AIBU to wonder why more people don’t use reusable nappies?

[KatyClaire]

I have a fairly new baby and I’m a little surprised at how few people I’ve encountered are using reusable nappies. I haven’t met anyone using them in my antenatal group / baby classes / local parents group etc. There has been such an explosion in the use of reusable products (sanitary products, straws, cups, make up wipes etc) that I had assumed it would have crossed into nappies as well.

I don’t know whether it’s a perception issue (people thinking they’re messy and hard to clean), the upfront cost, confusing information etc?

Sure @willFOURbagsbeenough ;)

@Bathbea

Sure *@willFOURbagsbeenough* ;)

Sure what?

My children went to nursery with cloth nappies. The care worker took the nappy off and put it in the wet bag and zipped it up. No scraping poo, no rinsing or anything different to what would have been involved in changing a disposable. The bag did not smell or leak and stayed in my children’s rucksack all day. When I got home, I sorted them all out without any problem.

This issue isn’t a battle.

The nappies work for some people and not others. That’s fine. There is a lot of misinformation and myths out there and some of it has been perpetuated and used as a reason not to look into them as an option on this thread....that everyone using them is a sanctimonious person, or a tree hugger....and people then start saying they don’t want to consider them because they don’t want to be that kind of person.

That’s a shame. In fact, all kinds of people use cloth nappies. They do it because they save loads of money long term, they find they work for their child with minimum inconvenience and because it reduces landfill.
Those are benefits lots of others could have too or consider if they might work for them.

The barriers to them being widespread are big. That’s without doubt. Upfront cost, lack of information, the simple fact that there is washing to do rather than just binning. There quite simply is some level of greater effort. Plus, their use is still not widespread enough for everyone to know people who’ve used them or it to feel very much the norm. These are all realities and with government not pushing an environmental agenda or incentivising their use, they probably will remain niche.

The thing is, most of us agree that 5-7 thousand nappies in landfill per child isn’t great. For that reason alone, finding out a bit more and considering their use seems a good idea. If it were easier for people to at least have a try (and I know some areas have schemes to do this but they aren’t well known or always easy to use) then lots of people would find they actually did t mind the extra bit of washing. They wouldn’t work for everyone, but at least people would know for themselves.

I find it unfortunate that there isn’t a mechanism for all New parents to at least have a chance to try cloth nappies for free, if they’d like to, that’s easily accessible. If there were, I think a lot of the myths would be dispelled and lots more people would choose them. They would just become normal, like using reusable bags is now normal, rather than something associated with odd people.

@WombatChocolate

My children went to nursery with cloth nappies. The care worker took the nappy off and put it in the wet bag and zipped it up. No scraping poo, no rinsing or anything different to what would have been involved in changing a disposable. The bag did not smell or leak and stayed in my children’s rucksack all day. When I got home, I sorted them all out without any problem.

This issue isn’t a battle.

The nappies work for some people and not others. That’s fine. There is a lot of misinformation and myths out there and some of it has been perpetuated and used as a reason not to look into them as an option on this thread....that everyone using them is a sanctimonious person, or a tree hugger....and people then start saying they don’t want to consider them because they don’t want to be that kind of person.

That’s a shame. In fact, all kinds of people use cloth nappies. They do it because they save loads of money long term, they find they work for their child with minimum inconvenience and because it reduces landfill.
Those are benefits lots of others could have too or consider if they might work for them.

The barriers to them being widespread are big. That’s without doubt. Upfront cost, lack of information, the simple fact that there is washing to do rather than just binning. There quite simply is some level of greater effort. Plus, their use is still not widespread enough for everyone to know people who’ve used them or it to feel very much the norm. These are all realities and with government not pushing an environmental agenda or incentivising their use, they probably will remain niche.

The thing is, most of us agree that 5-7 thousand nappies in landfill per child isn’t great. For that reason alone, finding out a bit more and considering their use seems a good idea. If it were easier for people to at least have a try (and I know some areas have schemes to do this but they aren’t well known or always easy to use) then lots of people would find they actually did t mind the extra bit of washing. They wouldn’t work for everyone, but at least people would know for themselves.

I find it unfortunate that there isn’t a mechanism for all New parents to at least have a chance to try cloth nappies for free, if they’d like to, that’s easily accessible. If there were, I think a lot of the myths would be dispelled and lots more people would choose them. They would just become normal, like using reusable bags is now normal, rather than something associated with odd people.

Very well said!

5-7 thousand nappies per child sounds ridiculously high! Who is using 5-7 nappies per day?

I actually spent the time doing my own research (FYI bio bags aren’t your only option hmm) and have no interest in spending time giving that info to someone who can’t be arsed to do it themselves

How long could it possibly take to type ‘I use X instead of bin bags’? Probably less time than it took you to type your post

I do find this attitude a bit odd. If you care enough about the environment to use an alternative to bin bags, wouldn’t you want to share your solution with other interested individuals who might then make the switch rather than hoarding your info like some kind of eco-Smaug?

Bertie, is that the only thing in my post that you have issue with? If so, I’m fine with that.

I got the figures online and I guess they do work it out based on 5-7 a day. I guess that’s the higher end of older kids and the newborn might have far more. Perhaps the figure is too high for some children....but I think we all agree that if we saw the pile of nappies just 1 child produced, we would be a bit shocked. Even after a week or 2, just before the binman comes, it looks like an awful lot! They are all still there in landfill and will be for hundreds of years, whether there’s 3,4,5,6,7 or 8 thousand per child.

Perhaps for some people the answer might be disposables some of the time and cloth some of the time? Anything to reduce the amount in landfill is good.

There are proper eco disposables too - very expensive, but perhaps for some people they would rather pay and know they weren’t sending to landfill rather than do the washable nappy thing.

@BertieBotts I go through 6 on a normal day. 4am when he wakes for a feed, 7 am when he wakes for the day, 9am so he’s dry for his nap, around about midday after he has woken and fed, 2.30 so he’s dry for his afternoon nap, 7.30 or so, and before he goes down for bed at around 10. Sometimes he’ll need another if he has done a poo.

I guess this will lessen over time as he wets less.

Oh my god. I didn’t want to believe it when someone said they saw something like this earlier.

How unbearable do you have to be to own something like this? 😂

@Ileflottante perhaps the one thing that could unite this thread is loathing for that vest 🤣

Probably printed on a sweatshop-produced vest...

Yep, I agree with the rest!

Yes true we were probably using 5-7 in the newborn period.

We use 3-4 per 24 hours and have done since probably 6 months old?

@BertieBotts I will look forward to that!

[quote KatyClaire]@Ileflottante perhaps the one thing that could unite this thread is loathing for that vest 🤣[/quote]
Let’s hope so. I’ve done both and could not get on with reuseables.

But some of the comments on here remind me why I left the smug, rude, superior groups who were so unbelievably critical of anyone doing differently to them. I also couldn’t see how buying 400 different prints aligned with their (presumably faux?) eco stance.

I’m glad to use reusable, it’s not been an issue at all. We def use 5-7+ per day. He poops 3-4 times per day, and often likes to poop soon after in a fresh nappy so will need changing again straight after. In reusable I don’t care how often as it’s no extra.

We have 20 day nappies and 4 night nappies.

I also couldn’t see how buying 400 different prints aligned with their (presumably faux?) eco stance.

Yes, this is weird. I have to admit I didn’t know this was a thing before this thread. I’m not on social media so have avoided this madness.

5-7 nappies per 24h seems right to me too. Whenever we used dispo we always had to change the kids more often as they stank (in my view) otherwise :) anyway it's an average.

I hate that vest too.

Re sanctimonious - I've actually found those 'against' cloth nappies to be towards the rude end of the spectrum on this thread to be honest.

@BertieBotts I'm quite envious of how unpooey your child is/was! (or maybe very regular, so you rarely change them right before they then do a poo, totally wasting a nappy?). DS pooed every time he was fed as a newborn, so we got through a horrifying number then, and only went down to pooing once a day when potty trained, so I think we probably did average 5-7 nappies a day over that time, if not higher. The one saving grace was that he was out of nappies by 2y3m.

I do agree that seeing the nappies produced by one child would be shocking, though I think I'd also be shocked if you piled up everything I'd put in my bathroom bin over 2+ years!

@HikeForward

Or did your children never have a nappy leak or accident in their pants?

Of course, but the soiled item was scrubbed in the sink first then soaked in something like Violets, then put through a hot wash with bio powder and Dettol Laundry.

If it was badly soiled eg a white sleepsuit or pair of knickers I just binned it, some things it’s impossible to remove stains from and not worth the hassle or running the machine.

Also most nurseries won’t take children in cloth, they want disposables as it’s more hygienic than wet bags of soiled nappies hanging from pegs all day. And I’m sure staff don’t want to scrape poo off nappies by hand when they could just dispose of it in a yellow bag!

Just as a nappy gets a scrub first and then in the machine for a warm/hot wash with decent detergent. Missing out the violets step but that's just a pretty weak laundry detergent so isn't really doing much in that process. With cloth nappies it's on a bigger scale but much the same process as you would with soiled items, it's nothing massively extraordinary and definitely not unhygienic.

Poo doesn't build up in the machine as you're not just putting a turd in and hitting start. I clean my machine monthly and there's definitely no poo build up. They're literally designed to put dirty things in to clean them, I'm baffled what the possible issue is with putting dirty things into a washing machine.

As for binning clothes, I haven't found a stain yet that I haven't been able to shift. Once you can get cloth nappies sparkly clean, no stain is impossible.

I'm surprised that you say nurseries won't take cloth nappies. Have you enquired? My DD's nursery was more than happy to use cloth nappies and wipes. I provide clean individual wetbags and they just pop the used nappies in for me to deal with at home. Not a problem. If DD does a poo they just plop it in the toilet then bag it. I also work in a nursery and cloth nappies are no more hassle and work than anything else. If a child has a nappy leak or accident their dirty clothes are left hanging in their bags until they go home so it's no different. Nursery workers aren't standing and scraping or washing anything, nor would anyone expect them to.

Illeflotante, yes that vest is truly awful.
I’d like to think it was ironic but I doubt it.

I agree that some cloth nappy users do get carried away in their zeal for the product. But that said, I think it can be a bit easy to caricature everyone into one mould and use that as a reason not to ever consider the difference options. Cloth and disposable users come from all groups, but sometimes if people caricature all users as an odd group ‘not like us’ it can be used as a reason to not even consider it.

Given we all agree the nappies in landfill aren’t great, finding out about all the options and giving thought to them, rather than focusing on the idea only odd people use them, seems a good idea. It would be. Shame if people were distracted from the real issues (and I know convenience very much is one) by people over fixating on caricaturing those who do use them. Do you know what I mean?

About 15 or 16 years ago, there was quite a push for reusable nappies. I'm not sure, but I think the Government offered some sort of funding or subsidy. We had groups coming into our toddler groups, demonstrating the nappies and there were huge discounts on them in the supermarkets.

It's when I saw the most parents who used them for their children.

I haven't seen anything like that since, and cloth nappies have not been nearly so popular, if they ever were. Even then, it was seen as quite a niche thing by the knit-your-own-yoghurt type of parent.

Currently, all my parents use disposable nappies through choice.

I do find it annoying that it's mothers who are blamed for landfill and environmental damage for using items to make their lives easier.
If only Governments were as enthusiastic in stopping the big industrial risks to the environment.

Not especially regular! We tend to get a poo a day, but if we change him for a poo then we probably wouldn't change him again unless he did it at 9am or something.

And if he pooed after about 5pm we just don't bother putting another nappy on before bedtime, he goes naked for an hour or two. You barely get any wees in that time period so it feels like a waste to put a nappy on.

He actually poos way more than my other child who was a once a week baby! And then once every 2-3 days once he was eating solids.

This is in disposable though. I'm happy leaving him in a wee-only disposable for 6-7 hours. I wouldn't leave him in cloth that long. IME they tended to be uncomfortable or leak well before that.

YY I remember those subsidies - one lady in my NCT class used them and really got on with cloth, and MN was always talking about it. DS1 is 12 so probably around the same time period. I suppose the 2008 recession and subsequent austerity policies put a stop to things like that.

Used them for the first two, girls, was less convenient but manageable.

Then third one came along, a boy, and they just didn't work anymore, they leaked, nappy rash, waking in the night because they leaked, was making my life a misery.

So I caved and compromise by using Naty eco nappies as much as I can afford but I do also use normal disposable ones as well as the Naty ones are literally 4x the price.

I hate the idea of landfill but the eco nappies are so so expensive and I'm a single parent now, I don't have that luxury anymore.

[quote KatyClaire]@Piglet89 but what’s the alternative? We give up on demolishing the patriarchy and on protecting the environment? I come back to being torn, as always, on where to give up on personal responsibility. I don’t drive unless I absolutely need to, I’m vegan, I use reusable products whenever possible, I take the train when I travel for work instead of flying even though it means a fight with my boss every time, I recycle religiously, I avoid single use plastics like the plague. And yet I know, of course, that 70% of all carbon emissions are caused by about 10 companies. And when it comes to dismantling the patriarchy I don’t even know where to start, except by obsessively reading everything I can on how to raise my son to be one of the good ones, and challenging sexism when I see it, and standing up for other women, and volunteering in a women’s shelter. But these things aren’t doing to address the structural inequality which keeps women in second place and exploits their labour relentlessly.

So what do I do? Do I lie down and concede that everything is pointless and individual action not worth bothering with since it’s barely a drop in the ocean? To do so feels so hopeless and depressing, but perhaps it’s realistic. Or do I accept that I can’t fix the world but I can do my part in it, and that’s worthwhile and important in its own way?

There’s clearly no obvious solution to this, and we all draw our own lines in the sand. The issue of personal responsibility is a hot topic, and people much cleverer and more thoughtful than me have grappled with it relentlessly. So please don’t feel that I’m flippant about solutions, or that I think I’m a one-woman saviour of the planet because I’ve saved myself a few thousand nappies in landfill. I know that we’re dealing with issues much, much bigger than the choices made by any one person. I‘m just invested in doing my bit, and curious as to where others stand on the same issue.[/quote]
Gee OP chill a bit. You do love making life hard for yourself. You sound like hard work.