Tots Bots in Tesco

Well, there's been a right old hoo-hah all over the blogs and forums since the announcement that the Tots Bots EasyFit nappies are to be stocked in Tesco.

On Tots Bots Facebook page, there's been a lot of positive reaction from cloth-loving mums... delighted to see modern cloth nappies in their local big supermarket, alongside chemical nappies, as a natural and normal choice for new parents.

From the photos many have spontaneously taken and posted online, most seem thrilled to see fluff taking its rightful place on-shelf in a major supermarket alongside disposables. There's even a sense of feeling proud that our decision to use cloth nappies has been vindicated as an acceptable choice for all parents, not just eco-warriors.

For many of us modern cloth mums, the stocking of a brand of cloth nappies in Tesco spells the beginning of the end of the endless having-to-explain-again-and-again to family, friends, people we meet at baby and toddler groups and child-carers... "No, they're not just covers for disposables", "Yes, you wash them, and use them again when they're dry", "No, they don't leak", "No, I'm not brave, and I don't like doing lots of washing either... I don't have to", "No, I don't put poo in my washing machine, I use liners" and so on...

No-one likes to feel like a freak, but the chemical nappy industry have done a great job over the last 25 years at characterising cloth nappy usage as backward and unhygienic.

Unfortunately, combined with most people's image of cloth nappies as rough terry squares, giant stabbing pins and PVC plastic pants, this hasn't been hard to achieve and maintain.

Given most modern real nappy manufacturers and retailers are still quite small, there hasn't been the budget to combat the combination of outdated impressions and deliberate misinformation amongst the general public.

Now, though, in my opinion, Tesco have potentially given not just Tots Bots, but the whole cloth nappy industry a huge boost. Simply by stocking the bright and colourful Easyfits next to the insipid paper nappy brands in their biggest 100 stores, Tesco could achieve for cloth nappies the kind of exposure amongst mainstream mums and dads that the industry has only previously been able to dream of.

Unfortunately, although perhaps understandably, the reaction of other online nappy retailers has been a lot more circumspect. There's been a lot of worrying about how Tesco stocking the EasyFit will affect their own sales, and pleas not to forget the smaller online retailers.

This has been exacerbated by Tesco deciding to launch the Easyfit at £14.99 rather than the usual RRP of £17.99, which means that we all will have to follow suit and cut our margins on this product.

However, although this is definitely annoying, I think that overall most small online retailer's fears about Tesco just aren't justified. However successfully the EasyFit performs in Tesco, they just aren't ever going to stock the range of nappies that even the smallest word-at-home mum cloth nappy retailer does. Nor will they be able to provide the tailored, thoughtful, personal customer service and trouble-shooting that most smaller online retailers generally provide as standard.

Yes, we might miss out on the odd sale of an EasyFit to an established customer who decides to pick one up with her weekly shop, rather than purchase separately online.

But there's another potential scenario, which I believe is more likely and much more positive:

A mum or dad who has fallen in to the habit of using disposables, despite feeling a bit guilty about it from time-to-time goes into Tesco, and sees colourful, funky EasyFit cloth nappies suddenly sitting next to their usual buy. They decide on a whim to pick up a single pack of EasyFits as well as their usual disposable brand, and give them a go at home. They like them (although, of course, some won't) and either go back to Tesco for more, or, get online to see what other choices they might have in the cloth nappy arena.

Either way, the online retailer either wins, or at least, doesn't lose out. If the newly converted parent decides to purchase all her cloth nappies from Tesco in future, then we don't lose out, because they are customers we would probably never have had anyway. If they get online to see what else is available, then hey, we all have the potential to win a new customer here!

Finally, even if our new cloth mum or dad only ever purchases EasyFits from Tesco, then at the very least, all the people they come into contact with, friends, family, child-carers etc, will start to see cloth as a normal and acceptable choice... which can only benefit the industry as a whole.

I think the worst thing that could happen to the industry is that Tesco declare the experiment a failure, remove it from their shelves, and relegate cloth nappies to further years as a niche product beloved only of an exclusive online club of those 'in the know'.

Whatever your misgivings about Tesco, they have huge clout (and must be doing something right, as so many of us shop there), so if you want to help make chemical nappies clogging up our landfill a thing of the past, then why not use the might of the Tesco machine to help?

As bizarre as it sounds coming from an online retailer who stocks the EasyFit, I urge all those who want to see more cloth nappies on babies bottoms in future to go out and buy an EasyFit from your nearest large Tesco this week. Every little helps, and all that... (do you see what I did there?)

Do cloth nappies work in the real world?

Do Cloth Nappies Work In The Real World?

Article published in www.daisygreenmagazine.co.uk this week!

At 36 weeks pregnant with my third baby, my sister called me and announced she was going to send me some cloth nappies to trial when my new son arrived.

I tried to sound politely interested, but mentally filed in the ‘yeah right, too much work’ bin.

Don’t get me wrong, I wanted to be the greenest parent I could be. I had used ‘eco-disposables’ with my first two children. I searched out baby toiletries full of nice natural ingredients and no sodium laureth sulfate.

I used to hang out at the Green Baby shop in Islington, swooning over the organic, fair-trade moses baskets and swaddling blankets. I religiously bought local, seasonal organic veggies to puree for my precious babies’ first foods… Oh yes, I wanted to be green, and organic and the best mummy I could.

But cloth nappies? Purlease. Soaking, pinning, washing and drying? No thanks. I was a mummy of the Noughties, not the Fifties.

I had been a career girl, an ex-advertising exec with a shoe collection to prove it. I wasn’t about to start spending my days swishing poo soup in a bucket.

Baby arrived. Blissfully, at home, in water (another story). And the cloth nappies arrived too.

Cute, they were. Teeny tiny, soft little things, shaped just like a disposable nappy, and not much bigger either. They fastened with Velcro or poppers. Kind of easy, actually. And very fabulous patterns on the outside. Soft and furry, with Dalmatian spots all over them. One with little sailing boats all over it. Daddy liked this one. Another with the Very Hungry Caterpillar and his cherry pie round the waistband. I liked this one so much I took pictures of the new arrival in it to send to my sister.

Performance-wise, no major leaks. And best of all… poo explosions kept under control. No right-up-to-the-neck mustard poo accidents. Literally, none, which was an unexpected bonus.

And then, revelation! Washing was easy. No soaking at all! No poo soup!

I popped the few I had in the washing machine with some dirty towels and dishcloths. Washed at 30 degrees with half my normal amount of liquid, and they came out completely clean, smelling lovely, and ready to dry and use again.

I couldn’t believe it… how had I been so stubborn and foolish about this for so long? These would save me a fortune (mentally I bought the shoes a £500 saving over 3 years would bring me).

I would also be rid of that awful nagging guilty feeling I had every time I wrapped up a soggy piece of paper (and sometimes, chemicals) in a small plastic nappy bag and threw it away.

And so it began… scouring the internet for more of these amazing things with their funny names: Fuzzi Bunz, Cushie Tushies, TotsBots, Bimbles and Bumhuggers… where to start with purchasing more? Which should I buy next?

Before I knew it, a full-blown addiction had developed. Non-parents, and non-cloth nappy users will think I have truly lost my marbles here. Let me tell you, though, that there is little in life more satisfying of some long-buried deeply-held maternal instinct, than wrapping your precious little one’s soft and pure little bottom, in an equally soft and pure fluffy nappy.

A quick google search of some of the cloth nappy forums will confirm that this is a properly addictive pursuit. As I realised, after I moved on from plain old (but still adorable) fluffy bamboo nappies, to tracking down one-of-a-kind sumptuous, cushiony, hand-embroidered items made from organic bamboo velour. As a friend put it, “wearing one of those must be like peeing into a pillow”.

But addiction aside, the rational side of me became more convinced, the more searching I did too. I realised that some of my assumptions about the disposable versus cloth nappy debate had been misinformed.

For example, for years, I had kept in the back of my mind the Environmental Agency report that had apparently found little difference in the environmental impact of disposables and washable nappies. Any time my sister had mentioned cloth before now, I had cited it to her.

But now, having actually done some research of my own, I found to my shame, that it wasn’t what I thought. It’s a complicated subject, for another time, perhaps, but the sum of it is this:

The environmental impact of a disposable is fixed.

But you can lower the impact of a washable nappy substantially by laundering them normally.

That is, mainly at 30 degrees, line-drying wherever possible and not ironing.

(I only mention the ironing, because it’s one of the key assumptions in the EA report. Let me assure you though, nobody irons modern cloth nappies – it’d melt the waterproof layer in most of them for a start)

However, we aren’t saints, by any means, and we do use disposables still. But our general philosophy on this, and all green issues is that every little helps.

Even just one single cloth nappy a day will save on average over 1000 disposables going to landfill. We did our own little survey on cloth nappy users, and almost everyone uses the odd disposable alongside their reusables, to a greater or lesser extent.

Disposables can be a great solution when you’re in a fix. Stuck in a jam on the way to the grandparents? Sure, bung a disposable on.

But they don’t have to be used all the time, 24/7/365. Just as we buy kitchen towel paper, and fabric dishcloths too, there’s no reason why we can’t use both types of nappy interchangeably… even though the fabric nappy is more cost-effective, and arguably more environmentally-friendly too.

The whole reusable nappy market is seeing a new resurgence since the advent in the last five years of these amazingly functional, and beautiful modern cloth nappies, that are comfortable, cute and incredibly easy to care for.

And the dreaded extra washing? Well, honestly, I barely notice it. A family of five generates a lot of laundry, and the nappies are the least of it.

I guess I would say that though, since as a result of our own search for clear information and the ultimate reusable nappy, we started our own online reusable nappy boutique: www.cheeksandcherries.co.uk.

If you have a baby, or are pregnant, try just one, though, and make your own mind up.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you though.