Cloth Nappy Chats with Tammy from Make Laundry Not Landfill
Make Laundry Not Landfill the popular Cloth Nappy Blog that delves into all things cloth, we had the chance to sit down with Tammy the creator and discuss all things cloth! She's also had the chance to review our Night Nappy, see what she says below.
What made you get into cloth? Was it something you always wanted to do?
Cloth nappies were never on my radar until well after I became a parent. There was a friend here and there who was using them, and I was going to say I never had the opportunity to become intimate with their routine, but that’s probably not the whole truth. I think it would be more accurate to say I didn’t hold a deep enough interest to question them on how and why they used them.
Over time, I began to take a greater interest in the option as a means of reducing my environmental impact, especially after we welcomed a second child 17 months after the first and then had two bottoms worth of disposable nappies filling the bin each week. Still, I didn’t take the leap.
Two years later, and now with a toddler who was out-wetting disposable nappies overnight, I found my catalyst for launching into the deep end. I opened Facebook Marketplace and promptly purchased some cotton prefolds and covers.
Anyone who has a heavy wetter on their hands might guess that those cotton prefolds didn’t work out so well for my toddler – day or night, but it was the start of my love affair with cloth. I love a challenge and here I’d found one.
I absolutely love your blog, it's very empowering, open and raw. Was this always your intention, did the blog start off this way or has it evolved into what we see today?
Thank you. Stories have always played a key role in my life. I started my career as a journalist, then went on to teach English at the secondary level, and today I work in a library. I love nothing more than reading and listening to people’s stories (to the extent I consumed 62 books in the year my second son was born, mostly whilst breastfeeding).
One of the things that was missing for me as I considered the switch to cloth nappies was seeing families use them ‘in the real world’. I could access an insurmountable knowledge bank of FAQs wherever I looked, but I couldn’t find the story behind families’ choices to use cloth.
That’s where the blog came in. I saw it as a way to combine my skill set, my appetite for stories and my newfound love for cloth nappies. The intent has always been to encourage others to give cloth a go. If I wasn’t willing to try cloth because it all seemed so overwhelming, then there had to be others out there who also felt the same.
You've had a chance to try our Night Nappies, how did they go? What are your thoughts on the fit and cut?
My boys are now 2.5 and nearing 4 and both in night nappies. I’ve had quite a journey of trial and error over the past two years as I sought a viable option for my older son’s nightly output of circa 800g, but things are less hectic these days as he dramatically reduced his overnight output as soon as he toilet trained, and my younger son has always been a moderate wetter day and night.
I can’t say whether the Gentle Wilderness nappies would have stood up to my big boy at his peak, but they certainly hold all they need and more for my current needs. With 15 layers of low GSM bamboo terry over 5 inserts, you certainly get bang for buck.
The large size of the night nappies is also a huge win in my book right now as I stare down the barrel of a 4 year old in night nappies with no end in sight. I’ve trialled the nappy fully unsnapped and with all inserts on him with success, but I suspect I could also get away with one less insert and snap it down one rise. It fits well on my 2.5 year old one rise snap down with all inserts. There’s so much growing room for both of my boys and it pleases the side of me that’s thinking ahead to an option beyond the average one size fits most nappy.
Cloth nappies at night seem pretty daunting before you start, what would be your advice to a mum that wants to give cloth overnight a go?
As someone who started out looking for an option to replace disposable nappies overnight, there’d be better people than me to ask this question. In fact, I was surprised when I first learned it was common for people to use cloth for day but not overnight. My experience has been my older son sleeping through whatever happens overnight. A bed full of wee? No worries. Wet up to your chin? Meh.
But I get the risk of losing sleep. It’s not worth it. Still, my advice would be the same as that I’d give to using cloth nappies in general – just give it a go. A night nappy is simply a nappy with enough absorbency to see your child through the night, hopefully without waking up. Whatever that looks like, it doesn’t matter; though, I would suggest over budgeting on absorbency; you can always tailor it back if it’s partly dry on waking. And you can always decide to take a break too.