So I’m going to tell you a story of how I started my journey with cloth/reusable nappies. I’ve been asked a few times why I use them and as I’m becoming more consistent on my blog (yay! I’m celebrating my wins, small and big) and sharing my journey, I felt it’ll be a good idea to share my why .

So it was a warm and sunny beautiful summer’s day… Okay, okay I’m getting carried away now as I don’t recall what the weather was like on that day, lol. I’m trying to set the scene, lol. So, many years before I had children (wow! I can say children – still amazes me daily) I was at a friend’s house for an event, when I clearly remember seeing a mutual friend of ours proceed to change her baby’s nappy and lo and behold it was a cloth nappy. I could honestly not believe what I was seeing and I clearly remember kneeling down beside her as she changed her baby and proceeding to ask so many questions. She was so lovely and gladly indulged me and answered my questions. I recall feeling so amazed that cloth nappies were a thing that mums of this modern era used and that the cloth nappy looked very similar to a disposable nappy. I don’t know about you but personally at that point, my idea of cloth nappies were towels that my mum used many years ago, for my siblings and I, which she would hold in place with a safety pin, soak in a bucket when dirty, wash each one with her hands and then line dry. Well let’s just say, modern cloth nappies are so far from that now and the washing machine can do the cleaning, yay! 

Well the encounter with my friend and witnessing her using this ‘modern’ version of them is where my journey started. A seed was planted that day which would not start to germinate until some time later. I don’t recall ever thinking much about them after that day until several years later when I was pregnant with my first child and considering what nappies to use for our precious gift. This moment that I had experienced several years prior, came flooding back to me and I then started to look into cloth nappies. Prior to becoming pregnant, I had started a journey of trying to be more mindful of my impact on the environment and trying to live more sustainably. My eco-journey really went up a notch around the time I was pregnant where I decided that one of the things I could do was to consider a more sustainable option of nappies for my daughter.

I did some research where I learnt that one baby will use between 5000-8000 disposable nappies in their lifetime. If cloth/reusable nappies are used full time, one baby would need 20-25 nappies. We decided that using cloth nappies (whether part-time or full-time) was going to be a sustainable option as 1000s of nappies would be prevented from going to landfill. If we only used one cloth nappy a day that would mean that we would save 365 disposable nappies from landfill. To me, that was one of the ways we could do our own little bit for the environment. I did some more research and decided to put a cloth nappy bundle of bambinomio nappies on my baby gift registry along with a nappy bucket and other cloth nappy accessories (the nappy cleanser, 2 mesh laundry bags, disposable liners and some boosters). Thankfully I was gifted all the items which meant I was all set to go.

This was and is my ‘why’ and what kept me going especially during the early months of using them. I made the decision to not start using them until after the first three months (aka ‘fourth trimester’) with my daughter was over. I wanted to get my head round being a mama first before I embarked on another new adventure with cloth nappies. I did have everything that I needed to start ready so that when the time came, I would be good to go. I didn’t really know a lot about cloth nappies but my desire to try a more sustainable nappy option and the willingness to learn, kept me going and in turn kept hubby going, lol (I’ll ask my hubby to share his journey with cloth nappies, as he is now very much a cloth bum dad). When I reflect back on the start of my journey compared to where I am now, I’m so proud of how far I’ve come and what I’ve learnt. When I started using them with my daughter, I only used them when we were at home as the thought of using them outside the house was daunting/overwhelming to me and for the stage of the journey I was on, that was totally fine. Fast forward to present day, we use cloth full time with our son. This nappy option has been the right choice for our family and thinking back to my encounter with my friend using cloth nappies, I wonder if I would have ever seriously considered them if I hadn’t seen someone using them successfully. After many years, I’ve come to realise that it’s all about making progress each day, taking it easy on oneself and realising that no journey is perfect. As I’ve come to learn, knowing and focusing on my ‘why’ is what keeps me going and helps me to make progress and accomplish the new/hard things that I want to do in life. 

With all my love and prayers xx