How to Start with Cloth Nappies During Lock Down

Mid March 2020 in England (and many other places around the world) strange behaviour started to appear. Panic set in at the supermarkets, people were walking out with 70 rolls of toilet paper AND fighting each other for it. No one’s really sure why everyone’s panicked behavior manifested itself in the humble bog roll but hey people were worried about the looming threat of Corona Virus. I however did not worry. My subscription to Green Cane Toilet paper, who I’ve been buying from for the last year sat safe in my inbox. Hey if things got really bad I had cloth wipes too. Mat was less please at my suggestion of this but if needs must we were good.

3 cloth nappies stacked on a hand with a view on the beach in background.

It didn’t stop at toilet paper, cans were disappearing off the shelves, we had to buy our least favorite shape of pasta and things were damn right weird. I can joke about pasta shapes now because we never did have a shortage and we really didn’t need to panic buy.

Then I noticed the nappy isle was empty too. Of course this was okay for us as we use cloth nappies but I felt for any parent that had to troll several supermarket in the search of nappies, wipes or formula milk. None are things you can go without.

If anything good was to come out of it however it was the spike in parents querying about cloth nappies. How to start using them, how many cloth nappy they would need to give this a go through lock down. The idea of running out of single use nappies planted a little seed, enough to look cloth nappies up and maybe keep thinking about them down the road.

But is it possible to switch to cloth nappies in a time of lock down? We can’t pop to the shops or visit nappy libraries, so is it doable?

I would argue that there is no better time, here’s why….

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Why lock down is a great time to start using cloth nappies.

You may have a little more time and your at home more.

Okay if you’ve got young children your really not going to have more time weather your at home or not but your perhaps more able to pop a wash on when the kids are playing. It’s a good way to get in a routine of doing a little more washing.

Being at home more brings other bonus when it comes to switching to cloth nappies. You may get the odd leak when you first start out, or need to faff around a little more when getting used to putting them on. This doesn't matter if your at home. Faff all you want, theirs no one knocking on the baby changing door at the local cafe. and leaks don’t matter if you can whip their clothes straight off and throw them in the wash. So learn, faff, play about while no one else is watching. It will give you the confident boost you may be looking for.

I started using cloth nappies from birth but I will admit to using disposables when we went out and about in the early days. I was a new Mum worried about how long I spent in public changing rooms anyway and embarrassed if I did get a leak in case someone said “I told you those reusable nappies were a bad idea.” All silly reasons of course and no one would have actually said that but I worried anyway. If your like me you can avoid all this by just doing it now during lock down.

It’s a great time to support small business selling cloth nappies.

To name a few. All small businesses, many family run, some smaller than others, but essentially businesses doing great work who need our support in times like these. Because they are small they are able to work while socially distancing and when I have ordered from them in recent times have offered quick reliable service. I can not sing the praises of these companies enough.

They will also lend you good cloth nappy advice if you need it especially when starting out. The Nappy lady offers a quiz to help you decide which nappies will work best for you. She runs a great Facebook page where the community will offer you advice if needed plus offers hire kits if you don’t want to commit to buying a full stash. The Nappy Gurus also run a great advice page on their website.

Baba and Boo and Fill your Pants offer trail nappies and kits. If you don’t like them after a month send you nappies back and you’ve only lost a fraction of the cost.

FInally enjoy them wearing nothing but a cloth nappy in the beautiful summer sun.

One positive in lock down is that the lock down outfits are becoming more and more curious. I certainly do not know how I’ll ever go back to wear snug jeans or work uniform for that matter. Reeva has been picking her own outfits for a while now which are often questionable…. But the best part of being at home in the garden while the sun is out is the fact she can run around in nothing but a nappy and look great!!! There’s no guilt if she sits in the water bucket 5 minutes after I’ve put a fresh nappy on because it just gets thrown in the wash rather than being a waste of a nappy, yet another going to landfill.

Of all the reasons I love using reusable nappies I think that one is my favourite. The satisfying feeling that nothing is being sent to live in a hole in the land forever more. Next to just how cute she looks running around getting soaked in the garden in just a pretty cloth nappy.