Its time to talk nappies, cloth nappies.

Before I start... I am not here to start an argument, I'm not here to judge your parenting choices and I am most definitely not an expert. This is just my opinion on something I feel passionate about and am proud of the way my family have embraced it. So if you have an issue with this post - stop reading it, go away and come back when I write something you do like, ta.

Ok, now I have that out of my system lets talk cloth nappies. When I told my family that we would be using cloth nappies they looked at me a little like I had been drinking - the general opinion was along then lines of "why on earth would you want to 'go backwards', life is so much easier now with disposables why would you want to add to your work load like we had to do".

Then there was the reaction of friends, colleagues and acquaintances some of whom were parents, new and experienced and some of whom we not. So many of them looked at me condescendingly and nodded "you'll never keep up with the washing", "I give it a couple of weeks" and most annoyingly "you know they are not more environmentally friendly than disposables, so you are really not doing any good anyway". Arrggghhh!

My response varied depending on who was judging my choices but often I pointed to the fact that we had just renovated the laundry (which included a full repaint of the roof, new gutters and the installation of a rainwater tank - because it was all linked) and said "do you really think I would have gone to all this trouble to give up?" that usually kept people quite.

Anyway sixteen months on and we are so happy that we made the decision to go cloth. It makes so much sense for our household. I really don't find the washing an issue in fact I quiet enjoy hanging out a load of nappies as it reminds me how many disposables we haven't added to landfill.

A freshly folded stash :)

Please keep reading...

We even use cloth nappies at day care.

And most of the doubters?? Well most people who have anything to do with them have fallen in love with the cloth as well and the others - I love telling them we are still going strong!

Now, don't get me wrong there are times I have used (eco) disposables along the road - but they have been kept at a minimum. We even completed our recent Easter Holiday in cloth (yay for us!)

So if you have ever considered trying cloth out I say give it a go - dive in head first and see if you like it. You don't have to start off full time, try enough for a day. If you like it go for a few more and once you are happy go for nights, you wont look back!

I have plenty of hints and tips for buying cloth nappies but I think I will save that for another day, along with my tips for using cloth wipes.

For now, if you are interested in giving cloth a go these are my few essentials I think you need. These are the things that make it easier to keep going long term. Here we go:

One is a good cloth friendly detergent. I like the Rockin' Green, it seems to work for me (although it does have its disadvantages - it can be hard to get and expensive to post ) - there are plenty out there, you can even make your own, just do your research.

I am going to trial my soapnuts on the nappies one day - will update you on how that goes :)

You will also need a good nappy bucket - or two. My laundry is underneath the main part of my house, so I have a small bucket with a lid (thanks to the local hardware store) in Matilda's bedroom and then a good old fashioned nappy bucket in the laundry. Once there are a couple of nappies in the bedroom bucket I take them downstairs, give them a quick rinse out and pop them in the nappy bucket til its washing time.

My 'upstairs' and 'downstairs' nappy buckets

Before anyone asks - yes the solids go straight down the loo and no its really not that gross...

The other thing I couldn't do without is a movable clothes line. I have a great permanent clothes line but the nappies are always on the movable one - this way I can easily drag them in if it rains and make sure they get a bleaching by following the sun.

Ah clean nappies hanging on the line :) Updated pic

Well, that's cloth nappies according to me.

Part one.

I am sure to write about them again soon, this was after all one of the main reasons I started this blog!