Cloth Nappies and Letting go of Perfection

My journey with cloth nappies has been a bit of a bumpy one, there have been times when I was so puritanical about using them that I decided we should even use them whilst camping.  I had visions of my lovely cloth nappies swinging from the guide ropes, drying in the sun. The reality however was rain, nappy leaks in a sleeping bag and a lot of time and money spent on the camp site laundrette and tumble dryer.  Not a fun experience on reflection. 

At other times I have shunned cloth nappies altogether.  For example when my first son was born I had all the good intentions of using cloth and had my lovely sets of new born cloth nappies ready to go, but the reality was that I was so overwhelmed with motherhood and trying to look after this wriggly baby that cloth nappies became just another new, difficult thing that I had to learn.  One too many things, so for a while I guiltily and shamefacedly used disposables.

I once attended a cloth nappy meet in a cool area of the town I used to live in.  The event was really lovely and I was thrilled to meet other mothers who were like minded, I felt like I had met my tribe.  But I couldn’t help but feel daunted by some of the mothers’ approaches to cloth bumming, one mum was like a ninja as she wrapped and tied her baby’s bum in her organic wool cloth nappy like someone folding origami!  I couldn’t live up those standards.

I now seem to have settled into a nice balance of using both cloth and disposable, who knew it was ok to use both! But it has taken me a while to let go of the perfection I thought was required and embrace an acceptance that life is not perfect.  Accepting that I don’t need to be perfect with my approaches to motherhood parenting has given me a little more peace and made life just a little bit more enjoyable.  

  

Perhaps you have thought about using cloth nappies saw one of those ninja mums and decided it was all too overwhelming.  Or maybe you thought they were too expensive, messy or time consuming,  here I will show you have none of these things is necessarily true and how you can enjoy using cloth nappies with your baby, without guilt and without loosing your marbles.

Why use cloth nappies?

There are three great reasons to use cloth nappies, they can be better for the environment, they can save you money and they can be healthier for your baby, let me explain:

                                                     

I have been using cloth nappies on and off for ten years and some of the nappies I used with my first baby are still going with my forth.  Imagine how many hundreds of disposable nappies going to landfill that has saved!  Not to mention the manufacturing, packaging and transportation of disposable nappies. Disposable nappies take hundreds of years to break down, even the more eco friendly versions whereas a single cloth nappy can be reused hundreds of times. Cloth nappies are up to 40% less harmful to the environment than disposable nappies and can reduce household waste by a massive 50%.  What is more, when washed at low temperatures and line dried cloth nappies also create less carbon emissions, if you acquire them second hand, use them with multiple children or pass your nappies on after your children are potty trained then you’re reducing your impact even further. If you add into this using washable wipes then you are further reducing your environmental impact. 

Another great reason to use cloth nappies is the financial saving.  You might be surprised you can save money on cloth nappies if you have seen the price of them new in the shops,  why would you buy one cloth nappy when you can get a pack of 40 disposables for the same price?  Well over the last 10 years I have probably invested no more that £50 on cloth nappies.  This is because I have reused the ones I first bought to their death, I have bought them second hand and I have gratefully accepted cloth nappies from my friends whose children were done with them.  I do no more than two extra machine washes per week to keep on top of the washing and I try to line dry them in the warmer, dryer months so electricity costs are minimised. I am absolutely certain that using cloth nappies has saved us a significant amount of money.  If you need to buy nappies new then you will find many sources of cheaper cloth nappies than the supermarket.  I have tried many brands over the years and have had success with both more pricey and cheaper brands.  You don’t need any special detergent to wash your nappies (check the brand as some mainstream detergents can’t be used) and you don’t need to use any special settings on your machine. I just whack them in on a 60 cotton wash with ecover non-bio and that has served me well over the years.

Washable cloths can also save you money, you don't have to spend a lot on purpose made wipes, just use cheap flannels.  I use a mix of these and some old washable liners, I've also used bits of cut up fleece and towels in the past. 

Finally cloth nappies can be better for your baby because your baby’s skin is in contact with materials that contain fewer toxic chemicals and many cloth nappies are more breathable than disposable.  The ultimate nappy might be an organic cotton or bamboo cloth nappy, but even those with microfiber and polyester fabrics release fewer toxic chemicals that can harm your baby especially if they are second hand.  Also by using cloth we are able to leave a better planet to our children for the future.

It could be easy to look at all that information and feel bad for using disposable, but it’s important to remember that we all only do as much as we can do and even just replacing a few disposables here and there with cloth is a small help. None of us is perfect, we are all just trying to be a better mum and a better person than the day before, and sometimes we are just trying to survive.

Cloth bum with ease:

If you are thinking that using cloth nappies must take a lot more time than using disposables, let me tell you that this isn’t necessarily true.  Of course at the point of use it does take more time to process a cloth nappy than to just whip a disposable out of the bag, but when you factor in the cost of disposables and the fact someone has to work to earn the money to keep buying them week on week then the time saving value of disposable doesn’t seem so great.  All that to say, there is additional time required to process the cloth nappies, and you might feel like you really can’t manage on more thing, and that’s ok, but the reality is that the extra time needed needn’t be exorbitant.  I keep the time spent washing and drying my cloth nappies down with these simple techniques:

·        I dry store my nappies in a bucket with a tight fitting lid. This eliminates smell but also means that I can do a full machine load in one go rather than lots of small washes.  I do no more than two washes of cloth nappies per week, I make sure all Velcro tabs are folded down before the nappies go into the bucket then as I empty them into the machine I unfold or untuck any pads or stuffers.

·        Hanging up nappies on the washing line takes no more than about 10 minutes, so with two loads that’s just 20 minutes per week, so not a huge amount of additional time.  If you use the tumble dryer than this time is reduced even further as you just transfer the whole lot into the dryer, switch on and walk away.

·        Finally using cloth wipes rather than disposables is a great time saver as far fewer wipes are required on a poopy bum when you use washables.  By this I mean you usually only need one wipe per poop, and the actual process takes less time and the fluffy fibres on the cloth and the size means than one or two wipes over the bum and it’s done.  You can also save time by whacking them in the washing machine with the nappies.

I imagine you expect cloth nappies to be a bit gross to deal with but over the years I have developed techniques that have made dealing with the dirties much easier.

·        To begin with, when I remember, I carry a bag around with me to put the poopy nappy into if I am changing it on the go.  Sometimes I forget and then end up in a sandwich bag at the bottom of my rucksac for a week!

·        As I said above I dry store my nappies in a bucket with a tight fitting lid which keeps in the smell, when it then comes to washing the nappy I can just toss them all into the machine.  Some people choose to wet store the nappies in a bucket of water with special detergent but I never liked the idea of transferring dripping nappies to the washing machine then having to deal with the poopy soup left behind in the nappy bucket.

·        Before your baby is six months old it is simple to just put the nappy, poop and all straight into the machine.  But once they are weaned and producing proper poops these need to be removed from the nappy first.  Some people find using a disposable nappy liner makes this a much easer process but I found I could fairly simply flick the poop into the toilet from the nappy if it was dry enough. 

·        Wiping a baby’s bum with a washable wipe is far less messy than with a disposable, your fingers don’t get poop on them because the cloth is so much thicker and larger than a disposable.  Far more hygienic and quicker.

So remember if you feel drawn to using cloth nappies, there is no need to be a perfectionist.  You don’t need to stick religiously to one brand, or use the right boosters with the right nappy.  After ten years of cloth nappy use I am now happy to use any thing I have lying around to stuff a nappy, mixing and matching brands and types and I’ve even been known to use old flannels when I ran out of stuffers! So long as it is absorbent I don’t care what type I stuff it with. 

Using cloth nappies doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Even if you are only reducing your use of disposable nappies but one or two per day, that is still going to have an impact over the years.  I used to be so militant at times, but I have come to realise that, when it comes to enjoying life, all things in moderation if a good rule of thumb, and it is ok to not be perfect.  I now mostly use disposables at night and cloth in the day, sometimes I use disposables in the day too like if we are going out on a day trip and I don’t want to carry the dirty cloth nappy in my rucksac all day, I don’t feel guilty about it because I know I am doing the best I can.  I have made peace with not being perfect.   

Washable Nappies

One of the questions I get asked most when talking about parenting is about what washable nappies I use.

There are so many different types of nappies out there that it can be very difficult to choose which ones to go with and the websites of the companies don't always give you a really good idea of how they work.

So I decided to do a little video of the two types of washable nappies that we have been using so it's clear to see what they look (although I am not sure exactly how clear they are from this rather poor quality video, but hey)

This is the first video I have ever done and let me tell you, I felt like a right goon!!  I do want to do more of this but need to sort out the video quality first.

I realise I did leave a lot of stuff out, but I can save that for another video ;)

Hope you have a good giggle!

Making the Switch to Cloth

When I was pregnant with Boris I was sure I wanted to have a go with cloth nappies.  Without knowing all that much about cloth nappies I bought a couple of packs of pre-folds in newborn size and a starter set.  The brand I purchased had an absorbent booster that was folded and placed inside a waterproof wrap. My mum also bought me a single Tots Bots all-in-one nappy.  I also bought some bio-degradable disposable nappies to use in case I didn't get along with the cloth.

When Boris was born I found the experience of being a new mum totally overwhelming, I had this little human who needed me all the time, there was no schedule, no order, just a wriggly, hungry, pooping machine.  I gave my cloth nappies a go, but Boris wriggled all over the shop and I couldn't get the booster to be in the right place and I found I was having to wash the waterproof outers with every nappy change because the cotton trim on the edge would be wet with wee, so I would soon run out of nappies.  I naturally gravitated towards the disposables, they were so much easier to put on and they were just one less thing to worry about compared to the faff of the washables.

Two and a bit years down the line and I am realising that I am throwing away two massive bags worth of disposable, urine and poo filled nappies every week, they stank and I felt awful about the waste.  I knew I wasn't going to get along with the pre-folds so dug out the one Tots Bots that my mum had bought and I gave it a go.  What a revelation! It was just as easy to put on as a disposable, just as absorbent, soft, chemical free and no waste!

I set about gathering Tots Bots nappies, bought a couple more new and a bunch second hand, so gradually began to use less disposables.  For me, that was the key to making the switch - it was gradual, so I got used to the differences, I got used to the extra washing, (although I am still getting used to knowing when the boys have pooed.  The washables hold poos in really well!)

I was all set to buy some more Tots Bots when a friend said she was selling her birth to potty set.  It wasn't Tots Bots but I felt I could get to grips with it; this time a waterproof wrap with pop-in inserts (no movement when trying to put them on a wriggly baby's bottom) So I suddenly had plenty of nappies.

We are currently still using disposables at night. And still working out how to scrape sloppy poo off washable liners, but definitely getting there.  I am so happy to not be throwing away such a vast about of not-recyclable material and get a very satisfied feeling seeing them all hanging happily to dry on the washing line in all their fluffy glory.

Do you use cloth? Thinking about switching? here are a few things I have learnt about cloth:

1. Man-made materials dry much quicker than natural materials,
2. It's harder to tell when a cloth nappy is full so I avoid leeks by changing them regularly rather than waiting,
3. The sun bleaches out discolouration,
4. Waking a baby who sleeps through the night to change his nappy is a bad thing,
5. Essential oils make nappies smell better.

Why I Buy Organic

Some people can't understand why I spend more money on organic food when my family is already on a tight budget but to me it is totally worth it.   I try to buy as much as I can from the True Food Co-op, where I can buy loose fruit, veg and dried stuff like chick peas, lentils and raisins.  It seems better value for money too, but isn't always convenient so i often end up buying from the supermarket which isn't so good because of all the packaging. 
At the True Food Co-op you fill paper bags with your food and printed on the bags are the following reasons for buying organic food, some which you may not have considered:

1. For my well-being:
Hydrogenated fats controvertial additives like aspartame, tartrazine and MSG are banned under organic standards.

It has been argued that organic food does not contain any more vitamins and minerals than non-organic food, but for me it is what is NOT included that appeals more to me than the extras. I love the fact that my food is as nature intended with no chemicals that could potentially effect my health in unknown ways.

2. For animals:
organic standards insist that animals are given plenty of space and fresh air the thrive and grow, garunteeing a truly free-range life.

I care about animals and their welfare, I want them to have had happy lives before I eat them or their produce.  I believe that nothing good can come to your health by eating the flesh of an animal who had a stressful and unhappy life and death.

3. For wildlife:
Organic farms are havens for wildlife and provide homes for bees, birds and butterflies.

As above, I care about animals and wildlife, bees particularly are having a lot of problems and crops sprayed with chemicals are one of the potential culprits for their demise.

4. For GM free diet:
Genetically modified (GM) crops are ingredients are banned under organic standards.

I believe that food should be as nature intended, there is a difference between natural cross pollination and altering the genetics of a plant in a lab.

5. For the environment:
Organic farming releases less greenhouse gases than non-organic farming - choosing organic, local and seasonal food can significantly reduce your carbon footprint.

As an environmentalist I am passionate about the health of our planet, I am thankful that buying organic means I am having less of a negative impact on the environment. 

Do you buy organic?  Do you think it is worth the extra money?

Washable Wet Wipes

This post was first published on Serendipity Child on 27/07/2012

If there is one thing that most parents seem to not be able to live without then it has to be wet wipes.  I often hear other mothers lamenting the cost of nappies, formula and wet wipes and I sigh thankfully to myself and think how glad I am that I am not having to spend money on two out of those three essentials.

Don't get me wrong, I am no saint, I was using cotton wool and water for this first five months of my son's life, and still use disposable nappies but I realised that I needn't be filling up our dustbins with yet more detritus, that, although admittedly will eventually bio-degrade, will take a long time under all that plastic.  So in order to eliminate that little bit extra waste I decided I could make my own wet wipes.  This idea struck me after reading the chapter about babies in The Self-sufficientish Bible, they suggest cutting up polyester fleece to use as wipes, but seeing as I had a lot of cotton flannelette left from the neckerchief/bandanna bibs I thought this would be a better material.  Not only is cotton more natural that synthetic fleece, but I figured it might also be more absorbent.  Also small particles that end up in our waterways during laundering would not cause harm to aquatic life like a synthetic fabric would.

To begin with I tore up my flannelette into long strips which were the width of a sheet of toilet tissue.  I then cut these strips into smaller toilet tissue sized rectangles.  Initially I thought to make them wet-wipe sized, but decided that toilet paper size was sufficient, and should I decide they ought to be bigger in future I could just make more.

Next I stitched round each edge with a wide zig-zag on the sewing machine.  I don't think that this step is essential, but I thought it might make them last a bit longer as it will stop them fraying in the wash. 

Then just keep going until you have as many as you need.  I must have made about 50 initially, but may  make more depending on how many I get through in a day.

To store them I put mine into a plastic tupperware type box with a slosh of water to keep them moist.  You could also add a few drops of something like grape seed oil which is the only other ingredient in waterwipes, or soak the water in chamomile tea before putting the wipes in. 

Better for your pocket and better for baby's bottom too because they don't contain any of the nasty chemicals found in commercial wet-wipes.

Once used place them into another plastic container with a tight lid which will not only keep in any smell but will keep them moist making them easier to wash.  (much harder to get out dried on poo than the soft wet stuff) You can wash them as you would washable nappies.  I will be washing them at 30 degrees with Bio D Laundry Liquid.

Crotchted Dish Cloths

As you may have noticed I don't like throwing things away unnecessarily, I hate waste, especially the non-biodegradable variety, so after years and years of using those nasty little yellow sponges with the scourer on one side. They always wear out really quickly and I had visions of these tiny particles of plastic entering our waterways and the stomachs of fish, and potentially our stomachs when we eat the fish, so I decided it was time to get eco and make my own dishcloths.  I knew people did it because I had seen them for sale on Etsy, but being short of money I decided to have a go at making my own with simple cotton string.

 Old cloth vs new

I crocheted a few lines (pretty badly) but came out with a perfectly serviceable dish cloth and have been using it effectively for the past few months.  It has lasted waaaay longer than a sponge and gets the grime off just as effectively. 

 Old fraying cloth

Now my crocheted cloth has started fraying and coming apart to it was time to crotchet another.  As you can see my crotchet skills have not improved that much since the last one, but this one too is perfectly serviceable and the old one is now lying happily in the compost heap waiting to become plant food for my veggies!
I am very happy with my environmentally friendly, free dish cloths and don't thin I will be going back to plastic sponges any time soon.

 

 

Lovely new cloth! I think you'll agree the crocheting is neater but I still managed to lose a few stitches along the way, hence the bizarre shape!

I can't be the only one out there who makes their own dish cloths?  What material do you use?  How do you keep those edges straight?

Eco-friendly Bathroom Cleaning

This post was originally published on Serendipity Child on Sunday 17th March 2013

Let me just make things clear from the start because some people do get confused, I don't like cleaning, what I like is things being clean, there is a difference, and this is key to what follows.
Before I have a bath, I always give it a clean, I don't like that soapy scummy thing than stays on the bath after it's been used to shower in, so why would I let my lovely baby wash in a bath with scummy sides if I am not willing to? With that in mind I wash the bath before he uses it.  To maintain a bed time routine we wash him every night so, therefore, I wash the bath every night.  I realise this may sound excessive but it has actually made life a little bit easier easier and happier, so that can't be a bad thing.

The process of cleaning itself has also received a transformation of late, in the past I used ecover cleaners, or when that ran out I used whatever shampoo or shower gel we had lying around not being used.  But I was never really happy with how clean it was, there were still water marks and lumps of limescale here and there.  I started to use vinegar and bicarbonate of soda to clean the bathroom initially because I had run out of anything else and this was a last resort, (I had read about it somewhere)  to my happy amazement the more I used it, the cleaner the bathroom got, it is so much shiner than it ever has been.  I realise this may sound like a really dull thing to share, and I am not telling you to say "look how wonderful and eco-friendly I am" (clearly not that eco-friendly or I would have been doing this all along) or "aren't I amazing, I clean the bathroom everyday"  but we use the bathroom a lot and it being clean and tidy makes me happy, and knowing I am harming the environment and my health less also makes me happy so it might make you happy too (sharing the love).

Bicarbonate of soda and vinegar are far safer for the environment than the medley of chemicals that most bathroom cleaners contain which contaminate the waterways and use of valuable fossil fuels to extract, not to mention the risk of skin irritation and potential lung damage from toxic fumes and perfumes.  There is also less waste afterwards because I am buying less packaging so throwing less away, and it is waaaay better for the purse as well because bicarbonate of soda and vinegar are super cheap.
Here is what happens:
I go up to the bathroom at Boris' bedtime and hose down the bath and walls,  I then spray round the bath and walls with a solution of distilled malt vinegar and water (about half vinegar to water) then I sprinkle bicarbonate of soda on a loofah.  I then scrub round the bath and walls of the shower and the tap and shower fixings.  I do the same on the basin and spray the bowl of the toilet.  I then hose down the bath and walls and rinse round the basin with a cotton cloth. I sprinkle some bicarbonate of soda into the toilet bowl and scrub round with the loo brush, I then wipe over the whole of the toilet with a wet cotton cloth, then again with a dry cotton cloth (top to bottom with the bowl the last thing). I then run the bath and while the bath is running I do one of the following each day - spray the window and window sill with the vinegar solution and wipe with a cotton cloth, do the same on the mirror and shelf above the basin, spray and wipe the shelf behind the toilet, clean the walls, wipe the floor.

This whole process takes no more than about 7 minutes and means that every time I or a guest go in the bathroom I know it is going to be clean. Gone are the days when I would spend over an hour once a week cleaning the bathroom, an experience I used to dread, because it is cleaned so frequently the dirt doesn't get a chance to accumulate so it wipes away much more easily that is it has been festering for a week.  Quite often my husband will do the cleaning instead of me so that's even less work.  He was worried that the bathroom would end up smelling like a chip shop but the smell goes within a couple of minutes.

I get a big tub of bicarbonate of soda and a big bottle of vinegar from Makro because it's really cheap.  I think the bicarb was about £1.99 (1.15 kg) and the vinegar about £2.99 (5 litres).  I could get organic vinegar and bicarb from the True Food co-op if I was going to be really ethical, but it is more expensive and cost is more of a priority for our family at the moment.  I use a loofah to scrub with because I don't like the thought of the small pieces of plastic breaking off a conventional sponge and entering the waterways and I use cotton cloths that I cut from an old, thinning towel and hemmed.
I really hope I have encouraged you to have a go at using bicarbonate of soda and vinegar to clean your bathroom because it is far better than any conventional cleaners I have tried.
Let me know how you get on.

Welcome

Hi there and welcome to my blog.  Here I will share my thoughts, opinions and feelings on trying to live an eco-friendly, natural life with my little family in middle England.  I know "eco-friendly" is such an overused phrase these days but I really do feel passionately about trying to leave as little damage on this gift of planet earth as possible. I try to parent in a natural way, following my instincts and  parenting simply but no one is perfect, hence the title to my blog "imperfectly natural".  I don't claim to be some kind of eco living, hippy guru, I just try my best in the circumstances in which I find myself.  I share what I do not to say "look how great I am" but in the hope that others will see that it is possible to live a different way of life which often flows against the current of modern day living, and still be contented.
I am really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on my posts and getting to know other bloggers who share my passions.
In the mean time, here is a bit about me:
I am 30 years old and live in Berkshire with my husband of 4 years and our little 17 month old boy (let's call home Boris). I am a stay-at-home mum and ex (recovering) secondary school art and design teacher!  I spend my days entertaining my little boy, cooking, keeping the house in order and working on our allotment, I know, don't I sound like an amazing domestic goddess?  I am not!  My little boy  is covered in mud, my house is usually in some state of disarray and we have takeaways on a regular basis (I did say "imperfectly" natural!). We live in a small house on a tight budget.  I don't do any paid work but I am currently training to be a breastfeeding helper with the Breastfeeding Network.  I also love to make things, at the moment that is mainly babies and breast milk, but I am hoping to eventually get back into art and crafts. I am a hopeful Christian, I say hopeful because I am not great at going to church every week, I sometimes swear and often forget to thank God for my many blessings, but I have hope that through faith I am saved in spite of my shortfalls.  I hope that this blog Glorifies Him.
Enjoy looking around and reading my posts.  I used to blog over at Serendipity Child and will be sharing some topical posts from there over here just to get the blog going.