5 Eco Bloggers Reveal Their Top Cloth Nappy Tips.
When I was pregnant and started thinking about Cloth Nappies I had one big problem…. My problem was I knew NO-ONE else that used cloth nappies. I spoke to my Mum who had briefly used them with me before deciding that terry nappies and plastic pants just wouldn’t work for her. I spoke to my mother-in-law who is slightly older and had used them in the 70’s. She re-called her wash routine to me, explaining how they didn’t have much money, only having around 7 terry nappies, meaning she would wash them, then boil them on the stove every night. Although these were interesting stories to listen to, none of it helped me in 2018 with modern cloth nappies.
I then come across one friend who had tried using them with her daughter 10 years ago. She hadn’t got on with them, describing a bit of a disaster. This made my partner Mat doubt our choice, but me being me, made me more determined to make it work and prove this could be a great thing. Mat rolled his eyes and nodded along.
So I turned to the online world. Facebook groups, blogs, YouTube and Instagram. What I found there was a wonderful community ready to give me all the advice I needed and help with any bumps along the way. I found my very own cheer squad, a squad ready to cheer anyone on that asked for help.
Looking back at this time it made me think… What if I hadn’t found those things? What if those first conversations had put me off? What would I have wanted to hear to keep me going and make starting a cloth nappy journey an easier one?
To answer that question I turned to those with the knowledge and those who have gone through that same journey. I asked 5 of my favorite sustainable bloggers to give me their top tips for starting with cloth nappies in the hope it will convince you this is a great choice to make.
Pin me for later…
I only recently came across Innes’s beautiful Instragam feed and couldn’t believe I hadn’t found her sooner. Her calming, minimalist photography is what everyone needs on their feed. Follow her blog for eco-living and a DIY home tips.
“My tip is to start slow! The temptation with cloth nappies is to think that it’s all or nothing, but it doesn’t have to be. Start out by trying a few different brands, maybe with the help of a nappy library, and see what you like. Often it’s a little different to what you imagined you would like.
Don’t feel that you have to go full-time with cloth straight away. Even switching one nappy a day could save up to 1,000 nappies from landfill before your little one is potty trained. Lots of people also choose to cloth part time even after they’ve been doing it for a while. You could choose to use disposables when you’re out and about, or at night. The important thing is to make it a sustainable long-term change, not to do it perfectly.”
Laura Tweedale. lauratweedale.com
Laura and I, I think so similar in many ways. A love for an eco-friendly home and our hearts in the garden. Laura puts real life into sustainable living, cloth nappies and creating an edible and pretty garden in suburbia.
“Hi, I'm Laura Tweedale, a freelance writer and content creator. I live in Cheshire, England with my husband Mark, our four year old daughter and one year old son, our dog Lola and our three chickens. We strive to live a sustainable, circular lifestyle.
My website - lauratweedale.com is a minimalist parenting and lifestyle blog about living more meaningfully and in the moment. I believe everyone has the capacity to make a change to how they live to help secure a positive future for the planet - and those changes needn't be complicated or cost the earth. Reusable nappies fit this bill in my book.
What I wish I'd known
When I decided to use cloth nappies with my son, I almost fell at the first hurdle. I had no one to ask for help. I didn't have any friends who were using them, and my family could only talk about the cotton terry nappies (with the huge pin!) my mother had used on me some thirty years ago. I wanted kinship. And advice. So I turned to Instagram. Through social media, I found what I was seeking and over time, made real friends with people who shared my values. That is how #clothmadesimple was born. Just because you may not have friends that can practically support you on this journey, doesn't mean you can't find a network online. You just need to be brave enough to try.
Top tip
Like most things in life, we can easily get stressed by the idea of 'doing something right', and looking for that 'right' can lead us down a complicated path - a journey that can end in indecision or inertia. Keeping an open mind is always more valuable than a set of rules to follow, in my eyes. And where would we be if people didn't give new things a try? I'm sure we'd find this world of ours to be a pretty dull place if people stopped experimenting (and real nappies didn't exist.)”
Emma Reed. emmareed.net.
The lovely Emma become one of my first Cloth Nappy Instagram friends when she started the hashtag #thecheekofclothnappies. The cloth world came together to hold a pampers campaign to account. Since then I have followed her journey to become more and more eco-friendly through her blog and her honest accounts of motherhood on Instagram.
“As somebody who didn’t use cloth nappies with their first child and only started at 6 months of age with their second, I am a really good example for showing that switching to cloth can happen at any time. Many people assume that in order to do it, properly; you have to cloth nappy from birth and also do it full time, however, neither is true. Once you make that step, every time you use a reusable over a disposable you are doing your bit which is incredibly important for our environment and once you get your mind set on using them, you will love it!
The biggest hurdle is actually taking that plunge and the reason for this is because we are all so programmed to use what is seen as the norm, to go with the popular brands and with what is sold as being easy. If you don’t know that cloth nappies exist, if you don’t know anybody who uses them, it is the unknown and, as we all know, the unknown can be scary.
I ummed and ahhed over using cloth. I asked countless questions to some amazing women on Instagram. I Googled, I did an online questionnaire and I looked and looked at different types but it wasn’t until I finally bought some nappies and popped them on that it all just fell into place. Cloth should always be simple. My biggest tip would be to find a brand that works for you. You can do this by checking if there is a cloth nappy library in your area which will allow you to get to grips with lots of varieties without buying. You could ask your questions in Facebook groups, read reviews as well as blogs or speak to people who have also used them just to get an idea of what type of nappy would suit you, your baby and your lifestyle. Honestly, once you find the perfect fit, you will question why you waited so long. In order to build your stash, I would advise looking at pre-loved sites, checking out offers and looking for vouchers as well as asking for them as birthday or Christmas gifts. To cloth nappy full time you will need around 20-25 nappies and buying these all at once isn’t always possible so build on this gradually. You may also want to look at switching to cloth wipes at the same time too as they can all be washed together and it just goes hand in hand. Reusables are so easy and once you have a routine that works for you (always go for what works for you and don’t necessarily follow others routines) cloth will just slot into your life. Word of warning– it can get very addictive!!”
Rebecca. aminimalistmother.com
Like me, Rebecca started thinking about our impact on the environment more and more after becoming pregnant. Her blog and Instagram follow this journey to a more sustainable lifestyle with a back drop of the beautiful Yorkshire countryside.
“My number one piece of advice is to try different nappies to begin with to find what suits you as it might not be what you think! I was fairly certain that we would go with a two part system as the idea of not having to change the wrap at every change and cut down on washing sounded great. All of the recommendation forms I filled in seemed to agree (and recommended I invest in a bundle of 10-20 nappies to get started).
But we soon learnt with a newborn that the wrap inevitably needs changing almost every time anyway and that all in one nappies and pockets work better for our family. So I'm glad I didn't make a huge investment in those two part nappies - it's only now that my little girl is on solid food (and so solid poos!) that I see the benefits of all-in-twos. I also love having a variety of nappies that work for different purposes and I'm always discovering new brands to try - something I wouldn't feel able to do if I'd already invested in a single brand.”
Louisa. www.clothbummum.co.uk
If your worried where to start with cloth nappies Louisa’s account is where to start. She has all the tips, advice and the reviews to get you started with cloth nappies.
Louisa is a Nappy Guru, co-founder of Farnborough Cloth Nappy Library as well as hosting a blog over at Cloth Bum Mum, where she shares all things cloth nappies, parenting and sustainability. Louisa has used cloth nappies full-time since her daughter was 6 weeks old and is a self confessed nappy addict.
“We decided to use cloth nappies with our daughter after learning how long disposable nappies can take to decompose. At the time I didn’t know about Nappy Libraries so I completed a retailer questionnaire and had a chat with their team about how to get started. Initially we piled into Motherease Wizard Unos, luckily they worked for us so it wasn’t an issue, but speaking to my friends and helping them to get started highlighted the value of nappy libraries so I decided to open one for my local area.
If I were to offer one piece of advice to parents considering cloth nappies, it would be don’t be like me and pile into one brand, check to see if you have a library local to you, make use of them. If you don’t have a library near you then complete the questionnaires available and get some personalised advice based on your family set-up, washing preferences and how you want cloth to work for you, then buy a couple of the recommended brands to trial before committing to just one, that way if any aren’t working for you they can be sold on and you won’t have lost too much.”
A big thank you to my 5 bloggers for giving their great advice. If it inspires just one more person to choose cloth then I see that as a big win.
Has it inspired you? We’d love to hear. Drop us a comment below.
Hannah xx
Related post’s
on cloth nappies.
A Day in the Life of a Cloth Bum Mum.
A Beginners Guide to Cloth Nappies.
Cloth Nappies and why we use them.
Thing I Wish I Had Known Before Starting with Cloth Nappies.
How many cloth nappies will you need to go full time and ditch the disposables for good?