Cloth Nappies: the good, the bad, and the downright messy

Throughout time, mumkind has clad its babies in all sorts of materials. The babies of the 1800s, for example, were always in cloth.  But mums didn’t let that lead to hours of work, the nappies were rarely washed, just dried out and reused. Are you picturing it? Sorry about that.

Anyway, fast forward to today, and we have the incredible luxury of being able to choose our preferred cladding option, from one-time disposables to modern cloth nappies (MCNs).

What kind of mum are you?

• Positive you’ll use cloth nappies
• Absolutely positive you’ll never use cloth nappies
• Not sure if you’ll be able to handle cloth nappies, but you’d like to try

No matter where you stand on cloth, I can tell you from experience that there are some pros and cons to every option.

I have three kids and watched cloth nappies go from flat squares of terry towelling to modern, amazing little pieces of cute poo-catching technology.

So let’s remove some of the mystery, and answer some cloth nappy questions you might have.

All the good things about using cloth nappies.

• Cost

  There is no denying that cloth nappies are cheaper than disposables. I know for a fact that I saved thousands of dollars across three children, no question.

• The environment

  Over the last few decades, millions upon millions of toxic plastic nappies are dumped on our planet. They take centuries to break down. This scares me, and it’s a legitimate reason to choose cloth.

• Safer

  Cloth nappies don’t contain any harmful chemicals and there’s no toxic stuffing that might spill out either. Plus they’re softer on baby skin, meaning less friction rash.

• Cute factor

  MCNs come in a huge variety of designs and colours and are super-crazy, unbelievably cute. That is all.

• Cheap

  When MCNs first came out, they were crazy expensive. Now you can buy a whole set for the cost of two boxes of disposables.

• Easy to use, and grows with your baby

  MCNs have snap fasteners that allow you to adjust the size of the nappy to fit your growing baby, from newborn all the way through to 2+ years old. That’s a good financial investment right there.

The short answer is yes, you’ll need to wash them, which takes time. However, I did maybe three extra loads of washing per week. I cloth-nappied my babies while having toddlers at home and running a family daycare. For me, it wasn’t a big deal. Straight off the line and into the top drawer: that’s how I rolled.

Now for the bad stuff (beware: also includes the downright messy)

• They aren’t as highly absorbable as disposables

You will have to change bub a little more frequently, which you might find annoying. It gets better as they get older.

• Going out can be a bit stinky

  There are great waterproof storage bags you can take with you when you go out to pop the soiled nappies into. That does, however, mean you’re carrying stinky nappies around the shopping centre. Your call.

• You will have to do extra washing

This was never a problem for me, but if you live in a home with no clothes line or where it rains a lot, that might be a pain. Many MCNs can go in the dryer.

• You will have to scrape off that poo

Maybe this is your deal-breaker, but yes, you will have to pop that poo down the privy. When your bub is older it’s no biggie, as it will just plop right off…but a newborn on a milk diet? Yeah, that’s gonna require a spoon.

• Wet babies might wake during the night/naptime

Not always, and mine didn’t, but some might.

Your decision also doesn’t have to be do-or-die in either direction. I chose to combine both worlds. For example, you could:

Use cloth nappies

• During the day
• For short trips out
• For naps

Use disposable nappies

• At night
• For longer day trips or when away on holidays
• Just for the newborn stage when you’re getting the hang of parenting and going through LOTS of nappies

You’re still drastically reducing environmental waste, saving a ton of money, and getting to see that cute little tush in a sweet cloth nappy – trust me, it will squeeze your mama-heart every single time.