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?

Wash them twice? No, just once with extra rinses cycle. And line dried unless it wasn't possible.

We debated that point, but decided that the landfill impact of 3 children's disposables outweighed it in honesty. The energy (all green tariffs here) that went into washing the nappies pales next to that, and also there is energy expended in making and transporting disposables, not to mention the materials needed.

@GoodnightKevin

For me even washing nappies twice (and my main wash is jam packed and includes other bits too) is still less damaging than disposable nappies. Yes it still has an environmental impact but it's still the lesser of two evils. Modern washing machines are very economical on water and electricity use, certainly ours uses far less power than our dishwasher to run, even on a longer cycle. Meanwhile we really have no idea how long disposables will take to decompose as none have been around to have broken down yet. Billions of nappies filled with chemicals, wee and poo just sitting in landfill for decades or centuries. That surely isn't sustainable as the population grows and space becomes less and less.

I think the estimate is that it takes 500 years for a nappy to break down in landfill, and roughly 3 billion nappies go to landfill in the U.K. every year.

@TheOtherMaryBerry

I cloth nappied incredibly needy twins (breastfed at least every 90 min for 18 months), no tumble drier. Of course it’s possible and of course it’s more environmentally friendly than binning a load of disposables that’ll be in landfill for hundreds of years. People are just too lazy and selfish to do it because it’s a bit more hassle

I know I shouldn't bite but seriously!! Maybe I am lazy and selfish but it's a damn sight better than being dead and I'm telling you that I got that close even with the convenience of disposable nappies. Anything extra would have tipped me over the edge.

I'm sorry to hear this. Some people are just so narrow minded that they can't imagine an experience outside of their own, so must brand everyone who thinks and does things differently as "lazy and selfish". Ironically, it's lazy and selfish on their part for not taking the time to open their minds a little to what others might be experiencing. Anyhow, I wanted to say that your post resonated with me as a fellow PND sufferer in the past. I hope you are doing well now

That surely isn't sustainable as the population grows and space becomes less and less.

Have fewer children? I notice eco warriors frequently draw the line there or just choose to ignore the impact having children has in the first place.

Have fewer children?

This is a fair point, it’s the biggest difference a person can make to their environmental impact. I’m all for people considering smaller families. We’re undecided on whether we would have a second child, and the environmental consideration is a very significant one.

That said we do need some people to have children to avoid total societal collapse, and those children will need nappies one way or the other.

@Piglet89

That surely isn't sustainable as the population grows and space becomes less and less.

Have fewer children? I notice eco warriors frequently draw the line there or just choose to ignore the impact having children has in the first place.

Oh absolutely, we all need to consider family size. But if somebody is set on having 5 children then at least having 5 children reusing a set of cloth nappies is less environmentally damaging than 5 children in disposables.

It's all about sacrifices, we all need to make sacrifices for the sake of the environment. Some people would be willing to sacrifice their desired family size, some wouldn't. Some would be happy to sacrifice the 'convenience' of disposable nappies, some wouldn't. But as long as we are all trying to make sacrifices and changes where we can we will make some difference.

In my old house I had space to dry nappies with just a 10 minute blast in the dryer. Had a big conservatory. Having relocated we're in rented in the smallest house we can get away with and in winter there is barely space to dry any laundry, let alone nappies as the laundry drying location impinges on the cooking space in the kitchen. I still have my cloth nappies (and they were used by a friend between DC) and will pass them on for free when DC2 potty trains.

It’s really unpleasant to start making all of this personal and categorising all cloth nappy users as those who are an odd group in society and claiming they all are evangelical ‘cloth bummers’ who have a vendetta against disposables

I agree people who use cloth shouldn’t be stereotyped.

But sadly in a lot of cloth nappy groups there’s a certain image many mums seem to aspire to; mum with lots of tattoos, wearing Duns (especially radish or puffin print) with blue or rainbow dyed hair. Lots of women posting pictures of themselves and their offspring wearing expensive matching Scandi prints (which look like pjs over the age of 3, sorry) and lots of posters saying how wonderful they look. Even if the DUNS dress clearly didn’t suit mum at all or she was wearing clown-like dungs over a top with cartoon jellyfish.

These women called non-Scandi clothes ‘boring muggle clothes’ and were really judgemental about disposables or FF. I’m sure there are many who use cloth but don’t fit the stereotype or behave this way.

Extended breastfeeding, cloth nappies, sling wearing, wooden rainbows, wobbel boards and those eye wateringly overpriced triclimbs also featured in pictures. Oh and £120 for a wooden mosaic puzzle when the pieces will get lost within weeks? Must be ethically sourced! It all seemed very show-offish and overly ‘alternative’.

There were women who used ‘family cloth’ and told others off for buying loo rolls, women who only used re-usable period pads and sponges and thought disposable ones were horrific.

The attitude on some of these groups really put me off cloth. I know many others use cloth and don’t have anything against people who don’t, but the militant cloth nappy groups may have a lot to answer for!

Hike, all those things may well be true. I did mention that lots of reuasable nappy users don’t help with their attitude.

But, my point in the rest of my post was about how focusing on groups of people, whether it’s calling them smug eco warriors, or selfish people who don’t care about the environment, detracts from a genuine discussion. It also gives people an excuse or reason to not engage with the actual facts about both types of nappies and the pros and cons of both, but to be sidetracked into a sub-issue.

What I’d hope people thinking about nappies get from this thread, is some information to consider about the nappies and people’s experiences of them.... that they might know a bit more about laundering, or managing them out and about, or about cost. I’d hope they might be able to see that some people have found them brilliant and some people found them really difficult and problematic to use.

It would be a shame if all people could remember about cloth nappies was that the people who use them are mad eco warriors who are smug and unpleasant and ‘not like me’ which leaves people unable to consider the actual issue for itself.

I will finish by saying again, that I think reusable nappies will remain niche products unless government gets involved in promoting them and making them available to try easily and either cheaply or free. When so many people do not know anyone who has used them and are unsure if they will work for them, the upfront cost is prohibitive for many. If there were schemes (and 12-15 years ago there were some schemes but they weren’t widespread enough or easy enough to use to make a really big impact) that meant all parents had a chance to try easily and for free, then lots more people would try the nappies and find they worked for them....not everyone would want to try them, but lots would have a quick go and whilst some would then decide against, a decent chunk of people would find they worked fine and the longer term money savings and landfill reduction would draw them to use them. But at the moment, the barriers are still really high for them to become a really mainstream product I think. Some of the users do create a bit of a barrier, but whether we are users of them or not, focusing in on the people rather than the nappies just adds to barriers, and surely, no-one needs to do that. I guess maybe a disposable nappy making firm might find it beneficial to do so, but as parents, I don’t think any of us need to add further barriers to environmental options.

Hike - in every hobbie, lifestyle, way of life etc there are militant obsessive buggers. It's just what it is. It should not stop you looking into it and making informed decisions.
I'm a baby wearing, cloth nappy, extended breastfeeding, co sleeping mother. I'm also a well respected professional in a very busy full time role leading a very 'modern' lifestyle. I have a few tattoos too and a few unusual hobbies. None of those things define me and I'm not part of any particular group. I'm a bit more 'active' on the breastfeeding side but only because I'm a bf counsellor. I only give guidance to people asking for it via the helpline I volunteer for. Otherwise I don't walk around with a cap telling people to bf/baby wear/co-sleep/use cloth nappies.
I make the choices that I feel are right for my family but I'm not militant about them to others. The vast majority of people are like me I'd imagine, we make choices, they are part of us but each choice doesn't define us.

My husband and I bought the cloth nappies at great expense and were going to breast feed, child led weaning, earth mama etc.

Baby was born with cerebral palsy. Cloth nappies were totally impractical as stopped his little bowels moving due to tightness etc.

Breastfeeding was out too as his muscles weren't developed enough and he wouldn't have survived.

Now I'm on the other side of the idealised life I was going to have with bubba I realise I was being very closeminded and unrealistic about what would be. Save your judgement, you never know people's reasons.

in every hobbie, lifestyle, way of life etc there are militant obsessive buggers. It's just what it is. It should not stop you looking into it and making informed decisions. I'm a baby wearing, cloth nappy, extended breastfeeding, co sleeping mother. I'm also a well respected professional in a very busy full time role leading a very 'modern' lifestyle

I agree. And I was also into baby wearing and extended breastfeeding, though gave up on cloth fairly quickly. I think the image and general attitude on those groups put me off persevering with cloth (plus the questionable hygiene of wet bags, the hassle of washing and drying, nursery, the thought of what might happen to my washing machine! Add to that how expensive the ‘cut for cloth’ baby clothes are (Frugi, Maxomorra, Kite, DUNS, all organic cotton of course!) The cost of baby and toddler clothes prices a lot of people out of trying them, let alone nappy costs on top. And all the electricity you get through washing so many nappies.

Unfortunately I think the cloth nappy industry is poorly represented online. It has a reputation for appealing to middle class wannabe hippy types (many who gush at the sight of a baby’s huge cute ‘cloth bum’ whilst making nasty remarks about people who use disposables.)

Personally I think some products are best kept as single use. Telling a nursery they should allow cloth is like telling a hospital they should provide washable sick bowls.

@HikeForward You say the attitude of others put you off using cloth nappies but then summarise that nappies shouldn't be reusable at all, which suggests that really it was your own attitude that put you off.

Hospitals may not use washable sick bowls but they certainly use washable sheets, blankets, gowns and towels. And there will have been plenty worse than sick on those. Do you suggest they are just binned after every use? The world is not sterile, something that has encountered bodily fluids doesn't need to be immediately thrown away. A good wash routine can, remarkably, get dirty things clean.

Just because you couldn't get on with cloth nappies, it doesn't mean that all nappies need to be disposable. There are plenty of us who it's working for just fine.

I agree with Tashkitten.
Hike - you are saying you got put others and then list a long list of drawbacks, some being perceived drawbacks of cloth nappies and conclude that cloth nappies arent a good idea. As we've said in this thread many (all?)of us have used normal clothes for baby, none of us have had problems with our washing machine (it's a washing machine.. It washes), the electricity costs are minimal, the hassle of washing and drying isnt seen by many of us as a hassle or such a big hassle etc so it is all personal. Assuming you tried and didn't get on with it fair enough. It is a personal decision at the end of the day. None of the drawbacks mentioned in this thread can be said to be general/apply to everyone. And apart from the environmental benefits it seems that most of the benefits also depend on personal circumstances.

'Put off by others'

I did a lot more reusables with snake hipped DC1 than the more substantial DC2. Didn't need cut for cloth with DC1, normal supermarket clothes were fine, and I got a lot of use out of vest extenders because she was so narrow.

I didn't find cloth bums quite so compatible with baby wearing - the compression led to more leaks even when the cloth nappies were more reliable in normal use. That said both had allergies so explosions were common.

Fortunately my area was less "crunchy" than many and it was easy enough to do what suited me - mostly baby "wearing" due to the sheer number of steps and hills!

You say the attitude of others put you off using cloth nappies but then summarise that nappies shouldn't be reusable at all, which suggests that really it was your own attitude that put you off

A number of issues put me off cloth; the attitudes on certain cloth groups was merely one factor (I listed most other factors but may not have mentioned the leakage problem and how many brands I tried attempting to find one that was a good fit. Whereas Pampers fitted instantly and there was no extra washing, drying, wet bags, no need to buy brands ‘cut for cloth’ etc). We had a nappy bin that sealed each disposable nappy so no smell escaped, and it was emptied daily.

If someone finds cloth suits them and their baby and family, great! I have nothing against cloth if people prefer it.

In OP’s case it sounds like her husband is doing all the washing and drying, so if she/he switch to disposables at some point eg when baby weans they shouldn’t be made to feel guilty by the pro-cloth brigade.

Hospitals may not use washable sick bowls but they certainly use washable sheets, blankets, gowns and towels. And there will have been plenty worse than sick on those. Do you suggest they are just binned after every use? The world is not sterile, something that has encountered bodily fluids doesn't need to be immediately thrown away

Sheets, blankets, gowns and towels are laundered at very high temperatures, in industrial machines with strong chemicals. Sometimes the above are indeed binned (eg when covered in bodily fluids or stained badly) and if a patient has an infectious disease all their linen goes into a biohazard bag to be dealt with separately.
All our sick bowls, commode buckets, wash bowls, and other single-use items like needles, speculums, IV bags, tubes, gloves, aprons, masks etc are single-use. Re-usable items can be chemically or heat treated to sanitise them so there’s no risk of cross-infection.

I think single-use nappies in nurseries or childcare settings makes sense, as soiled nappies sitting in wet bags on pegs all day can leak and smell (sure some don’t, but some do!) What if a child has rotavirus or infectious diahorrea and the soiled nappy is dripping through the bag onto the cloakroom floor? It doesn’t take long for other kids (or staff) to step in the drips and spread it.

Nope I've never used them at all. I had been debating it at one point but I already have an absolutely horrendous wash load due to other children with additional needs so not practical in the slightest! I do not need to add anything else to it! And trying to keep things simple it doesn't make sense for me to use them. I also would never have been able to afford it with my others previously. So many people don't have that money for the intial cost of them whereas money for a pack of nappies is what can be managed. When it comes to prioritising I can see why reusables aren't put at the front for a whole lot of people as other things take priority without a doubt.

There are some local authorities now that do actually give vouchers or something similar towards a starting set of reusables however which would be very handy for people wanting to and I know about groups where you can buy them a lot cheaper etc.

But it just won't work for a whole lot of people due to hardly having any space at all for washing and drying clothes, bedding, towels etc and already having a hundred and one things to do as it is.

The different prints you can get for them are very cute, though! So I can see how that has become a marketing essential for them now! As I've seen them in literally every colour and so many different prints now

I have to say, the poster on this thread who really made me stop and think, is the one who used disposables for the first few months and then swapped to cloth once weaned.

For some reason that never occurred to me as an option. I really don’t think I could have handled cloth in the first few months as things were so hellish but I definitely could have after say 5/6 months.

Perhaps that needs to be suggested more by cloth campaigners? Much like mixed feeding could be mentioned more in the conversation about BF.

They worked for us. I started with disposables as my baby was so tiny the washables wouldn't fit but after seeing hire many we went through and how quick the bin was filling up we switched. It was quite simple. Nappy bucket in bathroom for soaking. Nursery agreed to use them (I would've provided disposables if they had objected) as plenty use them here.

@minipie - I agree. Also the whole concept of all or nothing. Sure lots of people like just one way or the other, but there’s no harm using cloth nappies only at night, or only when home for example, in conjunction with disposables.

If just one nappy per day was reusable, then for the average child needing for 2.5 years it would be around 1000 nappies saved from landfill.

[quote Caspianberg]@minipie - I agree. Also the whole concept of all or nothing. Sure lots of people like just one way or the other, but there’s no harm using cloth nappies only at night, or only when home for example, in conjunction with disposables.

If just one nappy per day was reusable, then for the average child needing for 2.5 years it would be around 1000 nappies saved from landfill.[/quote]
Absolutely! Why not mix it up!
I used dispo nappies on holidays at time when it was easier and occasionally when out and about to avoid keeping dirty washable nappies with me.
It's much easier than combi feeding really as this may not work due to baby refusing formula/mum's supply etc. Whereas a mix of cloth and dispo - absolutely why not!

@HikeForward

Totally on the same wavelength, I chuck out 4 nappies a day max at home yet at my work I chuck out probably one sheet (colorectal ), a glide sheet, 15 incontinence pads, 20 syringes, 20 needles with plastic safety cap, 20 bags of IV fluid, 20 giving sets, 2 full packs of non flushable wipes and now a million gloves, aprons and masks! At least we can recycle the medicine boxes now . But hey we are all too lazy and 'precious about body fluids' to give them a go.

@Jent13c What is your point? You throw away so much plastic anyway that you might as well throw away some more? There aren't really reusable options for many of the items you listed so I don't really see how they compare to nappies.

@HikeForward I'm just pleased that our outstanding nursery, and many more, haven't made such obscure risk assessments and banned cloth nappies for risk of someone slipping in liquid shit