We have failed on our quest to buy nothing new this year. Today BP put in an order for 100 nappy liners. We do purchase the highly biodegradable, flushable (or compostable), disappearing into thin air, made from the manure of green tree lizards, practically-growing-sustainably-on-native-trees nappy liners, but still…it’s something that doesn’t quite fit under any of our exclusion clauses.
Let me tell you a tale about how we came to the decision to buy 100 nappy liners AND in addition to that to have made the temporary switch from modern cloth nappies to (highly biodegradable, compostable, disappearing into thin air, made from the manure of green tree lizards, practically-growing-sustainably-on-native-trees) disposable nappies.
For the past nine months (a little less, but that’s another story) Little Fearse has been doing her business in cloth nappies, lined with said nappy liners. This system has worked really well for us. We made the decision that once the liners we purchased last year ran out we’d switch to fleece liners. I even already had the fleece. To help us make the switch I spent a month sourcing a second hand high pressure hose we could attach to our toilet. This was something we were well prepared for.
On Monday we used our last disposable liner and started using fleece liners. I put a bid on a second hand hose on Ebay that was pretty close to what we would have spent on one new. I had already missed two other auctions earlier in January and I didn’t want to miss out this time. Despite criticism from others who have used cloth nappies (that the hose is unnecessary or a luxury item) I am really keen to have the poo handling in this house down to a minimum. Call me strange, but I feel that the fewer steps between leaving body and entering toilet, the better.
Unwisely we also started using cloth nappies and boosters instead of disposables on Monday overnight. We bought the boosters when Little Fearse was a few months old but held off on using them overnight as she was sleeping so poorly. Her sleeping has never improved, so we thought we might as well try them.
You’ve probably guessed what happened next. Little Fearse developed severe nappy rash within two days of these changes. She has never had nappy rash before and this popped up suddenly and viciously. We immediately stopped using the fleece liners. My research told me that it is not unheard of for babies to be allergic to fleece. We started using the tube of nappy rash cream that has been sitting by our change table, unopened, for 9 months. The rash stopped getting worse, but didn’t improve either. On recommendation we started to use disposable nappies, not just for night time but for day time also.
In addition to these two changes Little Fearse was introduced to some new foods this last week. She eats anything and everything that’s put in front of her and has so far had no reaction to any foods, but with the rash cropping up so quickly and severely we couldn’t rule out hives, either.
It wasn’t very hard to make the decision to buy new liners and for the time being go back to our previous way of dealing with our daughter’s toileting. We will, in the future, make our changes gradually and hopefully with less disastrous results. For now it’s finding a way for Little Fearse (who has been very brave throughout) to heal and working out what the core issue is. We would welcome any advice from others who have experienced similar concerns with nappy rash / fleece liners / allergies.
Compared to our daughter’s health Buy Nothing New is a wanky and meaningless experiment. If we were dealing with real health issues, or any other difficult life situations, would we be doing Buy Nothing New this year? No way. We can do this because our lives are stable and delightfully lacking in drama. This is a blessing – something well worth us remembering and celebrating each day.
By the way, I lost the Ebay auction, so…the hose hunt continues.
Thanks for listening to my shit story.
Mama. xo
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