Choosing Washable Nappies Shouldn’t be Stressful!

When my daughter was born 7 years ago I made a careful choice of which nappies to buy – I stood in Boots and carefully weighed up the pros and cons of Huggies, Pampers and the Boots own brand. Of course I wanted the best ones for my precious, I wanted no leaks – I wanted that ‘soft cotton-like’ finish. I didn’t even know real nappies existed other than terries!

Nowadays, there is much more awareness about real nappies, many councils are giving ‘cashback’, loaning out nappies and employ ‘Real Nappy Development’ officers to promote the use of washable nappies. If nothing else most people are aware that ‘modern nappies are not like terries’ – even if they aren’t sure how they differ.

This is great – there are a myriad of websites, selling all different types of nappies – flat nappies, shaped nappies, sized nappies, all in one nappies, birth-potty sets etc. etc. The problem now is that if anything there is too much choice. The upfront cost of washables means that no one wants to make an expensive mistake – so new mums get tied in knots wondering if they are buying the ‘right’ nappies.

To help you out here is some basic advice.

Try and see them in the flesh – its much easier to choose nappies if you can actually talk to someone who has used them and feel them. www.realnappycampaign.com/nappyfinder/index.html has a list of local advisors – and you should contact your council – most of them hold a list of local suppliers and they can give you information about any incentive schemes in the area.

Try not to get tied in knots choosing. Most of the tried and tested brands work for most people – so if in doubt choose a known brand like Motherease, Popolino & TotsBots.

There are several online forums for real nappy users – but bear in mind that many of the users of these forums are actually nappy sellers so their advice may not be impartial and others are complete nappyholics who will persuade you that you need to try one of everything to be satisfied you have the perfect nappy. They just have to have ‘the latest thing’ – often these products are untested and it takes months, sometimes years, for the downsides to become apparent.

By all means try 2 or 3 types – but keep it simple, especially if you are buying for your firstborn – you will have enough on your plate with a new baby without trying to contend with 10 different types of nappy.

Try to prioritise. Think about what is important to you – do you care if your babys bum looks big? If you do then choose something like a Naturbabies Diddy Diaper as your first nappy. Do you want to minimise the overall cost? then choose a one-size nappy. Want it to be easy? Go for an all in one (beware the dreaded Kushies though – they don’t fit from birth and leak like mad with runny poo).

If cost is an issue then mix and match some small nappies and some one-size nappies – you minimise your cost over the birth-potty timeframe because the smaller nappies are cheaper and when your baby is bigger you don’t need so many nappies anyway, and you get the benefit of some nappies which will be a really neat fit for when you get given those designer baby clothes and some that will fit all the way through. Throw into the mix a few Popolino Easyfix all in ones for when you are out and about (definitely the best all in one on the market at the moment in my opinion) and you are away.

The time to start experimenting with the glorious array of nappies is when you are ready to swap your small size ones – then the worlds your lobster… you’ll be a confident mum, well into the washable nappy routine and the second size of those ‘one-off’ designer type nappies will fit for that much longer so will be a much better investment.

Just remember that for every nappyholic there are hundreds of perfectly happy real nappy mums who bought their nappies, use them daily and have no need to discuss the minutiae – they are busy getting on with enjoying their baby. At the end of the day a nappy is there to catch wee and poo and that’s about it!

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