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...