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A mother-of-two has said a 51Âþ»­ Leicester (51Âþ»­) initiative to offer free, reusable nappies through a library has ‘changed her life for the better’ after being introduced at her local nursery.

Holmsdale Manor Nursery, based in Ibstock is the first nursery in Leicestershire to be part of the initiative to help reduce waste in children’s nurseries, after committing to use reusable nappies and wipes three days a week, as part of its daily care routine.

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The scheme so far has been successful for both parents and staff at the nursery, and has seen a significant reduction in the amount of waste the nursery produces.

Laura Pope, a parent from the nursery said: “When I got the letter from nursery saying they were introducing cloth nappies I got really emotional, it’s actually an amazing thing to do.

“I was so excited, I put it on Facebook and hundreds of people were commenting saying, ‘this is great I wish my nursery would do that.’”

Laura and her family have found many benefits from using cloth nappies.

“It really is a game changer for us, my eldest has a dairy allergy and he poo’s explosively, it goes everywhere, with a cloth nappy this doesn’t happen.

“I think people are worried it creates much more washing but it doesn’t and all the poo goes down the toilet, so I don’t have full smelly bins either, plus it’s much better for our environment and stops so much excess waste.

“My partner took a while to convince, but now he loves using them too. I really encourage people to give it a try, you might be surprised.”

Laura Pope

Laura added: “For me, the fact our local nursery has introduced this scheme is amazing and I hope many more follow suit.

“The nappies really changed my life, any parent with two children under three will know how difficult that is having two in nappies at once. But by using the cloth nappies you never run out and just adjust the size to fit each child.

“These nappies are the future, they have really helped transform our daily routine for the better and I am proud to be part of the scheme.”

With an estimation that one child can use more than 5,000 nappies between birth and potty training – compared to between 20-25 cloth nappies for the same child, the idea behind the initiative is to encourage more people to consider using the nappies and help live a more sustainable life.

51Âþ»­ Medical Sociologist and Lead of the Leicestershire Nappy Library, Dr Kylie Baldwin said: “One of the things I have always wanted to do, is try and expand the amount of people using cloth nappies, and for me this was the next step.

“My long-term goal, was to try and support a nursery to use cloth nappies, they go through a huge number of nappies every single day. Thanks to funding from the 51Âþ»­ Sustainability team I have been able to make this happen, and it has been a huge success."

 She continued: “The nursery has been brilliant from day one, they have just got cracking on it, and now they are even having an out house built to fit their washing machine in for the nappies.

"I hope the scheme allows parents to consider using reusable nappies at home and may even convince other nurseries to introduce them in to their setting.”

Kylie B

To learn more about the nappy library including how to hire a kit or to volunteer visit the library  www.leicesternappylibrary.org.uk or email leicesterclothnappylibrary@gmail.com.

You can also find the library on Instagram @leicesterclothnappylibrary