The Real Diaper Facts
Check out our "Real Diapers...Real Choice" pamphlet, or keep reading to learn more!
1. How practical are real diapers?
- Modern real diapers are really practical and offer parents a real choice.
- Most real diapers consist of a soft, absorbent diaper, liners and waterproof, breathable covers (also called wraps).
- New designs fit snugly and diaper pins have been replaced with Velcro fastenings, snaps or plastic grips for quick and easy fastening.
- Real diapers are available in over 30 different types and patterns.
- Made of lightweight, fluffy materials, usually cotton or wool, real diapers wash and dry easily.
- It’s your choice; using real diapers is not an all-or-nothing option. You could perhaps use disposables when travelling or when it’s impractical to use the real diapers.
2. What are my real diaper choices?
- There is a growing range of funky products available, making real diapers the coolest choice.
- There are three main types of real diapers:
- Flat diapers, such as the traditional terry square, need to be folded to make a pad, then secured with a plastic fastening and covered with a wrap. There are also pre-folds which are flat squares of cotton. These are used by most laundry services; prices start at a very reasonable $2 each.
- The shaped diaper is design to fit your baby snugly and some sizes go from birth to potty. They require an outer wrap and prices start from around $10 each.
- ‘All-in-ones’ include a cotton liner and a waterproof cover with fastenings, starting from around $15 each.
- To select from the wide range of diapers available, shop online. Togs ‘n’ Toys (Kimberley) and Twice is Nice (Cranbrook) sometimes have second-hand real diapers available.
3. What do I need to get started?
- All you need are diapers, liners and wraps.
- The diaper itself is the absorbent part and you will need around 20-30 of these.
- The inner liner catches solids and helps keep moisture away from your baby’s skin. These can be made from paper so that they can be flushed down the toilet if soiled or thrown into the household garbage. Alternatively reusable washable pads are available.
- The outer wrap or cover is the fun part with a funky range of cool styles and bright colours. These are made in a range of materials, for example wool, fleece or waterproof PVC. The wrap sizes alter as your baby grows. Initially you will need at least 3 wraps that can washed at home at 40oC.
4. What about washing and drying real diapers?
- Real diapers don’t need to be sluiced, boiled, scrubbed, soaked or machine-washed at 95oC – they can simply be placed in a separate laundry container and washed at 60oC along with other whites.
- Biodegradable diaper liners can be flushed down the toilet with any solid waste. Washable liners can go in the wash with your diapers.
- Modern washing machines wash so well that real diapers do not have to be sterilized.
- Most real diapers can be line or tumble dried, or simply placed on an airer in a warm room to dry.
5. What is the environmental impact?
- The key is to reduce the garbage in your garbage-can, significantly reducing garbage going to the dump by simply making the real diaper choice.
- One child in disposable diapers fills 130 garbage bags in just 2 years.
- Using real diapers reduces the amount of waste produced and also the amount of energy and non-renewable resources used to produce disposables.
6. What is the cost?
- An initial outlay to equip you with a number of diapers is necessary, but this is a one-off payment and means you are not constantly paying for single use disposables on a weekly basis.
- From birth to potty, each baby typically gets through between 5,000 to 7,000 diapers.
- Basic real diapers cost less than $2 each, with more sophisticated products costing around $8-20 each.
- Disposables cost on average 25c each (including in-store offers).
- Approximate cost of purchasing and home-laundering real diapers for 2½ years ranges from $536 to $800 depending mainly on diaper type.
- The minimum cost of using disposables for 2½ years is $1,583 but could cost as much as $2,497.
- You can achieve further savings by using the same real diapers for your second child.
- Home washing can cost as little as $2 per week.
7. Won’t my baby get diaper rash?
- Your baby is no more or less likely to get diaper rash from real diapers than from disposables.
- Frequency of diaper changing is the important factor to avoid diaper rash.
8. Do they leak?
- It’s important to select the right size for your baby’s shape to avoid leakages and there is a wide range of products available.
- You can also use booster pads to increase absorbency if needed.
9. Where do I get real diapers from?
- Initially for advice and variety try talking to a mum with firsthand experience of real diapers.
- There is one local retailer of real diapers, Luke’s Drawers, in Wycliffe.
- Alternatively, online you can access the greatest range of real diapers.
10. What about wipes and training pants?
- Washable wipes can be bought, or made from squares of flannel. Moistened with warm water, they provide a simple reusable alternative to chemical-soaked disposable wipes, and can be washed and dried with your diapers.
- Cloth training pants, with a thin layer of terry towelling inside a waterproof outer, contain most of an accident, but unlike disposables, they feel wet, so help your child figure out toilet-training.
11. Tell me more!
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