Let’s begin with a couple of facts. Babies poo and poo is smelly, however, I am convinced that nappy manufacturers impress chemicals into their botty products specifically to ‘enhance’ nappy related odours. I suspect that they would argue that they do this as a ‘parenting aid’ to the benefit of the carer and child as it acts as an indicator that baby needs her nappy changed. I would argue that it benefits the manufacturer as more nappies get used.
We don’t use disposables. We use cloth. They don’t have odour enhancing properties. This is an important point because, generally speaking, wet nappies don’tsmell, ok so nappies waiting to go in the wash and night-time nappies may develop a certain, umm, ammonia fug?!
Interestingly poo doesn’t smell too much either, in fact some cloth nappies contain the odour so well that poo can arrive and reside undetected. These are stealth poos, stealth poo is a problem.
Stealth poo can remain undetected without visual inspection, a nose test, or the finger in the side of the nappy test - best not to resort to the latter unless absolutely necessary and with some degree of confidence that there isn’t something ‘lurking’! Of course undetected poop can lead to all kinds of nappy rash related nastiness and quick detection is important. Fortunately the cloth nappies we use have fantastic containment credentials and poop escaping from the back of the nappy is a non-issue …
Arguabley the lack of an ‘ integrated odour warning system’ is a failing of the cloth nappy, although maybe if you value a home that doesn’t smell like used nappies maybe it’s a benefit, and you can always check can’t you.
Maybe I’ll do a more positive cloth nappy post one day, I might be inclined to tell you:
- that disposable nappies take 500yrs to biodegrade in landfill;
- that the absorbent chemicals used in disposable can cause death if consumed, and nappies do burst;
- that cloth nappies are economically superior to disposables - the lass uses nappies that were originally bought for the lad over three years ago :shock: ;
- that cloth nappies have a resale value and can be sold on when you have finished with them;
- that cloth nappies nappies come in an array of funky colours, designs and patterns 8) ;
- that you can easily make your own cloth nappies.
- that the days of soaking cloth nappies before washing them are long gone, thanks to the marvels of the automatic washing machine.
But then that’s all for another day ;)
