What’s the big deal with modern cloth nappies?
You may have seen Modern Cloth Nappies around a little more in the last few years as they are becoming more popular. If you’re not sure what the appeal is with them and why so many parents just want to shout from the roof tops about their love of cloth. I have put together a list of top reason why more families are choosing to use more cloth nappies:
Environmental benefits
The average baby will have approx. 5840 nappy changes in 2 years, that’s with an average of 8 changes per day/night. Doing all of those changes with disposable nappies creates a large amount of waste which takes hundreds of years to breakdown. The more cloth nappies each family uses each day will help bring that number down significantly.
So what about the impact that the extra washing, drying and detergents to clean the cloth nappies will have? Is it the same as using disposables? NO it’s no where near the amount of waste created by the 5840 disposable nappies that sit in landfill.
Modern cloth nappies don’t require soaking, bleach or special detergents. They only require a 30 minute wash cycle on their own then a long wash which can be done with the rest of the family washing. Washing machines are very water & energy efficient these days, most families only see a small increase in their water & electricity bills when using cloth nappies. Some of increase in these utilities comes from having a parent home more often and the general increase in washing having a new baby creates.
Financial benefits
Having a baby can be expensive, but using cloth nappies can save families thousands of dollars. The average family will spend around $2300 on disposable nappies over 2 years with the highest use occurring in the first 3 months. 30 modern cloth nappies only cost $360 (less with package deals). This will give the average family a saving of $1940 over 2 years. For many families the financial savings is the biggest reason they switch.
It’s NOT an all in or nothing scenario
Personally I think this is the most important thing to remember about cloth nappies. You don’t have to use them all the time. Many families use cloth nappies just during the day and a disposable at night. Some families only use 3-4 cloth nappies a day and then disposable the rest of the time.
By using just 1 cloth nappy a day you can make a difference over the 2-3 years your child is in nappies. If you use 1 cloth nappy a day, that will save 1095 disposable nappies from landfill!
They look cute
I never thought I would actually have fun with nappies, but they really can be. There are so many different patterns and colours to choose from. You can actually have fun changing nappies all day and matching up outfits. When baby does a poop not long after putting on a clean nappy, you get to pick another pattern to match their outfit. Summer is a great time for cloth nappies, baby can wear a nappy and shirt and look dressed. This will save you extra washing and time dressing baby. This is my favourite reason to use cloth nappies.
If you’re still not sure about switching to cloth nappies, just start with 1-2 a day and ease into it. As I said earlier, it doesn’t have to be an all or nothing thing. If you’re still unsure or have questions, please see the friendly team at Little Aussie Monster, we love to help and can even give hands on help with fitting cloth nappies onto your baby.
