Cloth nappies trend sees sustainable parents paying hundreds for trendy nappies
It is a parenting trend aimed at saving both the planet and a few extra pennies.
But the sustainable movement towards reusable nappies is seeing some environmentally-conscious parents coughing up more than £100 for trendy designs.
The growing practice of "cloth bumming" - or dressing children in cloth nappies to save on plastic use - has increased demand for quirky designs, including drawings of Mozart, Einstein and limited edition prints to mark special occasions.
It comes as brands say that 30 per cent of parents have tried cloth nappies, compared with just 2 per cent of families in the early 1990s and as Waitrose reported an increase in online customer searches for reusable nappies of over 2000 per cent in February this year, compared to 2018.
One mother-of-four, Cecilia Leslie has collected nearly 500 nappies.
She told her 22,000 Instagram followers that the “waste” of single use nappies when she had her first child 12 years ago motivated her to try reusable nappies.
But Ms Leslie, a full-time midwife, from Edinburgh revealed to the BBC that her eco-friendly motive has in fact turned into rather an expensive hobby.
A post shared by Cecilia mum of 4 (@cecilia.leslie07) on Mar 25, 2019 at 9:32am PDT
"I paid £60 for a limited edition print that TotsBots brought out when Prince George was born.
“And I once paid £160 for a pair of limited edition Bumgenius nappies - there were only 100 made,” the 32-year-old midwife said.
Reusable nappy manufacturer, Bambino Mio, which sells to the likes of Waitrose and Asda, is now expecting a record-breaking year for sales of its nappies after its UK sales doubled in 2018.
Another brand, TotsBots, told The Telegraph that general awareness of cloth nappies and online searches for the products has gone up 30 per cent over the last couple of years.
The Nappy Alliance, which brings together manufacturers and distributors of reusable nappies, has been campaigning for the past 16 years to promote the environmental benefits of reusable products and has seen the designs evolve.
“Fun and fashionable reusable nappy designs have definitely played an essential part in encouraging parents to make more environmentally friendly choices when it comes to nappies,” said Guy Schanschieff MBE, chair of The Nappy Alliance.
“This is an extremely positive step because by using reusable nappies instead of disposable nappies, parents in the UK alone could help stop eight million disposable nappies being thrown into landfill every day,” he added.
