What, Wombat?: January 2007

Sunday 28 January 2007

Sippy Cups

We have used several sippy cups over the last few months, and only one has survived the test of time.

I'll start with the Heinz First Tumbler.

I liked this one because it had the FLEXISOFT™ Spout Lid, and FLEXISOFT™ on the sides and base of the tumbler for extra grip. Since Wombat was just starting to teeth at the time, and only just learning how to hold a cup, this seemed like a great idea to me. The "specially designed removable non-spill VITALVALVE™" worked very well to reduce spills, and popped out for cleaning. Wombat loved the clip-on spout cover, and it became a favourite "toy" for a while. The biggest problem with this sippy cup was washing it. For some reason, I could never seem to get it clean. If it was used for juice, it kept the smell of that juice for ever afterwards. Also, after a while, the little rubber-band arrangement on the valve would slip off while washing, and you had to carefully slide it back into place. It didn't take long for the mouthpiece to become a bit ragged with toothmarks, either.

Next came the Avent Magic Cup.

I bought the Avent Magic Cup because, unlike the Heinz Tumbler, it could be boiled. We used this one for Wombat's broth - when he was first moving on to solid foods, he loved to drink turkey or chicken broth with his meals and we found it an easy way to introduce protein into his diet. The Magic cup could handle the slightly thicker liquid and I could boil it to make sure any grease or fat residue was gone before the next use. It also had a patented valve - in this case, a round silicone plate that popped over the underside of the spout. It worked very well to stop spills, and came off easily for thorough cleaning. The main problem with this cup was, when the liquid got low, it had be turned almost totally upside down to get any out. This meant a lot of wastage, as I had to make sure the cup was more than half full, or else Wombat wouldn't get a proper drink - at least, not without dislocating his neck! The Avent Magic Cup (and an Avent bottle I had) went into straight into the bin the day I read about an American study which found that several brands of plastic baby bottle - including Avent - leach dangerous levels of a chemical which mimics a female hormone into the bottle’s contents. I now use glass bottles for all Wombat's broth, milk and juice. I only use a plastic cup for his water because he likes to be able to carry it around with him (see below).

The cup he uses every day now is from Tommy Tippee - I can't find a picture of it on the internet, so perhaps it has been redesigned? Here is a photo of it in use, anyway...

This cup has been the one Wombat likes the most - the valve works well to prevent spills and pops out for easy cleaning (though it also pops out if the cup is dropped any distance - like from a highchair - so you need to check it is still in place before handing the cup back). The valve also turns over - one side is slow flow, for when baby is just starting to get used to the cup, and the other side is fast flow, for when they have got the hang of it and want to drink more. I only use it for water (as I explained above) so I don't know if it would retain the juice scent, but I don't think so as it is a harder plastic than the Heinz cup. It does have a soft spout, though, and after lots of chewing there are only a few teeth marks. The two handles are also a bonus - Wombat quickly learned to manage this cup on his own, and now loves to carry it around with him so he can drink 'on the go'. The handles pop off so you can clean the peanut butter, banana or other food out from underneath them! They also have the soft grip stuff, so it sits on the table well. The grippy stuff on the handle is starting to show signs of wear after 5 months of constant use (it seems to be less resistant to chewing than the spout!) The main drawback with this cup is that it is 'one-sided' - if baby picks it up when it is facing away from him, he will try to drink from the spout 'upside down'. This is no problem if the cup is full, but if it is empty, he will just be sucking air until you turn it around for him.

Bambo Disposable Nappies

Bambo Nature Disposables

A friend asked me whether it was possible to get disposable bamboo nappies.Though not made of bamboo, these Bambo nappies seem to provide everything I am looking for - and they offer a free sample nappy! What more could you ask? I wanted to find a healthy disposable alternative to make nappy changes quicker when we are out and about - admittedly I haven't had a chance to try these yet as Wombat has been very good about not needing changing on our rare trips out of the house - but I am carrying my free sample ready in our nappy bag. I will let you know what I think after we use it! Manufactured in Denmark with fluff pulp from Scandinavia's sustainable forestry, and containing no nasty chemicals, they also seem to be very reasonably priced with stockists all over Australia.

How are Bambo Nature nappies different to other nappies on the market?
The manufacture of these nappies is what makes them different. In order for the nappies to be granted the Nordic Swan Label, they must meet strict requirements:

- the fluff pulp is made from wood from sustainable forestry;
- all raw materials are FDA approved;
- there are no optical brighteners;
- they are not chlorine bleached;
- there are no moisturisers, perfumes or lotions;
- there are maximum limits on energy consumption;
- there are maximum limits of emissions of CO2;
- there are limits on the quantity of waste produced during manufacture;
- the pigments in printing inks are not based on heavy metals;
- chemicals classified as harmful, irritant, allergenic, sensitizanic, carcinogenic, mutagenic, teratogenic, or environmentally harmful are not used in the raw materials in the end production of nappies; and
- even the packaging has to meet strict requirements - certain quantities of the synthetic polymer (i.e. plastic) must originate from renewable raw materials. Bambo Nature packaging is recycleable.
Nordic Nappies (stockists of Bambo Nature Nappies)

Update: I can now report that we are very satisfied with the Bambo nappies. They are a great back-up and have been used on holidays, when we go down the street (as Wombat hates to have his nappy changed in public, and the disposables make the process much quicker) and on an occasion when we had a four day power blackout and no way to wash the cloth nappies. Now that he is older (10 months) and wetting more during the night, I have started using them as night-time nappies as well. This keeps him dry all night and means he doesn't wake himself up everytime he pees.

Update on Update: I started using these disposables as a night-time nappy, thinking that they would keep Wombat drier. However, I found that when he wet them a lot, gel-like crystals would leak from the nappy and stick to his skin. Reading the label, I was shocked to find polyacrylate listed as an ingredient, as this was one of the chemicals I wanted to avoid by not using disposables - I had believed the advertising that they contained no irritants!

Bambo Nature's highly absorbent fluff pulp core also contains a superabsorber made of 100% biodegradable wheat starch.

This superabsorber is the polyacrylate. Yes, it is derived from wheat starch, and yes, it is environmentally friendly. Most sites agree that it is harmless. However, polyacrylate has been removed from tampons due to connections with toxic shock syndrome, and there are other potential health problems.

I said to Yeti that at least it was just polyacrylate, not sodium polyacrylate which is the one people worry about... he then explained that if Wombat's urine had salt in it then, guess what?

Anyway, this has made me more cautious about using them (I still think they are better than other disposables). I won't use them overnight, but I am still using them when we go out, or if Wombat is going to have a very active day (as the snappi fasteners sometimes come loose from the cloth nappies and scratch his skin). I try and be very vigilant and change them as soon as he becomes wet - though I have also done some experiments pouring water onto a clean nappy, and it does have to become quite soaked before the gel leaks out...

Saturday 27 January 2007

Organic Cotton and Bamboo Nappies

During my pregnancy, while we were working out what we would need to provide for the new arrival in our life, my husband and I decided that one of our few luxuries would be pesticide-free cloth nappies. Most people who choose organic cloth nappies do so because they believe it is best for the environment. While this was an important consideration for us, we chose them because we believed they were best for our child!

The problems of disposable nappies have been discussed in detail on many sites, so I will concentrate on the problems of normal cotton nappies. According to our research, 25% of all pesticides used in the US are sprayed on cotton, including some of the most toxic chemicals available. The percentages are even higher in developing countries where there is less regulation. Many of these chemicals are carcinogenic, and pesticides "have been responsible for birth defects, respiratory problems, behavioral changes, infertility, sterility, hormonal imbalances and a variety of short-term maladies."(Ecolife) According to the Allergy, Sensitivity & Environmental Health Association of Queensland, the "human body is like a sponge, it soaks up chemicals through the lungs, the skin and the digestive system. Once chemicals have entered the body they are absorbed into the blood stream where they circulate and can affect the whole body."(ASEHA, Qld) Nappies are worn in close contact with a baby's most sensitive skin, and no matter how quick you are to change them, there are always going to be times when a nappy stays damp or wet for a while - and who knows how longlasting those chemical residues may be? We thought 'why take the risk'?

After searching the internet, we decided to buy ten organic cotton flannelette nappies and ten organic cotton muslin nappies from Natures Child, and to take a gamble and buy ten bamboo nappies (which we'd never heard of before) from Nurture Nappies. As it turned out, the organic cotton nappies have proved to be rather disappointing, whereas the bamboo ones have surpassed our most optimistic expectations - and they're cheaper, too!

Organic Cotton Nappies

Let's talk about the organic cotton first. They arrived in a brown paper parcel which had been repackaged in a big plastic bag by Australia Post, as it had split in transit. Inside, all twenty nappies were each individually packaged in their own plastic bags, and then the bags were taped together with strong sticky-tape which tore the bags on removal rendering them worthless for re-use - an incredible waste and hardly the environmentally friendly approach I was expecting!

As for the nappies themselves, while of very good quality, the flannelette nappies have very thick hems which result in a bulky and uncomfortable lump in the middle of baby's back, while the fabric is so tightly woven that a snappi fastener is incapable of gripping onto it and often comes loose - even nappy pins refuse to penetrate without quite a struggle. That dark spot in the photo is a hole - the result of trying to get a snappi to grip! I now consider them only as backup nappies as they are in no way a pleasure to use. They are also easily stretched out of shape in the wash and on the line, and so take much longer to care for as they have to be pulled back into shape before they can be folded or used. When purchased they were supposedly 60 x 60 cm square (I don't remember) - but after a few months of washing, mine are all decidedly rectangular (57 x 66 cm) which certainly limits my folding options. (I just checked the Nature's Child site for their blurb: "Nature's Child Organic Cotton Flanelette Nappies are one size at 60 x 60cm square. This means the nappy can be folded in any shape you desire to fit any age baby. The flexibility means great cost savings and a very inexpensive way to be able to use organic cotton cloth nappies on your baby. ... Order snappi nappy fasteners to get a hold nappy on." (Well, that hasn't been my experience with them!)

The muslin nappies are pretty much useless for their intended purpose - even folded very thickly to fit a newborn, they provide no real protection. They were the first cloth nappies I ever used on Wombat, and from day one, his clothes became wet through the moment he peed. However, I feel kinder towards the muslin nappies than I do towards the flannelette ones, as they have proved themselves to be extremely useful as breastfeeding & burping cloths - very handy for catching all the drips, overflows and upchucks. I even use one folded across his mattress under his head as it is quicker and easier than changing the sheets if he possets. At 90 x 90 cm, they are also large and light enough to make a comfortable throw to cover baby with in hot weather - not that we've seen much of that since Wombat's birth! Used diagonally or for a very small baby, they can even function as a light bunny-rug or wrap. Like the flannelette nappies, the muslins tend to lose their shape in the wash, but they are much easier to shake out and if you use at least four pegs to support them and hang them on their least stretchy side, they dry very quickly without too much warping.

It should be noted here that while researching this review, I discovered a comment by the owner of Nature's Child (NOT on the Nature's Child website!) which stipulates that the flannelette nappies need to be used with a cover rather than snappies or pins, and that the muslin nappies are only suitable for newborn babies. Wombat was a very big newborn, so I will accept her statement - even though it is contradicted on the Nature's Child website where the nappies were purchased. Through further experimentation I have found that putting the flannelette nappies in the tumbledryer fluffs them up a bit, and if you fold them to minimize the lump in baby's back and use a muslin nappy folded into a pad as a booster, with a pair of pilchers over the top to stop the snappi springing off, they actually do a reasonable job - but this is really just making the best of a bad bargain, and I wouldn't really recommend it as a way of life as it doubles the washing for a start!)

Calendula and Comfrey Bottom Balm

The one product I would highly recommend from Nature's Child is their Calendula and Comfrey Bottom Balm - containing a range of certified organic products - sweet almond oil, olive oil, beeswax, calendula (English Marigold), comfrey, chamomile, lavender, - plus pure vitamin E oil, and grapeseed extract. It has a nice scent and lovely buttery texture which seems to have a delightfully soothing effect on nappy rash. Wombat definitely enjoys its application, and since Vitamin E is recommended for scars and the other ingredients are all traditional medicines for healing, I started using it on my caesarean scar once the wound was completely closed - it is now fading and becoming less red and raised so the balm seems to be helping it heal very nicely.

Sodium polyacrylate

And now, a warning. If you do buy nappies or clothes from Nature's Child, beware of the free samples they include! While Wombat and I were still in hospital, my husband put our first load of nappies in with the sample sachet of Tri-Nature herbal presoaker, and then his curiosity sent him on the net to check out the ingredients. Imagine his horror when he discovered it contained one of the worst chemicals we were trying to avoid by shunning disposable nappies! Sodium polyacrylate is meant to increase absorbency, but it has been linked to urinary tract infections, severe nappy rash, bleeding in perineal and scrotal tissue and other problems in disposable nappies. It has even been removed from tampons due to an association with toxic shock syndrome. The surprising thing is, it is specifically mentioned as nasty in the ByronChild article which cites Nature's Child as its source! They are giving it away free to be used on their ORGANIC nappies!!! We were NOT impressed.

Bamboo Cloth Nappies

By contrast, the bamboo nappies from Nurture Nappies were posted to us as soon as they were ordered - even before the direct deposit had been made to pay for them! They were neatly folded in a sturdy cardboard box, with no unnecessary plastics or packaging, and included a sheet of suggestions for washing instructions. (The tip about putting line-dry nappies in the tumble-dryer for a few minutes to fluff them up really works!) As an added and unexpected bonus, the box included two complimentary face washers in the same bamboo fabric. I don't know how they do it, but these bamboo nappies are the softest, silkiest, most wonderful nappies you can imagine. When they are new, you just want to rub your cheek against them, they are that silky! (The silkiness decreases with each wash, but is compensated for by an increase in thickness and absorbency!) They are a joy to touch and a delight to use. They wash well, keep their shape on the line, and are easy to fold - and after many many washes they are still 60 x 60 cm square! Even more importantly, they fasten securely with just a snappi. It is true they can feel a little harsh when line dried, but no more than cotten towels dried the same way (shake them vigorously before and after hanging, and rub the cloth against itself and they will quickly become soft again). They are as absorbent as any cotton terry nappy (maybe slightly more so) which means they will get wet through occasionally, so a pair of padded pilchers (not plastic lined!) is a good investment if you can find them - luckily I inherited a few pairs passed down from my siblings. They do have the great bonus of being a sustainable crop which is entirely free from pesticides! We use disposable nappy liners to save washing off solids (as we are on tank water with limited supply) and the residue washes clear with no staining - though we do use a long wash with a stain cycle. In fact, these nappies are so good that I can imagine them lasting for many many years and several children - plus, at the time of purchase, they were cheaper than the organic cotton ones! I have recently ordered another ten, and despite a four week delay while new supplies were brought in from England, I am still incredibly happy with them - they were worth the wait! Jayne at Nurture Nappies is very friendly and helpful, and kindly put up with my many impatient emails while we waited for the nappies to arrive. I have no hesitation in recommending these bamboo nappies to anyone who wants the very best start for their child!