Smartipants Birth to Potty Reusable Nappy Review

I was a wuss and didn't use washable nappies with Leon, but I'd like to use reusable nappies for my next baby that will last the whole nappy-wearing period to save money and reduce landfill waste. The average baby uses 7,000 disposable nappies plus the nappy sacks - and think of the production, and transportation costs to the environment (yes it costs suppliers too, but they make a helluva lot back ;). An alternative to this horror is to use 24 one size reusable nappies costing over £200 initially but overall it will save you £1,300 per child. Not bad.

My mission is two-fold as I'm still on the hunt for the perfect nappy for Leon (almost 2 years old but slowly starting potty training), and I wish to use reusables from day one for baby #2 when he arrives this month. The one size fits all concept fits in nicely as I can use them for both babies and don't have to change to a bigger size as he grows.

We tried Smartipants "The World's Smartest one size fits all reusable diaper" (was a given a sample at the Baby Trade show) which is a pocket nappy, and have used it successfully several times during the day while at home- avoiding carrying a wet/soiled nappy when out and about (wet bags are the solution!).

How to use it
You place the soft insert into the opening and then snap the nappy using the adjustable poppers. It's easy to adjust and snap the poppers. With Leon, who's just turned 2 and is rather tall, I used the last two poppers. It's easy to determine the correct fit by checking it's snug but not too tight around the thighs. The nappy fits him really well and are like big comfortable pants rather than papery/plastic disposables.

It's worth knowing that :  'Babies change shape frequently as they grow up. You may have times when your relatively young baby is using their one-size diapers on the largest setting. The same child may be on the medium setting several months later due to increased mobility.'

A tip for overnight use is to stuff the nappy with two inserts and set the nappy to be one size larger than for daytime use (the equivalent of adding a booster sanitary pad style layer to nappies). I'd need to do this as Leon is out-weeing a variety of nappies, but I can't set it any bigger so am unable to :(

When it needs changing, just take it off and whip it in the laundry basket! Or a wet bag until you have enough to wash. (I discovered I already had a couple of wet bags from a Bounty pack last time- so they do come in useful ;) I washed at 30 with non-bio liquitabs and they came out well and hung them out to dry. They were done within a few hours. Though now it's colder I've sped up the last bit of drying on the radiators. It's very easy and are still soft after a few washes. NB. There was a slight wee smell when sniffing the clean nappy insert, so I think they should be washed at 40 but it doesn't bother me too much so I just carry on at 30- hope thats not disgusting.

I've only tried the one nappy in between disposables at home, and it doesn't come up often as I don't do laundry every day so I'd be happy to purchase more or put on wish list for baby or even Leon (he's over 15kg and they still fit him).


Cool Factor?
It's a nappy - but we know how these have been jazzed up by many brands. The Smartipants range is very basic but they have a large choice of bright colours. You can see that they aren't as high-end as some of the other brands. Aesthetically, the one size fits all nappy means you see all the poppers when your baby gets older, but its not ugly and the colours are cool.

In a nutshell, they are practical, fast-drying, comfortable, easy to use and durable and I'll definitely be putting these on my baby #2 wishlist. They cost £13.50 each (less than other similar nappies) and are cheaper if you buy in bulk.

And those 2 extra laundry loads per week uses about the same amount of water as a few daily flushes. So try not to flush as often (if it's yellow let it mellow and all...) be careful with other water usage and over all it's better for the environment!

Sort it out! Recycling rant

Recycling is OH's responsibility but I sometimes go with Leon to empty out our big bags of sorted junk. Living in a commercial street we can't use the big blue and black boxes like most people do locally, and I have to nag hubby to actually empty the bags before they take over our kitchen.

Leon and I enjoy posting the numerous tins, bottles and paper through the bristles and hearing the resulting clunk or smash. However the last time I took him I noticed there were no glass bins so came home with a clinking bagful. I later realised when passing on the bus that actually, glass should be recycled with the metal and plastic: it's now completely mixed recycling.

This irked me slightly as I'd just re-organised my 'recycling station' in my kitchen, setting it out in labelled boxes- I take care to sort it at home only to be mixed up together again with broken glass, tins and plastics. But I also felt like I was losing power to contribute to the recycling process if it's all mixed up when we've become pros at sorting it all out.

The way co-mingled recycling works is damn impressive though. The basics are illustrated simply in the gripping last scene of Toy Story 3 but in reality single-stream recycling is much more high-tech.
Yes the magnets lift out cans and metals, but then optical scanners separate plastics and the Veolia Magpie machine for example, analyses the plastic materials' molecular structure with an infra-red beam to identify the different types, then separates these off with an air jet blowing them off onto another belt processing a massive 5 tonnes an hour! Glass is sorted by colour scanners. Kewl.

This innovation hugely increases volume processed- an overall winner, PLUS there are massive cost savings in collection and transportation of one type of bin AND more likelihood that more materials will be recycled as the machine can adapt to other materials depending on their make up. Increasing plastic types are now possible to sort which was a major problem leading to overflowing landfills.

So basically we don't really need to sort anymore if our borough offers mixed recycling. Hmm... I still need to post items one-by-one at the big bins though as they have individual holes in them making us trawl through mixed potentially broken glass, tins etc... so actually I should really still sort? [I then saw a guy simply lift the bin lid up and pour in his junk. Now I do the same but feel like a rebel as only one of the 3 bins is unlocked.]

Aside from reduced empowerment, I also feel like it shouldn't come to this massive waste processing system. WTF is happening to the reduction in packaging we've been promised by the retail industry? There should be more conscious efforts to make REUSABLE packaging than recyclable. A place to take your wine and beer bottles at least to be washed and reused rather than enter a long and expensive process of recycling. If supermarkets are playing such a big part in our lives as everyone tells us, they could become a helpful portal closing the loop between customer and producer the other way round- where we give them back their packaging to be used again...

Has my life really become this boring that I'm talking about waste management? Perhaps. I've always been concerned about the issue but reading back I realise it's not the most enthralling topic so apologies, but it riles me. Rant over.

Early morning wet wakeup call: hunt for the perfect nappy

Leon's been waking up at 6.30am recently with a big "mamaaaaaa!!" until I reach his bed-side and he points at the mattress which is, once agan drenched. He soaks through his nappies every morning resulting in more laundry and earlier wake-up calls. He's 22 months and familiarising himself with the potty, and can go for some dry periods during the day... But I still don't feel he's totally ready for the potty and, well I'm thinking of waiting until baby #2 is out and we move to Madrid (Feb/March) to begin the proper stuff.

Meanwhile I've been trying to find the ideal nappy for him.

Initially I was a Nature Babycare fan- chlorine-free and without the plasticky feel. I felt this was the next best thing to cloth nappies. I loved them and used them for over a year.

But then the price went up a quid (£6.49 for 28 Or 32p each), and my local Boots stopped stocking them, meaning an extra 5 minute walk to Waitrose... And more importantly, Leon had several morning episodes of waking up with the gel stuff all over the place and wet pyjamas, so I searched for an alternative.

I toyed with Boots own brand Super Dry (£4.39 for 28 or 16p each) and Pampers Active Fit & Baby Dry (£6.49 for 27 or 24p each). These were all fine during the day, but like the others, it was first thing in the morning that was the problem, and more than once, on the branded nappies, the gel would come out the top of his nappy and all over him and the bed, which wasn't a nice experience.

If Leon was potty-trained this would be, I suppose, the time for his first morning pee- but alas, he'd have to climb out of his cot, or call out to me in time to lift him out and do his business. So until then, nappies will have to do.

The solution? Friends suggested going one size up- so I've gone for size 6 nappies, even though size 5s go up to 25kg and Leon was 16kg last time I checked. And yes... It worked!

For my next baby I'd like to use washable nappies and have my eye on the birth to potty style available from several brands now, and will hopefully try them out on Leon first! Will save hundreds of pounds and quite frankly I'll feel less guilty about chucking away all those nappies.

Greener Living - saving the planet (and some cash)

Through a current work project I've been delving into the depths of eco-living and how you can save energy and money while saving the planet. Since discovering that I am more Green Dreamer than Eco saint, according to the Tesco Greener Living Interactive Quiz, I have taken a step back to look at how my life is impacting our world. I thought I was greener than the average Brit; I recycle pretty much everything, always wash at 30C, limit my purchases - but in taking this test and looking at the Starbucks takeaway capuccino guiltily sitting on my desk - I realise there are a few tweaks I need to make to ensure I am truly an Eco Saint.   

So what do I need to do to become an Eco saint? Granted, as we rent our flat we cannot change the light fittings to take energy saving lightbulbs, double glaze our windows, or install solar panels - but there's a lot I CAN do and I'm going to attempt to change my ways:

Draft Proofing: Living in a building a few hundred years old is very charming, but when winter sets in, the cold, damp air can tempt me to switch on the heating here and there. My mum suggested placing cling film over the windows, which I found rather odd - but apparently it helps. I need to make a few sausage dog draft proofers out of old tights and newspaper, and potentially replace the curtains with a heavier one in the bedroom. Leon often throws off his covers in the night and I always try and cover him back up - so maybe it's now time to invest in a baby grow-bag thing? I just don't like the idea of his movements being restricted at night by being in a 'bag'.

OWL Micro energy Reader

Another big main change is switching off appliances left on standby (I always worry this will mess up the settings on Sky etc. but switching off saves £37 a year according to Energy Saving Trust) and I want to get one of these OWL energy readers to see exactly how much energy each appliance uses. Whether it’s turning off at the plug rather than just using standby or simply turning off a light, the OWL Micro shows you how changing your behaviour can save you money and so help the environment. It is easy to install, easy to read and easy to use. Costs about £25

In the bathroom instead of buying a Hippo,  I'm going to put a brick or two in the Cistern and hope it still flushes. Secondly, Leon's bath uses up so much water and he's only in it for about 10 minutes. Hubby loves having a bath after and tops it up for himself - unless it's been pooped in (baths are very relaxing for babies you know!), but the plug isn't snug and lets a lot of water go. We need to fix that. So, I'd love to get a Babydam (rrp £27.50 but was reduced to £20 during Energy Saving Week- Boo just missed it!) and halve the amount of water used per bath. According to Babydam the average baby bath in a family sized bath is 20litres so this would make it 10litres. "If all parents in the UK used BabyDam for 2 and a half years when bathing their children (based on average of 700,000 births in the UK each year), we could save over six BILLION litres of water across the UK - that’s enough to fill 2,500 Olympic sized swimming pools!"

I feel that I'm rather green In the Kitchen : only heating up as much water as I need in the kettle, cautious with water usage when washing up and using that to wash the floors... I may moan about the council's non-action for picking up Kitchen scraps down my street (as it's a pretty commercial street so don't have recycling boxes either) and as we don't have a garden I can't chuck the scraps on a compost heap. It feels so wrong to throw them away. I missed telling LBRUT in the recent survey - but I will contact the councillor to suggest a communal compost heap for willing residents to contribute to if they have no green space themselves. It may come to contacting  York House Gardens or Orleans House Gallery gardens to see if they could do with some... 

I try to buy most my fruit/veg from the Grocers and now always take a canvas bag with me shopping. I try to plan my meals for the week but need more discipline with this and have started looking for inspiration. http://www.frugaliciousfood.com/ is a new initiative from Jen (TheMadHouse) and  Cass (The Diary of a Frugal Family) encouraging meal planning and show us theirs, Tesco do some personalised plans and make it easy to buy ingredients of course, and I found this one from the UK based Resourceful cook really helpful too and you can adapt to how many people it's for, how many nights a week etc. I'm tempted by their Winter warmer selection. Brilliant stuff and I hope to make enough for Leon too as he prefers the food I make for myself than for him... The best site for leftover ideas and help in preventing waste has got to be http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/

I feel proud to have switched from cheapo washing up liquid to Ecover but have bought 3 bottles since and didn't know how to re-fill them. Thanks to reading http://plasticisrubbish.wordpress.com/ I know now to find the nearest retailer who do re-fills on the Ecover site (makes sense) and will plan my re-fills in advance to ensure I never run out and thus need to buy another plastic bottle.

On the commute : We don't own a car (as much as hubby would love to!) so I'm a public transport fanatic and know that I  should dig out that Thermos from my parents' kitchen and fill it with hot coffee before leaving for work! No more takeaway coffee cups!

Make do and mend : I've always tried... now I am conscious of mending more things be it toys or handbags. I rescued a tiny evening bag that I love, from ripping apart completely and it feels as good as new! Another particular bag has so many holes in the lining I am constantly searching the bottom for pens, tissues, notes, lipbalm etc. Now I've cleaned it, turned inside out and preparing to reinforce the lining with an old silk shirt I will never wear. Will feel like a new bag after that hopefully! Although I enjoy shopping, I need to go about it like a food shop and go out with items in mind instead of buying aimlessly and then finding out that it doesn't go with anything. Also, I've taken out the knitting needles and am attempting some wrist-warmers for myself and some little legwarmers for Leon!

My last challenge is trying to find a way for hubby not to take plastic carrier bags from Waitrose when he does the shoping. He goes straight from work so doesn't carry much in his pockets. I may need to find those reusable nylon bags and strategically place them on him without noticing...

Maria's Checklist to become an Eco Saint:

1. Draft Proofing
2. Switching off appliances at mains - getting an OWL monitor
3. Bricks in toilet cistern
4. Buying a BabyDam
5. Arranging communal compost heap! (Or leaving scraps in someone else's scrap bin)
6. Meal plans
7. Re-fill Ecover bottles when needed
8. Thermos for coffee
9. Convert hubby into an Eco saint too
10. any suggestions?

Here are a few of my favourite sites that I've discover along the way: 

http://thefurtheradventuresofathriftymrs.blogspot.com/

For inspiring me to improve my home-making skills

http://stylewillsaveus.com/

For making it fun to look for eco-friendly designers, products and ideas

http://www.dothegreenthing.com/blog

For actively doing something with unwanted t-shirts or lost gloves and lots of news

http://greenlashesandfashion.blogspot.com/

I like their home and Lifestyle section

http://www.fuoriborgo.com/

Pretty images of life in Italy - beautiful

Pampers Pampers

Oh dear Pampers

http://www.pampers.co.uk/en_GB/proddetail/baby-products/active-fit-nappies/id/2/sectionid/3

Not great comments really, in response to the new Active Fit nappies - and I agree, they seem quite stiff and not that comfortable for my baby (8kg roughly and using 4+) and they smell weird and plasticky. I can no longer sniff my baby's bottom to see if he's done a poo as there's an awful plasticky smelling nappy covering any other smell.

I was thinking how Pampers are the biggest nappy brand in the world but can't get it right. Definitely can't get it right ecologically - they've been voted the least-green major nappy brand. Would like to try out the other greener brands but not sure how good they are.

I'd eventually like to get rid of nappies altogether as mentioned in the Matt and Harriet Rudd article in the Sunday Times last week. Need to learn the 'rhythm' though if there are any tips...?


*Just found out that this is called Elimination Communication
 http://www.naturalbirthandbabycare.com/elimination-communication.html

 Pic from  http://www.whizkidz.biz/main/