How to Make the Most of Your Nappy Library
Today’s post is a guest post from the lovely Louisa! Louisa is a Nappy Guru, co-founder of Farnborough Cloth Nappy Library as well as hosting a blog over at Cloth Bum Mum, where she shares all things cloth nappies, parenting and sustainability. Louisa has used cloth nappies full-time since her daughter was 6 weeks old and is a self confessed nappy addict.
Getting started with cloth can feel rather daunting to begin with even if your mind has been made up that it is something you are definitely going to do. For me the easiest way to make the transition was to get 1:1 advice. The chat groups are great, but when you have little or no experience the numerous and differing advice can be confusing.
If you have a cloth nappy library close to you I strongly urge you to make use of them, they are not just there for complete newbies but for anyone at any point of their cloth bum journey.
1. Go along to meetings and demos
Once you’ve made contact with your library, if they are offering face to face meetings definitely take them up on this option. It is far easier to give personalised advice once we know the full story of your requirements, and the easiest way to understand this is an open dialogue.
If you are brand new to cloth, meetings will also give you the opportunity to see and feel the different nappy types (this was really important to me when I started), and help you understand the pros and cons of each system. Every family I have come across has a preference for a different system for various different reasons, and as with everything in parenting, different things work for different babies and different families.
2. Hire a kit
Most libraries will offer a hire kit which you can try for a period of time. At Farnborough Cloth Nappy Library, we work with fixed kits of around 20 nappies with 2-3 brands in each nappy style. This gives you the opportunity to trial cloth full-time if you wish, and experience the different systems to see which one works best for you.
I know other libraries which put together bespoke kits based on your discussions, so you get a greater selection of each system but you don’t get to try all of them. The reason we opted for fixed kits is because when I first started using cloth nappies, I was adamant I only wanted All-in-Ones as all of the others sounded like too much faff. However now I’ve tried a lot of different styles, All-in-Twos are my favourite, with Two-Parters at bedtime for overnight. Now we only really use our AIOs for Childcare.
With this in mind, if your library is one which puts together bespoke kits then I would recommend asking for a selection still so you can try the different systems as well as the different brands.
3. Keep asking questions
During your hire, keep in touch with the volunteers. If you have any questions, ask them at the time so you can test the responses while you still have the nappies. If a nappy isn’t working for you, speak with the library and let them know, there may be a simple fix and it may end up being a favourite!
Once your hire is complete, your relationship with the library doesn’t end there. Most offer an advice service for all cloth users so as your baby grows and new challenges present, ask the question, more often than not a small tweak can be made to your existing system to fix the issue rather than having to buy all new nappies.
During your hire, keep in touch with the volunteers
How to find your local library
The best place to find your local library is through the UK Nappy Network. They have a handy interactive map which shows all of the registered libraries in the country and the services they offer.
If you’ve checked the map and found there isn’t a library in your area, the next best step is The Nappy Gurus questionnaire. The Nappy Gurus work with a number of experts across the country, once you’ve completed the questionnaire one of the gurus will respond with a personalised recommendation based on what is important to you. If you have a Guru local to you most of us also host face to face meetings.
No matter where you are with your journey to cloth nappies there are many networks out there to support you with personalised recommendations and problem solving advice from experienced parents.
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