Go Real Nappy Blog, Sandra Curley - Week 6

I have just got back from my monthly session at Good Hope Maternity Hospital, one of the four maternity hospitals in Birmingham. When I visit the ante natal department I get very differing responses. Sometimes it is “no thank you, I already have all my disposables bought for the first 9 months”, and I say “ok that’s great” and move onto the next person. I particularly like it when the next person asks me lots of questions!

I also met a mum who is having twins. She was already thinking of using washable nappies when her two little ones arrive, and was happy to get more information, particularly about the quick drying nappies. Thinking about new parents and parents of twins in particular, I decided to have a look at the TAMBA site, to see what they say about real nappies and if they advocate them. Unfortunately I could not find any information about washable nappies on their site, but guess what, they are sponsored by Pampers!

Have a fun Christmas everyone and very best wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2010.

Go Real Nappy Blog - Sandra Curley, Week 5

It finally got me! Whether it was the oink oink or just a bad cold, who knows! Two days in bed with lots of rest (ok, you can tell that my children are all grown up now – not a luxury you can have so easily when your children are small) a course of flu plus and I am almost back to normal. I have a couple of friends who are young single mums who have been poorly this last couple of weeks, and I feel so sorry for them. It is so difficult to look after babies and keep toddlers occupied when all you want to do is crash out. If you know a young mum (or dad) who is feeling under the weather, why not offer to take their little one to the park (or shops) for an hour or so, and let mum or dad have a bit of respite?


I mentioned prefold nappies in my last blog, and I have had a couple of phone calls this week about how to use them. They are really easy to use, you can fold them in different ways for a boy or girl, a newborn or a breast fed baby. These nappies are one of the cheapest you can buy, but you do need to have good fitting wraps. The best ones I have come across are the Bambino Mio. They have a deep Velcro band with a nice leg gusset for a good snug fit. The best price I have found for these wraps at the moment is at the Baby Barn (www.baby-barn.co.uk) who have them on offer at £7.99 each. I feel that it is part of my job to help parents get the best deals possible, so I do try and keep up to date with current offers. If anyone knows of anywhere cheaper, please let me know.

Go Real Nappy Blog - Sandra Curley, Week 4

We have had another busy weekend in Birmingham with the Half Marathon. There were 14,000 entrants with 6 water stations along the route providing recyclable plastic bottles. The clean up guys were fantastic in their efforts to get all those water bottles back into the recycling system. We had several representatives from our department running, who all managed in 2 hours or less, not bad – if I had done it I think I would still be on the Pershore Road!

However, my excuse for not running, was that I was busy checking for jelly fish on Guardamar Beach. I could hardly believe that the temperature in Spain in October would be up to 37 degrees with a millpond sea and just the occasional ‘medusa’.

Now that I am back to work, I find I have a couple of requests for information on nappy laundry services. This is a service that seems to have disappeared a little over the last couple of years. There are still lots of people who would like to use real nappies, but because of work commitments or living conditions, just cannot manage it. There is a company called Washed and Delivered who do just that! They provide all the nappies required and collect and replace on a weekly basis, for a fee which is still less than what some parents spend on their disposables. What I really like about this company is that rather than just supplying prefold nappies, they also give you the option of having a Fuzzibunz stuffable nappy, which a lot of parents prefer.

As an incentive to our residents to use real nappies, Birmingham City Council are offering to pay for two weeks use during the nappy trial offered by Washed and Delivered. Go on, give it a try…..

Go Real Nappy Blog - Sandra Curley, Week 3

I cannot believe that there are Christmas decorations starting to pop up in the shops already! I even heard on the radio that one woman has already written her Christmas Cards. I have to say I have a bit of a bug bear about cards. I feel that they are ok to send to people who you don't see very often, but why send them to family, close friends and work colleagues when you see them most weeks.
A few years ago I was very brave and put up a single card in the office wishing everyone a Happy Christmas and donated the money I saved on cards, to the NSPCC. I was actually quite shocked at the mixed response I got and have never done it again! I do save the cards I receive and make my own gift tags for the next year. Does anyone else have any money saving and recycling tips for Christmas?

I made some shocking discoveries about disposable nappies this week, that there are up to 200 chemicals in disposables and that some of them could be toxic. It is just so easy to pop the disposables on and not think about what is in them, but perhaps if the disposable nappy manufacturers had to list the contents of their product, we might get more parents looking at real nappies. Come on Go Real, let's start a lobby!

Have any of you seen the latest Lollipop nappy, the Pop N Gro. I absolutely love it! It is a lovely soft quick drying one size nappy, with easy fastenings and nice fitting around the thighs. It is a little bulky on a very new born, but babies grow so quickly its worth putting up with a fat bottom for a few weeks.

Talking of fat bottoms, my Christmas diet starts now……………….

Go Real Nappy Blog, Sandra Curley, Week 2

We have had a busy week-end in Birmingham with the annual Artsfest festival taking place, with nearly 600 different events and performances.

From ballet to bhangra, dub poetry to indie rock, comedy to classical music and everything in between, around 110,000 people
came on Saturday alone, to enjoy the free entertainment.

We were lucky to have lots of visitors to our recycling trailer wanting information on what they can recycle, how they can compost and of course real nappies. Parents are often pleasantly surprised to find out that Birmingham City Council wants to reward parents with a £30 cash back on their purchase of real nappies. In today’s climate every penny helps!

We can also boast some special visitors, the Lord Mayor, Lady Mayoress and Sharon Lea, Strategic Director of Environment & Culture (Acting) The Lord Mayor and Sharon Lea, seen here by our lovely recycling bins!

I have just got back from an information session at Birmingham Central Library where mums and dads brought their little ones to a play and story time event. It is always so nice when parents listen to a short demonstration and then ask loads of questions – even better if I can answer the questions! I am hoping this will be a regular event, the staff were certainly very keen.

I am having a short week this week as I have to go University hunting with my daughter, Hannah, oh joy. Actually, it’s not too scary as I have already done it once before with Alex. We are going to Glamorgan Uni this week, another trip to Wales, having already done Swansea and Cardiff. It might seem a long way off, but believe me, time flies so quickly when your children are small and you have 101 things to do!

Go Real Nappy Blog - Sandra Curley, Week 1

Hello, my name is Sandra and I am a Waste Minimisation Officer at Birmingham City Council. My job is to promote real nappies. I also provide information, help and advice to parents thinking about using real nappies.

By real nappies, I mean cloth or washable nappies. They come in so many varieties and materials, I tend not to call them cotton nappies anymore.

My own experience with real nappies was 20 years ago when my son Alex was born. My mum bought me a pack of a dozen Zorbit nappies, 3 plastic pull on pants (yuk), a couple of huge nappy pins and a roll of nasty paper liners. I can’t remember using many disposables at all, if any. But I do remember that he potty trained very quickly during his second summer. A couple of weeks running around wearing little pants, a potty in each room, weeing in the garden aiming at the daisies and we were soon potty trained. I didn’t manage to beat my mother-in-law’s record of 11 months though!

I am getting an increasing number of mums-to-be calling for information about real nappies, it is really encouraging, and if I had a pound for everyone who has asked me “which nappy should I buy?” I would be a happy nappy lady! I think it is really important to get the right nappies, if they don’t fit properly you can get leaks, if they are complicated you or a partner/grandparent, might not bother with using them, certain fabrics take longer to dry and you might not have a quick enough turnover, and any of these could result in using disposables. A nappy trial is a great idea and you should have a look to see if anyone in your area offers this service.