Tuesday 16 April 2013

Real Nappies, Real Change #RNW13 Guest Post

A guest post from Fiona  - Fiona is a cloth bum mum living in the Scottish Borders with her two boys, she helps out as part of the Borders Real Nappy Network, and here she tells us about what you can expect from your local nappy library





My boys were about 6 months and 18 months when I started using cloth nappies, so I was a bit of a late starter, and perhaps like you sitting at home reading this now, my first real investigations into real nappies came during Real Nappy Week 2012. I saw everyone else dashing about entering various competitions and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. From this slow start my love of cloth has grown and grown until it finally blossomed into something beautiful when I went started helping out my local cloth nappy network; the Borders Real Nappy Network.



Primarily the Borders Real Nappy Network is a support system, where parents all over the county can find help, support and advice in using cloth nappies. We also hold a whole range of nappies for people to see at demos and one-to-one meets, and we have a huge stash to send out on loan too. We work on a case by case basis to help people understand how easy cloth nappies are (Whatever their reasons for switching to cloth), and find out what style of nappies might fit best into their lifestyle and onto their children’s bottoms. We are also lucky enough in the Scottish Borders to benefit from a council cashback scheme, and we facilitate the claims for this.

We not only lend out different types for interested parents to try out for themselves we also have all the other bits and bobs - wipes, wet bags, detergent options, liners – everything to help make using cloth, and getting your head around the logistics of it all as easy as possible. We give advice on how to look after the nappies, we never judge when people decide it’s not for them after all or if you might only want to go cloth part time that’s fine too of course. We don’t charge for hires (although some mums like to slip us an extra nappy back as a donation!), and people can keep the nappies as long as they like, although if you want a long term loan we do have sets of nappies to last you the entire birth to potty years too.

We don’t mind about stains and we want people can use our nappies as if they were their own – to get a real feel for them – in this way we hope people will become confident with them, without feeling any pressure, and then learn to love them as much as we do! We can also loan out specific nappies from our library stash to experienced cloth nappy users, sometimes a mummy may find her set of nappies suddenly start leaking or no longer produce a good fit, by coming to us they can try out different options before spending their money on a whole other set, or even giving up on cloth. We hold all the popular modern types in addition to the older types that you can often get a stash of from freecycle if your budget is tight.

Not all nappy libraries or networks operate in quite the same way, but we are all here to help you, whether you’re considering cloth or a seasoned professional. Any questions, any time, just give us a shout and we’ll try our very best to help you out, don’t be nervous about getting in touch, and no question is ‘stupid’ so feel free to ask away. There are loads of us, all over the UK, and we’d love more people to join in too – so that together we can spread the fluffy love far and wide and start our own cloth bummed revolution – little changes, by many changers can make global changings ... real nappies, real change.

You can find out if there is a nappy library or network in your area by viewing the UK Cloth Nappy Library Map


No pin near you? 

Why not make one and make some changes of your own?!

 Thank you so much to Fiona for sharing her experiences with My Mummy's Pennies readers. Please leave her some comment love below! Have you ever used a cloth nappy library? Would you like to set one up? Please ask any questions you have or offer any advice in the comments below and please do come back tomorrow for our next guest post...

35 comments:

  1. Lovely post! Cloth libraries really are a fantastic resource run by fab people!
    Good Job spreading the fluffy love :)

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  2. Have just located my nearest cloth nappy library, thanks for the info!

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  3. Will have to see if I have a local library wish I'd known about these before I tried cloth rather than having to buy and sell a load of nappies that didn't work for us. Then next time we change nappies I can donate some :)

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  4. Fab post. Great info, nappy libraries are very handy!! x

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  5. Hello there, I'm one of the founders of Bury Family Support Group Nappy Library, here to help to introduce the people of Bury (Lancashire) to the benefits of cloth nappies. We started early this year and are steadily building up a range of different nappies for demonstration and to lend out. If we can be of assistance we can be found on facebook, or emailed on buryfamilies@yahoo.co.uk we run on a shoestring budget on a not for profit basis so if you do have any unused cloth that you have no use for and want to pass it on and "pay it forward" please do consider donating it to us or your local cloth library, it really does make a massive difference :) Please feel free to "Like" us on facebook and ask any cloth questions you may have and we will do our best to provide you with the information you need.

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  6. I never knew about cloth nappy libraries when I first started out using cloth, if I did I think I would have saved a lot of money and wouldn't have brought some of the nappies I have done with out trying them first.

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  7. Hello :)
    I am the other half of the Bury Family Support Group with that lovely lady up there ^^^

    I second everything that she said! Your local library needs you! without generous donations we simply cant function and introduce more people to fluffyness :)

    we are also on twitter @BuryFamilies

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  8. I never knew they existed but what a great idea!

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  9. I think its great that cloth nappy libraries exist for people to try cloth nappies before buying. It's great that you provide support and introduce people to cloth nappies spreading your love of fluff :)

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  10. Fantastic idea! A great help to so many. x

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  11. Great post, especially helpful with letting people know about staining, I've nevver accesed a library because I was always concerned what would happen with nappies that got stained yet didn't work for us. Off to hunt for my nearest library as with a heavy wetting 3 week old who doesn't fit in most nappies I've bought a lot of brands that will eventually need new homes and donation seems like a great way of spreading the fluffy love

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  12. Rachael I also have a 3yr old in nappies overnight so well used to those problems, happy to give you some tips if needed can contact me via Bury Family Support details as above :)

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  13. Cloth nappy libraries are amazing resources!

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  14. Great Post :)
    I never knew about Cloth nappies, just located my nearest which I didn't know exsisted. However its still not too near x

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  15. Great post! My son has been cloth bummed from two days old and the baby on it's way will be cloth bummed from birth :) We have a local nappy network in Perth which does great work and have gained a relatively high usage in our area either full or part time :)

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  16. Great post Can't wait to be part of the fluffy mummy club

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  17. I'd love to give cloth nappies a go. I live in Belfast & wasn't aware of a library here! :)

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  18. I've used a cloth library and took advantage of the council incentive. Love it when my 2 are in fluff.

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  19. Great blog post. We have just opened our nappy library and hope to help many people!

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  20. I didn't even remotely consider cloth until around 2 weeks ago when all the hype around RNW started... now I think id like to try a couple and see how I go. Still got some searching to do to see what may work for us but I'm slowly coming round to the idea =)

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  21. A nappy library is a fantastic idea. There's so much choice it's easy to be overwhelmed at the start!

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  22. This is a great post Fiona. I still class myself as a cloth newbie. Fiona's (& the Borders Real Nappy Network) support & advice when I was pregnant was worth it's weight in gold. :-)
    Clare Smillie

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  23. Great post Fiona! I have just recently set up a nappy library for Manchester, we are number 116 on the map. Our first nappucino will take place on 30th May, please take a look at our Facebook page for further details (https://www.facebook.com/ClothBumsMCR)

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  24. A great account of going over to the fluff and why nappy libraries are so indispensable!

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  25. going to have a google to find our local cloth library , these are really good idea , especially as our local council dont offer any vouchers or incentives to help you out @chanson2010

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    1. just click on the link to go to the cloth library google map Nicci :)

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  26. Great post Fiona. I run Woking nappy library and we run pretty much the same way. One of the ladies who has recently borrowed from the library told me she first heard about cloth nappies through My Mummies Pennies so I'm sure this post will be great for reaching even more people.

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  27. What a fantastic idea, I have never heard of a nappy library before - I love it!! I love the idea of using reusable nappies but the reality is that the initial outlay is pretty steep and therefore beyond my budget. I am already a HUGE fan of Cheeky wipes and have recently been using them while I've been having radiotherapy - I managed to convert quite a lot of people in the cancer unit to them! As the whole reusable nappy thing is a minefield I think this is a fantastic idea, what a great initiative :-)

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  28. Well done Fiona, the libraries are a great resource and all the volunteers up and down the country deserve a big pat on the back, true eco parents! X

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  29. Wish there was one near me. Great post thanks

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  30. great post, i wish we had a cloth library near me would have been so helpful.

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  31. Fab post, was just about to say I wish we had one near us, but after checking out the map I realise there is one only 20 minutes away!

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  32. Fantastic post! This makes me excited to hopefully start my own library soon!

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  33. What a brilliant idea the libraries are. There are a couple in the next town to me but none in my hometown! I don't think my town is cloth nappy friendly at all, we don't get a council subsidy either.

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  34. If it hadnt been for my local library i'd still be fighting with nappy rash, sensitivities, and disposables

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I love to read your comments, thank you for sharing your thoughts.