A Dads Perspective On Modern Cloth Nappies

When my wife first mentioned the idea of us using reusable nappies, I thought there was no chance I would let her go through with this. My first thought was back to the olden days and I immediately pictured myself fighting to somehow clean a never-ending amount of poo off what I saw as a big white towel.

She proceeded to call me an old-fashioned dinosaur. After this, she began to introduce me to something called Modern Cloth Nappies (MCNs). From her description of them, (coupled with my cursory glances away from the TV as she forced her phone in front of my eyes) I did think, “oh yeah, they look modern, clean, minimal fuss, and (for someone who has no fashion sense) quite fashionable”. Still a no for me though, how the hell can something that doesn’t stop pooing and peeing all day stay clean in one of these without leaving a mountain of washing? She then started to tell me the financial side.

This is when my ears pricked up, it is a ridiculous saving! Each week it continues to pay for itself over and over again. The average cost per child on disposable nappies alone is up to and sometimes over $4000. Ok fair enough, “I’m interested”. Hang on, what about the extra power bill due to that washing machine being constantly on?? My wife should be a lawyer because she quickly rebuffed with more facts and proved the savings just keep coming.

At this point, I’m keen but not completely sold. We started with disposables, the first week or so whilst we got used to the craziness of becoming parents for the first time. It soon got really painful as with each nappy change, we both knew we were massively contributing to landfill. It wasn’t long before the MCNs came out.

I went in to Dad mode. My limited DIY skills and several trips to Bunnings later I was armed with a shower/gun attachment to add to our toilet flush system…Our ‘Bum Gun’. After realising I had got all the wrong size hose attachments and another couple of Bunnings trips later our ‘Bum Gun’ was armed and ready to fire our little girl’s number 2s down the throne. Long story short…this whole exercise was a waste of time. Due to the microfleece liners the mess is so easily manageable, it either makes its own way off and into our toilet or at worst only takes a little manipulation.

The whole washing system for these nappies is incredibly easy…I hand the dirty ones to my wife and the next day, they are all dried and ready to assemble! Ha…I got away with this method for about 2 days. Now, I am in the laundry, disassembling the nappies and getting them loaded in to the washing machine. The only assistance I now need is my wife’s instructions of how to set up this alien machine!

Assembly: With my big clumsy hands I struggled at first to get the inserts in to the nappies. I got them in OK but I failed many times when my efforts went through the Quality Control (my Wife) section of the factory it felt like we had set up in our living room. I would sit proudly looking at my pile of 3 or 4 assembled nappies whilst my wife had 15 or so and had already moved on to sorting the rest of her needs! In no time though, I became an expert nappy assembler. It very soon became our norm and it really does not take much time out of your week.

Fast forward 10 Months and the original dread of seeing her nappies and inserts on the drying rack has now turned into ‘Nappy Night’. We have races to see who gets the most done! My wife will tell you differently but that’s because she is no longer top dog.

The part of the world we live in allows us to fully utilise these MCNs…when we are pool hopping throughout the day, they double up as the most amazing swim nappy. I couldn’t quantify how much money we have saved from choosing to use MCNs but I know it is a lot. When I see Babies running around in reusables my heart sinks a little for the environment. I just want to sit the parents down and preach to them exactly like my Wife did many, many months ago.

So in an honest conclusion…and this is going to hurt…but…My Wife was right. ☹