Earlier in July, Alice Stevens caught up with Fran, a Hackney mum of three, who gave us her story on getting started with reusable nappies, and how you don’t need to spend a penny on buying them.
Transcribed for reading:
Introduction: Hi I am Fran; I am so happy that I used reusable nappies and I wanted to tell everyone that I haven’t spent any money. I just used the Hackney voucher and I went to the Give and Take events in Hackney [Hackney Nappy Network], and I got all my nappies from there.
Q: How did you get started with reusable nappies?
When I got pregnant with my third kid. With the first two kids, I didn’t use reusable nappies because nobody told me about it and I felt a bit overwhelmed. A friend of mine is doing reusable nappies – I met her randomly in central London when I was pregnant, at an art exhibition, and I said, “Are you doing reusable nappies?” and she said yes. Straight away she was so nice to me, and while I was still pregnant, she spoke to me a little bit and told me, “When you have your baby, I can come to your house and explain to you everything.”
Q: When did you start using reusable nappies?
I said to her I really want to start from the beginning, from the first nappy, because I know that if I start from the beginning, I will do it. I am kind of an all or nothing person. She came straight away, I think maybe the same day I gave birth or the following day, with this box of cupcakes, and she starts explaining everything. How to fold the muslin, and I always remember she said it’s like doing origami. So that’s amazing, I will start doing origami and while the baby was sleeping, or I was like by myself, when I was next to the baby, I’d start doing this origami and organise all the nappies.
Q: Where did you get your reusable nappies?
She told me about the Give and Take event in Hackney, and I was lucky because it was just happening next to my house in the Round Chapel. She did a bag for me and said, “You will need this, this and this. Let’s try whatever you might like.” So she did a huge bag and I was amazed that it was all for free! We grabbed a bucket, a huge wet bag, small wet bags, some different types of nappies and I was like, I don’t understand anything, but she said, “Don’t worry, I will explain everything to you.” So yes, I went with her, we brought everything all for free back home and she said, “Don’t use your voucher yet, use it when you’ve already decided.” So I tried it.
Q: How did you use your £70 nappy voucher?
So, I decided what I wanted and it was Christmas, so I took advantage of the Christmas sales. I bought like 12 nappies with my [£70] voucher and I thought that was a bargain. It all worked kind of perfectly.
Q: Did you try different types of reusable nappies?
I kept going to the Give and Take events. Esther [Hackney Nappy Network] was really nice. She asked, “Do you have this kind of nappy” I said, yes, yes, I have, and sometimes I went to her house, or to the event, to grab some more nappies. When I was clear what I wanted, you become a little more expert, you know which wraps you like, which brand you like. It’s quite overwhelming with so many brands, so many types. But if you have that friend that comes to your house and explains everything, that’s helpful.
Q: Which type of nappy did you use the most?
I moved to the All-in-One nappy because they were easy. I didn’t have to put anything in and then take anything out – it’s like they come all in one and the liner on the top. It was very easy to hang up and they would dry quickly. Then in the night I used fitted nappies with a wrap. I feel for me it was okay, let’s just use these two and that’s it. I think they all kind of worked with me.
Q: Did your nursery use reusable nappies?
I explained everything to them. Every morning I did a pack with one type of nappy to make it easy for the teachers at the nursery.
Q: How did you wash and dry reusable nappies?
I live in a flat, I have this cupboard that I can dry my clothes inside. I don’t have to dry clothes and nappies around the house. It’s this mini kind of place that I have the washing machine and I can dry the nappies there. My technique was to go inside this cupboard, hide from my family, and do the washing and dry my clothes, with a nice podcast.
Q: How did your partner feel about reusable nappies?
I was lucky that he was very supportive all the time. We had this idea of doing a sustainable third child. In fact, all the clothes were second hand. So, I think for the first two years I just bought a dummy that we never used. But all the rest was second-hand things. This idea to have second-hand was fun.
Q: How did other people react to you using reusable nappies?
I feel more confident to do whatever I want. It doesn’t matter what other people say or think. People would say, “Oh, you are a bit crazy, you have three kids and using reusable nappies.” But that made me feel even cooler!
–ENDS–
July, 2024