When you use real nappies you tend to become very sensitive to the smell of washing. There are a few rules about washing nappies – eg never use fabric softener, it stops them absorbing – but to a large extent you need to work out what works best with your washing machine, unless you handwash. You want the nappies to smell clean without smelling of detergent.
Once you become sensitive to the smell of conventional detergents and find out about the ingredients - basically waste from the petrochemical industry disguised by perfumes, you begin to understand the links between detergents and the rise of childhood asthma, eczema and glue ear.
You also start to question the use of air fresheners (please don't use the plug-in ones if you have a baby in the home), mainstream household cleaners and beauty products. Pat Thomas, health editor for the Ecologist has written extensively on this subject and she doesn’t just say what you shouldn’t use, she offers advice on practical, healthy, effective alternatives. Micro-fibre cloths are entering the mainstream and mean you can just clean the home with water. And if you can get a nappy clean you can get a micro-fibre cloth clean and vice versa.
Read the post on Detergents
Wednesday, 28 September 2011
Monday, 19 September 2011
The truth about detergents
One of the benefits of washing nappies, (especially in London with our wickedly hard water) is that you tend to learn a lot about detergent - and washing machines. Before I got involved with real nappies I knew nothing about detergent. I’d never actually looked at the ingredients on a detergent box or thought to wonder what's in it. However do a web search about washing nappies and you will soon find out about detergent residue. It’s that film of optical brighteners and whiteners that stay on the surface of clothes to make them look clean. Not a problem in the normal run of things unless you have sensitive skin and it causes eczema but on nappies it’s a problem – it can make the nappies stop absorbing (that’s what they need to do, right?) and stop the wrap being waterproof (its main job). It may also cause nappy rash. Here's some great advice on washing nappies from the USA.
If you're new to this, please don't let this put you off using real nappies. It’s really easy to prevent the detergent residue problem, once you know about it. If you’ve got detergent residue build up you put the nappies on a hot wash cycle with no detergent to get rid of it. After that you use less detergent, or an alternative, such as wash balls or soap nuts and you can prevent it.
You’re also likely to start doing spot cleaning. Now this is a great habit. Before kids you tend not to get grass stain and blackcurrant juice on your clothes. However, after kids, you need to know about this. Spot cleaning is simply doing a bit of treatment, preferably before the stain drys in, with a bit of hot water and soap and perhaps a nail brush if necessary. That way the stain comes out easily with the minimum amount of detergent at low temperature. You pick up this tip pretty quickly with nappies and it’s a basic skill of parenthood that means your children’s clothes stay looking good and can be passed on when your child grows out of them.
But there’s something else I need to warn you about if you’re going to become a real nappy user. Once you start looking at the ingredients on a detergent packet and you start looking into the effects of conventional fabric softeners you’re going start thinking seriously about not just what waste you put on the doorstep but also what you’re sending down the sewer. And in terms of your families health you’re also going to start thinking about indoor air quality. More on that next time.
Blog post on Improving Air Quality
If you're new to this, please don't let this put you off using real nappies. It’s really easy to prevent the detergent residue problem, once you know about it. If you’ve got detergent residue build up you put the nappies on a hot wash cycle with no detergent to get rid of it. After that you use less detergent, or an alternative, such as wash balls or soap nuts and you can prevent it.
You’re also likely to start doing spot cleaning. Now this is a great habit. Before kids you tend not to get grass stain and blackcurrant juice on your clothes. However, after kids, you need to know about this. Spot cleaning is simply doing a bit of treatment, preferably before the stain drys in, with a bit of hot water and soap and perhaps a nail brush if necessary. That way the stain comes out easily with the minimum amount of detergent at low temperature. You pick up this tip pretty quickly with nappies and it’s a basic skill of parenthood that means your children’s clothes stay looking good and can be passed on when your child grows out of them.
But there’s something else I need to warn you about if you’re going to become a real nappy user. Once you start looking at the ingredients on a detergent packet and you start looking into the effects of conventional fabric softeners you’re going start thinking seriously about not just what waste you put on the doorstep but also what you’re sending down the sewer. And in terms of your families health you’re also going to start thinking about indoor air quality. More on that next time.
Blog post on Improving Air Quality
Tuesday, 13 September 2011
Remember the waste hierarchy? Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
People can argue all they like about the relative environmental impacts of disposable vs washable nappies and they sure do www.guardian.co.uk but one thing is for certain; disposable nappies create a lot more waste. At Real Nappies for London we know it’s at least one large bin bag of rubbish per baby each week. It doesn’t really matter if disposable nappies are 10% smaller www.futurefriendly.co.uk when clean – it’s what’s in them when they’re in the trash that counts and that tends to be largely pee and poo.
So that’s why new processes are being developed to keep disposable nappy waste out of landfills and incinerators edie.net and www.dailymail.co.uk
But what’s also important about what nappy system you opt for is how that choice affects your attitude to waste. If you’re very green but just can’t get on with washable nappies it may not affect your attitude to waste. You will probably try harder to reduce it in other ways. But for most of us the effect of creating a large refuse sack of nappy waste each week is just demoralising. It makes you feel hopeless and other waste just seems minor by comparison.
On the other hand if you’re using real nappies most of the time you will be very happy with the fact that since you’ve had a baby your household waste has barely increased. This means you’re far more likely to feel inspired and look at other ways in which you can buy less packaging – such as buying refills of detergent to reduce the number of plastic bottles you throw away/recycle and think of ways to substitute single-use items for products you can use over and over again such as reusable wipes rather than disposable ones.
What’s more it’s very likely you’re going to pass on used baby clothes, equipment and toys www.nct.org.uk because thinning your bin is part of who you are and you take great pride in it. It’s probably going to make you buy less stuff too. You go to buy a plastic toy your child’s whining for and what you see is landfill. And then when friends and relatives ask what present they can buy for your child you ask for no plastic and if possible something wooden that improves with age and can get passed on, or something useful like a book or clothes.
And if you wash your baby’s nappies – even those of you who have used a laundry service end up washing some, even if it’s just the wet ones to stretch out the weekly supply – it’s highly likely that you are going to end up picking up environmentally friendly laundering habits. More of that in my next blog.
Of interest The truth about detergents and post on indoor air quality
So that’s why new processes are being developed to keep disposable nappy waste out of landfills and incinerators edie.net and www.dailymail.co.uk
But what’s also important about what nappy system you opt for is how that choice affects your attitude to waste. If you’re very green but just can’t get on with washable nappies it may not affect your attitude to waste. You will probably try harder to reduce it in other ways. But for most of us the effect of creating a large refuse sack of nappy waste each week is just demoralising. It makes you feel hopeless and other waste just seems minor by comparison.
On the other hand if you’re using real nappies most of the time you will be very happy with the fact that since you’ve had a baby your household waste has barely increased. This means you’re far more likely to feel inspired and look at other ways in which you can buy less packaging – such as buying refills of detergent to reduce the number of plastic bottles you throw away/recycle and think of ways to substitute single-use items for products you can use over and over again such as reusable wipes rather than disposable ones.
What’s more it’s very likely you’re going to pass on used baby clothes, equipment and toys www.nct.org.uk because thinning your bin is part of who you are and you take great pride in it. It’s probably going to make you buy less stuff too. You go to buy a plastic toy your child’s whining for and what you see is landfill. And then when friends and relatives ask what present they can buy for your child you ask for no plastic and if possible something wooden that improves with age and can get passed on, or something useful like a book or clothes.
And if you wash your baby’s nappies – even those of you who have used a laundry service end up washing some, even if it’s just the wet ones to stretch out the weekly supply – it’s highly likely that you are going to end up picking up environmentally friendly laundering habits. More of that in my next blog.
Of interest The truth about detergents and post on indoor air quality
Friday, 5 August 2011
Another problem with disposables
That comment about the water cycle in Leo Hickman's nappy debate is very thought provoking. So there's loads of water basically trapped in disposable nappies in landfills all over the World. Is that true? Isn't that a major issue?
Friday, 1 July 2011
Thursday, 30 June 2011
The true cost of disposables
Nocturnal Enuresis – ever heard of that? Well, I hadn’t until yesterday – although I probably should have. In my role as London’s real nappy ambassador an email popped into my inbox from ERIC – the charity for childhood incontinence. By the end of the morning I had read a 473 report published in October 2010 on bed wetting by NICE (the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) and had found out the enormous social and medical cost of this problem.
The NICE report advises how to treat sufferers – with drugs and alarms. Not one mention of cotton nappies did I find, or any indication that this problem is growing and perhaps we should try to understand why.
Then I looked at who had sat on the advisory board for this report. AHPMA’s name appeared close to the top of the list – as it would, as the list is in alphabetical order. For those of you with better things to think about AHPMA stands for Absorbent Hygiene Product Manufacturers Association ie the disposable nappy industry’s trade association.
So the people who are involved in this industry, that is estimated to be worth US $29 Billion by 2015, that could be causing the epidemic growth of this problem sit on a board, funded by me and other tax payers to analyse the problem and suggest treatments.
Now where I come from that’s called a conflict of interest. AHPMA is funded by experts at selling nappies and running a profitable industry, they are not objective health professionals.
Don’t get me wrong, I applaud what the industry is doing to raise awareness of this problem, making products such as pyjama nappies for 7-14 year olds available at the supermarkets and its contribution towards taking away the stigma from children and teenagers who suffer from nocturnal enuresis. But I can't help thinking that making bed-wetting a 'norm' brings them benefits; it helps them sell more products. All that money spent on websites that tell you how to potty and night train your child are clearly not purely altruistic - they are sophisticated marketing tools.
We need to get rid of this new myth - with some urgency - that has developed over the last 14 years, that children potty train themselves when they are ready and as parents we shouldn’t interfere. I’m not saying some children won’t. Some do; some children learn to read by themselves, but most need stimulation and intervention and the more expert the better.
I learnt how to potty train my second child from a friend. I turned to her for advice when I found out her child was out of nappies – both day and night – by 23 months, disposables I should add. She was a communications lecturer and the dad was a child psychologist. You probably can’t be more expert than that and what she told me worked!
We have to recognise there are instances where the free market doesn’t work in the interests of consumers ie when companies make money out of our ignorance. It is possible your child will not develop night-time bladder control until 14, but highly unlikely. It's more likely though, if that is what you are led to expect.
The NICE report advises how to treat sufferers – with drugs and alarms. Not one mention of cotton nappies did I find, or any indication that this problem is growing and perhaps we should try to understand why.
Then I looked at who had sat on the advisory board for this report. AHPMA’s name appeared close to the top of the list – as it would, as the list is in alphabetical order. For those of you with better things to think about AHPMA stands for Absorbent Hygiene Product Manufacturers Association ie the disposable nappy industry’s trade association.
So the people who are involved in this industry, that is estimated to be worth US $29 Billion by 2015, that could be causing the epidemic growth of this problem sit on a board, funded by me and other tax payers to analyse the problem and suggest treatments.
Now where I come from that’s called a conflict of interest. AHPMA is funded by experts at selling nappies and running a profitable industry, they are not objective health professionals.
Don’t get me wrong, I applaud what the industry is doing to raise awareness of this problem, making products such as pyjama nappies for 7-14 year olds available at the supermarkets and its contribution towards taking away the stigma from children and teenagers who suffer from nocturnal enuresis. But I can't help thinking that making bed-wetting a 'norm' brings them benefits; it helps them sell more products. All that money spent on websites that tell you how to potty and night train your child are clearly not purely altruistic - they are sophisticated marketing tools.
We need to get rid of this new myth - with some urgency - that has developed over the last 14 years, that children potty train themselves when they are ready and as parents we shouldn’t interfere. I’m not saying some children won’t. Some do; some children learn to read by themselves, but most need stimulation and intervention and the more expert the better.
I learnt how to potty train my second child from a friend. I turned to her for advice when I found out her child was out of nappies – both day and night – by 23 months, disposables I should add. She was a communications lecturer and the dad was a child psychologist. You probably can’t be more expert than that and what she told me worked!
We have to recognise there are instances where the free market doesn’t work in the interests of consumers ie when companies make money out of our ignorance. It is possible your child will not develop night-time bladder control until 14, but highly unlikely. It's more likely though, if that is what you are led to expect.
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
Soap nuts
Has anyone used soap nuts for washing nappies? I bought some at UK Aware and I've been using them for clothes and I love them but my babies are out of nappies now. Please let us know.
Wednesday, 2 March 2011
That this house notes ...
Yesterday Zac Goldsmith MP signed Austin Mitchell MP's disposable nappy Early Day Motion 1169 that says:
That this House notes that approximately four per cent. of all waste to landfill is disposable nappies, which equates to three billion nappies weighing 690,000 tonnes; is concerned that disposable nappies are one of the biggest identifiable products in the domestic waste stream and that a zero waste economy cannot be achieved without tackling this waste stream; is shocked that local authorities spend up to 100 million every year disposing of nappies, whereas if a child uses a real nappy then 874kg is diverted from landfill and the local authority saves up to 130 per year, meaning savings of up to 9.2 million per year on just 10 per cent. conversion rates; adds that using real nappies can help parents reduce their carbon footprint by up to 40 per cent. compared to using disposables and bring about domestic savings of up to 500 per year, achieving 35.4 million savings across the UK for families on just 10 per cent. conversion rates, and if the same nappies were used on a second child, a further 85 million would be saved; urges the Government, in these times of austerity and environmental concern, to acknowledge the impact of disposable nappies and to support the promotion of real nappies as a viable alternative; and further urges the Government to provide a clear message to parents to introduce real nappies into public service infrastructure and to provide financial support to enable existing networks to adopt a Big Society approach to providing a more balanced market with increased parental choice.
Zac Goldsmith MP, elected in May 2010 as MP for Richmond Park was editor of the Ecologist 1997-2007. At Real Nappies for London we are politically agnostic - what we want is happy, healthy babies and a healthy happy planet for babies to enjoy.
Has YOUR MP signed?
http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=42181
If not, please take the time to write to your MP. There's a downloadable template letter on the RNfL web site:
http://www.realnappiesforlondon.org.uk/index.php
That this House notes that approximately four per cent. of all waste to landfill is disposable nappies, which equates to three billion nappies weighing 690,000 tonnes; is concerned that disposable nappies are one of the biggest identifiable products in the domestic waste stream and that a zero waste economy cannot be achieved without tackling this waste stream; is shocked that local authorities spend up to 100 million every year disposing of nappies, whereas if a child uses a real nappy then 874kg is diverted from landfill and the local authority saves up to 130 per year, meaning savings of up to 9.2 million per year on just 10 per cent. conversion rates; adds that using real nappies can help parents reduce their carbon footprint by up to 40 per cent. compared to using disposables and bring about domestic savings of up to 500 per year, achieving 35.4 million savings across the UK for families on just 10 per cent. conversion rates, and if the same nappies were used on a second child, a further 85 million would be saved; urges the Government, in these times of austerity and environmental concern, to acknowledge the impact of disposable nappies and to support the promotion of real nappies as a viable alternative; and further urges the Government to provide a clear message to parents to introduce real nappies into public service infrastructure and to provide financial support to enable existing networks to adopt a Big Society approach to providing a more balanced market with increased parental choice.
Zac Goldsmith MP, elected in May 2010 as MP for Richmond Park was editor of the Ecologist 1997-2007. At Real Nappies for London we are politically agnostic - what we want is happy, healthy babies and a healthy happy planet for babies to enjoy.
Has YOUR MP signed?
http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=42181
If not, please take the time to write to your MP. There's a downloadable template letter on the RNfL web site:
http://www.realnappiesforlondon.org.uk/index.php
Monday, 28 February 2011
Is this current interest in thrift and frugality just a fashion?
A response to a reduced household income? Nostalgia? Or is it touching a deeper anxiety about us losing our self-reliance and becoming more and more dependent on so-called 'convenience' products? For example, I only recently found out about detergent residues. Evidently the whiteners and optical brighteners in most washing detergents are not rinsed out but stay on the clothes/nappies/wraps. They are then supposed to make your whites look whiter and your coloured clothes look brighter.
However, I am told that actually what happens is these residues build up and start to absorb dirt and bad odours turning whites grey and making the washing smelly. We put in more and more detergent to get the clothes clean but actually a heavier detergent residue build-ups up on the surface of the clothes that makes the problem worse - and can cause eczema. (The solution is to do a wash every so often with no detergent at all and that gets rid of excess detergent residue. If this doesn't solve the problem you should add some bicarbonate of soda and white vinegar and that should get rid of it!)
Similarly conventional household cleaning products tell us 'no need to rinse off' but then leave a sticky layer on the surface. Our floors and surfaces look wonderfully clean immediately after we've cleaned - but not for long - the sticky surface picks up the dirt and we have to clean more frequently. This only became clear to me when I started to use micro-fibre cloths for cleaning. I can't help wondering if someone isn't taking us for a ride.
Which brings me to stay-dry nappies that mean our children often end up night-training later and later, making parents sleep deprived, thus making our lives even more chaotic than they inevitably are when you have children. In this case the solution is to use cotton nappies at night so your child has the stimulation necessary to help him/her night train.
Do you have other examples of 'convenience' products that hurt our wallet and our quality of life?
However, I am told that actually what happens is these residues build up and start to absorb dirt and bad odours turning whites grey and making the washing smelly. We put in more and more detergent to get the clothes clean but actually a heavier detergent residue build-ups up on the surface of the clothes that makes the problem worse - and can cause eczema. (The solution is to do a wash every so often with no detergent at all and that gets rid of excess detergent residue. If this doesn't solve the problem you should add some bicarbonate of soda and white vinegar and that should get rid of it!)
Similarly conventional household cleaning products tell us 'no need to rinse off' but then leave a sticky layer on the surface. Our floors and surfaces look wonderfully clean immediately after we've cleaned - but not for long - the sticky surface picks up the dirt and we have to clean more frequently. This only became clear to me when I started to use micro-fibre cloths for cleaning. I can't help wondering if someone isn't taking us for a ride.
Which brings me to stay-dry nappies that mean our children often end up night-training later and later, making parents sleep deprived, thus making our lives even more chaotic than they inevitably are when you have children. In this case the solution is to use cotton nappies at night so your child has the stimulation necessary to help him/her night train.
Do you have other examples of 'convenience' products that hurt our wallet and our quality of life?
Tuesday, 22 February 2011
Do we need an eco NCT?
The National Childbirth Trust (NCT) does an amazing job bringing expectant parents together and fostering new friendships. It reaches us at a crucial stage of our lives. The birth of a new child makes most of us look at our lives in a new way. We think about the world that our children will live in and our grandchildren too.
But we are also very vulnerable, fearful, not knowing what the future holds and how we will cope. Big business knows this too. That is why, as expectant parents we are bombarded by advertising.
The NCT is a charity and we trust it. Many new parents volunteer for the NCT, helping to run 'Nearly New Sales' to raise money for the charity. It is hugely influential. So is it right that the NCT is sponsored by the producers of Pampers and Comfort?
And does the NCT do enough to inform parents about green and healthy lifestyles and the risks of exposure to some mainstream products? According to the Ecologist Comfort is a cocktail of dangerous chemicals that can lead to asthma, eczema and glue ear in babies. Does this kind of sponsorship compromise the values of the NCT and its members? And if so, how does the NCT need to change?
Other posts that may be of interest The True Cost of Disposables
But we are also very vulnerable, fearful, not knowing what the future holds and how we will cope. Big business knows this too. That is why, as expectant parents we are bombarded by advertising.
The NCT is a charity and we trust it. Many new parents volunteer for the NCT, helping to run 'Nearly New Sales' to raise money for the charity. It is hugely influential. So is it right that the NCT is sponsored by the producers of Pampers and Comfort?
And does the NCT do enough to inform parents about green and healthy lifestyles and the risks of exposure to some mainstream products? According to the Ecologist Comfort is a cocktail of dangerous chemicals that can lead to asthma, eczema and glue ear in babies. Does this kind of sponsorship compromise the values of the NCT and its members? And if so, how does the NCT need to change?
Other posts that may be of interest The True Cost of Disposables
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