Swimming - Ditch the Disposables!

When my sister first showed me my nephews reusable nappies, I couldn’t get my head round it. Flips and wraps and all sorts of popper and Velcro attachments – my head was a whirl. But I soon found myself offering to change his nappy because I got to sift through all these gorgeous designs!

I tried using cloth nappies myself when I had Callie, and for the most part they worked. But I never had my sister’s commitment, so I did 50/50 between reusable nappies and the more eco-friendly disposables by Naty or Kit & Kin disposable nappies. That was, until I learnt that unless they're disposed of by the correct means (i.e. composting), by putting them into my usual waste bin, I wasn't actually being any better towards the environment than using normal disposables.

Disposable nappies after all are classed as a single-use plastic and according to research done by TotsBots, 25% of a disposable nappy is plastic with a further 4% being adhesive. This equated to 9.57g of plastic per nappy! I didn’t realise until later when I read TotsBots research that these so-called more eco-friendly nappies still have the same impact in production and use the same amount of raw materials per child as the standard product - the majority of the product still ends up in the regular domestic waste stream. So if we parents really do want to reduce our environmental impact, then reusable nappies are the only alternative. 

But it’s not just about being better for the environment – using a reusable nappy can also make life tons easier!

Swimming

One place that we always use reusable nappies is at our swimming lesson, for no other reason than I am washing one nappy after her lesson, so why not wash two and save myself however much money a week on disposable swim nappies?

Using a double-nappy system

You don’t need to take much swimming – just your usual bits and pieces for you and a towel swim nappies for baby. 

Babies need wear a double nappy system in the water which means a paper swim nappy (disposable or reusable) with an approved neoprene nappy over the top. This might seem a little extreme, but babies poo whenever they need to, and even happily toilet trained toddlers can ignore the warning signs when they’re having loads of fun, or perhaps a jippy tummy comes on with no warning. Avoiding accidents escaping into the pool helps to prevent the spread of  all sorts of bugs, so it’s really important that your little one is wearing a suitable swim nappy. If an accident happens and escapes onto the pool, it generally mean the pool will have to be closed for the next few hours, and could result in ending your class and cancelling the ones following.

Two nappies means that there are two barriers to keep accidents contained long enough for you to notice and hop out of the pool.

Inner Layer

It’s important to remember that the inner nappy that goes on first is not designed to absorb anything, more so just to contain things that may escape. They can’t be absorbant otherwise they’d fill up with pool water – the reason why you can’t pop baby in the water in a normal disposable which is full of chemicals to absorb liquids. This inner nappy can be your generic supermarket and named brand ‘swim nappy’ OR you can save yourself money and save the environment in the process and grab a reusable alternative. This is where you have the choice to ditch the disposables for good when it comes to swimming! 

Outer Layer

On top goes a neoprene nappy, which Water Babies like to call a Happy Nappy (probably because it keeps the pools happy with no accidents!). The snug bands on the waist and legs provide a seal so no solids are able to escape. They must fit totally over the inner nappy so you can’t see any gaps for leaks. 

Going 'reusable'

There are a few different reusable swim nappies – at Water Babies we sell an entire reusable swim nappy kit from SplashAbout, however personally I use various adorable inner nappies from Bambino Mio.

Other than Bambino Mio, there are swim nappies in gorgeous prints by Tots Bots, Pop In, Close Pop In, GroVia, Charlie Banana, Thirsties, and more companies! 

Check out the full choice of inner nappies here from 

our friends at Fill Your Pants!

What I love about using these is that they’re much comfier on her bottom than disposables, and I wrap both nappies into her towel at the end and bung them into the wash altogether. It saves me money, plus I feel like I’m doing something for the planet. Also, almost all Water Babies pools  require you to take both nappies away with you and dispose of your disposables outside the building – some people forget and our poor teachers end up taking them home to put in their own bins – yuck! So for their benefit, it helps prevent a stinky car ride home!

Also, because the double nappy system is applicable to all our swimmers up to school-age, this often includes potty trained children - the Bambino Mio pants are awesome for this because they look more like pants than a nappy but still do the same important job! 

Any questions about reusable swim nappies, speak to your local Water Babies franchise or local Cloth Nappy library!

Saira 

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Check out our competition over on our Water Babies page this Real Nappy Week later this month!