Make The Switch To Cloth Nappies (Mostly!)

1. Choose your cloth nappy brand. My OG cloth nappy friend said to me before I started, “not all cloth nappies are created the same.” And now that I use them, I totally agree! There are cloth nappies available everywhere once you start looking, but for me, I decided to invest in beautiful, super-cute high quality cloth nappies from Eco Naps (pictured below). There are other brands such as Cloth Bums, Mimi & Co, My Little Gumnut, its endless! I decided to go with mine because I just liked the simplicity and ease of use of their website - I guess it helped me on my journey because it made me feel less overwhelmed. Keep it simple!

3. Use a routine for washing. Can you believe we’re already down to the last step!? Once you get all set up, honestly - cloth nappies become your new normal. At first, they need a day of soaking followed by washing. This is so that they become more leak-proof straight away. But then, you just do a wash every day or two. For me, I do them every 2 days now, using our normal wash on a quick hour setting, but with a pre-soak setting on so they get a soak before the wash. This is what Eco Naps recommends, and it works. It’s all they need. I don’t even have to soak the more poo-y nappies. (Wild!) if you don’t have as many nappies, you may need to wash every day, but if you go nuts during a sale or something like I did, and get about 20 or more nappies, you can easily wash every 2 days.

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When I had our first baby, cloth nappies weren't even on my radar. I had no idea there were really cute, modern cloth nappies out there - I just thought of those old terry towelling nappies with the giant pins in them, wild! But even once I did discover the cute modern cloth nappy that one of my friends used, I still got overwhelmed. I bought a starter pack of 3, I was kind of excited when they arrived in the mail, but my partner wasn’t really on board, and when I tried using them, I just got really confused and just quickly gave up on the whole idea.

Fast forward 3 years and 2 more babies later, and I was determined. I was working on ways to save money, and that viral picture of the cloth nappies vs disposable nappies in the display was stuck in my head. I hated the amount of waste and money that came with disposable nappies. And I realised - my newborn does the tiniest incy wincy wees (and wet poos), why am I not using cloth nappies honestly? Convincing my partner was easy by now, too, after the cost that comes with 3 kids (haha!)

Then I went online and checked my friend’s recommended cloth nappy brand website, and it was like it was meant to be because they were doing a buy-3-get-3-free sale, and I went nuts! I bought about 20 of them, because that’s about how many they recommend when you make a switch out a good chunk. They were really cute, and so nicely branded, and it cost the same as about 2-3 boxes of nappies so I already saw the savings starting to add up. I was SO excited!

And that’s it! For me, I absolutely love the feeling of hanging out our cute cloth nappies on the line, knowing I’m not just using boxes and boxes of disposable nappies. I also love the feeling of holding a fresh, crisp-dry pile of cloth nappies and putting them away in our little storage basket near our change area. Honestly it’s so satisfying, and the whole thing is worth the process because I know I’m helping the environment SO much, as well as saving tonnes and tonnes of money.

I really hope I have inspired you to try out cloth nappies! I wish I did it the whole time, but - I’m also not going to judge myself or anyone else, because I know it can feel like a big change. Let me know if you try it!! I would love to hear from you!

2. Get a nappy pail from Kmart. Who knew Kmart had cloth nappy pails!? All that is is just a little white “bin” or bucket for you to throw the used cloth nappy in. Don’t even worry about doing anything else with it at this stage - a good cloth nappy won’t stain or even need nappy san. It blew my mind when I saw washed mine and realised that! Plus, they actually don’t tend to stink the house out like I thought they would. It’s not recommended to put on a lid on them, because they need to air out. At the end of the day, it’s just baby wee and poo - and the poo is usually not that big a deal, or if bub has started solids and it’s bigger, you can just drop it straight into the toilet.

And now? I’ve realised how easy they are to use, and I want to help make it feel that way for other mums! Because even if we just use them half the time, god even a quarter of the time, we will all save good hard cash and also really significantly reduce our waste. So, let’s get into it!

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