I think it was somewhere in my teens when I became more aware of how we, as individuals, can be a big part of changing the world even just a little at a time. My grandmother and my mum have rubbed off some reusing habits on to me without even realising, simply because they were just “what we do”. Things like bring your own water, reusing jars, containers, bringing your own bag. All of these seem very on trend now but they have always been instilled in me.
While they are not perfect, and no one is, it is one of the major considerations on why I didn’t even flinch on using cloth nappies when I was expecting my first all those years ago.
Growing up, disposables were all the rage in the 90s. I did not see a single cloth nappy until an expo in Brisbane. By then, they were so different to what I had on when I was small but all so exciting! When we finally decided, we chose to start with something more traditional. We didn’t have a big budget, so using prefolds and covers was cost effective and surprisingly easy.
The total cost of our start-up was around $150 from memory. We hit the jackpot on Gumtree with a Bambino Mio pack that was never used. It was perfect for us. Slowly, we increased our stash to include some MCNs for when we are out.
At that time, we were also living with family and they had a baby too. I saw firsthand how much waste disposables made in just a day. It was not pretty and the smell wasn’t pleasant too. Seeing that made me even more determined to use cloth.
6 years on with 3 kids, I can safely say that the choice to use cloth paid off extensively. Yes there were bumps along the way, the learning curve wasn’t easy sometimes but if you let the journey take you to where you need to be, you’ll find it to be a wonderful thing. And the community you find along the way can be just the thing you didn’t know you need in your life.