The Benefits of Cloth Nappies

Still not convinced? 

Well, here's 10 great reasons why cloth nappies are so good for baby, for the planet and for your purse.

1. Saves a substantial amount of money

2. Reduce your carbon footprint

3. Reduce Landfill Waste 

4. Little to no chemicals

5. Easier potty training

6. Less nappy rash

7. Greater comfort for baby

8. Poonamis 

9. Re-sale value 

10. Cute patterns, designs and materials 

 

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 1. Let's talk costs! 

An average child will potty train around the ago of 2 1/2 (30 months). As a newborn, they will get through 8-10 nappies a day, and this will level out to around 5 a day as they get older. So let's do some quick maths:

8 nappies a day x 30 days in a month x 6 months = 1440 nappies
5 nappies a day x 30 days in a month x 24 months = 3600 nappies

So, the average child will use 5040 nappies before they are potty trained.

The cost of a premium nappy brand per pack of 50 is around £10.00, so let's add those together:

5040 nappies / packs of 50 = 100 packs
100 packs at £10.00 each = £1000.00

To use cloth nappies full time, you would need between 20 & 25 nappies. From Green Cheeks, including a booster, you're looking at £13.80 each. Maths time:

25 nappies x £13.80 = £345.00

So, it's approximately 1/3rd cheaper to use cloth!

 

2. Carbon Footprint

Even the disposables viewed as the green option generally use polymer crystals inside the diapers to suck up your baby’s pee. It’s hard to beat the absorbency and parents love nappies that have less leaking. But is dodging a few leaks worth putting chemicals you can’t even pronounce next to your baby’s skin?

Even without the landfill issue on the table, cloth nappies simply require fewer resources to produce compared to disposables. That appeals to parents who are interested in fighting ozone layer depletion and reducing the environmental strain on the planet.

• Disposables require 60 times the amount of solid waste that reusables do.
• They also use 20 times the amount of raw materials, such as crude oil, compared to cloth diapers.
• Each baby who uses disposables will burn through more than 300 pounds of wood, 20 pounds of chlorine and 50 pounds of petroleum feedstocks 

7 million trees are cut down each year - just to make disposable nappies

It seems hard to believe that one person can make a big difference for the environment when there are billions of people on the planet, switching to cloth nappies is a great way to start.

A Green Cheeks we use a blend of hemp and organic cotton for the inserts in the nappies, hemp is one of the most sustainable crops on the planet. 

• Hemp requires no pesticides to grow
• Hemp provides twice as much fabric per acre as cotton
• Hemp needs very little water to thrive compared to other crops
• Hemp cleans the soil as it grows, so the land can be used again straight away
• Hemp doesn't need chemicals or toxins to process it into fabric (bamboo does)
• Hemp is naturally anti-bacterial 
• Hemp is more absorbent than bamboo 

3. Reduce what you're sending to landfill

It's estimated that in the UK along 3 billion disposable nappies are thrown away every year. Which makes 2-3% of all landfill is disposable nappies. 

Methane continues to be leak from landfill which is harmful greenhouse gas. Greenhouse gases effect the Earths temperature and climate system.

Did you know, that even with disposable nappies, you're supposed to remove the poo before disposing of it? 

4. Chemicals. well the lack of

These are some of the chemicals used to make disposable nappies 

• Dyes.
• Fragrances.
• Chlorine.
• Oils.
• Phthalates.
• Absorbent polymers.

The best and easiest way to avoid chemicals in disposable nappies is to ditch disposables altogether. Cloth nappies are chemical-free, breathable, and made from natural materials. Green Cheeks Cloth Nappies are made with babies and the planet in mind. Made from breathable, absorbent hemp, who needs all those chemicals in disposable nappies anyway?

5. Easier transition to potty training

Some parents report that the journey into potty training is easier if you've been using cloth nappies, with the theory being as with reusable nappies, there is always slight feeling of being wet, unlike disposable nappies which lock away the moisture. So this experience with the wet feeling, can make training easier! My son potty trained at 18 months old - was it an early success due to his time is washable nappies? We'll never know for sure. 

6. Significantly less nappy rash

From my own experience, my son only had nappy rash twice in his entire nappy wearing career - once when I go lazy and started to use disposable wipes, and the second time on the very tip of his willy, which I can only had rubbed that day, 

Nappy rash can be caused by a number of factors

• Too much moisture on the skin
• Nappies aren't changed often enough
• Poo left on the skin
• Teething poo
• Sensitive skin
• A reaction to chemicals in nappies or wipes
• Food allergies
• Yeast infections

Cloth nappies help to reduce nappy rashes as you are already changing more often, there are no chemicals, they're more breathable and use natural fibres! 

Bye, bye rashes 

7. More comfortable for baby

I mean, we'll never know for sure as babies aren't so good at English. But, as I mentioned before in the rashes section. 

• Changed more often
• Breathable materials
• Natural materials
• No chemicals

And I know for sure that i'd rather wear cotton pants than plastic pants! 

8. Poonamis

Now we've all seen the pictures, the pictures of some startled new parent covered in the yellow mustard explosion that just came firing out of all angles of their little cherub. The containment of cloth nappies is much greater than disposables, for the simple reason that they fit tighter around the legs due to the elastics. So it's much harder for poo to escape!

9. Re-sale value

Another bonus, so your cloth nappy stash can be used on multiple children, so second and third children - or more if you're so inclined will have a £zero nappy bill. 

And, once your done with babies, you can sell the nappies on. There's lot's of trade on Facebook marketplace for pre-loved cloth nappies, so you'll get some of your money back at the end! 

10. Cute pattern and designs

I mean, come on - don't they just look so much better than a disposable?