Real Nappy Week: My Experiment with Cloth Diapers

Did you know that it's Real Nappy (Diaper) Week?  Me neither!  A week ago I thought that a real nappy was made by Pampers.  Turns out real nappies are the ones our grandmothers used... CLOTH nappies.

When I thought of cloth nappies I thought pins and pails and smells and piles and piles of laundry.  Laundry is my nemesis and I am no fan of dirty nappies, so the mere idea of cloth nappies filled me with dread.

Yes, I knew it was good for the environment and really good for my wallet, but the thought of the added laundry and a big bucket of poopy mess lying around just made me want to run the other way.

I was having coffee with some friends last week and one of them mentioned how her friend had a new baby and was using cloth nappies. We all scoffed at the thought of the extra laundry and we moved on to another subject.  Two days later I was reading an article about saving money and they came up again and a day or two later I was thinking of ways we could reduce our waste and there it was again. So like any good Mammy would, I consulted Captain Google and lo and behold, my idea of cloth nappies was antiquated at best.  After asking Moms who use cloth nappies some honest questions and doing a fair bit of online research, I decided to take the plunge and order a few samples and that is how I end up sitting with my little man wearing the cutest little blue Fuzzibunz cloth nappy.

I spoke with lots of Moms and the brands that came up again and again were Bumgenius, Fuzzibunz and the Irish brand Little Comfort.  I ordered a couple of nappies of each brand and we are trying them out over the next few days to see if it's something that would work for us.  One of the things that have convinced me is the idea of using a flushable liner in the nappies so any solids are flushed down the toilet, not sitting steeping somewhere.  That also means they aren't stinking up a garbage bin like disposable ones.  Big selling point for me, especially as they get older and the dirty nappies get worse.  From a laundry perspective it doesn't sound too bad either as I have been assured you only need to do a wash every 2-3 days.

Today starts my experiment and I will report back and review the various brands.  I have a feeling this is going to work and revolutionise this house, but time will tell.  If you are interested in taking the plunge, lots of places are doing great deals for Real Nappy Week. Below are the Irish shops that I have ordered from, all of which are offering good deals for the event or on trial packs.

• Baba Me - I ordered Bumgenius from these guys located in Newry. They offer free delivery and have some great BOGOF deals this week. I hope to receive these tomorrow.

• Little Comfort - I ordered a combination trial pack from this Irish company.  I love that the nappies are made in Ireland. They also have a 10% discount code for the rest of the month for RNW, type RNW12 in at checkout.  

• Hipbaby - I ordered Fuzzibunz from this Irish shop, there's some good deals on packs, they also stock Little Comfort. The service was amazing and I love these nappies so far, they are so cute and functional. 

• Earthmother - Earthmother stocks Bumgenius as well but they also have a huge range of earth-friendly cleaning products and detergents as well as tons of nappy accessories. 

Have you tried cloth nappies or considered it? What are your thoughts?