Today I have a guest post for you from Naomi who blogs at Me Becoming Mum.  As you may have guessed I am very into healthy living.  This extends from the healthy food choices I make right through to what I choose to put on my skin and the products I use around the home.  One thing I didn’t use with my children was cloth nappies. 

If I had my children again I would absolutely consider it.  I hate the terrible impact we are having on the environment every day and this is why I choose to use natural products on me and around the home.  Everything eventually ends up back in the environment at some point.  I have started using natural tampons and pads which are organic and biodegradable.  There are so many choices we can make every day to protect ourselves and the environment from unnecessary damage.

I’m going to learn a thing or two myself today.  Enjoy!

Using Cloth Alternatives

Hi, I’m Naomi and I blog over at Me Becoming Mum. I like to write honest posts, keeping it real about the truths and realities of my life from pregnancy and parenthood, to being a wife and running my own business.

I am a 26 year old wife of six and a half years and mummy to two beautiful little girls, my eldest turned three in February 2017 and my youngest who will be one in December 2017.

Now before I get started, I want you to know something. I am not some crazy hippy chick, who loves to dance around a camp fire and live in a cave. I am a true representation of the technology generation (I guess I would have to be to be able to keep up with a blog, business and the 6+ social media accounts that accompany them!) At the same time, I do use cloth alternatives to the disposable products that a lot of women and parents opt to use. These include cloth nappies for my children, cloth sanitary pads and cloth breast pads.

I didn’t always use them. To be honest, if you had asked me five years ago if I would be now, I would likely have laughed in your face. The idea of having to wash anything with bodily fluids of any kind on would have repulsed me. It kind of still does, but I do it anyway. The reality is that it is likely I would be doing so anyway, as how many people have had to wash clothes after a messy night out; and how many parents have had to deal with those epic baby poo-spolsions that cover you and the child and require nothing short of a full on shower to clean you both off?

Now that I use them, I wouldn’t go back. I decided to share with you my top five reasons for using cloth; so here we go:

1)      You should use cloth alternatives because... they are so much cheaper!

We started using cloth nappies when we discovered that our eldest daughter was allergic to disposable nappies, but when we made the calculations we worked out what a good idea it was. The initial outlay seems expensive (on average a birth to potty collection of day and night nappies will cost between £200 and £300) but in the long run it is so much cheaper, as you only have to buy them once. Those nappies will not only last until your child is toilet trained; but any other children that you have too! The same goes for breast pads (for those of us that breastfeed) and sanitary pads (which will work for every woman!).

2)      You should use cloth alternatives because... they are so much more comfy!

This goes for the items that I use as well as the nappies. Soft cottons and other fibres are so much nicer to wear than the paper used for disposable items. After all breast pads, sanitary pads and nappies are all going in some of the most sensitive areas of our baby’s and our bodies. A lot of places offer different linings too, I have some minky sanitary pads that are the most comfy things to wear, especially when I am super uncomfortable in the first place.

3)      You should use cloth alternatives because... they look so much nicer!

When I first started looking into cloth nappies for our daughter, I was expecting (like I imagine most people do!) to find a whole load of big sheets you need to wrap around your baby, and nappy pins to seal them. This is not the case. They look no different to normal nappies, plus they come in so many different designs. Just like everything we buy there are different brands, but the one thing they all have in common is the fact that they have an amazing range of colours and patterns for you to choose from. The same applies to the breast pads and sanitary pads. Although no one except you will see them, I have everything from flowers to rainbows on mine!

4)      You should use cloth alternatives because... they can be used again and again!

The one thing that I love about cloth is that no matter how many periods and children I have I will never run out of sanitary pads, breast pads or nappies. There will be no running down to the shop in a panic because I have run out and if I had more than one child in nappies at the same time it will not cost me any extra because I already have the stash to cover them.

5)      You should use cloth alternatives because... they are better for the environment!

This may be a really obvious one, but not chucking a load of nappies, sanitary pads, tampons and breast pads into the bin to end up on landfills is so much better for the environment. Even though you are using the washing machine a few extra times it is still more environmentally friendly to use cloth rather than their disposable counterparts.

You can find me at www.mebecomingmum.co.uk

 

Thank you so much to Naomi for popping by today and sharing all she knows about cloth nappies.  Would I make the switch if I had another child or could go back in time?  Absolutely.  I really think I would.  I dread to think of how many nappies I’ve thrown out and into a landfill.  It’s quite a disgusting thought!