One of the big decisions facing every new parent is what type of nappies to use. Nappy changing takes up a significant proportion of childcare time over the first two or so years with each child, so getting it right is important.
The majority of parents opt for disposable nappies. Do you know there is an alternative? Here is some information.
Cloth Nappies
The arguments for using cloth nappies over the use of disposable ones can be broken down into four main areas: comfort for the baby, convenience for the mother, cost and environmental impact.
It is useful to bear in mind that the most vigorous arguments for using disposable nappies are put out by the companies which make them. These are large multi-nationals such as Kimberley-Clark and Proctor and Gamble who obviously want customers to buy their products. There is a lot less money in the promotion of cloth nappies and so it can be harder to find conclusive evidence about them.
Ultimately parents should have the the information they need about real nappies in order to make a fair and informed choice
Relevant resources
There are plenty of websites with information on the use and types of cloth nappies now available, as well as numerous discussions relating to issues of comfort, convenience and the environment.
A good place to start is with the The Women’s Environmental Network (WEN) website. Based in the UK WEN runs the Real Nappy Project to raise awareness about the environmental impact of nappies. They encourage the use of washable cotton nappies to reduce waste and the impact on the environment.
For a review of the cloth nappy options available take a look here, which provides all kind of info about cloth nappies.
If you can read German you should visit the naturwindeln.de web site
Additional food for thought on the topic of disposable nappy manufacturers promoting the use of disposable nappies in India and China can be found in this article published in the Independent on 11/05/2006.
If you are already using real nappies and have a practical question this is a good site.
ParentLink Projects
Try Before You Buy
ParentLink has a huge collection of cloth nappies. If you want to see them or for advice contact us at gro.lanoitanretnikniltnerap|ofni#gro.lanoitanretnikniltnerap|ofni
Collective Documents
Did you already use cloth nappies? Would you like to review the models you tried? Please post your comments in the NappyCafe
Any other question? Start a Nappy-Forum!
