Monday 28 November 2011

Do babies really need nappies?

Have you heard of Natural Infant Hygiene otherwise known as EC, short for Elimination Communication? London mum, Rachel Richardson prefers the former term as it puts the emphasis on working with your baby's natural instinct to be clean and dry. For some people changing baby so frequently sounds like a nightmare but after I'd seen Rachel's presentation on NIH last week in Lewisham I just wished I'd known about it when my babies were born. To find out more you can download Rachel's factfile on NIH from the RNfL website.Real Nappies for London is going to see if Rachel can do more workshops over the next year in different parts of London. Perhaps it should be taught in ante-natal classes so everyone can have the knowledge!

If you just want to avoid soiled nappies this may interest you. The mum who told me about her experience has 4 children, two girls and two boys, now grown up. They pooed on a pot from birth. There was no issue with washing nappies at high temperature as they were only ever wet. The babies had no nappy rash and needed no creams. This mum was told that the child may regress later but this didn't happen with her children.

But how do you know when your baby is going to poo? This mum fed her babies every four hours. After each feed she held her baby over a pot. Baby is held like this with head resting on arm if necessary and the baby's back is massaged gently. If a poo comes it does, if it doesn't, it doesn't. Any other stories to share? Let's give parents the knowledge. It's up to you to work out whether it works for you and your baby or not.

For more info on natural infant hygiene visit tribal baby.

Wednesday 23 November 2011

Money Saving Tips

Perhaps you are strapped for cash or maybe you just enjoy repairing and making things. If your bum genius need repairing there's help on that. I've come across people making their own nappies from old 100% cotton T-shirts. There are also people who hand knit nappy soakers. Do you know you can make soakers from old sweaters? There are even patterns for making a Maya baby sling.

Please let us know what you've found, made, repaired.

Monday 21 November 2011

WANTED: Nearly New Real Nappies

Do you have nappies your child no longer wears that could be used by someone else? It is European Week for Waste Reduction and we are calling on people to put real nappies in good condition back into service.

Please visit the Real Nappies for London Exchange page to find out where you can sell your nappies. Alternatively you may be able to take them along to a local NCT nearly new sale or one of the Bring and Take events that are happening all over London this week. Please see our events diary to find the ones specifically for maternity and baby items.

If you are looking to snap up some nearly new nappies go along to an event and see what you can find. If the nappies look a bit stiff they could be in great condition. They may just need to have the detergent residue removed. For more details visit our page on washing.

And MANY THANKS!

Friday 4 November 2011

We’re not anti- disposables, we are simply pro-choice

What I’ve discovered during my years of campaigning around alternatives to disposable nappies is that there are a lot of influential people out there; MPs, councillors, health professionals, journalists who used disposables on their babies. Some now think reusables are better but are scared to go public on the issue for fear of being branded as hypocrites. Others genuinely believe disposable nappies liberated women and continue to promote them with the best intentions.

If you give the issue of disposable nappy waste serious attention for even a limited amount of time it’s very difficult to believe disposable nappies are a good idea. I’m not saying that real nappies are right for everyone. What I am saying is that we should have open competitive fair markets so people can choose which nappy system is right for them and their babies. At the moment we don’t. Not only do disposable nappies enjoy a high profile through the Bounty Pack given out by midwives at the first scan, mass advertising on TV, what looks like an unlimited budget for web advertising and a high level of space on supermarket shelves but also the influential parenting charity the National Childbirth Trust (NCT) is sponsored by Pampers.

Even if you buy the ‘there’s no difference between the impacts of washing and disposables’ argument (despite Defra’s 2008 report that said real nappies can have up to 40% lower impacts than disposables depending on how you wash them) just consider the growth model of the disposable nappy industry. The birth rate in Europe is currently stable if not falling and so the only way to ensure growth is to keep inventing new disposable products and keep children in nappies for longer. The whole ethos of the real nappy industry by comparison is to get children out of nappies as soon as they are ready. This is something I’ve addressed in numerous posts. For more see ‘An Inconvenient Nappy’.

Another group of people who block real nappies are those who had babies in the ‘70s and remember leaking terry towelling nappies and badly fitting plastic pants, boiling nappies on the stove and using heavy duty chemicals to sterilise them. For them disposables liberated them. Unfortunately for the real nappy industry - and local authorities that need to reduce waste sent to landfill urgently - these people don’t seem to realise that real nappies have evolved. Saying real nappies are a step backwards is like saying you won’t use a mobile phone because it’s the size of a brick. I don’t expect to turn these people into advocates of real nappies I just wish we could stop them being blockers. All ideas welcome.