Using cloth nappies helps save the Earth – and your wallet, too, say these mums who choose not to put their babies in disposable diapers.
Wan Jia Ling was looking through some old photographs last year when she came across a picture of her eldest son that gave her pause.
Her toddler, Shi Yihuan, had arranged about six empty diaper boxes in a row to make a “bullet train”. These high-speed Shinkansen trains are an icon of Japan, where their family was living at the time.
Jia Ling and Yihuan, now 3½ years old, had accompanied her husband, Dr Shi Chuang, 30, to Osaka, where he did his postdoctoral studies from 2014 to last year.
Looking at the photo of Yihuan grinning as he “drove” his make-believe train, the 33-year-old housewife realised that she had even more disposable-diaper boxes lying around: “I thought, ‘Do I really use so many diapers?’“
Influenced by the strong culture of recycling in Japan, she resolved to reduce waste by eschewing disposable diapers in favour of washable cloth ones for her second son, Yifan, who was born six months ago.
She has cut down further on wastage by using cloth wipes instead of disposable wet wipes to clean Yifan’s bottom when changing his cloth diaper.
“I have to do more washing and drying, but it’s about being eco-friendly,” she says.
Besides being “green”, advocates such as Jia Ling say the additional advantages of using cloth diapers are significantly lower costs and lower incidences of diaper rash.
Some vendors of baby products in Singapore have seen increased sales of cloth diapers, driven by environmentally conscious parents.
Rita Kusumadi, the founder of Bumwear, which sells cloth diapers and other environmentally friendly baby products, says sales of cloth diapers have increased steadily since she started the brand in 2002.
Sales spiked by 30 per cent between 2015 and last year, she adds, declining to give specific figures.
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Bottoms Up!
Using cloth nappies helps save the Earth – and your wallet, too, say these mums who choose not to put their babies in disposable diapers.
