Please check out the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge
#AtoZChallenge
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This year I'm writing about things connected with Being a Grandparent. For an introduction to my grandchildren check out my theme reveal here.
Diapers
Yes I know we call them nappies here in the UK but I already
have a post lined up for N and one of my DILs is American so she usually refers
to them as diapers so here we go.
When I had my children I was determined I was not going to
use disposable nappies on a regular basis.
I didn’t want to be contributing to landfill and, of course, there was
the expense to be factored in. Therefore
I bought a supply of terry nappies.
That’s what they were called in my day as they were made from a terry
towelling fabric. I also had supplies of
liners to cope with the “messy” nappies and of course buckets for soaking them
before washing. And the plastic pants
that were supposed to keep the baby and their clothes dry.
Disposables for when we were going to be away or visiting
somewhere that using a non-disposable wouldn’t be the best option.
Well my good
intentions did not last long. It was
hard enough recovering from a C section and coping with a new baby and all the
extra laundry that entailed without the extra work or dealing with terry
nappies. Not to mention the anxiety over
where the pin was going to end up.
They very quickly became used in lots of other ways but not
as nappies.
Of course, like many fashions, things move in circles.
Once again many Mums are turning to non-disposable nappies
because they are conscious of the environmental effect of disposables. But today’s versions are so much easier to
use – the pads fit inside waterproof pants that have poppers making putting
them on so much easier. They’re also
less bulky. But they still require
washing, a lot of washing. Soaking
first, then prewashing and then washing.
At least 3 of my grandchildren have been in non-disposable
nappies at some point in time and 1 DIL in particular persevered for quite a
long time but at present the 3 youngest ones are still in disposable nappies.
Hopefully by the end of this year though they will all be toilet trained and nappies will be a thing of their past.
We used cloth diapers for our kids. We had a subscription to a diaper service with our last one. It was nice not having to wash them but after about six months we stopped it.
ReplyDeleteI remember my mom using the cloth diapers for my younger siblings. No disposable ones back in the 50s and early 60s. I really have no personal experience with them since my boys were 16 and 20 when I got them!! BUT...I can't imagine myself using cloth diapers. Yuck!! Another good post, Wendy!
ReplyDeleteBack when my friends and I were having kids, one of my friends did research on the effect of disposable diapers vs cloth diapers on the environment and found that cloth diapers were actually worse (from all the water needed, the energy used to wash and dry, auto emissions if a diaper service was used). I used disposables, but I did use cloth diapers as burp cloths!
ReplyDelete