The Woodland Wife on reusable nappies

Choosing reusable nappies

Meet Jessica, The Woodland Wife an eco-conscious lifestyle blogger who lives in the woods with her husband, daughter and collection of animals. Earlier this year she wrote a blog on why she chose reusable nappies and we wanted to share a few snippets of her thoughts with you to help you if you are considering using reusable nappies.

When it comes to reusable nappies how do you choose what’s best for you and your baby? It’s a tricky question; one, which we have found, is best done through talking to people who use them every day. It’s the only way you will ever get a real account of life with reusable nappies before trying them for yourself.

For many of us when we find out we are having a baby it doesn’t take long before thoughts of baby shopping enter our head. But how do you refrain from becoming a new mummy consumer monster and what are the right decisions when it comes to new baby buying.

‘Our journey with cloth nappies started back in 2012 when we first found out I was expecting a baby; a couple who live a fairly frugal lifestyle and with both of us being self-employed we soon worked out the huge cost implication of disposable nappies. This along with our desire to cut down landfill where possible, there was a huge environmental factor to our decision-making process, in what we would purchase.

Environment and cost benefits are often the reason most people eventually find us but for Jessica, she had also been a cloth-bummed baby herself and so had her mum on hand for advice and tips. She was aware of the weekly expense of disposables and knew she didn't want her baby's nappies sitting in a landfill for years and years and years and years. It really is not an exaggeration that the disposable grossest heirloom we can leave to our children.

‘Then there’s the cost implication… “The kits are so expensive” as an initial outlay, yes, it’s a chunk of money, “but it didn’t take us long to realise that buying nappies wasn’t sustainable for us, the expense was colossal. For the first three months alone we spent approximately £180 per month* on nappies. We were buying biodegradable nappies.’

As a company who make only reusable nappies this business of biodegradable nappies is all very infuriating. They really aren’t much better than straight up disposables. So frustrating when parents are trying to make choices but are being fed half a story only to discover that these little blighters are still going to landfill where they are compacted in so tightly they will still take an age to degrade (whilst also containing microplastics which will go in to the ground!) And that's not to mention the consumption of raw materials. Reusables are simply much better for the environment. Fact.

There are ways to try which avoid the big outlay at the start, 

• Ask for Gift vouchers
• Buy one at a time
• Buy clearance, we have two major clearance sales a year but be fast as they sell out soon. Sign up for our newsletter to keep up to date.
• Buy second hand from eBay or gum tree

If you would like to read more on Jessica’s decision making, her life, using reusable nappies and all the adventures she gets up too then check out the Woodland Wife. Hopefully, she has inspired you to test out reusable nappies for yourself. You could try a TotsBots Mini kit, designed especially for swapping out one change a day. Small changes make big differences and that is the important thing to remember. Give reusable nappies a go today.