved the size 1 fuzzibunz and have then struggled again with the totsbots all in one things we have now Pip has grown out of the fuzzibunz. this may be because they aren’t the best suited to Pip, but we got them on freecycle. perhaps our best option would be to re-sell them and try and buy something better.

that said, this being Real Nappy Week, I’ve resolved to give the cloth nappies a better go. so far, she’s been changed several more times than normal; just this morning, Pip fell asleep in her buggy on the way home from the doctors and when she woke, both she and the buggy were wet through, so I have had to wash not only the nappy but her vest, trousers and the footmuff for the buggy.