To reuse or not to reuse: the cloth nappy question

A friend of mine in Cape Town recently had her first baby. She chose to go the reusable nappy route.

Before I had Son I was horrified by the thought of all the waste we'd add to the landfills if we went the disposable route, but that's the route we took. We were just happy to be able to get his waste out of the way as quickly and unfussily as possible. Nappy off in the bin fresh one on there we go.

When my Little M came along I had so much going on with a toddler and work still steaming ahead, that her little steamers went straight into the trusty nappy bin too and merrily made their way to the landfills without much guilt.

I'd tell myself that even if we got past the overwhelming stage of reusables, and the big initial layout (a starter kit comes in over R2000), we'd still be adding to the ruin of the planet with the extra water and electricity to wash and dry them. But at the back of my mind I always knew I'd feel like a better member of the human race if I was using cloth.

Then I see pictures like this one of my friend's new babe:

And I think, if we ever have a third, maybe we should finally give 'em reusables a go. There are so many different kinds to chose from; from the all-in-one's to the all-in-two's, modern versions of the good old cloth and the seemingly unfussy "fitted" style of the same. Perhaps with all the advancements in this area, picking the right style would be the most overwhelming bit of it all. And they're just so cute you hardly need to worry about pants.

For those wanting more information on cloth nappies, read this article on the subject at Parent 24 listing pro's and con's of all the different versions. There's also a South African cloth nappy users group on Facebook which my friend swears by. She says its been an invaluable resource in terms of troubleshooting and has actually made her a better person. See, I knew that's how it would feel!