Plastic consumption needs to be limited — but is taxing disposable nappies really the answer?
Mum-of-two Lynsey Hope, 37, tried out cloth nappies on her 18-month-old to see how parents would cope if disposables are put out of reach
All recommendations within this article are informed by expert editorial opinion. If you click on a link in this story we may earn affiliate revenue.
PARENTS were left seething last week as the Government warned there may be a levy on disposable nappies as part of the war on plastic pollution.
A worthy cause, but is putting disposables out of the financial reach of many parents really the answer?
Annie O’Leary, of parenting website , says: “I think it is borderline offensive.”
Sun writer and mum of two LYNSEY HOPE put her 18-month-old daughter Olive in cloth nappies for a week to highlight what it will be like if disposables become too expensive for many families.
"IT’S 8pm and I would usually be thinking about putting my feet up with a glass of wine. But today that won’t happen, as I’ve switched to reusable nappies. After tidying up a mountain of toys, cooking dinner and getting the kids to bed, I have a bucketful of stinky nappies to scrub.
"We throw away eight million disposable nappies a DAY and the average child goes through 6,000 before outgrowing them. Making the change could save you up to £500.
"I’m no eco-warrior but I drink my coffee from a reusable cup and recycle my bottles and tins, so I felt good about making this change. I even got a little excited when I bought the . That changed when they arrived.
"They were nothing more than a packet of white muslins with safety pins. I couldn’t imagine how they could stop my 18-month-old daughter Olive peeing all over the house.
"My first attempt to fasten one on her would have gone viral if I’d had a free hand to film it. She wriggles all over the place as I work it out, grabbing at the pins. It takes ten minutes to fasten before "I put a colourful cover over the top () to stop leaks.
"I have barely tidied away the changing mat before Olive is doing a poo. The nappy holds. I take off the cover and fiddle with the pins to release the nappy before cleaning her and putting on a clean one.
"The poo I flush down the toilet before throwing the nappy into a bucket outside my back door. It is a lot more effort than sticking a used disposable in a nappy bag.
"Half an hour later, I am holding Olive when she has a wee, which seeps through the nappy, the cover, Olive’s clothes and my jeans. These I add to the increasing pile of washing.
"By 6pm on day one, I have used all 12 of the reusable nappies — six more than I would usually use in a day. I stick her in a normal Pampers for bedtime.I have yet to cook dinner, eat, tidy up, wash up and get my son’s bag ready for school.
"After getting Olive and her brother Jacob, four, to bed, I have the grim job of scrubbing off the worst of the poo, washing and tumble-drying them ready for day two. But I am pleasantly surprised at how clean they come up.
"Day two and Olive immediately poos after I change her into the reusable. As I flush it down the toilet, she wees all over the carpet. More mess. It’s hard to fasten the nappies and less than an hour later, she’s crying and soaked through — which wouldn’t happen with disposables.
"It’s just not feasible to wash seven outfits a day, plus bedsheets that get a little wet overnight, my clothes and the nappies themselves. I go online and order more, hoping they work better.
"The Bambino Mio Miosolo (£15.99, ) is expensive but the holy grail of reusable nappies. You can put liners inside so you needn’t change the whole thing.
"By day three, I’m better at fastening them and having fewer leaks. But on day four, at soft play, Olive wets one through and sits in a puddle of wee in the ball pit.
"Mortified, I do my best to clear it up while the poor staff decontaminate the area.
MOST READ IN FABULOUS
"Day five and the Miosolo nappies arrive. They are surprisingly absorbent and I find I’m having to change Olive less often. I can finally do away with the safety pins, as these ones fasten with Velcro.
"They leak if she sits in one position for too long, so on day six we get leaks in her car seat and in the high chair. Yet more clearing up. After a week, I am still getting to grips with how best to use them and I find it hard to tell when Olive needs a change.
"I love the idea of making a positive change for the environment but the extra washing when you’re a working mum with two small kids is hard to swallow. I hope science will make these nappies better before Environment Secretary Michael Gove slaps a tax on disposables."