To date I have purchased 24 terry toweling cotton cloth nappies as I thought that this would be the best option while my baby is very little. The idea was to use biodegradable nappy liners that I could line the cloth nappies with. That way I could flush the pooey ones down the toilet and compost the wet ones in my own compost. I have also purchased biodegradable baby wipes that I will compost as well. The problem I faced was what was I going to cover the cloth nappies with? I was at a Baby Bunting store and one of the shop assistants who was very helpful suggested that I go to K-Mart to purchase plastic pants as her daughter had used cloth nappies and the plastic pants seemed to work well for them. They also used the Pea Pod brand of nappy pants and she said that they had a great result with these too.
Pea Pod and Weenie pouch pants are just a few of the new age option of nappies available out there. They consist of a nappy in the shape of a disposable which is made out of material and do up via velcro straps. You insert either a cloth nappy, microfiber nappy or a disposable pad in them making them very environmentally friendly. I was really excited when I found out about them and have decided that this is one of the options I want to use a bit further down the track when my baby is a little older.
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| Weenee Pouch Pants with Pad Insert |
Also through my online research I found out about the brand Eenees which are an Australian company with the first 100% compostable nappies on the market in the world. Go you good thing! Not only could I use a disposable nappy but the carbon miles to get it would be very low as they are made in Australia. What a bonus. I ordered a sample pack as soon as I saw them. They are made from corn starch and sustainably farmed wood pulp. The corn starch acts as a waterproof barrier (like plastic – in fact they have started making plastic bottles out of corn starch too). The corn starch breaks down in a hot composting facility without leaving any evil chemical residue or uncompostable bits. The wood pulp has been designed to draw moisture away from the baby like a normal disposable nappy and has the same capacity as a standard disposable on the market.
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| WeeHuggers |
If you were really keen to have a complete stress free nappy experience without the bother of washing and composting the waste yourself, you could invest in this option as though you were using a normal disposable nappy. Eenees have been working hard in conjunction with composting services around Australia to set up a home pick up and delivery service so that you can have fresh nappies delivered to you and the used ones picked up and composted in a hygienic and controlled composting facility. All you would need to do is collect your nappies in a compostable bag or bin – like a cloth nappy washing service in a way. For more information you can visit their website: www.eenees.com.au
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| Eenee 100% Compostable Disposable Nappy |
Anyway... I purchased the plastic PVC pants and some pilchers. I now know that pilchers are fluffy pants that cover a cloth nappy and have a plastic inner liner. I must say that I wasn't very happy about buying them as they didn't seem quite what I was after. They just didn't seem that durable. Anyway I have them now so I will be trying them out with the cloth nappies I have purchased. I will let you know how they go.
I have refused to buy snibs. Snibs are plastic covers that tie up around a cloth nappy. The hospital where I will be having my baby uses these and initially I thought they would be a good idea, however I could only find them at Baby Bunting and they came in a pack of 50! Way too many and I could see that they weren't very durable and would split after a while, then I would have to throw them away. As my aim is to reduce landfill I really couldn't see how they were much better than disposable nappies.
Went to visit Chris's Dial a Nappy shop today in Northcote Melbourne. Finally I could have a look at all the alternative nappy options and speak with someone knowledgeable about it all. I feel so much better now and have a greater direction with my baby's nappy options. I spoke to a wonderful lady called Kim who gave me the low down on all the options out there. She especially explained to me the difference between so called “eco nappies” that are on sale at a lot of eco stores and online, compared with the Eenee 100% compostable nappy. She said that these “eco nappies” actually have a large amount of non-biodegradable material and therefore are not really very eco. She showed me one of these nappies and explained that the outer shell is still made out of plastic but has paper between the fibres to make it seem as though they are made out of a biodegradable material. At the end of the day if you are throwing them in to landfill it doesn't really matter how biodegradable they are as not much happens in a large garbage tip. You still have a product that is a combination of organic and non-organic material that cannot be easily separated. If you tried to compost these nappies at home you would end up with a large portion of plastic in your compost bin.
I am a little annoyed that I have purchased those PVC pants and pilchers as I found a much better option that was a little more expensive but I can see they will last while my baby is still classed as a “new born”. I think this means that I should be able to use them until my baby is about 3 months old... They are called Baby BeeHinds and they are made of 100% polyester and are designed to cover a cloth nappy just like a pilcher except they are more durable and breathable. I purchased 2 which I will use in conjunction with the pilchers.
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| Baby BeeHinds Nappy Cover |
One of the issues that I may face with this method of using cloth with a cover is nappy rash. Kim was passionate about the modern eco parent exploring different options than cloth as advancements in nappies had come so far that the modern eco parent didn't need to go down the cloth nappy path anymore. With the baby Weenee Eco nappies made by Eenee, along with many other brands such as the Pea Pods you simply add a compostable and flushable pad into the pants and have a similar system to disposable nappies. This new technology helps to reduce issues like nappy rash as the pad is made from sustainably farmed wood pulp and draws the moisture away from the baby's bottom. This is definitely an option for me when my baby gets a bit bigger but for now I will see how I go with the cloth nappies I have purchased.
Today I also purchased 6 microfiber cloth nappies. I wanted to use a different type of nappy other than the standard cotton nappy to see if there really was a big difference between the two. I have also purchased 500 biodegradable nappy liners to line each cloth nappy with. So now I am all set for when my little fella arrives.
I've just got to learn how to fold a nappy...
