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.

My three have all been in cloth. Only came across the collectors of all things new in the nappy area when Dd was born, she's now 15.
I usually had a stash of about 20 a mix of FuziBuns, BumGenius, some hemp and some really nice pockets from a WAHM and I had Aristocrat wool for nights. Microfibre was amazing when I first got some liners in that.
I found it a bit wierd that people had 50 or 60 in one size and crashed sites when stock came in. I used to look for some new or different when moving up a size and then sell of the old stuff. I have to say I loved pockets best, FuzziBuns or BumGenius, I liked sized, not one size I got a better fit.

We have about 25, but I do admit to liking a nice print I know we have enough though so I don't buy any more, but when I see a nice new print I do have a slight pang! So I can see that with a lot of disposable income plus lack of self-control, you could quite easily go down the rabbit hole. At least there is a really thriving second-hand market for cloth nappies.

You can get hemp boosters - they're pretty good too. But they are quite rough so definitely more suited for the inside of the nappy that doesn't sit against baby's skin.

Who sees them but you, DesLynam? Struggling to understand the mindset of caring what pattern is on a nappy which goes under outer clothes anyway...

Loads of things about those groups that made me laugh when I considered cloth -

1. The twee language “I’m a cloth bum mum”, “clothbumming”, “I’m a cloth baby”

1. The degree of virtue signalling

1. The obsession with “showing off my stash” - I fail to grasp how intelligent people presumably with various interests before babies become obsessed with owning specific prints of specific brands to arrange in specific ways to take pictures to admire - all objects to be Shat in.

1. The squabbling over who was first on a buy and sell thread, the “report to admin hun” crowd

1. The “gosh I hope DH lets me buy another one he let me buy two just the other week” type posts.

Did provide lots of entertainment though!

Wow, Thoughtless 🤪. That’s both hilarious and scary in equal measure. Astounding...

I have 40 but their on their third child so it's a collection over time. I'm also going to donate them to a nappy project in my local area when I'm done.

So yeah totally get your point but still better than 35 + disposable nappies for every week your child needs them.

No one does, but I don't need other people to see or experience something to get enjoyment out of it myself, surely? And it's not the reason we use cloth nappies, it's just something I enjoy about them over and above their functionality.

Well, each to their own

Who sees them but you, DesLynam? Struggling to understand the mindset of caring what pattern is on a nappy which goes under outer clothes anyway

Not DesLynam, but Dd wore dresses and we lived in a warm climate, so her cloth nappies were seen a lot. My boys not so much, but occasionally all they had on was a nappy and teeshirt.

Does it directly impact you though?

Sorry, but that's a ridiculous comment. I'm not directly affected by the war in Syria, by floods in Pakistan, by poor education and living conditions in west Africa, by library closures in other parts of the UK or by the availability of food banks.

But just because I'm in the fortunate position that none of the above has a direct impact on my life, does that mean I shouldn't give a shit about any of these things? That it shouldn't affect my actions, be they volunteering, donating to charity, consuming less, or how I choose to vote?

Obviously not, because if everyone has the attitude that it doesn't matter if it doesn't directly affect you then we're royally screwed. The school of thought that says, "I just love having my sheets, towels and everything I wear freshly laundered and tumble-dried every day because I'm such a domestic goddess!" is responsible for sending us all to hell in a handcart.

This was one of my pet peeves when ds was born - some may remember a bonkers report done for the Environment Agency which claimed there was little difference in impact other than diversion from landfill, but then it turned out the report assumed all nappies were new, washed at 90, and tumble-dried. Funnily enough when it got re-written assuming at least half of nappies were second-hand, they're washed mainly at 40 maybe 60, and almost never tumble dried, the report got zero news coverage...

Maybe I had babies particularly averse to being over-dressed, but mine spent a good 4 months each year in a nappy and little else, especially ds who could only cope with nursery if stripped down to a nappy as it was so hot. So it was nice to have smart nappy wraps.

All of my nappies were second-hand though, except a few new wraps with my council voucher for dc2, and a lovely purple one velvet Blueberry I got for ds's first birthday. Which a temp staff member at nursery chucked in the bin...

I ended up with loads of nappies to ensure I had enough for nursery that were one-piece to put on, and some of the all-in-ones didn't last well, both the plastic and the cloth inside fraying quickly.

Also buying second-hand nappies from my desk was fun and a cheap vice!

YANBU at all. We’ve got a decent stash (probably about 40 nappies in total? Including night nappies) so can afford to skip washes in an emergency or whatever. I’d say 75% is preloved, we have very few prints/patterns. The main bulk of our stash is little lambs pockets. We do have a handful of the famous Unos and they are nice enough but definitely not worth all the drama they cause.

Well the child does, 74NewStreet. I don't have prints as I had lots of white baby clothes and didn't want them showing through but I know my children were more enthusiastic about putting on clothes with an interesting print (space, dinosaurs, animals, teddies, Olaf from Frozen etc.) from quite a young age and surely anything that makes them more enthusiastic or cooperative during nappy changes throughout the wriggly stage must be a winner. Our washable training pants, nightime pull-ups and early underwear do have designs they like and my younger one in particular is very specific about which ones he wants to wear each day.

I was going to say that I like nice undies too even though nobody but me sees them but then I thought about all the pregnancy appointments and breastfeeding over the last five years and decided they probably had more of an audience than they usually would!

Even taking into account that buying more than you need is wasteful it's still better than sticking a load of nappies in landfill unless you are putting the extra cloth nappies in the bin instead of using them/selling them on. I didn't use cloth nappies but wouldn't you need at least 35+ otherwise you'd be washing everyday?

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
I'm so glad it's not just me. I'm in a few cloth nappy groups and saw a thread where someone was asking about wooden toys and how they felt the Grimm's ones were expensive. Of course one virtue signalling mum had to inform lecture the poster about the ethics of Grimm's and how you pay more for artisanal trees who are played classical music for mindful growing and the blocks are chiselled by a team of elves who are paid CEO salary.

I exaggerate but it was that sort of smug tone.

I love our cloth nappies, try to buy second hand etc, but the amount of money people seem to spend on Maxamorro, Babipur, etc is obscene for clothes that will last no more than 3 months. It feels like for every person who is just making small changes that suit their family there's a middle class yummy mummy type who sees their parenting decisions as a status symbol.

We have around 25 and do a wash every three days mostly. We did get through them a bit more when she was a younger baby and pooping more often, so we probably washed every couple of days (but always had spare left that it wasn't a disaster if we couldn't). DD is 1 and I'd say gets through five nappies a day plus one overnight, so you don't really need a massive stash.

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

I see "fluffy bum" and raise you "muff fluff"

That Babipur stuff makes me laugh. The kids whose homes are full of it are the ones falling on the plastic tat at playgroups with utter joy (and lamping any other kid who tries to get to it first)
There was a little boy at one of the groups I went to who set his heart on a gaudy plastic fire station, everything his up herself Mum openly shuddered at, and he spent the whole session angrily warding off any other kid who even glanced in it’s direction rather than actually happily playing with it.

If she’d allowed him to have something similar at home he might have been a more relaxed child, who knows? It was so very odd.
Worthy wooden toys are for the parents.

It’ll forever be poor Charlie’s Mr Frosty...

People collect nappies? I've still got a couple of square, plain white, terry nappies in my rag bag. My younger 'child' is 37.

It's similar with all the ethical clothing companies, Frugi, DUNs etc, everyone waiting for the next 'drop' and posting all their stashes. I just worry there are people in these groups getting into debt, just to buy all the latest clothes and also all the toys.

If you've got the money fair enough, but people paying £200-300 on 'drop days' then saying they need payment plans etc

It was similar in the wrap community, but that seems to have died down? People collecting ALL the wraps.

I think the average number of disposable nappies used is something like 1000 a year, so even 50 cloth nappies would be nowhere near the same environmental impact. Plus most of them will be used by a second/third child and/or sold on so those 50 nappies could replace up to10,000 disposable.

And isnt the biggest issue with nappies is the fact that they dont biodegradable? Rather than the manufacture, so this wont be an issue with cloth.

I like the prints on my babies nappies and I do like to buy new ones when they come out. I usually sell an older on when I buy a new one, they dont just go in the bin. I dont get the hype around the wizard unos as certainly wont be spending £30+ on one!

@covetingthepreciousthings I agree with you about Frugi drop days. People using klarna and other payment plans to buy clothes for their kids is madness to me.

I'm looking forward to the end of season sales to buy stuff for next year 😂

People using klarna and other payment plans to buy clothes for their kids is madness to

I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed when Frugi started using Klarna.

Also, yes to sales! I feel like there's so many drops, and then they're reduced in no time at all, there's really no rush to get the prints at full price.