Friday 6 March 2015

Cloth Nappy Myths

Having become a bit cocky in my knowledge of cloth nappies (sorry!), I thought I'd bust a few of the myths that seem to hang around about the use and care of modern cloth nappies. I'm all about keeping life as simple as I can, and that definitely applies to nappy care.

I haven't done rigorous testing in a lab, but have done screeds and screeds of reading on various forums, cloth nappy advice websites, manufacturer websites, and probably other places so these are based on my research (and some commonsense).

Happy to be proven wrong but until such a time I am happier to stick with my simple processes and save my energy for playtime. ;-)

You need a special washing powder/liquid
This is slightly true; you should choose a laundry detergent that doesn't contain fabric softeners, as they coat fibres and reduce absorbency. Just check the package in the supermarket - usually the sensitive versions of mainstream detergents are fine, and some others are as well (we use Persil).

You can buy cloth-nappy specific detergents... But often these are weaker than normal detergent and cleaning power is important to me!

You can't use a dryer as it will destroy the PUL
Dryers reduce the life of all fabrics (and are expensive to run), so there is some logic to line drying if you can, but if you don't have a choice / time / warm enough weather the dryer will do the trick - just turn the dryer to low. Note that leaving your nappies on the line for too long can degrade fabric too!

You can't use normal nappy cream
Again, there is a grain of truth here - some nappy creams (ones with a petroleum base) will build up over time and affect the absorbency of your nappies. If you're using this kind of product (e.g. Vaseline, Pawpaw) it's recommended you use a microfleece liner to ensure the gunk doesn't get into the nappy. Sudocrem and other zinc based products may stain slightly, but shouldn't affect absorbency so long as the nappies are washed properly with the right amount of detergent and (ideally) warm water.

You need to change nappies more often
This one I rebel against. While cloth nappies are less absorbent than disposables it's unlikely you'd need the full capacity unless you are seriously negligent (I once tested a Huggies nappy to see how much water it held, and it took over 700ml!), and some cloth nappies can hold 500ml+ which should be plenty.

I'm a believer in the power of troubleshooting if something isn't working - and one of the best things about modern cloth nappies is the huge variety of fabrics and styles, which means plenty of choice. If you're getting leaks and you're not sure how to fix them seek help in a cloth nappy forum as there are lots of tweaks that can help.

I should also note that there are plenty of fabric choices these days which wick moisture away from the baby's skin, so a nappy that is wet (with otherwise good hygiene) is unlikely to cause nappy rash on its own.

(we change Young Sir's nappy about six times a day, which looks to be about average for a baby his age according to sellers of disposable nappies - thought I should put that in here before anyone reports us for negligence!)

Sunlight disinfects nappies
It's true that UV light can disinfect, but the frequency that does this is blocked by the ozone. Sun does help with bleaching out stains (though if you wash well you hopefully won't have much trouble with these) and of course it's cheaper to line dry than use the dryer. But your nappies should be properly clean before hung out, and if there is a bacterial or fungal infection afflicting your wee one best to use a proper laundry treatment like Canestan rather than leaving it up to the sun.

It's really hard work
I guess this is subjective, because we all have different chores we hate... But it's really not that hard. For us, the effort is one extra load of washing every two days, remembering to bring the dirty nappies home from daycare, and emptying soiled ones into the loo (yes, that's the worst part; but no, it's not as bad as you imagine).

It's definitely a bit of extra work, but not that much and we never have to nip down to the supermarket for more nappies, and save on rubbish bin emptying too.



If you use cloth nappies, have you encountered any myths you think need to be loudly and proudly dispelled?

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