Have you ever stopped to consider how much disposable baby wipes are costing you at each nappy change, each day, each week, over the lifetime of your child? It all adds up; so consider giving wipes and a home made solution a go.

Baby wipes vary in value from between 5c each up to around 14c each* depending on what you want in your wipe. Chlorine free, biodegradable, bamboo, jojoba and chamomile. The choices are endless! Travel packs are even higher per wipe but we rarely think about these small costs in toileting a baby during its nappy wearing years.

How many wipes do you use per change? 1, none, or even as many as 5 depending on the ickiness factor! For the first six weeks at 10 changes a day and using an average of 2 per change it adds up to 10c – 28c per change, $1.00 – $2.80 per day, $7.00 – $19.60 per week …

Think about the savings you could make just by using reusable and rewashable wipes at home – graduating to using them all the time. Washers are a simple solution to wiping a baby’s bottom. You could make up your own solution and keep the washers in it so that they’re moist when you need them, or keep a small spray bottle (available at cheap chemist shops for very little money) filled with your home-made wash solution and spray on the wipe or straight on the bottom.

A simple baby wipe wash is 2 tablespoons of (preferrably natural) baby wash and 2 cups of water. Add some olive oil or other essential oil in the same ratio as the baby wash to customise the baby spray. Cheap and (relatively) easy! Washing the wipes with your nappies doesn’t mean you’re increasing washing loads or taking up too much more of your time. Once bub has finished toilet training old washers make great cleaning rags – so you can keep on saving your money.

Only question, now, is what you’ll spend your savings on!!

*woolworths.com.au 01/12/11

As a naturally occurring mineral Fluoride has become commercially used in many circumstances. Most commonly we know it as an additive to water and toothpaste to prevent tooth decay. It is also one of the most controversial mineral additives to items destined for human consumption even though fluoride occurs naturally in water.

Fluoridation (the addition of extra fluoride to water) of public water supplies has faced opposition since it was first introduced as a public health initiative in the 1940′s. Increasingly it has become commercially available via bottled water, making it easier to ingest too much fluoride and cause some form of damage. A law firm in America is suing a bottled water company on behalf of  a mother acting on her daughter’s dental fluorisis (the discolouration of teeth due to too much fluoride).

Australian cities and towns are forming groups to fight against government’s planned fluoridation of water. Interestingly, Queensland’s water supply remains largeky unfluoridated in comparison to the rest of Australia. This website has some useful articles and is open to those with different views to post their comments. If you have the time there is a documentary that you can watch on the addition of water into fluoride.

Whether you believe in fluoride being added to public or private water supplies, or to toothpaste, it is still important to remember that teeth are important! Brushing teeth is the best way to prevent tooth decay, starting out with babies first teeth. I used a washer with water at the beginning as small toothbrushes seemed too big!

Some ways to avoid using fluoridated products is to drink rain water (or use a filter if you don’t have access to this), avoid toothpaste that contains added fluoride, and check bottled water for additives that you may not want to be taking when drinking water. It’s been a legal requirement in Australia and New Zealand since fluoride was allowed to be added to bottled water in 2009 that it states clearly on the bottle: “contains added fluoride“.

** this article is for information purposes only**

So, you’ve finally got a place for your precious baby at child care. But will they use cloth on your bub just like you do?

There is plenty of confusing information on the internet – it’s a health concern, it’s manageable, it’s this and it’s that. There are no laws prohibiting child cares from using cloth nappies but it will be up to each individual child care centre whether they want to use them on your child.

Here are some tips for helping a child care realise that modern cloth nappies are as easy as disposables PLUS better for your baby, the environment, and the centre’s garbage bin!

bambooty asked for tips on getting cloth into child care on our Facebook page and received some great tips to help get the child care convinced.

• bring a sample of the modern cloth nappy in so the staff can see it and explain how to use it; most people still associate cloth nappies with terry towelling squares, pins and pilchers. When they see how easy modern cloth nappies are to use it may help convince them to give it a go.

• referring to cloth nappies as modern cloth nappies may help staff to mentally make that distinction from cloth nappies of the past.

• ease their concerns about storing the used MCN’s by providing individual wetbags for each nappy. If a child care centre pops the nappy in a plastic bag before putting it in the wet bag you can suggest that it isn’t necessary but be patient and flexible — if it makes the difference between using cloth and not using it I’d know which I’d prefer!

• point out the positives for the day care centre — less waste means less money spent on rubbish disposal, less garbage bags etc. Even one child using cloth nappies for a day would be a great saving for the child care centres over the year. It is also worth pointing out that it may help in their accreditation with eco-points for using MCNs.

• suggest a trial period if they are really hesitant — a day or two. This means they are giving it a go and once the trial period is over you can talk over any concerns they may have had and help provide resolutions or a different method to ensure they will use cloth.

• suggest liners if there is a concern about the disposal of poo — take a sample in and explain that they’re flushable if not on septic systems. Or suggest tipping the poo into the toilet if liners aren’t used. This is meant to be done with disposables too but often isn’t!

• ring around your local child care providers and see which ones seem keenest on the idea. If you have your heart set on a particular child care suggest coming in to talk about – or bring it up when you are doing your introductory tour so you can discuss it face to face.

For more information there is a great little blog post at the Australian Nappy Network which also gives you some research material to arm yourself with if hygiene is the issue stopping the child care centre from using cloth.

It’s one of a parent’s worst nightmares – losing a child through drowning. Although it’s impossible to ensure that all surrounds are clear of water dangers, everywhere you go, the focus on preparing a child for water is imperative. There are plenty of insitutions and organisations that exist to help prepare your child for swimming.

We live on a farm and I have prepared my two children for dams by telling them there are crocodiles living in there. Whilst this may give my children pause for thought, in case they do escape the fenced yard, I don’t presume it will last forever. Both of my children have weekly swimming lessons and visits to the beach to build confidence, awareness and an acceptance of the dangers associated with water. My favourite mantra from their swimming lessons is: “never, ever swim alone”, followed closely by: “always swim with an adult”. This, at least, is sinking in!

Swimming great Laurie Lawrence set up the Kids Alive – Do the Five! organisation to provide simple tips for ensuring water safety. His five tips are:
1. Fence the pool
2. Shut the gate
3. Teach your kids to swim – it’s great
4. Supervise – watch your mate, and
5. Learn how to resuscitate

Over Summer Laurie will be providing 5 free lessons via the Internet as an Interactive Learning Program. These lessons are designed for children under 5. There is also some great swimming technique tips for babies from birth at the World Wide Swim School.

The Austswim website has all the information you need for finding courses close to your home.

Hannah’s Foundation also exists for drowning prevention, awareness and support.

We hope this helps get us all ready for warm weather and fun times with water!

Have you heard about this new drive for people to pledge to have one meat free day a week? They’re calling it Meat Free Mondays (for obvious reasons!) and there are some pretty convincing figures that may sway you towards that pledge.

Mario Batali from the Environmental Working Group (EWG) says that you can make “… a big impact. According to EWG’s Meat Eater’s Guide to Climate Change + Health, if everyone in the U.S. skipped eating meat and cheese just one day a week for a year, it would be like pulling 7.6 million cars off the road. At the same time, people — especially kids — would be less likely to develop health problems such as obesity and heart disease.”

At our home my husband has been diagnosed with haemochromatosis (iron overload disorder) so we’re only meant to eat red meat once a week. At least I can see now what kind of difference it can make to our environment and our future.

If you’d like to learn more you can google ‘Meat Free Mondays’ or you can see EWG’s pledge here. There’s also some great recipes available at the Australian website for Meatless Mondays.

Amelia spent some time on her last trip to China searching for new manufacturers for new products. bambooty’s products have become what they are due to responding to customer feedback. It’s because of you we’ve improved elastic, zipper sizes and print quality to name a few. Customer’s have repeatedly asked if there was any possibility of a one size nappy. Guess what? There is! We’ve found new manufacturers with the same high standards for some new products. Being family run with a focus on superior quality and having exemplary employee standards ticked all the boxes for our new supplier. When we first started looking for someone to help us meet the demand for bambooty nappies we were surprised at how long that eventually took, and how ongoing the search has turned out to be. It’s a painstaking process but one that pays dividends through the premium standards of bambooty products.

Amelia has spent long nights – days – and nights perfecting her folding and magic skills to produce bambooty’s Easy One Size nappy. It’s arrived (in its first small shipment) and is designed to fit from newborn to toilet training. These nappies will retail at just $32.95 each. They come with 2 sewn in inserts and 1 detachable booster. With some deft hand movements (and some practice!) you’ll soon be fitting the nappies to your baby no matter what their size. And as a special bonus they’re here in the new prints too! Here’s a shot of the one size in the various sizes (and look how gorgeous the new safari print is!). We’re sure you’ll be as excited about these as we are.

For those who can’t wait – and live in or near Perth – the first demonstration of the new bambooty Easy One Size is happening from today at the Perth Pregnancy Babies & Children’s Expo (and here’s how to get a free ticket to get in).

If you can’t even wait to see the demonstration – and who can blame you – they’re for sale now at our website and come with an easy ‘how-to’ information sheet.