Bio-degradable nappies...is it me, or are they a bit rubbish?

[theUrbanDryad]

i was very keen to use to bio-degradable nappies when ds was tiny as i didn't think i could be bothered to use washables when he was so little. i've yet to find a brand that are anywhere near as good as the environmentally crap ones. ds kept being very very wet and having streaks of poo down his legs. also, they are very expensive.

anyone know of any good brands of eco-friendly disposables??

i reaaaaaallly want a wormery too.

but it's against our tenancy agreement.

well, they've not specifically said "no wormeries" but they're quite strict about the type of compost bin we can have in our garden. barking. mind you, this is the same agency/landlord who penalised the previous tenants and refused to give back their full deposit as they'd planted nice plants in the garden. when we have our own house.....

Nature Baby sold by Waitrose are fab

Bobsmum- ditto, I use reusables for the same reason, and Nature Baby when out and about.

why don't you use washables urban?

i do...use the TotsBots Fluffles for daytime and Bumbles at nighttime. was wanting the disposables for when it wasn't convenient to use washables, like on camping holidays etc....

I use Nature Baby nappies from Waitrose or Boots on rare occasions when DS not in cloth - I think they DO still contain the gel crystals under the natural absorbant material layer though, just not as many as pampers and huggies.

Tushies is the only gel free disposable that I've heard of - extortionate and not great apparently.

yep. moltex, mothernature, naturebaby, tendercare and bambo eco all have gel as far as i am aware.

has anyone tried weenees, where a resuable wrap is used with a disposable pad?

Nature Baby use wood pulp

we're going for a week, but not staying in campsites as we're hoping to do a festival/party run this summer in a van. i wanted to use a bio degradable nappy so we wouldn't have to hoik around dirty nappies with us (reusable or disposable) and we could just bury them in the woods somewhere!!

another question for you knowledgable types - do wipes bio degrade? is bio degrade a word?

People also use eco-friendly nappies because there are less chemicals next to baby?s skin ? but if your only motivation is environmental, then burying bio-degradable nappies and bio-degradable wipes seems fine to me, so long as you don?t wrap them a bag and you tear them up first. BTW, have you seen these ?

However we went away to a caravan holiday for a week last week and just went to a launderette in the local town with our nappies half way through the week. We just went for a walk round town while the nappies were washing. It was fine for us. We did, however, use some disposables, and as I was binning them I got Tesco?s own brand nappies because even eco-nappies use non-renewable resources and fill up landfill if binned. It?s an interesting thought though ? how does one balance doing right by baby and the environment, and enjoying your holiday unencumbered. I think that as we?re doing cloth most of the time, we can be fairly proud of ourselves and try not to worry too much about it! But that?s just my humble opinion.

Phew ? sorry it?s such a long post ? I?ll get of my soap box now!

is there a nearby laundrette? we went away for a week and found a local laundrette midweek to wash them.

i'm sure we could find a launderette, if we tried...

if you didn't want to wash and had enough reusables for a week i would just take them all, rinse them after use and bring them back to wash.

otherwise use disposables. unless you plan on composting them just get normal ones and save yourself some money. or if you are worried about chemicals etc get tushies.

you can get biodegradable nappy sacks too.

thanks for all your advice! i'm beginning to think we're a bit insane to take a 4 month old on a tour round England in a camper van!!

Weenees call themselves the only truly biodegradable disposable. They don't contain any plastic whatsoever so they can be composted - worms love them and can also be flushed if you tear them twice. MY DH didn't believe this and as he works in the sewerage department of Thames Water was even more sceptical. But we tried one in a bucket of water and as long as you tear the pad it does just sort of disintegrate into fluff in the water. The website shows fab pictures comparing a weenee pad biodegrading next to a Moltex and a Tushies - www.eenee.com.au Go to the section on Environmental Information and there is a link to show the photos.

Lollipop is the UK distibutor for weenee products so contact any Lollipop adviosr to see them in real life. The outer pants / wraps are dead cute too.

for degradability go for weenees, for least chemicals go for tushies.