Starting out
Over recent years, there has been an awakening in the need to live a more sustainable lifestyle. I still remember the days of leaded-petrol cars belching out pungent exhaust, coal-fired power stations dotting the landscape with their cooling towers and when you would open the cupboard under the sink and a tsunami of plastic bags would fountain forth, all given freely by the supermarket with no thought of either having to pay for them or needing to remember to bring your stash with you to avoid the single-use plastic tax. Still there were other bits that were better; my grandmothers net-like carrier bag that could be easily tucked away in her handbag; flights cost a fortune and were a rarity and more frequent were the ferry trips across the Channel with the smell of sea air on deck, rather than discounted perfume in duty free; and as often as the bulky, rectangular, blank-white plastic disposable nappies (diapers) were seen and used there was still the time and place for old-fashioned terry squares, simply folded into a triangle and wrapped around the baby’s bum, secured at the front with a large metal nappy pin.
Changing time(s)
I’ve always seen the value of the world around us, but I am also lazy! I have the best of intentions to try and be better at doing my bit for reducing carbon emissions, recycling, composting, buying local and seasonal produce, as well as reducing use of throw-away items. But, as I said, I am lazy. Actually, I have ADHD, which looks much the same, but means that I really do want to do these things and truly intend to be better every time I set out, but often something gets in the way. Take cloth nappies for example. Disposable nappies are much better today than they were in my days as an infant and toddler; they are slimmer; more absorbent; have breathable textile-feel back sheets and are much more aesthetically pleasing to both parents and children than they were in years gone by. One thing that hasn’t changed is that one of their primary uses is to be thrown away; that is one of their biggest reasons to exist. Yes, they keep irritating wee away from baby’s bum; they are slim and stretchy and allow free movement, but I am certain that even if they were identical in all aspects to cloth nappies, apart from disposability, they would still be popular from the convenience perspective alone. Let’s face it; cleaning a baby’s behind after a big poo and then having to knock any solids into the toilet, find a place to store the soiled nappy or getting a load of washing together, go and hang the washing out or put it in the drier before bringing it in and folding it before putting it all away, just to start the cycle again; is not the easiest and most pleasant way of spending your morning, afternoon and night. I’m afraid that I did not always live up to my intentions and would often end up slapping on a disposable to make my life easier. As anyone with ADHD will tell you, having accountability helps with motivation and I am fortunate to have a wife who has a strong sense of the need to live more ethically and sustainably and is a fantastic driver to keep me on track. She got gifts of cloth nappies from friends whose babies had grown out of them and got given nice new ones as gifts from friends and relatives. She even got the old-fashioned terry squares that my mum had used for me as a baby (and had been stored in the loft for 30 years!) and used them until after our second they began to wear through and fall out. But, most of all, she was the prod to my conscience that kept me trying even when it was easier to reach for the Pampers.
Managing symptoms: what options are there?
I’ve struggled with bladder control for many years and have been to a variety of medical professionals and been subjected to batteries of diagnostic tests in order to try and come to a better understanding of the cause of my problems and have tried a variety of medications and techniques to try and improve my symptoms. The tests have been invasive and painful. The treatments have had varied success, but have all had side-effects that are difficult to tolerate in the longer term. So, once all the investigations have stopped and the treatments given up on, I am left with trying to manage my problems in a way that allows me to live a normal life. I have used a variety of absorbent products over the years and they have been variable in their effectiveness. I have two issues with bladder control that need managing. Stress leakage, which doesn’t happen all the time, but is quite unpredictable and as a result I need to wear some form of protection most of the time. This leakage is quite light though, in general, so there are quite a few potential options of absorbent products to manage this. Urgency is the other problem and less frequently leads me to leak, but when I do it is a large amount and unstoppable. A lot of the time this can be managed by limiting my consumption of caffeine (a definite trigger), being sure that I have ready access to a toilet and if I can’t (or don’t want) to do either of these, then wearing some absorbent protection, but this needs to be very high capacity or it will leak unless I have a chance to change very quickly.
As I mentioned above, I have tried a lot of different products over the years, but almost without exception they have been disposable. I did buy some washable underwear with small absorbent pads a good few years ago, but while the will manage the small stress leaks, they haven’t got a prayer against a proper urgency leak. My wife was again the one who pointed out the problem with this. We spend loads of time sorting recycling, reusing and repurposing old items in the house, we try to shop locally for sustainable produce and despite all this I was putting a mountain of single-use plastic into landfill and undoing all my good work. So I set to work trying to find good, reusable options for managing my incontinence and for the last two and a half years, I have tried and tested a large number of different options. Some have worked brilliantly and some have been useless for me, but along the way I have found out a few things that seem to be useful in making products work well.
Hope for the future?
Over the last decade or so the increase in interest in sustainability and ecologically-green lifestyles has led to a resurgence in interest in cloth nappies for babies and as a result there has been an explosion in the options and products available in the reusable nappy market. Unfortunately, this has not yet made its way into the incontinence market yet and the options are still quite limited, particularly for those who experience heavier loss. The purpose of this site and my blog within it is to discuss the products I have found, let you know what has worked well or badly for me and try to find new options to solve some of the problems I have noticed with even the best options.
I hope you find it interesting and useful!
Incontinence Cloth 