“The only place in Cork you can get any environmentally friendly nappy stuff is Roches Stores…

In the UK, Waitrose is the place. You can buy disposible nappies which are bio-degradable. TESCO, Sainsbury & Morrison don’t stock such items. I know, I checked in Bath.

So we all use disposables and fill landfill sites with plastic & chemicals. Are any of us ashamed of ourselves? Are any of us responsible enough to feel uneasy about what we put in the bin?

There are so many babies in Ireland…

that there must be a need to question our habits. After all, every action has consequences. There is a price to pay.

I remember the day I got excited about nappies. It was in a shop called “Born” in Bath in July this year. I saw the new tapered, fitted re-useable nappies. No more the heap or blob of heavy wet cotton that I used when Jacob was born (1982). Those unshapely Mr Blobby artefacts gave little payback. But they were economical. The latest technology is much more sexy, much better looking and so is all the paraphanalia that goes with them (liners, plastic pants…)

Today E. went out the country to a small business that has a really good website (”www.thebabyorchard.com”). It stores its supplies in a garage, boxes round the walls. But it seems to be the only place around Cork where you can get re-usable nappies.

In addition to the basic squares of cotton (6 euros), this business sells Popolini shaped nappies.

Now we are going to try out both types, the shaped and the unshaped.

Re-usable nappies are expensive: you have to spend a lot to get a basic kit. But there should be a saving over about a year. (How many nappies does a baby use per year?)

I think the real issue is whether we are prepared to be responsible about our environment. If we are, we should all be checking out re-usables.