DISPOSABLE NAPPY APPRECIATION THREAD - Sod the landfill! Come here to sing their praises!

[BoffinMum]

There are some of us who think reusable nappies are an eco-conspiracy con designed to get mothers firmly back at the kitchen sink feeling guilty.

There are others of us who have stopped using reusables because our children developed dread diseases of the bottom area.

Some of us even gag at the thought of dealing with all the poo manually, instead of just cursorarily flinging a bit down the loo and then bunging the whole affair in a nice scented nappy sack.

Come join with us if you too are heartily grateful for disposable nappies and the liberation they bring.

Washersaurus - I have laundry that reaches the ceiling in my utility room (ok it is on a worktop - but still) I work all day five days a week and I don't need extra stuff to do. I already have more stuff to do than I can do so for me yes disposables do give me liberty and I resent the way that washable nappy users seem incapable of mentioning their use of them without associating it with disposables 'badness'. So I will say again 'SOD THE LANDFILL'.

Oh I give up, go bury your head in a pile of stinky plastic nappies. Seems like you don't want to hear the truth about the alternatives because of your guilt tbh.

I would feel a little embarrased at being so sucked in by the disposable companies marketing hype if I were you Boffin.

Oh and I don't need to make myself feel better about using disposables anyway - I'm fine with that.

Well I would feel embarassed about being so cloth eared if I were you - in every sense. You talk about the truth - but what you mean is 'your truth' - which is to say that disposables are BAD and alternatives are Good - with no downsides. Neither of those positions are correct.

All nappies are bad. IMO.

All shopping is bad.

All driving is bad.

These are the ecological facts. What is hard is intelligent compromise.

at this thread! It has really made me laugh.

It reminds me of the one I started for 'puree lovers' on the weaning board

Sometimes you just have to fight back against some of the rubbish that is written on MN I use real nappies but good for you Boffinmum being plastic and proud!

dear god- you lot calm down they are f-ing nappies! they catch shit. Does it have to turn into an arguement?

I use washables now with the dt's for a few reasons- they are cheaper for me (got bought nappies as pressies when they were born), don't like the smell of sposies, and love the different patterns etc.

BUT i used sposies with my first boys- i knew nothing and frankly nothing else passed through my brain.

So sposie use- good for you, if it makes you happy carry on.

If anyone wants any further info on the pro's, cons and research done into effects of sposies- start a thread about it and have a fight!

Having ooodles of children is bad too of course...

Which reminds me - somebody further down said they felt bad putting something in the ground which will be there for hundreds of years. Well I fully intend to be buried so will be doing that with myself - and I take up a lot more room than a disposable nappy I can tell you!

To be fair though NorthernLurker, you might take up more room than one disposable, but not all the disposables your DCs will ever use.

LOL abermum!!!!

NL- do you have a plastic outer layer to keep you waterproof??

Hope the comment about "posting spurious crap about disposables being more enviro friendly" wasn't aimed at me as a) it is a link to an evidence-based study which you can go and read and decide for yourself on and b) I have tried really hard to work out the least bad option environmentally.

I was primarily responding to the Ecologist link which is old - significant as disposables have changed a lot since 2005 - and doesn't seem to address the full life cycle of nappy use.

Perhaps I am having a sense of humour failure though as "spurious crap" was probably intended as a joke in the context?

Does anybody have a link to some evidence-based official looking advice on scraping poo off nappies as will never persuade DH that this is required otherwise...

Thanks! H

Neenz - you'd be surprised!

Abermum - well yes I do - skin is waterproof after all - though more biodegradeable than pampers I think (icccck!)

Helen - don't fret - you're posting well balanced, well researched musings - that has absolutely no place on mumsnet where spurious crap is the life blood

All this stuff about tipping the poo down the loo first and then disposing of the disposable. OMG, you obviously haven't got a DD like mine (22 monts) whose poo is usually the sloppiest mess you have ever seen in your life. You couldn't really tip it anywhere - all you can do is hold yer nose, wrap it all up in the nappy and run away quickly...

Helen - think the poo down the toilet comes from legislation. I will try and dig out my environmental stuff sometime today...

I use reuseables most of the time but use disposables when we're out (with 2 in nappies it gets inpractical to be lugging several changes of washables around the shops) and for DD overnight if her eczema is bad. There are a few things I like about disposables -

• they are thinner so clothes fit better
• they don't leak if you forget to change after a couple of hours
• their skin stays dry so less chance of a rash

But all of these things are at a cost, mainly chemicals next to the skin which absorb the moisture. I have had times when we've hardly used our reusables like when on holiday, but really disposables are no easier at all once you get into the swing of reusables. And that is said completely objectively. I can see why people use them for the thiness/absorbancy reasons but until you've properly tried out washables and found ones that suit you and your baby it's hard to appreciate what little difference there is between them.

I think the biggest problem is people want to use reusables when pregnant/just had a baby and buy a set of one type of nappy to try perhaps from Boots or Mothercare and don't get on with them and give up rather than spend more money. Really there should be more trial nappy services about so people have access to a wide variety of nappies before they invest then people who wanted to give them a go wouldn't get put off.

lol NorthernLurker - shame you have no public page, I wanted to stalk check you out

LOL NorthernLurker!

I have a dilemma now. I happen to think burials are unsound ecologically, and just want to dispose of myself in the cheapest way possible.

Do I put myself in the green bin or the black bin???

Boffin the brown one as you would be classed as a food group

I don't know... Much as I love Boffin, I'm not sure I'd want to erm... eat her.

Bit of marinade and surely I would be very tasty?? Or are you saying I am a tough old bird??

I use disposables AND I didn't BLW any of mine ... how non-mn is that!?

lol Hannahsaunt

MN is a funny old place. In RL I have actually encountered more disapproval of my reusables than anything else. Some concerned friends "Are you mad, making more work for yourself!?" but mostly the MIL who just loathes them. She even dared to suggest that I was 'holding DD back from learning to walk' by putting her in bulky washables. (fwiw DD was walking just before she turned 1, so I think she survived the ordeal)

Now when DD goes to visit people I usually give them a supply of disposables to use, but when she goes to visit the MIL I make damn sure she is kitted out with reusables .

Hannahsaunt - bet you weaned at 4 months and have set foot in a Macdonalds in the last decade too? I don't know how you can show your face!

Sorry to dosappoint Neenx but is was exactly because of weirdo lovely mnetters like you that I ditched my public page. To help your fevered imaginings I will assure you I tend more towards Dawn French than Victoria Beckham!

Boffin - you can have a green burial. Involves a 'wild' site and a cardboard coffin. Very different from the traditional setting. Better than putting your loved one in the wheelie bin though - really don't thinks thats on! Or burial at sea? No idea of the green credentials for that though and personally I hate water so it's my nightmare!