So Gove wants to ban disposable nappies....

[JoyfulJanuary]

article here

What do we think? I can kind of see where he's coming from but I wouldn't have been without my disposables.

Yes, but that article made all sorts of bullshit assumptions about how people use cloth like we all only use our nappies for one child, and wash at 90 degrees and use a million nappies a day. Mine got used for three, mostly second hand in the first place, got washed at 60 and I only did two nappy washes a week, even with two in cloth at the same time. I mean, I’m fairly laidback about cloth vs disposables and think people should have the choice, but please don’t try to suggest that disposables are no worse for the environment!

I do think a ban on disposable nappies would not be an entirely bad thing, but that isn't what Gove said, more's the pity.

Actually the whole article makes my blood boil and not just because it's in the Daily twatting Mail. The comments reported from Annie O'Leary are awful. It's not the fact that they might have to wash cloth nappies that will send women back into domestic drudgery - it's the assumption that women will be the ones doing it.

The poo isn’t the problem with single use nappies, is it? What’s the environmental benefit of flushing poo from a disposable nappy?

Ha! My husband did most of our nappy washes. And changes for that matter.

I don't think single use nappies should be banned but there should definitely be more widespread use of cloth nappies. A lot of comments here reference the high cost. A lot of councils will give out free starter kits or cash towards cloth nappies which can help get people started ( though i appreciate it doesnt solve the problem) and a lot of nappy libraries will loan out full kits for literally nothing. The washing isnt at all as bad as people imagine either. I literally chuck the dirty nappies in a bucket, stick it in the washing machine and thrn stick them on the airer to dry.

I use cloth nappies and i agree with the comment earlier about i making you think of all the other unnecessary waste we produce. I get what the government is trying to do but single use nappies are a much bigger problem (literally and metaphorically) than straws etc in my opinion.

well i have a a disabled 8 yr old in nappies im trying to toilet train him but its going to take awhile i wont be using cloth nappies anytime soon

Its fine being smug and sanctimonious about nappies qhen your cguld is only going to.be in them 2/3 yrs but not so much when its going to take a lot longer

The government could easily support this by paying for a number of washables per baby, since the landfill costs of disposable nappies per child are in excess of £160 in our area.

Tbh, AamdC, the way I saw it was that the longer my dc were in nappies, the more money I saved. All 3 of mine were late to toilet train, and I had all 3 in nappies at one point (2 older dc, aged 8 and 6, plus a baby).

It’s far easier to get larger size cloth nappies that actually fit, and do the job properly, than disposable too, ime.

I actually switched to cloth when my child was nearly 3 and I realised there was no way she would train anytime soon. I couldn’t bear the thought of how much money we were spending on disposables continuing for years into the future, and as she was older, her poos were quite formed and easy to flush so that side of things felt easier to tackle.

The cost saving was huge even though she was only in them for a year in the end. She used to sporadically get nappy rash and I had to change her after every wee - so reassuring to be doing that with cloth and knowing after a wash it will be good to go again, rather than ripping off a disposable that you know has got a fair bit of absorbency left in it and just throwing it away.

As an aside I've switched to reusable sanitary towels and pads and my period cramps have GONE. And I don't have that horrid sweaty minge like I did with the disposables. Wish I'd switched 30 years ago!!!!

My 8 yr old is in nappies full time hes not just late rp toilet train we also get them free from the NHS as hes disabled

Yes, cost savings even with older children can be staggering. Eg when my older 2were only needing nappies overnight, even that in disposable pull ups would be a minimum of £7/week (often more, as my eldest would often need changing 2/3 times a night). £350/ year, minimum, just on night nappies.

I wouldn’t mind if they did ban them.

I used cloth nappies and it was fine.

I dislike Gove as much as anyone, but

A - no he didn't
B - "interesting first post" Journalist?

Yes to cloth sanitary pads! Had to use a disposable overnight last month and gosh it was horrible. Never going back to disposables. My period is not a horrible experience now which is something I never thought I’d say.

I used a nappy laundry service. It was fine. And worked out slightly cheaper than disposables. My council offered free nappies as an incentive as well which was good.

I’m not being smug. I had two who trained at three and one who is four and still in nappies, and I can’t imagine how hard it is to have a school age child still in nappies, it’s bad enough in school nursery. But it can work really well and more easily than you think. And yes, you do save money on it.

Yes, I had a disabled child in nappies full time. We didn’t get any nappies provided. Tbh, I can’t quite remember when my eldest toilet trained (now a hulking great teenager!), but definitely after 6/7, and even that was only partial training. Full toilet training wasn’t manag3d until around 10.

My second child took years to be dry at night.

Thankfully my third was the earliest to toilet train (still on the late side, at approaching 4), as a lot of the cloth nappies were getting a bit threadbare by then, after 12 years continual use

I used cloth nappies for about a month when was on maternity leave. I stopped because I knew that once I started back at work there was no way I would be able to keep up with the washing.... and i was right. I can barely keep up with the normal washing nevermind adding nappies into that and when I looked into a laundering service I could only find one in my area and they are notoriously unreliable.

Yes it's shit the amount we're putting into landfill but modern life means many of us are incredibly time poor. I wish I knew what the answer was.

Oh and the laundering service was £15 per week. I buy Tesco nappies and at most was getting through 2 packs a week at a grand total of £7 so cloth wouldn't even save me money.

No disposable nappies available when I had two babies in terry nappies. If disposables has been around then I'd have snapped them up. Takes less than a minute to clean up and change using disposables, bloody great faff using terry nappies. Then there's the sluicing, soaking, washing, drying.
Ban whatever else you like but leave disposable nappies out of it.

llangennith modern cloth nappies are a lot different now. The look pretty much like a disposible and are the same to put on. Most have velcro or poppers to fasten so they dont take any extra time to put on. Washing is so simple too, no sluicing, no boil washes, just a rinse cycle on the washing machine then a wash at 40 or 60 with normal washing powder

Also if you use terry squares, the damn things are invaluable when your toddler floods the upstairs and you’ve already used all the towels in the house to mop it up...

I do hate how terrible disposable nappies are for the environment but I’m working (admittedly part time) with an 18 week old and just can’t add another job to my days/weeks.