WeePantz, the Home of Modern, Trim and Absorbent Cloth Nappies.

Why Should I Choose Cloth?

Here at WeePantz we are frequently asked why there has been such a resurgence of cloth nappies and what the advantages are of using cloth. For us, the use of cloth nappies was started from a desire to provide the most comfort for our baby as plastic underwear must not be that comfy!

There are so many reasons to use cloth nappies and as advocates of cloth nappies, we like to support the use of reusable nappies over single use products. Some of the reasons that WE choose to use cloth are outlined below. If you have any questions, please contact us.

Cloth Is Better for Our Environment:

We, and our communities, are becoming more environmentally responsible and this is starting to branch out into our baby products. We need to look after our planet and make sure that our children have a healthy world to grow up in. A baby using disposable nappies will generally use around 6,000 nappies between birth and toilet training. That is 3.75 MILLION nappies per day in Australia & New Zealand, this equates to around 2 tonnes of landfill per day! This is one HUGE pile of nappies that will all end up in landfill, and will take a LONG time to decompose back into the earth.

There has been argument that due to washing and water usage that cloth nappies are harmful to the environment, this is a myth that was created by the manufacturers of disposable nappies, research shows that the amount of water used to launder your cloth nappies at home is about the same amount consumed by an adult flushing the toilet four or five times daily for a week, we also use bamboo for our absorbent fabric which is a very sustainable fiber and doesn't take much water to grow. Disposable nappies also use alot of water and energy during their manufacture which demerits the argument that they use less of our precious resources than a cloth nappy. We recommend washing your nappies on the correct water level and always doing a full load of washing to save water, you can always top up the load with towels!

Some Councils will offer an incentive for using cloth nappies over disposables such as a nappy rebate. Why not contact yours to see if they participate in this.

Cloth Is Better for Your Baby:

For us, the main reason why we chose to use cloth was due to the comfort of our baby. All of those plastics against their skin could never be comfortable in our opinion. It was when we did research about what was in a disposable nappy that we realised that using cloth nappies was also a chemical free alternative to disposables.

Nappies are not subject to government controls or independent testing and 'disposable' nappy manufacturers do not need to disclose the contents of their products to the general public, but from studies this is what we do know.

The absorbency in disposable nappies comes from a chemical called sodium polyacrylate. Sodium polyacrylate has been linked in the past to toxic shock syndrome (TSS) and was actually banned from feminine hygene products in the 1980s due to it being the leading cause of TSS. Sodium Polyacrylate can sometimes be seen as little gel crystals on a baby's bottom when changing a disposable nappy.

Recent studies have also shown that Cloth Nappies are cooler on a baby's bottom than a disposable nappy due to the fabric breathing rather than causing a hot sweaty bottom! There are also studies being done on the implications of this on male fertility.

Cloth Is Better for Your Budget:

At first glance, our nappies might seem to add up to be more expensive than disposables as you pay up front rather than over a long period of time.

Disposable nappies can vary from 35cents each to around 60 cents each depending on which brand is used meaning that the cost of disposable nappies over the period of 2.5years can blow out from between $1,900 - $3,300. (Assuming your baby uses an average of 6 nappies per day for 2.5years) This isn't taking into account the cost of disposable baby wipes or odor neutralizing products such as nappy sacks.

The cost of purchasing WeePantz Nappies for your child will vary depending on how you purchase them. Our bulk prices are generally calculated per customer depending on how many nappies you buy in one go, so the cost starts at $350 for a child using Basic AI2's and rotating with extra boosters. Most of our customers will spend around $500 - $700 on nappies depending on which style of nappies they choose to use.

It's easy to see which is the cheaper option when you compare it like this, and we encourage you to crunch the numbers yourself and see how much money you can save. Imagine what you could do with an extra $1,000 - $2,500!

We would like to point out that this information has all come from personal research on the debate of cloth versus disposable nappies and we encourage you to do research before making your own mind up about what is the best nappy option for you.

Some of the sites that we get our information from are:

The Australian Nappy Network

Zero Waste NZ

The New Parents Guide

Ecocubs

Oz Cloth nappies

There are also a number of Cloth nappy Forums and Communities:

The Australian nappy Network

Oz Cloth Nappies

Nappycino

Nappy Addicts