Due to Covid-19 Nappy Leaks was unable to have our usual live audience, so we have a special guest, Keryn. She is Bubblebubs’ Cloth Nappy Support Specialist and comes across all sorts of questions from families starting out with cloth nappies through to those who have used it across multiple children. She calls in to join Vicki and Vashti, discussing with the ladies the top 3 questions she gets enquiries for.

Transcription: Cloth Nappies in Germany

[Music] Andrew: Welcome to Nappy Leaks with Vicki Simpson and Vashti Wadwell. How are you doing, Vicki? Vicki: I’m good Andrew, how are you? Andrew: Good, how are you doing, Vashti? Vashti: Awesome, how are you tonight, Vicki? Vicki: I’m pretty good actually, got a bit of a tickle in my throat. Andrew: If you say night, you date it, the podcast. Now people know we did it at night. Vicki: That’s because we were talking to an international guest earlier tonight. Andrew: That was three months ago [laughter]. How are you doing, Keren? Vashti: It’s been a long night. Keren: It has, it has. Andrew: How are you doing, Keren? Vashti: We’ve got Keren here. Andrew: Yeah, Keren are you there? Vashti: Oh wow. Vicki: She’s no longer in Orange, she’s now overseas, didn’t you know? Vashti: What are you doing overseas, Keren? Andrew: It’s funny, the audio quality is exactly the same as it was before. Vashti: It’s almost like you’re right here next to us. Vicki: In 2022. Andrew: I think we’ll be able to go to New Zealand soon. Vicki: Hopefully. Andrew: Everybody will be having their holidays in New Zealand this year. Keren: I’ve never been to New Zealand, so it sounds like fun actually. Vicki: It’s beautiful, love New Zealand. Vashti: Don’t catch a cruise ship. Vicki: Yeah, no. Don’t cruise there. Andrew: Walk, just walk there. Vicki: Emirates. Emirates are amazing, to New Zealand. Highly recommended. Vashti: Emirates are amazing full stop. Vicki: Yes, 100%. Vashti: Oh look, it’s a travel show again Andrew. Andrew: I know it’s a travel show. Vashti: He’s going to cut it all. Keren: Take that, Andrew. Andrew: Take the travel stuff out, nobody cares about travel stuff. So Keren is our cloth nappy support specialist, and she’s going to ask the girls the top three questions she’s had over the last month. So Keren, go for your first question. Keren: When can newborn nappies be used until? Vashti: I think it really depends on the brand. Like some newborn nappies go up until about five, five and a half kilos, whereas other newborn nappies go up to about eight kilos. Vicki: Then you’ve got flats and pre-folds, which go up to toilet training. Vashti: Yeah, so as long as the nappy fits, and your baby isn’t out wetting it, that’s probably the answer there. Andrew: The answer would probably be check the brand you’re looking at getting, and they’ll probably have a weight recommendation. Vashti: But keep in mind… Vicki: But keep in mind, weights are so, so subjective. Vashti: Yeah, I was just about to say that keep in mind, every baby is shaped differently. I have some customers who cannot fit into one of the brands that I’ve got that is supposed to do up until about seven and a half kilos, and their babies are out of it at six kilos. Andrew: That’s alright, you can mention the brand. Vashti: No, it’s OK. Vicki: No, it’s unbranded. Vashti: But then I’ve also got customers who, their 11 and a half, 12 kilo babies are still fitting into newborns that other babies have grown out of by six kilos. So it is really subjective. It’s based on your child and what size and shape they are. Now, the next question we’re going to get from that is shouldn’t I wait until my baby arrives to buy my cloth nappies? And probably no, because if you wait until your baby arrives, you’re going to get caught up in parenting and before you know it, your baby is going to be six months old. Andrew: If you wait, you won’t have any time, because it’s such a busy time. Especially if it’s your first. Vicki: Even for your second. Vashti: For you second, even more so because not only are you dealing with a toddler who’s used to being the baby and now has to be the big boy or girl, you’ve also got your newborn with you. So I’m a big advocate… Vicki: And you’re tired and overwhelming. Vashti: Buy your nappies while you’re pregnant if you can. There are newborn nappies, if you’re looking at your newborn nappies, there are newborn nappies that will fit every baby without fail from birth. So it’s… contact your local retailer. Keren: If you buy them from a shop, or even the manufacturer, someone will be there to help you as well, as you use them. Vashti: Exactly, there’s always after service support and we’re here to answer questions and to link you up to videos or to do fittings at our warehouses and our shop fronts and stuff like that. I even had one customer today, I offered to come to her house because she wasn’t keen on bringing her newborn out and about. So I did offer to go around to her house and help her with fittings. I’ve done it with other customers. They’ve lived close to the shop or close to where I live and I’ve actually popped in and given them a hand with their fittings on their newborns, because they just didn’t have the time, the inclination… Vicki: They’re overwhelmed. Vashti: …or the desire to leave their house with a newborn. Vicki: I must admit, I have too. If I notice that the nappies were wet… Keren: That’s how you got an employee, not me. Vicki: Is it? Oh, it is too, that’s how I got Jenna. Hey Jenna, how are you doing? She’d be like, how old would Liam be now? Three months? Three, four months old now? Andrew: She’d be back at work by now, wouldn’t she? Vicki: Yes, when are you coming back to work, Jenna? This should be publishing by the time you’re back at work, hurry up. No… Vashti: Six months at least. Keren: Vashti, you mentioned buy your nappies when pregnant. How soon should you be buying them before you have the baby? Vicki: Seven months. No, seriously, seven months just seems to be we’re having a baby moment. Vashti: Not seven months before baby comes, when you’re at seven months. Vicki: No, seven months pregnant. Vashti: Yeah, so I do find seven months is the sort of, the magic number. It’s when your brain is still with you enough that you retain everything but it’s close enough to the baby’s birth that you haven’t forgotten everything. In saying that as well, if budget is an issue, start as soon as you find out that you’re pregnant. So buy one or two cloth nappies every pay, and to slowly build up your stash while you’re pregnant. Vicki: Or find a store that laybys. Vashti: Yeah, do layby. Layby early on in the pregnancy… Vicki: Or sick money. Vashti: …and just slowly pay it off during your pregnancy and stuff like that. If budget isn’t an issue, or you’re able to pop $30 away a pay, have a little money jar on top of the fridge or something like that, and every payday just pop $30 in there, you can build up that money fairly quickly so that then at around about that seven, seven and a half month mark you go and see your retailer or your manufacturer… Vicki: Actually you need more than $30, because at that seven month mark you’re like oh I’m having a baby and I need a car seat and I need a pram and I need to buy all the things. It’s this whole overwhelm. I don’t know what it is, it’s like this switch gets turned on and you’re no longer buying just a cute little bunny… Vashti: That gorgeous little outfit. Vicki: I’m having a baby, I’m having a baby. Vashti: I need a change table, I need a pram, I need a car seat, I need a carrier. Vicki: All those things happen at seven months. I don’t know what it is. Keren: Is there an advantage of buying at seven months versus say buying a month before? What would be the advantage of buying a little earlier? Vashti: It’s just that pure, your brain hasn’t left your body enough that you forget everything, you don’t understand everything, because you do get baby brain. And it’s also close enough to go… Vicki: You’ve forgotten what it’s like to go out when you’re 36 to 38 weeks pregnant, haven’t you? Vashti: Yeah, there’s that. Vicki: Jenna is what, four months past it, she hasn’t forgotten. You just don’t feel like doing much. Andrew: She probably still hasn’t gone out. Vicki: Hey? Andrew: She probably still hasn’t gone out. Vicki: No, she probably hasn’t. No, that last month is really taxing on your body, because that baby is just growing, that’s all it’s doing. And I never made it. The most I got was 37.5 with all three of my kids. Vashti: And that’s the other thing, anywhere from 36 weeks is technically full term these days. Andrew: I remember toward the… Keren: I found if you buy them early, it gives you and your partner a chance to actually practice. Vicki: Play. Andrew: That’s true. I remember towards the end of Jenna’s pregnancy, she says to me, I’m having trouble coming into the office, and working from the office. And I said why’s that? She goes, because I can’t physically carry enough snacks in. Vashti: There’s also the bloody big stairwell that you’ve got. Vicki: But she… have you not seen the stairs at Jenna’s house? Vashti: Yeah, that’s true. Vicki: How the heck she managed to get up and down them so pregnant, yeah, hats off. Those stairs are scary. They scare me, and I’m just a large lady. Andrew: I think we’re ready for your second question, Keren. Keren: How many nappies to buy for twins? Vicki: One and a half stashes. It’s not double, it’s only one and a half. Vashti: Yes, one and half, because you’re washing a little bit more frequently because of the size of the loads. Vicki: So that would be around 40 odd newborn nappies. Andrew: 47? Vicki: No, not 47. Vashti: About 40 to 45. Vicki: Says Vashti, I say 36 to 40. Vashti: No, if you… oh yeah, 36 to 40. Vicki: You always go higher. Keren: And how realistic is cloth with twins? Vicki: I actually had a friend who did, and actually she was the first one that I ever made nappies for. She did cloth with her 18 month old and newborn twins. So she actually had three in nappies. We’ve actually currently got a triplet mum. Actually, we’ve got two triplet mums that are doing fulltime cloth. I think it just becomes part of your routine when you have got two or three babies. I think what you do is what you do. Vashti: Well Renee from Cloth Nappies Downunder, she had four under four. Vicki: Holy hell. Vashti: Her eldest was still in night nappies. Her middle was in fulltime cloth, and then she had the twins, who were in fulltime cloth from birth. And she was running a business and working outside the home and her partner was working fulltime. Andrew: Fricken hero. Vicki: It really just becomes part of your routine. It’s just a nappy, it’s just washing. You’re washing so much. I don’t know what it is with the second child, it seems to add so much more washing… Vashti: Even with one child, the amount of washing that you’re doing with one child is just phenomenal. For such a small creature… Vicki: And so you don’t notice it. Vashti: …they produce a lot of dirty things. Andrew: That’s because it’s continuously coming out of both ends. Vashti: Yeah, well there’s that too. That is true. Vicki: And then there’s the sheets and the change mats. Vashti: And the spew cloths and the burp rags. Vicki: The pram liners. Vashti: Car seat covers. Vicki: Yeah, because they decided to vomit through everything. Vashti: Projectile vomit. Keren: Face and hand wipes. Vicki: We’re putting everybody off. If you’re listening to this and you’re pregnant, it’s too late, sorry. Vashti: Yeah, there’s no returns. And you’re going to be knee deep in bodily fluids for at least two years. Vicki: Yes. Keren: At least. Andrew: Actually the people who asked me, do I have to touch poo? And my response is, if that’s the worst thing you have to touch, you’re doing pretty good. Vicki: That’s right, and you know what? Poo is not exclusive to cloth nappies. They poo in whatever nappy. Exactly. They poo in single use nappies too and you’ve got to clean it up. Andrew: OK Keren, what’s your third question? Keren: How to wash new nappies. Vashti: In the washing machine. Andrew: Give them a rinse or what? Vicki: What do we say? Generally soak them in a bucket. Does that actually work? Jury is out. Keren: I say just don’t worry, just throw them in the machine. Vicki: Yeah, just one go. Keren: Get the… Vashti: Manufacturer’s residue out of them. Keren: …and you’re good to go. Andrew: Throw them in the machine, but obviously watch the temperature though. Vashti: Nothing over 60 degrees. Keren: Not many people wash over 60 degrees anyway. Andrew: Our new washing machine goes to 90. Vicki: I do my linen at 90. Because I don’t know… Keren: Maybe don’t throw them in with the towels and stuff. Andrew: And emailed the company the other day and said to them, is there a way to make it go to 11? Vicki: You know what? You know what’s really sad is I get all of these, you don’t get that do you? You’ve never watched Spinal Tap? Oh my gosh. Andrew: Wait, we brought this up at a podcast before. This has been a subject of a podcast before. Vashti: Obviously it meant very little. Andrew: Don’t you listen to what you say? Vicki: Spinal Tap, Star Trek is 47, come on. And Spinal Tap wasn’t even through Andrew either. That was an ex that introduced me to Spinal Tap. Andrew: That’s why he’s an ex. Vicki: Yes, watch it, you and your bloody 47. Vashti: At Nest, we normally recommend that you soak your nappies overnight, so in the laundry sink, the bathtub, the baby bath is really awesome. Vicki: The strucket. Vashti: The strucket. Andrew: Strucket is not a sponsor of this episode. They’re just gushing. Vicki: I really love my strucket. I’ve just… Vashti: I’ve told you. For months now I’ve been telling you and you’ve only really just got on board. Vicki: Do you know what I use my strucket for? Is we have got a diabetic cat, who decided… I think he’s struggling with…. Vashti: Medications. Vicki: Yeah, we’re still struggling with getting his levels right and so he’s weeing everywhere at the moment, and he weed on my robovac. And I soaked all the parts in the strucket. I loved it, because I didn’t have to be washing cat pee out of like the parts that are clearly in a… Andrew: She was swishing it like… Vicki: I was, I was going up and down… Andrew: …the driveway, she’s supposed to do it. I think she watched the video. Vashti: There you go. Keren: Music video, I’m pretty sure they’ve got a music video. Vashti: I’ve got a video that I did with Kelly from Strucket on how to use it. Vicki: Is the small one out yet? Because I think I’d really like a small one. Vashti: No. It might be. Andrew: Wait, that might be a secret. That might be still a secret. Vicki: That’s alright, this will be three months before this is out. But the kids lunchboxes, I have actually got, this is not, honest to God, this is not sponsored by Strucket, I’m just in love with the product. My kids have got, what are the lunch boxes… Vashti: Bento boxes. Vicki: No, but they’re, whatever brand they are, they pull out inserts and when you wash them in the dishwasher, and by their very nature, they end up gunky. Andrew: They’re like an upside down cup. Keren: A Yum Box. Vicki: A Yum Box, yes, thank you, Yum Box, how did you know what I was talking about? I’ve got so many of them, I absolutely love Yum Boxes, they have lasted my kids for… Gabe’s in Grade 3, and he’s had them since Kindy. He’s had them since Kindy. Andrew: To be fair, the reason they last a long time is because they sell the parts, and you order… Vicki: Oh yeah, we just keep replacing the parts. Andrew: …the part and just keep replacing the part, not replace the whole thing every time. Vicki: I love that, but it’s not the outers, it’s the inners, and I’m looking to get the small strucket so I can actually, because they’re just not coming clean in the dishwasher properly and I just want to soak them in a little strucket and… Andrew: What’s the brand of the lunchbox again? Vicki: Yum Box. Vashti: Yum Box. Andrew: Yum Box. They’re not a sponsor of this episode either. Vicki: No, they’re not, but they are amazing. Of all of them, I think we’ve got… Keren: We all have a Yum Box here. Adults as well. Vicki: You do? Adults, yeah, Andrew’s got one, I bought one for Andrew, and we’ve got the Panini… Andrew: How many do you own, Keren? Keren: Probably five or six. Andrew: How many of them did you take interstate? Keren: Hang on, they’re right next to me. Four, five, maybe the collection. I have more inserts and I left those at home. I didn’t bring spare inserts. Andrew: Wow. Vicki: And anybody who, if you ever need the clip, I think Happy Hippo is the importer of them, actually and they sell the replacement clips for $3 or $3. That’s the part that will break, as well as the inserts sometimes, the inserts snap a little bit. Andrew: It really depends how many times the kids drop it though. Vicki: Yeah, but I mean, after five years, I have spent maybe 20 bucks on repairs. You know, like you don’t get that out of a Kmart lunchbox or a Sistema lunchbox that you get from Coles. So they might cost 50 bucks, but they’re worth it. Vashti: Well I bought Nude Food lunch boxes when Braith started Prep, and by the Easter holidays, the thing was broken. Vicki: Oh really? Vashti: Yep, so I didn’t even get a term out of them. So that’s when we moved back to our Tupperware that I’d been using, that I’d had since he was a baby. Vicki: All depends if your kid is a loser or not. Vashti: Yeah, like Braith in Grade 9, some of the Tupperware… Andrew: The kids, say that again? Vicki: The kid is a loser. A loser of things. A loser of hats. Andrew: That’s not how it sounded. Vicki: A loser of lunchboxes, a loser… I mean, you do realise that those… what are they? Vashti: The lost property. Vicki: The lost property, they don’t just appear. The losers of jumpers. Our kids aren’t losers. Gabriel’s lost a hat. Vashti: I’m glad your children aren’t losers. Vicki: Yes, they get in trouble if they lose stuff, they have to buy it back themselves. I’m not paying $15 for another school hat. You go find your hat. You go find it in lost property. Vashti: No, but… Vicki: The joys of parenting older kids. Vashti: Braith’s in Grade 9, and we’ve been using, some of the Tupperware we’ve had since he was a baby, before he was one. Vicki: So he’s not a loser either. Some kids are honestly, they lose everything. Vashti: Don’t get me wrong, he lost his jumper. Again. Last week. Andrew: What? He’s not even at school. Vashti: My children are at school, because I work outside the home. Vicki: And you know what’s worse? Actually that’s as bad as losing a lunchbox because they’re like $45, $50 for a jumper. Vashti: Yep, and so ropable, because it only ever happens when their father picks them up from school. Andrew: What? Vashti: They only ever lose their stuff when their father picks them up. Their father picks them up… Andrew: That’s profiling. Vashti: Their father picked them up on the Friday afternoon, and when we went back to school on the Wednesday when I was taking them to school, I’m like where’s your jumper? And he’s like, I don’t know. We tore the house inside out. Tore it apart, everything. The jumper is not in the house. The last time Braith remembers having it was at school on Friday, which means it did not come home from school on Friday and therefore it’s his father’s fault. Vicki: And it actually sounds like you’re separated from his dad, and you’re not… Vashti: No. Vicki: It’s in the same house. Same car. Vashti: No, different car. But no, we’re still together. Vicki: His dad’s a loser. Vashti: Yeah. Mr Nest is the loser, but we still love him. Sometimes. Vicki: That is so off topic. Andrew: Sometimes. You want me to take the sometimes out, do you? Because we know he listens. Vashti: He does, he does. Actually I don’t think he’s listened to an episode for a while. Andrew: Hasn’t he? Vashti: No, we could be safe. I think he’s over it now. Keren: He’ll pick this one. Vicki: Of course he will. Andrew: I’ll take it out anyway and I’ll stick it in outtakes. So if he’s really determined, he’ll get to hear it. Vicki: He can listen to it on Tik Tok. Andrew: I think we’re out of questions. Are we out of questions? Vicki: I don’t know. Are you out of question, Keren? Vashti: Did we answer that question for you, Keren? Andrew: Do you know what the question was? Vicki: I think we talked about struckets and lunchboxes. Andrew: How to wash new nappies. Keren: Not lunchboxes. Vicki: The same way you wash cat pee and lunchboxes. Vashti: In the washing machine. One wash, it’s fine. Andrew: OK, I think we’ll finish up. Thank you Keren. Keren: Thank you for having me, Andrew. Andrew: And by the way, Vicki wanted me to tell you you’re doing a fantastic job. Keren: Thank you. Vicki: Am I not allowed to say that? Keren: You’re answering my questions for me. Andrew: That’s right. You don’t do anything more. Fantastic at your job now. Keren: You don’t trust me. Andrew: Thanks, Vashti. Vashti: Thanks, Andrew. Andrew: Thank you, Vicki. Vicki: Thanks, Andrew, thanks, Keren. Vashti: Bye, Keren. Keren: Bye. Andrew: Bye everybody. [Music] Andrew: Vicki Simpson is wife and mother to three children, and owner and founder of Bubblebubs. Vicki has been making and selling cloth nappies through her website for 16 years. Bubblebubs is now one of the most recognised and awarded cloth nappy brands in Australia, and is currently expanding to other countries. You can find out more and contact her through her website, bubblebubs.com.au. Vashti Wadwell is mother to three children and has been using cloth nappies for 14 years. She is the owner of Australia’s first cloth nappy store, Nest Nappies, located in Brisbane, Australia. Vashti can be contacted through her website, nestnappies.com. If are finding the podcast helpful, and would like to make it easier for other parents to find, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. I am your host, Andrew Simpson. [Music] Vicki: Anyway, whatever. Andrew: Alrighty, are you ready to start? Vicki: Hi, Andrew, how are you? Vashti: He’ll cut that, you know that. Vicki: I know. Vashti: Hi, Andrew. Andrew: Anything that makes me look bad, I cut.