Hi guys, I’m Laura and I’m new here. I am a newbie on my cloth journey. I have two beautiful boys and a super supportive husband. We didn’t cloth our first baby, to be honest I had never even thought about them before. If someone would have suggested cloth I would have imagined old school pinned nappies and a baby running around in a huge, complicated folded towel.
So how on earth am I one of the biggest fans of Baba+Boo nappies and encouraging cloth?
It all started with reusable wipes and that magical rabbit hole that followed and changed our lives.
Our first baby boy, Alby, was so sensitive to nappies and wipes it was hard finding wipes that didn’t make him sore. It was costing us a small fortune using more water-based ones with less chemicals. When I was pregnant with our second baby I kept thinking more and more about the dreaded wet wipes.
I had seen reusable wet wipes before, just like using a flannel really, so I started researching - thinking how on earth am I going to wash them? Cue the rabbit hole.
I soon found all the info on washing them, turns out our washing machines are awesome and they do all the hard work - who knew, right?
The more and more I read about the wipes, the more and more I read about cloth nappies. No big, fat towels with pins as I had imagined. No, I kept seeing pictures of beautifully designed, full of fun and colour modern cloth nappies, upgraded 21st century versions, easy to use and easy to wash - but I never knew this, no-one is talking about them, I had never came across them before or seen them before.
The trouble is, I found so much jargon and over-complicated articles I soon became overwhelmed and stopped researching, but I could not get them out of my head. I just kept thinking if you’re already washing the wipes, why not the nappies too?
If like me you are tempted to try I encourage, no beg, you to join some hang-outs on Facebook. They are the most supportive places on the internet. I found the Baba+Boo hang-out and Eve.
All the jargon was soon washed away and it turns out they are not that complicated at all. There are awesome articles written by Jane and Eve that help arm you for the wave of questions from family and friends (and yourself) and help break down all the myths.
I showed my husband these nappies and wipes, ready with my list of reasons why we should use them including the money they save long-term and they have a resale market for recouping costs on top.
Learning how wasteful single-use are, and the amount of nappies and wipes we have sent to the landfill already - I couldn’t believe we had sent on average over 5,000 nappies to the landfill with our first child, which will take 200-500 years to break down. The thought of knowingly doing it again filled me with dread.
Perri was amazing and was completely on board with trying them after showing him some of the pictures. (I am stubborn and would have done it solo anyway!) My mum and mother-in-law were also equally as amazing and supportive and both were excited to try them, as they too were surprised with how modern they had become.
Fast forward to the arrival of our beautiful baby boy, Harwin. I had watched some videos on fit and after keeping an eye of Q&As on the hangouts we had no trouble switching to cloth.
Me and Perri both say, if anyone has potty trained a toddler, getting poop out from a potty is far more traumatic than dealing with a poop in a cloth nappy.
I got asked a lot “you must have so much washing”. To be honest knowing we needed clean nappies washed and dried, me and Perri are on top of our washing more now than ever before!
I loved using them and felt proud we was doing our bit to help the planet. Our journey beautifully snowballed and we have made so many swaps and have drastically reduced our plastic waste as a family.
I feel like my eyes are open and I can never look at the world the same again. I have learnt so much about how plastic is killing our beautiful oceans, animals and planet. Me and my husband are proud to be more eco-conscious. He is just a big advocate of cloth as I am and he has been happy to try every swap with me, together as a team.
If you are finding it hard to get anybody on side and feel alone in your decision, the hang-out is filled with amazing, supportive parents who are also doing it solo, you are not alone.
My grandma loves our nappies and she told me how she remembers single use coming to market. I thought about how alien they must have seemed to parents then, as they do to me and my husband right now!
I can't stop thinking about how if we could just change what is seen as the norm, if we just broke down myths, taboos and used facts a little more, if they were seen on TV a little more, if they were talked about a little more… how different it could all be.
For the first time in a long time I am passionate about something. I love how our lives have changed, I am forever grateful to Eve and that rabbit hole.
My lovely sister-in-law wants to cloth her next baby, it’s a very special feeling I will keep with me for the rest of my life. My wonderful mother-in-law loves to show people our cloth nappies and advocates them just as much as we do.
We are the change and I could not be prouder to be a part of the 10%, together we make difference.