Having worked in this industry, talking to parents about cloth nappies for over ten years, I can say the biggest deterrent is how much work parents perceive cloth nappies to be.
I understand. Most of do not like laundry. Most of us are busy. Most of us are tired. So we really want to know what extra work we are taking on.
I will be honest. Cloth nappies are not as easy as disposable. This is much like using proper plates and cups rather than disposable. There is some work in cleaning them, packing them away and storing them. But its not hours of work. I would honestly say cloth nappies took me an extra 30 minutes a week of work. Thats less than 5 minutes a day.
On average, twice a week I wash my nappies and pop them on a clothes horse. I used a clothes horse because I didnt have to peg nappies, I simply folded them onto the rails and ensured they were out of any strong breeze. If they didn't fully dry I brought the clothes horse inside. I then threw my nappies in a basket where I kept them.
When I was at my busiest I used All in One style nappies as they required no assembly. This was a time saver as I quite literally picked up the nappy and put it on my baby. No stuffing, no looking for that missing piece, it was all ready to go.
When it comes to washing there is a lot of information out there and whilst I realise this has been put out to help parents, washing your nappies sometimes seems like you need a degree to do it. But get the essentials straight and you will be fine. Wash on 40-60 degrees. Make sure you use a long cycle. Make sure your machine is reasonably full do good agitation. If you can get these things right you are well on your way to having clean nappies and not stressing too much about getting it right. From there you can tweak if you notice issues.
So if you've been thinking about cloth nappies but worried about the extra work, dont be. It is very doable and even if you only use them some of the time you are saving money, reducing waste and enjoying all the benefits of cloth!
So pop over and grab a couple of our nappies and discover why Baby Bare has lasted the distance, after all we are on of the oldest brands in Australia so we know we are doing something right!
