My eldest sister had her children a
generation before my boy was born (those two are 19 and 21 now, but
they're still babies to me), and she chose to use cloth nappies. Back
then, this meant doing it the old school way – folding white cotton
squares origami style until they formed a padded, triangular shape
that could be safety pinned into place and covered with a plastic
wrap for longevity. I was nine
when my nephew was born and supposed that she spent a lot of time
elbow-deep in poo. She probably did, as I can't imagine those old
nappies held much in. Thinking of the work involved in all the
changes needed for a constantly wet and poopy newborn, I can see how
the advent of disposable nappies must have felt like a godsend back
in the 1950s when they came about.
Let's think of what else was popular in
the 1950s. Plastic plates, cutlery and cups were being marketed as a
convenient alternative to porcelain, to avoid having to do any
washing up. Everything was becoming throw-away, as companies realised
the selling potential behind women's lib movements. Mothers and
housewives wanted to be free from the hassles of housework so they
could go out and get jobs, travel and experience the world like their
husbands did. Plastic was the answer. It was bright, cheap and
modern.
The fact that the world could be
becoming a little messy was not yet in the minds of the majority of
the population. The Earth felt limitless and the impact human beings
were having on it did not seem to be problematic. No one thought
about whether products were biodegradable or recyclable, although by
natural course recycling did happen – think of the old milk
bottles.
So much has changed since then. Popular
culture is filled with new words such as organic, free range and
biodynamic. Plastic shopping bags are being phased out (albeit not as
readily as they should be, if we compare New Zealand with the rest of
the developed world, but that is another story) and people are
re-learning the art of vegetable gardening, meaning less trips to the
supermarket, meaning less packaging, less petrol, less waste.
This is all good stuff, and as the
popularity of being green and humane increases (hopefully) the
choices are likely to become less, to the point where plastic
shopping bags are not offered, meat is no longer presented on
styrofoam trays wrapped in plastic wrap, and everyone choses free
range eggs and chicken, despite the price difference.
I have always hated waste of any sort.
I get edgy when there is too much food in the fridge and I know it's
not all going to get eaten. I can't stand huge boxes with not many
chocolates in them (for more than just environmental reasons). I hate
beauty products and toys encased in hard plastic display boxes that
are so difficult to break into and completely unnecessary, except
that they allow the product to be hung from a hook or displayed in a
huge box in a store.
For this reason, I thought that, like
my sister, who was perhaps an early re-adopter of the cloth nappy
revival, I would use cloth nappies when I had a baby. I was
pleasantly surprised when, after becoming pregnant with Zephyr, I
visited a baby store and saw what had happened to cloth nappies since
I was a child. They have become so easy to use! No safety pins, no
folding, no plastic pants, barely any leakage (well...after the
babies start solids anyway). The new cloth nappies are basically
cloth versions of disposables, with velcro or dome fasteners,
absorbent cotton or even bamboo liners, and cute colourful
covers. They cost quite a bit to get into, but in comparison to
buying disposables, they are still a huge saving.
So why then are not more people using
them? When I look around at Zephyr's playgroup, I notice that at
least 75% of the children are in disposables, some up to the age of
3. I try my best to understand when I see a child in disposable
nappies, but I just can't get my head around the waste.
For one week when my son had a terrible
nappy rash, I used disposables to help clear it up and watched the
rubbish bin fill at a ridiculous rate. Our small family of three
would barely use a plastic shopping bag of rubbish per week, to the
point where we didn't own a wheelie bin (we lived in Queenstown at
the time, where bins had to be purchased). We would surreptitiously
sneak our bag into the neighbour's bin each Tuesday night - I guess we're still dirtbag students at heart. However,
that week we had to purchase two council rubbish sacks from the
supermarket. Our waste had at least quadrupled.
I'm sorry to anyone who has a good
reason for using disposables, and I would love to hear what that
reason is, but personally, I just couldn't do it. Disposable nappies
take 500 years to break down in landfill. How many generations beyond
those of our children, our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren,
will have to live with the waste generated from your kids' faeces and
urine because you didn't want to “deal” with poo or couldn't face
doing extra laundry?
Perhaps that is harsh and some coaxing
is required. If you're using disposables at the moment, go out and buy
a washable nappy. You can get single ones in some stores, such as
BabyCity. Buy a box of flushable liners, because they make things a
lot less messy. Put it on your baby. This is what will happen: You
change your baby's nappy, remove the liner, which will remove at
least 80% of the waste (if not all of it), put it in the toilet,
flush it. (Note that if the baby has not done any doodoos, it is
possible with some brands, such as Real Nappies, to just remove the
absorbent liner and replace that without replacing the outer, which
means less washing). Put the dirty nappy in the washing machine. Wash
it. Put it on the line or in the dryer if necessary. Ta-dah! Done! I
have used washable nappies from the start and have barely ever had to
soak them and have never scrubbed them. You don't need to use any
special products to wash them. You don't need to deal with poo
(although I suppose you become a bit more intimate with it than you
do with disposables, where it can be wrapped up quickly and thrown
away).
When Zephyr was a newborn, I did a load
of nappies every day, as he would go through about eight in a 24-hour
period. This was slightly taxing in the winter as we didn't have a
dryer, but I had a drying rack set up right next to the washing
machine. I would take them out, hang them over the rack and let them
dry inside. Most brands of washables have been made to be fairly
quick to dry. And let's face it – you're doing loads of laundry
pretty much constantly with a baby, so what's another load? Now that
he is a toddler, he goes through a lot less and I do a load of
nappies on average every three days. I still don't bother with
soaking or scrubbing.
My point is, it's really, really easy
to use washable nappies. You put down at least $500 purchasing the
nappies in the outset, but after that, they can be used again and
again, and even saved for your child's brothers and sisters down the
line. Liners are the only ongoing expense, but they are nothing in
comparison to the constant purchase of stinky landfill fillers.
Another positive is the proven fact
that a child in washable nappies will be easier to potty train than a
child who is used to disposables. This is due to the fact that
disposable nappies leave the child feeling unnaturally dry, even when
they are wet. Being uncomfortable in wet pants is a very good impetus
to use that potty.
A lot has changed since the 1950s. I
think I can safely say that no one reading this is a regular user of
plastic cutlery or plates in place of washable ones. Most of us are
avid recyclers. Why then are we hanging on to disposable nappies?
It's time for a change.
Zephyr in his nappy at age 4 months
