Makes a Change - Organic, Fair Trade and Natural Parenting

Mother-ease Airflow V Mother-ease Rikki

Mother-ease Nappies - one of the longest established cloth nappy brands.  They make the well-known and dearly loved Airflow and Rikki cloth nappy wraps - but what's the difference between the two?

Airflow Nappy Wraps

Airflow wraps have a neat popper fastening which is much harder for babies to undo than Velcro.  The poppers are on the side of the nappy, making them slightly more fiddly to fasten than a Velcro wrap, but once they're on, they stay on!

The theory is that as your baby moves, air is bellowed over and through the wrap, keeping the nappy inside drier - hence the name "Airflow". 

Airflow wraps are looser fitting than most cloth nappy wraps.  They are brilliant for fitting over a bulky night nappy, or over a more padded nappy for the heavy wetting baby.  This loose fit means that they are not suitable for nappies which need to be held in place by the wrap - it wouldn't be a great choice to go over a prefold, for instance.

With poppers at the legs and waist there's loads of space for adjustment, and as there's no Velcro band at the waist, babies who are sitting up and suffer from the Velcro waistband rubbing them do well with Airflow wraps.

Rikki Nappy Wraps

Mother-ease Rikki Wraps are a more traditional close-fitting Velcro-fastened wrap.  They are ideal for covering any nappy, including prefolds.  The Velcro is of exceptionally high quality and will last and last, but as with all Velcro wraps some babies who are sitting up can be bothered by the Velcro band rubbing them on the tummy.  Rikki Wraps have a leg gusset which means that they snuggly fit around the tops of your baby's legs, to brilliantly protect against leaks. 

They're generously cut to cover the underlying nappy at the legs which can often be a problem with other wraps.

Airflow and Rikki Fabric

Both Rikki and Airflow nappy wraps are made from a high quality, fast-drying PUL fabric which is exceptionally durable.  The binding is non-wicking so urine will NOT leak out of the nappy via the binding which is such a problem with many other brands.

Why We Love Bamboo Nappies

Summer's SOOOO wonderful when you're using cloth nappies!  Don't they look adorable on the washing line, naturally bleaching in the sun and smelling of fresh air!

We adore bamboo nappies in summertime. Bambinex Bamboo Nappies are just wonderful for so many reasons!

• They stay beautifully soft when line dried, unlike cotton nappies
• Bamboo is the single most absorbant natural nappy fabric available
• Bamboo makes gorgeously slim fitting nappies
• Bamboo is grown organically, without the use of pesticides, herbicides or artificial fertilisers
• It's completely bio-degradable and natural!

So we love bamboo nappies; in summertime.  They take longer to line dry than cotton or microterry nappies (such as Bambinex Teddy Nappies), but it really doesn't matter in summer and they are just so lovely and cosy that they make the perfect summer nappy!

How to use Cloth Nappies Without a Dryer

It's not come as a great surprise that we've been inundated at Makes a Change recently with enquiries about using cloth nappies.  With everyone trying to save money, cloth nappies are an obvious starting point as savings of between £500 - £1,000 per child are normal.

It seems that one of the biggest worries that people have, though, is about how to dry nappies with our inclement British Weather without relying on a tumble drier.  And with electricity prices going through the roof, avoiding the tumble dryer is really important!

The answer is a fairly new type of fabric which is a type of microfibre.  It's used by Bambinex to make the Bambinex Teddy Nappy.  Here's why we love it:

• Teddy (microfibre) nappies will dry in about 3 hours either on the line on a warm day or on the radiator airer.
• Teddy nappies can be dried on a radiator airer and yet they stay absolutely gorgeously soft.

Even though they're not a natural fabric we think they're still a really eco friendly nappy because they just don't need tumble drying - either to soften them or to dry them. 

The only disadvantage is that teddy nappies are slightly more bulky than bamboo or cotton nappies, but the Bambinex Teddies are still very trim compared with other microfibre nappies and we think they're great!