A Parents’ Guide to Choosing 'em, Using 'em & Washing 'em!
Are You Considering Using Cloth Nappies? There are several reasons for choosing cloth nappies instead of disposables:
Better for baby - Parents are increasingly concerned about the unregulated chemicals used in disposables. Most disposable nappies contain artificial chemical absorbents such as sodium polyacrylate. These chemical granules are used to increase absorbency and form a gel that can end up on your baby as well as in the soil. Independent US research has also shown that the chemicals in non-cloth disposables can trigger asthma like reactions in normal laboratory animals (US Archives of Environemntal Health), October 1999).
Better for the environment - Waste - Nearly 3 billion nappies are thrown away in the UK every year and the vast majority of these (90%) end up in landfill. Around 8 million nappies are thrown away every day in the UK! We do not know how long it takes for the plastics in disposable nappies to decompose but it could take hundreds of years. If one parent, changing 4 times a day and once at night for 3 years, stopped using disposable nappies, it would save 5 nappies per day, 35 per week, 1,820 per year, 5,460 in all being put in landfill. No wonder more and more parents are choosing cloth nappies!
Better for your pocket - Average spend on one child in disposable nappies is £1200 and that is for approx 2.5 years This does not take into consideration that a lot of children stay in nappies for a lot longer and some are not completely dry at night until 7/8 years old.
But the thing most parents want to know is......How much work is involved? Not as much as you might think and mothers who use washable nappies find it extremely satisfying and (dare I say it) - enjoyable (yes, really!).
Click links below for more information:
Types and choices of nappies
How many will I need?
Wraps and liners
Washing and drying nappies
Washable wipes and nappy rash