Real Nappy Week starts today

Every year for as long as I've had children (which is 15 years) we have had a 'Real Nappy Week' where retailers, manufacturers, councils and support groups, get together to promote washable/real/reusable nappies to parents and parents-to-be in the UK.

Nappies was how I got into the whole Natural/Green Parenting 'scene', when I realised how much money we would be throwing away by using disposable nappies. Then learning about the environmental impact and horrible chemicals in them convinced me that washables were the way to go. If the subject is new to you, have a look at the video's we did to explain the issues simply.

During this week most of our suppliers have offers on which we pass on to our customers.  Close Parent the makers of Pop-in nappies have come up with an ingenious idea.  Geocaching is a fun activity to do with the kids. Yesterday we went on a hunt to Cotham Gardens where we found the Geocache in which we have stashed 10 envelopes, each containing a unique code that can be exchanged for a prize or offer in the store. My 2 loved it, so much so that we went on to find 3 more Geocaches around Bristol. There is also one near the London store. Both are within walking distance of the stores so easy to do in 1 trip.  To participate read the info on Close's website and www.geocashing.com  and download the app from your App store. the light version will be fine, you don't have to get the full paid version. The top prize is a 5 pack of Pop-in nappies worth £75!

Our offers this week

As it's Real Nappy Week we've got 10% off all Real nappies in-store, with an extra 5% when you book a Your Baby Your Way consultation this week and have the session by the 15th May.  Having a shop means you get to see and most importantly have a play with the nappies before you buy them. The extra 5% is to promote our excellent personal advice service that you can only get in-store with our One-to-one service.

The discount is available on all nappies, wraps, liners, nets, training pants, swim nappies and buckets but excludes Nappy Fresh and disposables.

~Eva

The Born Guide to Washable Nappies

Washable nappies are really easy to use. Whether you're a seasoned cotton nappy user or a complete beginner, washable or reusable nappies are quick, simple and cost-effective. And every nappy changed can make a difference in protecting the environment and protecting your baby's skin.

Here's why using real nappies could be the right choice for you and your baby:

3 Main reasons to use washable nappies:

1. Cheaper: The average saving is £600 for your first baby, more with subsequent children.

2. Healthier: You are placing fabric next to your baby's skin rather than chemicals.

3. Less Waste: Each baby in disposable nappies produces 1 tonne of waste that goes into landfill.

Now you're ready to find out more, here's a video that describes the different kinds of cloth nappies you can get.

Using Real Nappies is really easy.

For more information check out our Guide to using Washable Nappies  or shop online at Borndirect.

This weeks fun and games

Changing to Cloth does make a difference

I had a phone call this week from a landlady. A couple who live in one of her flats had just had a baby, and the nappy waste they were producing was taking over their allocation of bin space.  She wanted to know if there was anything she could do to encourage them to use washable nappies, like a laundry service. Unfortunately there are no longer any washable nappy services in Bristol, there used to be, but both closed down. 

Coffee for mums, cloth nappies for babies' bums

Our Bristol store was overtaken on Wednesday by mums, babies and lots of cloth nappy chat for our nappuccino. We loved it! In fact, we've put a few photos up on our Facebook page.

Andrea from itti bitti came to answer questions and take mums through the range. She also gave everyone an itti bitti wet bag with a Rockin' Green detergent sample inside and we ran a special offer on itti bitti tuttos.

Bristol Cloth Nappy Library was also there, setting up a display with just about every nappy you could wish to explore and answering more general questions that our nappuccino mums had. The Library is a non-profit organisation dedicated to helping parents get started with cloth.

Quite a range of mums were present, from mums who'd never tried cloth nappies to real nappy veterans. We got some muffins and biscuits out, poured the teas and coffees and generally had a fun, fluffy morning.

That's not it for the nappuccino fun though. London is next. The itti bitti nappuccino hits our London store at 11.30am on Wednesday 14th November. See the Facebook event for more details and see you there!