Cloth Nappies

[Guest]

I don't know what sort of reaction this may get but here goes...

 

I read on another message someone singing the praises of cloth nappies. I work in a day nursery and three of our babies now use cloth nappies. I understand all the reasons their parents have for doing so, enviromentally friendly etc but I have to say I think they are horrrible.

 

Even with us changing the babies very very frequently (about every one and half hours) we see more nappy rash and sore bottoms with these children than the ones in disposables. It means we have bags of wet nappies in the changing area, (and they can get smelly) whereas the disposable nappies get put in clinical waste disposable bins and are collect weekly (and no they do not smell) these are then taken away and incinerated by the firm.

 

It seems to make moving around more difficult for them as well. Even their parents laugh and tease them about their 'big bottoms' and how it slows them down in moving about. They even moan about getting clothes to fit them over the nappies.

 

My children are now grown up and I did start them off in terry nappies but very soon changed to disposables and never regretted it so I have used both types myself.

 

Right I've had my say (and moan) and will have probably upset loads of people in the process. To those people I say sorry.

[Guest]

Hi Sparkykssister

 

Hmm, I can understand you not liking them if the system you have involves smells!

 

I've seen a few systems that are 100% pong-free. The best, I think, is using zip-lock bags. The parent provides the bags for individual nappies (quart sized works for one nappy), and a container for her collection of soiled nappies to go into. A tote bag would work for this, or a sterilite pail, (mine has a foot pedal so I don't have to handle it), although one of the most unusual and effective container I've heard of was one of those soft cooler bags, meant for cans of drinks! Each nappy goes in a zip-lock, then tossed into the cooler bag. At the end of the day, the parent takes the cooler bag home, and returns it next day complete with zip-locks. Completely pong-free!

 

I smiled at your comments about large bottoms. My daughter is - well - somewhat amply proportioned, anyway. But the cloth doesnt affect her mobility in the slightest. I do get that comment from sposie users, though, which I find odd, as all us oldies wore cloth, and we're not all bow-legged! There are some super trim nappies out there now, like the Fuzzi Bunz pockets with inserts. I use those under tighter outfits, but the bulkier ones under dresses. Or I buy clothes one size up. It is a problem, though, that the manufacturers assume that everyone uses disposables.

 

I just feel so much happier knowing that there are no undisclosed chemicals next to her skin all day. And that I'm not filling landfill sites with used nappies - ugh! As for rashes, I find less with cloth than I did with my first daughter in disposables.

 

As you can tell, I'm an enthusiast. Some innovations, I think, take civilisation back a step rather than forward. I'm appalled by the throwaway nature of our society, and Americans are even worse at this than the British. They now advertise throwaway bibs, high chair covers, cloths to clean toilets, cloths to clean the floor........the list is endless. All with some very dubious chemicals on them, no doubt., I wonder what sort of environment we will hand on to children if everything becomes disposable. Because the trouble is, that these things aren't truly disposable........

 

Anyway, enough of my environmental ranting! I hope you find a system that works better for the pong-factor. I know how horrid it can be, we have some super-hot weather here in summer, and it took me a few weeks to find a system that eradicated smells. Good luck!!