In amongst all of this week’s excitement and madness I have also been undertaking a serious challenge as part of Real Nappy Week 2011.

Bambino Mio contacted me and asked if I would be willing to try and use one real nappy a day for the seven days of the week. I readily agreed as my heart is definitely in cloth nappies but my head is ruled by disposables!

Why should we at least try to use real nappies?

on average a baby will use 5,000 disposable nappies during their nappy wearing years, compared to 48 reusable nappies

this equates to 8 million nappies a day in the UK, 3 billion a year

4% of all household waste in the UK is disposable nappies which can be as high as 50% for a 1 baby family

by switching one disposable to a reusable a day over your child’s nappy wearing years you would save 912 nappies going to landfill, which is the equivalent of 15 kitchen bins, the same weight as 14 2-year olds.

reusable nappies can save you up to £700 for your first child and up to £1,000 for a subsequent child

councils across the UK offer cashback incentives of up to £70 to encourage the use of real nappies

if 10% more parents use reusable nappies this would save local councils £10 million

it has been estimated that disposable nappies take up to 500 years to decompose, however to date not one disposable has ever decomposed

across the world every day 6,000 tonnes of nappies are thrown away which equals the weight of 1,000 adult male elephants

each year, one billion trees worldwide are cut down to make the wood pulp in disposable nappies

reusable nappies can be 40% better for the environment than disposable nappies according to the Environment Agency’s 2008 revision of their Lifecycle Analysis Report on Nappies

it has been calculated by Go Real that the total cost of washing nappies including electricity, washing powder and water at 60°C over 2.5 years is only £102.19 and with a nappy sanitiser you can wash as low as 30°C

anecdotal evidence suggests that a child will potty train 6 months earlier when wearing reusable nappies as they can feel the wetness compare to disposables

research has shown that a child is 5 times more likely to suffer from nappy rash if they wear disposable nappies compared to cotton, as a disposable due to the absorbent chemicals can feel dry when actually wet which can lead to nappy rash

The environmental concerns do tug at my conscience a lot especially when I see the piles of nappies building up. Between Esther and William we go through 12 nappies a day, assuming that all is well!

So this week I am having a very small taste of what it might be like as a Mummy of twins to use real nappies.

To facilitate my participation in the challenge Bambino Mio sent me a pack of essentials, a starter kit I suppose. It includes

4 x prewashed mionappies (made from 100% cotton)
2 x miosoft nappy covers (made froma water resistant material and provide a comforatble and snug fit)
100 x mioliners (100% natural and flushable)
2 x miofresh sachets (a napy sanitiser which kills bacteria allowing you to wash your nappies at a lower temperature)
2 x mioboost (ideal for overnight or long car journeys)

On Monday, Day 1 of the challenge, I had to psych myself up for trying out the cloth. I waited until we returned from Sing and Sign and the babies woke up from their morning nap. I put a full cotton nappy on Esther with the lining and cover. It fit perfectly and she seemed very happy in it. With William, the nappies seemed too large for the cover (user error I suspect) and so I tried using just a booster insert. The Mioboost can be used on its own without a full cloth nappy. I have to say that William looked more comfortable and secure this way and for the two hour test period it did not leak! Esther had her nappy on for three hours and again seemed comfy and secure with no leakages. I have to say that my first impressions of performance, comfort and appearance have been very good.

When the test period was over I flushed the liners and put the cloth in the wash.

Day 2. Today I decided to try the afternoon slot from just before nap time until after tea. This time I used full nappies on both babies. Both trials a success.

Tomorrow I am going to put the cloth nappies on before we go out to our Jo Jingles music class to see if they withstand that. Also William is producing some lovely acidic teething nappies, so we will see how the Mios cope with that!

I am going to try two nappies in one day on Thursday as we are at home all day and on Friday we will have a cloth nappy sleepover!
As the week progresses I will look more at the pros and cons of cloth but for now I would just like to say that I am quite pleasantly surprised with the whole idea and practicalities of cloth nappies, and may well extend their use with Esther and William beyond the challenge week.

As one large supermarket would say, “Every little helps!”