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Nappies, Nappies Everywhere


Before becoming a parent I had no idea how this piece of fabric/absorbent cotton goodness would end up ruling my life. 


To begin with there’s the choice of going with regular nappies or cloth ones. Do you want to contribute to landfill or save the planet? So many brands, so many claims! Let’s not forget the premium protection people! The various marketing teams are definitely working hard to impress the new enthusiastic parents to be.  


Before our toddler was toilet trained there was a period of about 6 months where we had more nappies than furniture. Fresh nappies, soiled nappies, regular nappies, nappy pants....nappies, nappies everywhere! If you threw a stone within the confines of our flat, it would most certainly hit a nappy than an actual human. 


As we live in a block of flats, the communal rubbish bins are on the ground floor. This means lugging sack loads of soiled nappies and tipping them into the bin. Now, fact - soiled nappies are heavy. If you don’t dispose these everyday you’re in for a thrilling experience. Want to know how it might be to drag a dead body tied within a black bin bag by a mindless murderer? See, There are always at least two ways of looking at something. Exhausted parent syndrome or crime scene simulation? You choose. 


Speaking of nappy disposal, you get proper bin units which have their own discs and claim to contain odour. Honestly speaking they do a good job of it but they tend to make one lazy. The normal nappy sacks work much better in that regard - they push you to be more conscientious in disposing the soiled nappies. Again, no problem with either, it’s how you perceive it. 


As first time parents my husband and me would be very enthusiastic about the nappy changing process. As soon as the nappy line turned blue (indicative of a wee) we would end up changing our first born’s nappy. These days, we are more reasonable or rather we are close to testing the marketing claims about dry bottoms and the like. Before you call the authorities, I was obviously exaggerating to make a point.


Moving on, I am in awe of parents opting for cloth nappies. For me, it’s a really aspirational thing to do. I mean seriously, hats off! I can see my mum and others in her generation smirking and can almost hear her saying “that’s how we cleaned your bottom, then hand washed the nappies, put them out to dry and repeated the process again and again”. Respect boss! 


So, as I brace myself to tackle another pile of soiled nappies I’m hoping the day that kid no.2 becomes nappy free arrives soon. Or do I really? Hmmmm...



 
















   

   


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