Some people defeat the object of cloth nappies

[lineandsinker]

My baby has been in cloth nappies for a few months and so I have signed up to a few advice and selling groups on Facebook and Instagram to help me along the way.

What has struck me is that there are quite a few parents out there who see cloth nappies as some form of collectors item and seek to have every print from certain brands; I’ve seen quite a few parents with upwards of 50+ nappies in their collection for 1 child. Many people openly admit to being ‘addicted to cloth’ and having tens of nappies more than they actually need.

There is one certain brand of cloth nappy whose products are hard to come by; when they are restocked in the UK, stockists’ websites crash and nappies are sold on at far higher than their RRP on Facebook and eBay. People seem to buy multiple of them just because they want to be seen to own this brand and then try and sell them on at inflated prices because ‘they bought too many of the same print’.

AIBU to think that this defeats the point of cloth nappies, which is to be more environmentally friendly? Surely your carbon footprint is just as big for owning tens of nappies that get used sporadically than that of someone who is using disposables. It just seems like it’s another industry being driven by greed / fashion and status.

Oh yes, BitOfFun. I had my old ones for my dollies, although I think my brother borrowed them when he was born for a couple of years.

Disana actually make some fancy, modern, breathable ones that look very similar if anyone is feeling nostalgic or has a giant preschooler still needing a generously sized pull up style wrap.

It was a thing when my 13 year old was a baby. All the brand's do cycles. Back then the popular brands were Totsbots fluffles (microfibre was this new amazing wonder fabric on the market) and RAINBOW Bamboozles (the first coloured fitted nappies). Motherease was the plain but most common nappy brand. The sell out and high resale value nappies were handmade ones from popular work at home mum businesses (WAHMS). These were called customs and you could get anything embroidered on. You'd have to go on a long waiting list to get a 'custom slot'. Once someone has waited and then got their nappy they would invariably sell it on. favourite WAHMS would go in cycles. Then Blueberries and Itti Bitti's took the market by storm and started the sell out brand thing.

When I had my next child the most popular brand was TotsBots and people would post in seaech of charts with crosses over the ones they had and circles over their must haves (want want need). The limited edition Royal Flush print (released for Prince George) and a Christmas print that had limited numbers both sold for upwards of £100 on eBay. If people aquired them they wouldn't dare use them! Heaven forbid crease the velcro tabs as that reduced the resale value. Print placement was a pretty big deal too.

After TotsBots the next flavour of the month was Bumgenius. All their prints were names after 'genius' people like Albert Einstein, Ada Lovelace, Harper Lee, a (Lewis) Carol or a Jules (Verne) were particularly sort after.

I do confess I got swept away a little, but I didn't have to have them all. The hype really fascinated me though, and I definitely noted it is the same with Slings/Wraps, prams, clothing brands (Frugi, scandi etc) all producing limited editions and there being a need to collect. I genuinely think a need to collect is a human instinct most of us have, a sort of hunter gatherer thing that is possibly exacerbated by hormones and parenting an infant. Join any buggy addict/sling addict/scandi addict/wooden toy addict and it is apparent.

It isn't just an affliction of mothers though, a lot of children and adults have a desire to collect, my mother is a knitter and has an obscene 'yarn stash' that seems common with all her knitting friends, my grandad had football programmes, for some people it's bikes or books or records or DVDs or Disney collectibles or shoes or handbags. It is often blamed on capitalism and greed but I think it is more instinctive.

People who don't fall for 'things' may fulfill their hunter gatherer instinct with savings and spreadsheets or harvesting and prepping food maybe?

Maybe I'm delusional and it's just rampant capitalism.

As for the eco thing, there is certainly truth to your point, about it not being environmentaly ideal, but a cloth nappy collector would never throw these nappies in the bin, they will be sold and resold and sold and resold. Yes this has a carbon footprint, but there are far worse things.

People collect stuff. It's no better or worse then stamps or shoes.

Collecting poo receptacles is somewhat weirder than collecting stamps.

I use cloth nappies and own over 40. I work full time and bub is in nappies during the day at daycare. They change his nappy a lot. I would say we go through 10 a day.

It takes some time for them to dry on the clothes horse. If I owned less nappies, I wouldn't have enough.

There's nothing wrong with collectors. I wouldn't do it, but to each their own.

The phrase 'fluffy bum' fills me with rage. It's so bloody smug.

“Cloth bumming” as a verb used to do my head in too. Most often used as a descriptor of how superior the mother was.

“I’m a breastfeeding, baby wearing, co-sleeping, cloth bumming gentle parent!”

YANBU at all, I hate this too. I’ve used cloth nappies with all four DC and yes, I do love the cute prints but I have enough nappies to get by- I don’t treat them as some weird collectors item. I’m astounded by how expensive some brands are too, I’ve never used Motherease so I don’t understand that particular hype.

Collecting poo receptacles is somewhat weirder than collecting stamps.

Wee Notions were very popular when ds1 was born, I still have an embroidered WN night nappy in the loft somewhere. We used a mixture of Itti"s, WN, Bumgenius and Blueberries. Iirc, I only ever bought a couple of new nappies as most were pre loved, we also used them for dc 2 and 3 and I sold them on after.

I think I've read it all now - Mums actually collect cloth nappies? They really need to get a life, as if looking after LO isn't hard enough without a ton of nappies to think about!

It doesn't have the same impact though, as they can be sold on and used still. They don't go in the bin.

This just reminds me that no matter what you do as a parent, there will be somebody to sneer at you.
I used cloth nappies for all but one of my four children (Number 2 could out-wee anything other than Pampers in under 30 minutes despite my best efforts!). I don't think I had a massive number of cloth nappies, but I chose nice patterns because it brightens an otherwise grotty task up a bit. Collecting nappies isn't my thing, but if it helps someone else get through the day then who am I to criticise her? It seems petty and mean to me.

Do they boil? I remember my beautiful white nappies blowing on the line.

Goodness me. My memory of cloth nappies is them sitting in a bucket with bleach before a boil wash. Collectables? Though mine made terrific dusters for about 20 years afterwards.

Over buying seems to be 'a thing' on social media.
Follow anything about cleaning and it's hoards of the same product or a certain smell of zoflora.
Little Bird and Scandi clothes and people have 'stashes' of the same item in every size made.
I follow loads of interiors groups and while people don't stash as much but there is a lot of posts about bandwagoning and buying a particular item which is popular then selling it on weeks later.
Usually complete with the cringeworthy "Don't tell Hubby 🙈🙈🙈" I find it very playground, like having to wear certain clothes or listen to certain music to be 'in'.

At least they’re biodegradeable. You could buy 1000 and it would still be less impact than using disposable ones.

I used cloth and I have to say that I’m suprised it takes you 4-5 days to get through 20 (so only 4-5 nappies per day?)
Some days, I’d go through 3 in an hour! But I changed them every time they were wet or poopy. So 50 to me is not that much, that sounds like 3 days worth so Id only have to wash a load every other day.
Some parents I know used a nappy washing service that would pick up and launder the dirty ones once or twice a week. They bought a lot more nappies than I did because they’d have to go longer between washes.

Cotton is not environmentally friendly, its as bad for the environment as beef. It takes gallons of water, nitrogen and pesticides, and leaves the soil depleted and saline.

The only environmentally friendly, sustainable fibre crop is hemp, and its illegal to grow it in the UK which is insane. Hemp as a crop could revolutionize UK farming and industry.

Haha! I got very addicted to the cloth nappies. I loved them. Honestly though the prices of some of the "designer" prints. You can pay £30+ for one nappy - and then you get the instamums shoving their collection of 100's of them (all brand new) all over their feed. I felt like I wasn't rich enough to join in with the "scene"- the organic, green, planet friendly "culture" with the scandi, and the babipur, grimms etc has a very nasty tone to it sometimes. So much "stash" showing off and big speeches about why their parenting is so perfect. Get as much stash as you can in one picture etc. I felt so much better once I left that behind me.

I work for one of the biggest cloth nappy retailers and I find it baffling too. I wanted to use cloth nappies for environmental reasons. I bought some and was given some hand-me-downs and so I had enough without having to wash every day. I didn’t buy anymore, no matter how “pretty”the print. They’re paying my bills so I don’t say it out loud but these women - and it is only women - need to get a grip.

Cotton is not that bad for the environment. The water, and soil it needs to grow is well utilises as a carbon sink because it is a plant that sucks up CO2 and pumps out O2.
The waste produced by animals puts too much nitrogen into the soil and so a plant that needs some nitrogen balances that put.
It does not leave the soil “sterile” what an exaggeration.

The least environmentally friendly thing about cotton is the bleaching and processing. But you can buy unbleached cotton from sustainable sources quite easily.

Hemp is no more environmentally friendly than cotton. It is also a plant that takes up water, soil and nitrogen. Furthermore, the fibre is very rough in texture and not really suitable for nappies. That’s why it is used to make things like ropes.

Oops, I meant “saline” not “sterile” ( autocorrect )

I had this exact conversation with my friend the other day, and people can be the same with slings IMO - there seems to be a bit of a weird smugness about collecting and having the ‘best’ most sought-after ones and I find it irritating

@Thelnebriati

It isn't illegal to grow hemp in the UK. It has be a specific type and the farmer needs a licence from the Home Office but there are farmers growing it currently.

It also uses roughly the same resources as cotton (which doesn't leave the land sterile at all.)

People collect nappies? Well I never... I've heard everything now!
Don't know whether I'm or .

@Averyyounggrandmaofsix. It really depends on the type you have. I have mostly traditional cotton terry squares and cotton prefolds (like 4 tea towels folded in half and stitched together), so they can be boiled. For me it was important to be able to wash them even without a machine as were were using for allery/eczema reasons, so wouldn't just be able to substitute with a disposable on holiday or if the washing machine broke.

Modern cloth nappies come in various styles and materials. Some have the waterproof part (PUL) and the absorbent part separate like traditional nappies, so the waterproof cover can be washed separately at a lower temperature and others have the two attached like a disposable so the whole thing can't be washed at more than 60°C without damaging the nappy. The absorbent parts are made of different fibres too. Natural fibres like hemp and cotton are happy being boiled but synthetic or semi-synthetics like microfibre, bamboo viscose and polyester need gentler handling.

A long 60°C cottons wash after a machine rinse/prewash in a modern machine should be fine for cleanliness, though. I've only gone for 90°C washes after rotavirus vaccine or stomach upsets as my two share night nappies and a stovetop boil was a one off when the washing machine needed repairing. I really felt for MiL who'd had two in nappies full time with no washing machine in 1973. Used nappies are also stored dry these days rather than in pails of water and Napisan and there is a fair amount of debate between enthusiasts for bio powder and those in favour of non bio laundry powders.