Top 10 things that cloth-nappying has taught me about laundry

10. It’s really not that difficult to run the washing machine daily, in order to keep yourself in fresh nappies. I rarely find myself “behind” in the laundry these days.

9. Breastfed babies’ nappies don’t smell nearly as bad as formula-fed or solids-feeding babies. I pop my wet and soiled cloth nappies in a dry bucket — no lid — and empty it into the wash daily. Frankly, the open nappy bucket smells a lot less than the covered bin that my older child’s disposable nappies go into.

8. Ordinary washing detergents, soakers and fabric softeners are full of chemicals which are designed to stay in and coat your fabrics. These chemicals include optical brighteners (to get that whiter-than-white look) and perfumes (for that clean, fresh smell). Those lovely expensive modern cloth nappies come with suggestion to optimise absorbency by using washing detergents which do not coat the fabrics. It’s really, really hard to find such a laundry powder.

7. When you start using a non-coating laundry powder, it’s a bit confronting at first when your clothes come out a slightly different colour, and you realize that what you thought was a soap smell is in fact an unnecessary perfume. But when you realize that your standard washing powder coats clothes and nappies with chemicals, and you are putting over a dozen freshly laundered items against baby’s skin each day, you can find yourself quickly becoming more interested in low-residue laundering than you ever thought possible.

6. Bi-carb soda is very effective at reducing your laundry detergent needs. I use half detergent and half bi-carb for a very effective wash.

5. Sunshine is the best bleacher and anti-bacterial agent known to woman. Line drying your clothes in the sunshine removes stains without resorting to chemical bleach, and removes that slight smell that indoor-dried clothing can acquire. If you have to dry nappies indoors, popping them on a rack in front of a heater means you get to use that heat to both dry your clothes and heat your house.

4. That damp “spoiled laundry” smell that you get when you leave wet washing in the machine too long (shock, horror!) is caused by bacteria. Bacteria needs more than just water to feed on — in fact, it feeds on the residues left by your laundry detergent.

3. Different bacteria need different pH levels. If you are using a standard detergent, you can remove a persistent laundry smell by adding bi-carb soda to the wash to raise the pH, and kill all the resident bacteria. If you routinely use bi-carb and find a smell developing again, do a wash with vinegar-only to lower the pH and kill off your crop of high-pH bacteria. But be warned that vinegar damages elastic. I only put very hardy items in a vinegar wash, and rely on sunlight to remove the bacteria from elasticized items. The other favorite bacteria killer is heat – a wash at 60 degrees Celsius will get many strains.

2. When choosing a cloth nappy system, please, please make “drying time” a key criterion. Those delightfully soft and absorbent luxury bamboo all-in-ones are not only expensive to buy, but they are even more expensive if you need to buy 4 days’ worth in order to allow the requisite two days drying time! Hemp is almost as absorbent and a lot quicker to dry. And those simple cloth squares dry in no time at all.

and finally…

1. I’ve had to overcome both a deeply ingrained caution about the dangers of using vinegar and bi-carb soda, while simultaneously overcoming a skepticism that such products could ever be effective. My generation is programmed to believe in the “safety and effectiveness of standard laundry products.”

[One final note from your friendly editor: check that the laundry detergent you buy isn't made by one of the big nasties — you can easily find out which brands are owned by which companies and how ethical they are at the Ethical Shopping Guide]

Phthalates are an ingredient in consumer plastics, despite the scientific debate around their potential to be endocrine disruptors.   As with BPA there is insufficient labeling of phthalates to assist consumers who would like to choose to play it safe. We all have phthalate metabolites in our urine – evidence of phthalate exposure – the only question is “how much?”

Phthalate esters are plasticisers widely used for a whole host of applications in a wide range of products, including PETE (Recycle 1) food containers, PVC (Recycle 3) building materials and in personal care products (for the various emulsifying/gelling/suspension/dispersion/lubricant qualities and to make fragrances last longer). What’s a plasticiser? It’s designed to soften hard plastics. In other words, it’s one of the ingredients that makes lovely squishy baby toys squishy.

Children’s exposure is higher than adults’. Babies’ mouthing behaviour, the use of baby care products, the higher dosage-for-size, the lower metabolic capability and their still-developing endocrine and reproductive systems combine to make babies much more susceptible to potential effects. There’s also evidence to suggest that pregnant women might want to be careful too (see below).

Identification of phthalate use is non-existent in many product categories, especially building materials and food packaging. Without a statement from the manufacturer, only gas chromatography can confirm the presence or absence of phthalates. I am not aware of any handy services which allow consumers to bring in a small sample of their old vinyl flooring from home to be tested.

The international regulatory environment is fractured. Unfortunately, where consumers would prefer caution and transparency, a ban in one jurisdiction is typically met with evidentiary hair-splitting and self-justification in others. Commercial interests continue to be protected by the ongoing obfuscation of phthalate use. Meanwhile consumers who would like to choose to be cautious have no viable way of accurately identifying their phthalate exposure.

The effects of phthalates on humans are still under investigation. They are thought to be endocrine disruptors, linked to ‘fetal changes’, insulin resistance, metabolic disruption and allergies and asthma in children. See Wikipedia: phthalate for details.

There is clearly a lack of good faith dialogue between consumer concerns and commercial interests in the area of phthalates. Even finding words to describe this issue simply and accurately is difficult. What does “fetal changes” mean? I certainly hope I didn’t accidentally misuse someone’s jargon there. It would have been simpler to say “birth defects” but those words are both alarmist, and they have a specific scientific meaning. Wikipedia cites a study which found human phthalate exposure during pregnancy resulted in decreased anogenital distance among baby boys. That sounds like evidence of potential birth defects to me. Wikipedia goes on to say:

“An editorial concerning this paper in the same volume stated that the study population was small, and “needs to be investigated more thoroughly in a larger, more diverse population”. While anogenital distance is routinely used as a measure of fetal exposure to endocrine disruptors in animals, this parameter is rarely assessed in humans, and its significance is doubtful.”

The American Chemistry Council’s Q&A however, assures us that this study “failed to establish a causal link”. It  also says:

“Q. Aren’t phthalates endocrine disruptors?
A. In lab tests with rodents, phthalates do not block the action of male or female hormones, or mimic their behavior.” [full stop, next question]

Perhaps the answer is to be found with Our Stolen Future, which argues the need for a paradigm shift in the methods, assumptions and standards used in assessing the safety of phthalate esters.

Phthalates are easily released from plastics, but they don’t hang around long out-doors. Their low solubility in water, and the fact that an adult can metabolise them in minutes, are also probably contributing factors informing the traditional view that phthalates are safe to use in plastics. It’s also worth mentioning that phthalate release from plastics increases as the plastic degrades over time and in sunlight. Phthalate release from vinyl flooring is increased by the use of polish, and the phthalates also hang around in dust. The low solubility of phthalates in water may explain why PETE is the main choice of plastic for commercially bottled water and soft drinks. However, with the high solubility of phthalates in oil, I am very concerned that PETE (aka Polyethylene terephthalate) is also the packaging of choice for cooking oil in my local supermarket.

More technical information (and referencing) is available in the Wikipedia: Phthalates article. What are some phthalate-reduction suggestions?

Reducing my family’s phthalate exposure
There are plenty of websites on how to reduce your phthalate exposure. Just Google “phthalate free” or “avoid phthalate”. I don’t think it’s possible to avoid phthalates completely, and any advice on this topic is values-laden and context-specific. So this list is most relevant to me and people like me.

Reduce baby’s direct exposure: don’t use baby care products (unless you’ve read the contents and the container is glass or you’ve checked the container’s plastic type). This is easier than you might think, since most baby wash, baby shampoo, baby moisturizer, baby powder, nappy cream, baby cologne, et cetera is completely unnecessary. I use bath oil, bicarbonate of soda and sometimes a little nappy cream and that’s all.

Don’t give baby any PVC vinyl products to play with, wear, eat from or sleep on. This includes toys, bibs, art smocks, rain coats, nappy covers, change mats, mattress protectors, plastic table protectors, hand bags, shoes, cubby-houses, place mats and funky bean-bags. Sure, not all PVC contains phthalates, but phthalates are the cheapest and most commonly used plasticisers in PVC, so unless a product is very specifically marketed as Phthalate Free it probably does contain them.

Reduce the phthalate levels in your home environment by avoiding the use of vinyl flooring. If you have a good condition vinyl floor, avoid dust build up, and DO NOT use floor polish products. This is important, there are studies linking phthalate exposure to the use of floor polish. My place is cleaned with nothing stronger than eucalyptus oil, a mop and a vacuum cleaner. Another common use of vinyl you might not think of is your shower curtain. I made my own using some bargain nylon dressmaking fabric – it’s beautiful and it works just fine.

My family gets cars second hand, and I’m sure this helps too. Vinyl is used extensively in cars and that new car smell which lasts anything up to a couple of years is quite revolting to my nostrils. I don’t have a definitive reference as to the off-gassing profile on cars over time, or if phthalates can reliably be detected by smell. I can say with certainty that you should avoid dashboard polish products. I get my car cleaned occasionally, but I don’t let them do the inside any more, as they invariably use polish products.

Ventilation is important. This includes your home and your car. Houses are little pollution traps and the outside air is usually cleaner. Sunlight also degrades phthalates. If the weather or other local conditions make it impossible for you to ventilate daily, you’ll need to pay a lot more attention to removing phthalates from your home.

Personal care products, including cosmetics, also deserve a mention. Your own health is worth looking after, and pregnant women might be especially interested in their phthalate exposure. Nail polish, hair spray and perfumes keep coming up as the main sources of phthalates in cosmetics. But it’s not that simple. According to think before you pink, the trade secrets loophole allows any fragranced cosmetic product to contain phthalates without explicitly listing them. Personally, I’ve been seeking fragrance-free products for years. The only cosmetics I use these days are a simple olive oil soap, organic toothpaste, an unpackaged sulphate-free conditioner base and occasionally some Sorboline.

Polyethylene terephthalate: PETE and polyester. I don’t know enough about the potential for phthalates to off-gas or leach from PETE and polyester, but it’s definitely on my list of things to check out. At the moment I’m making sure that I buy my cooking oil in glass, and I’m trying to reduce my reliance on those handy little pop-top drinking bottles. I’m also making a point of not leaving drink bottles to heat up in the car, throwing them away at the first hint of a smell, and not re-using them too many times. I haven’t yet seen enough evidence to get me riffling through the baby clothes to weed out the polyester. I’m not buying any more polyester if I can help it, but culling the existing clothes would be a big undertaking. [Ed: I do avoid all polyester clothes already.]

It’s not easy being a mum. Nurse, teacher, bodyguard, lawyer, and now, apparently, I get to be a research chemist as well!

Recently, due a small bout of nappy rash that we just couldn’t get rid of, my partner and I reluctantly switched to disposable nappies (diapers, for our American readers) for a week or two. (We think what really got rid of the rash was the absolutely amazing Covitol cream — it’s 22% cod liver oil and smells like it, but it’s thick and terrific at keeping out the moistness.)

Anyway, because we couldn’t bear the idea of using mass market polluting nappies, we chose Seventh Generation. It’s a US company, so it’s all new material, imported, sigh… but it is chlorine-free [see the company's ethical rating]. Worse, as my fellow blogger Paula has pointed out, the nifty “unbleached look” is actually a result of them adding a brown dye!

Thankfully, we’re back to our beloved cloth nappies this week. I keep encountering well-meaning parents who say they are using cloth nappies, but they’re all using fancy shaped things whereas when I say “cloth nappy”, I mean old-fashioned, no-nonsense squares of actual cloth.

Now I imagine, given the hassle of washing the damned things, that most people who are using reusable nappies are doing so for environmental reasons. After a fortnight of paying for disposables, I’m willing to concede there’s a financial benefit in it too, even though I’m still gobsmacked at the outrageous prices for “reusables” ($25 a nappy!) when a 12-pack of my flannelette squares was $29.95.

I don’t believe the environmental claims work either, though. I am yet to find a reusable nappy system that is actually made of all-natural materials. I think it’s all a big scam to make us feel like we’re doing the right thing for the planet. I think it’s actually all a bit like conspicuous compassion or greenwash. It’s more about looking like you’re doing the right thing than about actually doing the right thing.

Let’s have a closer look.

The financial equation

We’ll assume around 42 nappies a week, and unfortunately, because I don’t have CHOICE magazine’s resources, ignore the small cost of washing the things [read their very good article comparing cloth versus disposable for that argument]. That’s 2184 nappies a year.

Disposables: Made from 60% new wood pulp and a bunch of chemicals (none of which are toxic to the infant, but none of which are biodegradable either). Having never bought the regular type, I checked a popular grocery store site and discovered they’re around $15 for 30. With absolutely no redeeming features, this method will cost you $1,092 a year.

Biosposies: Chlorine-free, some recycled materials, these nappies are still made overseas and imported (and so have fuel miles). More of the nappy is compostable, but that’s still a lot of landfill. They’re more expensive than standard nappies: around $28 for 30 (and that’s the cheaper price; we found that the smaller alternative stores are selling these for around $38!). With a tiny nod to the idea of greening your impact, this method will cost you a minimum of $2038.40 a year (ouch!).

Reusable shaped nappies: These vary wildly. Baby Beehinds appear to be $25 a pop while Bum Genius are around $45 a pop (the cotton is organic). You get discounts for bulk though. From the packs available, it seems the suggestion is you need at least 24 (and from our experience with cloth squares, I’d agree). I’ll go into the enviro impact of these in a moment, but let’s just look at the money right now. Let’s assume the nappies are adjustable sizes so they should last for the whole lifetime of the baby. For a Bum Genius 24-pack, you pay around $720.  The Baby Beehinds “Birth to Potty” pack (24 ‘bamboo’ nappies and covers in various sizes) is $780.

Actual cloth nappies: Again, this depends a little on what you’re after. We looked at organic cotton flats, which we found we could buy a 12-pack for $108, which would make the total cost for nappies $216, plus soakers. Let’s say $28 a wool soaker (probably cheaper if you knit it yourself) and let’s say you need 6. Total for organic is $384. We tried to find bamboo flats (less water intensive to grow) but could only find newborns for $9 each, so we’ll ignore that for now.

We ended up being given 12 flannelette cotton flats, so we actually got ours for free, but when we discovered we needed 24, we bought another pack, for $29.95 at Target. They’re not organic and they are new, so there’s all the environmental impact of growing cotton, but even with 6 wool soakers @ $28 a piece, the total for the whole shebang would be $227.90. (In practice, my darling man is allergic to wool, so we use cotton Eenie covers a friends gave us after her baby outgrew them, so in fact, our total outlay has been $29.95.)

The environmental rip-off

I think what annoys me more than anything about the trendy new shaped reusables is that they tout ‘bamboo’ and ‘organic cotton’ all over the place and hide their nasty chemicals behind acronyms and lack of disclosure. That PUL all the nappy systems have? It stands for poly-urethane laminate. And the poly-urethane laminate has to go over something. That something is usually polyester. Polyester off-gases during its production and for a few years afterwards. And yes, it off-gases volatile organic compounds.

Our very old Eenie covers have PUL nylon, which is better, and off-gases the least of all synthetic materials. If Doug wasn’t allergic to wool, I’d be using it.

I’m yet to find a single shaped nappy system that doesn’t have polyester somewhere in it. And yes, I’ve e-mailed a few of them now, when their advertising made it sound like they were 100% bamboo or organic cotton. For example, have you seen the Bum Genius layer breakdown? Notice how it says “inner design” but fails to mention that layer is polyester?

There must also be a huge second-hand market for these, but if there is, I haven’t heard about it. Everyone I know who has them bought them new. That’s an enormous amount of new material impact again.

So, while I’d love for my darling girl to be in brightly coloured, cleverly shaped and above all trendy-as-can-be nappy pants, she’ll stay in her daggy white cotton for now. The folding really doesn’t take long, especially as her Dad’s a clever clogs and worked out a neat way to roll them up and secure them with a rubber band, ready for use. Now we just have to make sure we diligently apply that barrier cream…

(Oh, and watch this space… “fully compostable” nappies are coming soon, and we might even get some to test and try to compare them with others… somehow we doubt anything will beat plain old cloth squares for environmental impact though. Seriously.)

For example, Bisphenol A (BPA) is an ingredient in plastics which are currently defined as food-grade. Minute amounts of BPA are believed to have a hormone-like effect on the body’s endocrine system, possibly causing chronic toxicity, and a bunch of other things (see this Wikipedia page for much more detail, including a list of studies).

BPA is in epoxy resin (the lining of all food cans) and polycarbonate, the strong, clear plastics used for water bottles and baby bottles. Internationally, the regulations on BPA vary wildly, from a complete ban through to statements saying that it’s safe. This is one area where we can’t just trust the regulators to protect us.

The release of BPA from polycarbonates is increased by putting the plastic under stress, such as detergents, microwaving, dishwasher, sunshine, physical stress, and high temperature. Many regulators have gone down the path of saying that BPA polycarbonates are ok when used in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions. To me this seems inadequate, when the standard household dishwashing detergent is a harsh chemical. I don’t know anyone who uses “Velvet pure soap” (for example) as the only soap in their kitchen sink. And there is a recently slashdoted study of humans drinking from polycarbonate water bottles AT ROOM TEMPERATURE for two weeks, and coming up with measurable levels of BPA in their urine.

It is very difficult to avoid BPA completely. Even strawberries grown in polycarbonate greenhouses have been found to have BPA contamination. However, the highest average intake of PBA in humans is in infants and children, right when they are most vulnerable. There are a couple of key things you can do to reduce their exposure to BPA.

1) Don’t use a polycarbonate bottle, if you are bottle feeding. Yes, this will take some research. Don’t assume anything. Even brands that have introduced BPA-free models, like Avent, still have BPA-filled versions on the shelf too.

2) Check any other baby plastics you are using (spoons, sippy cups, ice-cube trays, etc) for their recycle symbol. Polycarbonates have the Recycle 7 symbol.

3) Check the Recycle symbol on pre-packaged foods, such as yoghurt, juice, water, etc. Avoid the No. 7 plastics, especially if they are the strong, clear plastics.

4) Offer fresh, non-wrapped foods as much as possible. ALL cans of food are lined with BPA epoxy resins.

5) When using commercial baby foods, go for the little glass jars and not the tins or plastics. Sadly, even the lids of baby food jars are lined in epoxy resin BPA plastics (so I don’t scrape the food off the lid any more) but this is better than being completely encased in it.

The more you look into it, the more you will find that it’s virtually impossible to completely avoid BPA. But don’t let that depress you. We deal with situations like this all the time at work. Use the 80-20 rule initially, and then go for continuous improvement as the resources (like adequate sleep) become available.