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Showing posts from October, 2016

Reusable revolution - menstrual products

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More and more women are opting for reusable menstrual products each month. Dealing with their period using washable menstrual pads or reusable menstrual cups. Have you thought about going down the washable sanitary product route? Are you joining the reusable revolution? Why reusable products The idea of washing and reusing a sanitary pad, or using a silicone cup , rather than a throw away tampon each month, is just a step too far for some women. For others though, there are lots of great reasons for picking the washable option. Reusable sanitary products save money, are better for the environment, can be healthier and in many cases are just more comfortable and reliable than their disposable alternative. Women today have an estimated 450 periods on average. That’s 450 lots of sanitary pads or tampons that have to be paid for and then thrown away. The idea of something that you buy once and then reuse is certainly tempting. What reusable products? If you feel like giving washable menstr

Prepping cloth nappies

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Before you can start using cloth nappies on your little one, you are going to want to get them ready. Here are our tips for prepping cloth nappies ready for use. Why you need to prep Cloth nappies will need washing before use, to ensure that they are clean and hygienic. Brand new nappies are likely to have some residues from manufacture that need removing. Bleached nappies may have traces of the chemicals used to bleach them. Unbleached nappies will still have some of the natural oils on the cotton fibres. Often cotton nappies are starched to make sewing easier. Washing nappies will soften them and make them fluff up. When first washed the nappies will shrink slightly so that they fit better. Washing or soaking the nappy will increase the absorbency. Prepping cloth nappies Getting your cloth nappies ready for use is simple. Soaking the cotton or bamboo nappies over night in cold water will remove residues and soften them. If you want to do the job quicker, then a hot or warm wash will

Back to the beginning - my cloth nappy journey

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A couple of weeks ago, this young man turned ten. He’s my oldest child and it was with him that I started my cloth nappy journey. Ten years ago, I was just trying cloth nappies for the first time, little did I know where that would lead to. Starting out with cloth nappies I started using cloth on my oldest when he was a few days old and we were home from hospital. I had looked into using them before he was born, but I have to admit, I didn’t really know what I was doing. We started out using covers and flat nappies very similar to the birdseye flat nappies that we sell here at Nappyneedz. They did need folding and were a little fiddly. I soon got the hang of them and they were very fast drying. Had I known about pre-folds back then, I would have probably started with them. Despite all of my fears about the extra work and leaks, they were surprisingly easy and I didn’t have any leaking issues. Toddler times By the time he was a few months old, we’d switched to shaped nappies with cove

Why use cloth nappies?

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You may be asking yourself ‘why use cloth nappies?’ There are lots of answers that I could give you. Lots of great reasons for choosing cloth. I thought it might be a good idea to ask people on my facebook page , why they chose cloth. Cost of nappies By far and away the most frequent answer given for choosing cloth nappies has been down to cost. To put it simply, cloth nappies are just the cheaper option. Although the initial set up cost is more (although there are ways to make it cheaper) once you’re using cloth, there is far less money to spend. Most people find that they save between $3000 and $4000 over the time that their first baby is in cloth. As cloth nappies can be used again on later children, then you can save even more money with your next baby. Nearly everyone who answered on the facebook post, listed cloth as their main, or at least one of the reasons that they decided that cloth nappies were for them. The Environment There are studies out there that try to claim that clo