Bamboo - the MUST have nappy fabric! Here's why...

Bamboo Nappies are one of the most popular natural diapering options available right now. Why are bamboo nappies so popular? Bamboo has a lot going for it. Bamboo is naturally antibacterial, soft, absorbent, easy to care for and better for the environment than synthetics or conventionally grown cotton.

What is so cool about bamboo?

Bamboo grows very, very quickly. Up to one foot a day! It does not require pesticides or chemical fertilizers, making it much more environmentally friendly than conventionally grown crops such as cotton. Because it grows so quickly, bamboo is a sustainable resource. Bamboo also helps prevent soil erosion and can absorb up to 40 percent more carbon dioxide than a similar growth of trees.

Bamboo is naturally antibacterial. Studies in Japan show that even after 50 washes, bamboo fabric retains it's antibacterial properties. When scientists attempted to grow bacteria on bamboo fabric, they found that 70 percent of the bacteria did not grow.

Bamboo is highly absorbent - about 60 percent more than cotton. Bamboo is able to absorb about 3 times it's own weight in water.

Bamboo is very breathable, making it a good choice for use against sensitive skin.

Does processing bamboo hurt the environment?

All fabrics impact the environment in some way. The only way to completely avoid environmental impact is to go naked. We feel that the impact of bamboo is worth the benefits it provides, although we are supportive of efforts to reduce the impact of all fabrics on the environment.

Because bamboo is grown so sustainably, it starts out as a much "greener" crop than most textiles. Processing the bamboo into fabric does require the use of chemicals. One of these chemicals is sodium hydroxide (lye). Sodium hydroxide is also used in making real soap. It is created naturally when water is run through wood ash, as our great, great grandparents did to create homemade soap. While you don't want sodium hydroxide on your skin in it's pure form, it is less dangerous than many other chemicals used to create textiles. Further, the factory that turns bamboo into usable fiber uses a closed loop system that retains the sodium hydroxide for reuse.

While creating bamboo fabric is not perfectly environmentally friendly, we feel that it is still a sustainable fabric that is better for the environment than synthetics made from petroleum or conventionally grown cotton. Until a perfect textile is found, we are very happy with the benefits and sustainability of bamboo.

Tell me more about bamboo nappies!

Bamboo nappies are now available from several top nappy makers. In addition to our own luxurious bamboo velour Wipes, we carry bamboo nappies in the form of our Couture and Basix range!

***Info copied and modified to suit Australian terms from http://www.littlefornow.com/pages/bamboo.php***

Strip Wash (ie: what to do when you made a Cloth Nappy washing boo boo)

Hello again!

How did everyone go with their Washing? We have had such a lovely response from the Blog earlier this week in regards to washing your Cloth Nappies.

As promised we are back again to tackle the issue of Strip Washing. For those of you that are wondering what on earth I am talking about 'Strip Washing' is a MCN (Modern Cloth Nappy but you knew by now though, right!?) term that relates to a very handy washing process that pops up every 3-6 months when using Cloth Nappies or if you or someone you know has done a bit of a opsy (Napisan or Fabric Softener kind of opsy) when washing your lovely Nappies!

As mentioned in our Washing Cloth Nappies Blog from Tuesday using Napisan or Fabric Softener on Modern Cloth Nappies can have a very negative affect. In the short team these products will cause your nappies to start leaking. Fabric Softener is simply an Oil that is coloured and made to smell nice! It does have the added affect that it makes your clothes and towels oh so soft and silky, but it has the negative affect of leaving a layer of Oil over the top of your Washing and in the case of Nappies this is very bad. We all know that Oil and Water don't mix so if you have a layer of Oil over the Waterproof and outside layer of your Nappies the waterproofing no longer works. In the long term the Elastic and Waterproof Layer will deteriorate at a very fast rate deeming them useless.

Even if you wash your Nappies perfectly every 6 months or so you might find that all of a sudden the Nappies that were once Absorbing machines are now leaking before every change. This is a simple case of Washing Powder (or Liquid) build up that has coated the waterproofing of your Nappies.

So enough of the 'who dun-its!' lets move on to how to fix it! This is the easy Part I promise!

• Place all of your affected Nappies into your Bucket (or sink for those without a Bucket).
• Fill the Bucket with Hot Water.
• Add to that Water a Squeeze of your regular Household Dish-washing Detergent.. Yep the stuff you use on your dirty Dishes (remember that we are trying to dissolve an Oil Build up in your Fabrics so a degreasing detergent is exactly what we need here)!
• Leave the Nappies in the Soapy Water overnight (please please please put it up high, in the laundry tub or something... way too many babies die every day in a bucket of water!).
• The following Morning drain the bucket and pop the Nappies into your Washing Machine WITHOUT any washing Powder at all. Put on a Pre-Rinse if you are worried you over did the Soap!
• Hang out to Dry as normal.
• Go back to enjoying those fantastic Absorbing machines we call MCN.

And there you have it! Once again our Washing is done. All Cloth Nappy hints and tips are going to become a weekly thing for us here so Subscribe to be kept up to date. Next week we are going to look at Night Nappies and Bamboo.

See ya then!
Shell