Today the ladies discuss obstacles to using cloth nappies and how to overcome them including what if you don't have a dryer or trying to get onto a schedule as a working or stay at home parent. Another hot topic in Australia currently is water conservation and how to survive on tank water so Vashti and Vicki share their wisdom on that too. They also cover a few useful topics like best types of washing machines, minky vs pul and night nappies.
Transcription: You don't need everything perfect to do cloth nappies
Andrew: How are you doing Vashti?
Vashti: Good thanks Andrew, how are you?
Andrew: Doing fine. How are you, Vicki?
Vicki: Yeah, good. Yourself? Caffeinated?
Andrew: I don’t drink caffeine. You’re caffeinated.
Vicki: I’m caffeinated.
Andrew: Excellent. I don’t drink caffeine.
Vicki: I don’t have the shakes yet, so not over caffeinated. Soon. Did you see my signing the snap press the other day? I was like shake, I was like wow, those three coffees, three double shots that you had, really shouldn’t have been videoing that.
Andrew: Do we always sign products? I mean do we always sign assets when we give them away?
Vicki: No, this was, I gifted the snap press that I had used to make my nappies before we moved offshore, I gifted it to another work at home mum who is close by, who hopefully one day she’ll, her business will take off like mine has, and she’ll sign it and pass it on to someone else.
Andrew: Let’s give her a plug.
Vicki: Caitlin? What’s your business name?
Caitlin: Go-Go Eco.
Vicki: Go-Go Eco. I knew it was eco-something. So Go-Go Eco nappies.
Andrew: Go-Go Eco. There you go, handmade nappies.
Vicki: Yes, Caitlin.
Andrew: Snapped with a Bubblebubs snap press.
Vicki: Yeah, Hugo has been in a couple of our videos. I mean, this is just a classic example of how the industry should work together and not compete.
Andrew: That’s good, so she’s inspired to make her own, that’s good. Are they out yet?
Vashti: She’s been making little matching outfits to go with them as well, handmade clothes. I think she’s still…
Vicki: I reckon Jo Grant will be the next one. Because she made, you remember the little premmie that we had in here that was like 2 kilos and he had the most gorgeous outfit on? Probably back then when she had time to actually make clothes for her kids. I reckon that she’s going to at some stage make, well whether it be nappies or kids clothes or something like that. Something hand crafty. I reckon she’s, look out for her, that’s my prediction, Jo, if you hear this. Come and see me, I’ll help you.
Andrew: Yeah, come and have Vicki teach you how to pull your hair out while you’re trying to launch a new website.
Vicki: Yep. For a year. It’s launched, please for the love of God, please, by the time this podcast goes to air it would have had to have been launched, because it was October 2018 this website started being built.
Andrew: So let’s move on to some struggles that people might have with cloth nappies.
Vicki: With website? Cloth nappies, OK. Because I could list a whole year’s worth of struggles with websites, but anyway.
Andrew: No, we’re not talking about websites.
Vicki: Nappies.
Andrew: Vashti doesn’t have any trouble with her website.
Vicki: No, how long did it take you to get your POS in, Vashti?
Vashti: Two years. But they’re in, and I’m loving it.
Andrew: Is that two years of trying to get it in, or two years of I can’t do this?
Vicki: From research through to installation.
Vashti: Researching. We found one POS and…
Vicki: It was perfect, and it was a deal breaker.
Vashti: The first one I found, it didn’t do some things that we wanted. And then the next one was one that I’d been looking at originally, and ended up going with it because there was just nothing else that would work the way we wanted it to. And then the migration, and this was the same company, because they were using one of their products, and moved over to another one of their products, and they couldn’t even get the migration right.
Vicki: Maybe we should make this a business podcast. Anybody who is actually wanting to start a business, it seems like such an easy thing. Just sew some nappies, or I’ll just sew some clothes and stuff, and then I’ll just put them online. Yeah, nah, nup. It’s not as easy as it sounds.
Vashti: No, but we’ve…
Vicki: Come and see me. I’ll help you.
Vashti: We finally found a POS, a point of sale, and we implemented it in December. Easiest month of the year. Not so good a time to implement a POS.
Vicki: Is December your busiest month of the year? It’s not our busiest month of the year.
Vashti: No, it’s not actually our busiest month of the year.
Vicki: I reckon October. August, September, October is our busiest time.
Vashti: Although this year’s December was pretty busy. Or last year’s December.
Vicki: How do you know? We’re like two weeks in. Are we even two weeks now?
Vashti: Not quite, nearly. But yeah, found this POS and implemented it, and it’s just perfect, and it integrates with everything and I’m loving it.
Andrew: OK, so…
Vicki: That’s got absolutely nothing to do with nappies.
Andrew: You don’t need to have everything perfect to do cloth nappies. So for all you mothers out there…
Vashti: And fathers.
Andrew: And fathers. You don’t get a participation trophy for doing cloth nappies. It’s all work.
Vicki: They should. It is 2020. You get a participation trophy…
Vashti: Certificate?
Andrew: Maybe we should start sending certificates out with them.
Vicki: With the order, here’s your participation certificate, for giving cloth a go.
Andrew: So what do you do if you’re in an apartment with no drier?
Vashti: Use air racks. Use clothes airers.
Andrew: This is a funny one for me, because I used to do carpet cleaning in apartments, and if you’re in an apartment and they don’t provide you with a clothesline, they have to give you a drier. So if you haven’t got a drier, you’ve probably got a clothesline. So you can probably just go out and hang them out. How did you guys go from the point of view of a working parent? Vashti, you’re a working parent, because you didn’t own your own business the whole time. How are you going?
Vashti: It’s fine. When I was working fulltime, when I went back to work after maternity leave with Braith, we were only using cloth part time because the day care centre supplied disposables, so I used to take him there in a cloth, change him at the centre, and then I’d bring him home in the disposable that they had him in. I used to put a load on before I went to bed at night, and then when I got up in the morning and was feeding Braith his breakfast, I would just hang the nappies on the clothes airers. And if it was a nice day, they’d sit outside, and if it was a cruddy day, because we were in central Victoria, they would sit inside.
Vicki: I’m not going to lie here, I’m going to say, because I’ve been both, essentially even though I’ve worked for myself, essentially a working parent and a stay at home parent. I actually think working parents tend to be a lot more routine based and organised. And you’ve got to remember a working parent outside of the home, doesn’t actually have a messy house. You leave the house clean, well if it’s clean to start with. They leave the house clean and it stays clean all day, and then they bring the kids back in. The challenges that a stay at home parent has are actually completely different to that of a working parent, so I don’t think that cloth is any harder for a working parent or a stay at home parent. I think it just is your routine. As a stay at home parent, you’re constantly cleaning up after kids. Literally, you’re moving from moment to moment. Now it’s time for outdoor play, and I’m going to hang the clothes on the line while I do outdoor play. And then I’m going to come in and feed the kids, and all of that. Whereas when you go to work, it’s OK well I’m going to prep everybody’s lunchboxes and I’m going to put a load of clothes on, and then everybody’s going to get out the house. And then you come home, you cook dinner, you put the clothes on the line, do you know what I mean? I think the challenges, they’re not separate, they’re just different.
Vashti: Yeah, I actually think it was harder, especially when I was single parenting.
Vicki: The stay at home parent.
Vashti: When Mr Nest was overseas, when Brent was overseas for work, it was actually harder to manage the house and to be home and to be working from home on the days where I wasn’t in the shop, and trying to make sure that all the washing got done, the nappies got done, and they got hung out or they went through the drier. Like regularly with Kylan, Brent was back in Sydney when Kylan was six weeks of age, and I was single parenting three kids for five months straight. My nappies went through the drier every single load, because it was my sanity saver. It’s like I’m not going to stand out there at 10 o’clock at night and hang nappies on the line. I want to be asleep.
Vicki: That’s it, as a stay at home parent, if your kid doesn’t have a sleep, and that is when you do like your washing, it can completely screw up your whole day. Whereas when you’re out of the home and your kid doesn’t have a sleep at day care, oh well, that’s not my problem today. You still get to do it… however if your kid doesn’t sleep at night, different story. Do you know what I mean? The challenges are just, one is not harder than the other, I feel it’s different. I don’t think it’s any harder doing cloth when you’re working out of the home, than doing it when you’re working in the home. I think there’s probably this perception that stay at home mums have all of this time.
Vashti: They don’t.
Vicki: They really don’t.
Vashti: Honestly, one minute you’re playing with playdough, and you’re trying to clean up…
Vicki: And the next minute you’re scraping it off for the next three years, and ban it from the house.
Vashti: But you’re doing playdough, and then you’re moving to blocks, and then you’re moving to lunch. And you’re trying to, and you’re cleaning up the playdough, and then you’re packing away the blocks, and you’re making lunch and cleaning up from lunch…
Vicki: And in that time the other kid is then squishing the playdough all over the floor because you haven’t had a chance, because this kid has just had a block thrown at its head. It’s chaos.
Vashti: And somebody needs a nappy change, and somebody else needs a feed, and you’ve got to sit down and breastfeed. And it’s like, Playschool’s not on. It’s OK, we’ve got Netflix, Playschool is always on.
Vicki: Peppa gives you five minutes of sanity.
Vashti: I know they sit there and say screens aren’t good for small children and stuff like that…
Vicki: They’re good for your sanity.
Vashti: …but do you know what? They’re good for a parent’s sanity, and I think it’s just one of those things that you’ve just got to weigh up, what works best for you as a parent.
Andrew: So here’s a couple of scenarios for you. If you’re on tank water or you’re on water restrictions, what would be the best cloth nappy to use, if you wanted to use cloth nappies?
Vicki: Your flats.
Andrew: Flats.
Vicki: Yeah, you’re using a lot less water to actually, because you don’t need to penetrate the layers.
Vashti: Because it’s just a single layer, it’s easier to clean.
Vicki: But you know what? You don’t have to feel guilty about not being able to use cloth because you don’t have the water. Don’t put guilt on yourself over that.
Vashti: If you’re paying money to have water shipped in and stuff like that, it’s better that you use that for your drinking and your cooking and stuff like that, and for your essentials. And you know, yes, it’s one of those things you sit there and go well, should I really be using cloth when I can’t afford to pay for our drinking water? So you’ve got to weigh up what your priorities are, and your priorities…
Vicki: And flipping that, if it is really important to you to keep going with cloth, absolutely don’t feel guilty about that either. Don’t feel guilty about the water usage, because it’s, we all know that I’m a big advocate for maternal mental health, so whatever you need to do to get you through the day, do it, and don’t feel guilty about it. Nobody’s going to come around other than your mother in law and you can kick her out anyway…
Andrew: So if your sanity requires you to eat Twisties, go get them.
Vashti: Definitely.
Vicki: Go to Costco and get a ginormous packet that takes a week to eat. Not that I would know these things. But yeah, if it takes you doing cloth nappies for your sanity, do it. If you need to do disposables for your sanity, do it.
Vashti: But there’s also ways that you can set up, that you can start capturing the grey water out of your machine to flush your toilet with. So if continuing with cloth nappies is what you want, then have a look at ways that you can recycle that water that’s coming out of your machine.
Vicki: And if that’s just too hard [noise] whatever, just, that’s what I’m saying. Don’t let other people’s judgements impair what you do. You just do what’s right for you. Because at the end of the day, unless somebody is actually washing those nappies, changing your kid’s bum, feeding your child, their opinions mean…
Vashti: Squat.
Vicki: …yeah, that’s not the word I was going to use. But anyway.
Andrew: Diddly-squat.
Vicki: Yes, diddly-squat. We all know what a…
Vashti: A diddly is.
Vicki: No, we know what a bad mouth I have.
Andrew: So what sort of washing machine? Which ones uses less water?
Vashti: The washing machine that washes your clothes.
Andrew: No, which one uses the least amount of water?
Vicki: Front loaders.
Vashti: Front loaders, yeah, but not everyone can…
Vicki: If you’ve got a top loader, or you might even have a twin tub, whatever you’ve got. There’s no need to go out there and buy some wang-fang-dangled washing machine, unless you’re like me an have to have your washing machine match your drier. But anyway.
Andrew: And it looks beautiful.
Vicki: Because it’s good for my mental health for it to look good in the laundry. I don’t actually do the laundry, but it looks good, and you know, that’s what gets me by.
Andrew: What happened about that? New laundry, you were going to do all the laundry.
Vicki: [pause] I do 90% of the laundry, you don’t even notice. The clothes don’t just magically get cleaned, you know. There is actually a process that happens, and it tends to be, oh, me.
Andrew: I see.
Vicki: I think he opens up the cupboard and goes oh, this… laundry, I love my laundry and I’ve actually got four dirty clothes baskets. So what we do is, because we own a two story house, so we tip all of the dirty clothes downstairs, and then they get sorted into colours, darks, whites and sheets and towels. And then they actually get put in a cupboard, so the IKEA baskets will fit in an 800 wide cupboard, just so you know, and they’re all hidden away. And at any time the process is, anyone can go into the laundry and know where the laundry is up to. So you pull out a dirty clothes basket and you put it into the washing machine, and wash it. And they’re green baskets, and the white baskets are always clean clothes that are supposed to go upstairs for the middle child to sort.
Andrew: And the funny thing, we try to run Bubblebubs exactly the same.
Vicki: We do, yeah, if you have that… and this is what I was talking about, routine, and mental health. And I actually find it really works well when that routine happens. And can I tell you, my trigger, or my crackers as we call it, is if somebody has put towels from the pool, I’ve got these coat hangers all up where we can hang wet clothes straight out of the washing machine, and hang the towels up from the pool, and I tell you what, if there is a quilt cover or something on the floor, that is my trigger, and you hear about it. I’m sure the neighbours know that it’s my trigger as well. Because there’s a place for everything in the laundry, but yeah, anyway. If you’ve got a twin tub, use a twin tub. If you’ve got a matching washing machine and drier, use your matching washing machine and drier.
Vashti: Especially if they’re gorgeous bright red, because they go faster.
Vicki: Oh, I didn’t know you could get red.
Vashti: You can get red washers and driers. I want a red washer and drier…
Vicki: But see the thing is, mine, I had a white one, I had a white drier and a silver machine, and that was my issue. That’s why I have a white machine.
Vashti: We just upgraded the drier early last year.
Vicki: And it’s red?
Vashti: No, it’s white, because that’s the decent quality drier, heat pump and everything like that. And then the washing machine broke at the end of last year, and it took us over two weeks to get it repaired. I have the option to get a new machine, people. Mr Nest offered me a brand new machine, and I said no, no, let’s teach our children that we don’t life in a disposable society, and let’s get the washing machine fixed, and two and a half weeks I’m using the laundromat. But I got 20 minutes every couple of days to myself while the washing went through.,
Vicki: See, mental health, it’s all about the positive…
Andrew: It only takes 20 minutes to put them through a laundromat?
Vicki: Yeah, they’re high efficiency.
Vashti: Industrial washers.
Andrew: That’s a get you in and get you out type company, isn’t it?
Vashti: Mind you, it costs like $10 a load for the big machines. The BIG machine was $15 a load. I’d go down at like 8:30 at night, because our laundromat, we’ve got one laundromat within a few minutes of us that’s open 24 hours and the other one is only open until 9:30 pm. I go down to the one that’s open until 9:30 pm.
Vicki: Actually if you’re on water restrictions, it may even be more cost effective to go to a laundromat. I never even thought of that.
Vashti: But if you’re in the bush…
Vicki: There is no laundromats?
Vashti: No.
Andrew: Or your Mum’s.
Vicki: [laughs] Unless you’ve got one of those mother in laws, I don’t want poo in my stainless steel washing machine because of the bacteria. OK.
Andrew: That was very good actually. I bet you if I played that to Bob, he wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. So some other tips, combine your laundry with your cloth nappies.
Vashti: Yeah, especially as you’re heading towards the end of your nappying time, if you’re only getting a few nappies a day. Give your nappies a good prewash or a rinse in the laundry tubs or something and then thrown them in with anything else that you’re washing.
Andrew: Use your bathwater.
Vashti: What for?
Andrew: For a rinsing, for a prewash.
Vashti: How are you going to put your bathwater into your washing machine?
Andrew: I don’t know, down here.
Vashti: I suppose if you’ve got a top loader, you could. Or you could throw you nappies into the bath, and give them a swish around before you put them into the washing machine.
Andrew: And then just pull the plug, it all goes down the drain.
Vicki: You know, I’m not going to lie there, yeah, I think you’d really, really have to be committed to the cause to do that. To swish dirty nappies around in a bathtub as a prewash.
Vashti: People do a strip and sanitise in their bath.
Vicki: Yeah, but that’s not dirty nappies.
Vashti: Yeah, they start with clean.
Vicki: Start with clean nappies.
Andrew: They start… if they’re doing a strip and sanitise, they’re obviously not clean, clean.
Vicki: Well yeah, but they’re not, like…
Andrew: Poop dripping off them.
Vicki: Yeah.
Vashti: But if you’ve got a little squirt, your poop comes off.
Vicki: I’m just saying you’d have to be committed, that is not one of those oh, I’ll do cloth nappies. That’s a real, heavy duty kind of committed.
Andrew: Something I discovered with those little squirts too, that I don’t think I’ve said on the podcast…
Vicki: Close your mouth. That’s something you learn pretty quick.
Andrew: Yeah, close your mouth.
Vashti: Close your eyes.
Andrew: Close your mouth, close your eyes, is they’re great for water fights.
Vashti: They’re really awesome when your partner has pissed you off and they’re in the en suite shower. Because you stand there, you open up the door and squirt them, in the middle of winter. It’s really, really good.
Andrew: So minky, we’re getting a lot of questions. What’s minky?
Vashti: It’s a synthetic.
Vicki: It’s a polyester fabric with a short pile.
Andrew: We’ve covered it before though, haven’t we?
Vicki: Yeah.
Vashti: I think Episode 2.
Andrew: Is it waterproof?
Vicki: Yeah, well no, no it’s not. When it is laminated with a polyurethane laminate, it is waterproof. The thing is, what people don’t understand is PUL and minky are exactly the same. PUL is, we refer to it as PUL, but it’s actually like t-shirt fabric, until it is laminated. It is actually the polyurethane laminating that makes PUL as we know it, PUL. So it’s a polyester fabric that is laminated. Minky is a polyester fabric that is laminated. Same, same.
Vashti: And your PUL as we know it has a very flat pile.
Vicki: Flat pile, it’s like a t-shirt.
Vashti: Whereas your minky has a longer, fluffier pile.
Vicki: I’ve even got a video of where they’re actually printing the fabric, so the PUL, the polyester fabric, before it is laminated, it’s a separate process.
Andrew: OK, does it wear quicker?
Vicki: Same, same.
Andrew: Same, same?
Vicki: They’re 100% polyester, so it really depends on the quality of the fabric.
Vashti: I’ve got… [gasps] you would not believe, I was searching for something in my email box the other day, and I actually came across an email trail between Vicki and myself from the very first purchase that I made from Bubblebubs. And that was…
Andrew: What were you complaining about?
Vashti: No, it was me organising pick up. I wonder if I can find it.
Andrew: Obviously Vashti has never changed mail servers in 15 years.
Vicki: You think my inbox is bad?
Vashti: No, that was Yahoo!
Andrew: Sorry?
Vicki: You think my inbox is bad. Do you know what I like about Spark? Is it doesn’t tell you how many outstanding emails you’ve got.
Andrew: You do, if you turn the feature on.
Vicki: Oh, I just leave it off.
Andrew: It’s off by default.
Vashti: So my very first order from Bubblebubs was on the 17th of December 2008. That was through the Bubblebubs website.
Vicki: I bet Vashti was one of those customers, I want it for Christmas.
Vashti: It was, it was a note that said, “Hi, how long will this order take to get to me? I’m happy to pick up, if that I an option, to ensure that my little one will be able to wear these Chrissy nappies on the day. Thanks.” And Vicki came back to me going, “You’re only about 15 minutes from us, so you’re welcome to pick it up if you would like. We have an Eftpos machine and you can pay when you collect. Karen is in the warehouse today until 3:00. I will have the charge the Eftpos machine because I left it off charge last night, but that only takes an hour or so. Let me know whether today suits. If not, I live in River Hills, just around the corner from the warehouse, and home most days.” And she gave me a bit smiley face at the end. So.
Vicki: Back when I was nice.
Andrew: Karen in the warehouse.
Vashti: That was when you were down the road.
Vicki: Let’s hope that Karen doesn’t listen to this podcast.
Andrew: Gosh, we’ve had some warehouses, haven’t we?
Vashti: That was when I went to the warehouse and I got one of the nappies, and the other few weren’t finished yet, because Bella was sick. So I came around to your house to pick them up. Or Karen sent me around to the house, and I got around to the house and you said yeah, they’re still not finished. So I ended up coming back later that afternoon to pick them up. And do you know what? That’s 19 years ago. I still have a couple of…
Vicki: No, it wasn’t 19 years ago.
Vashti: No, it was 9 years ago. No, 11 years ago. Oh God, I can’t even do maths. Eleven years ago, 11 years ago, I still have a couple of those nappies. And while the elastics have gone, the minky itself is still perfect. So that’s where this whole thing started.
Vicki: Eleven years ago.
Andrew: That was the punch line. Is the minky is still perfect, 11 years later, and that’s been through…
Vicki: You have three children.
Vashti: Yeah, no, only two went through that. Mikayla was 18 months old, so Braith was out of nappies. I think I may have put one on him for Christmas day, just so that I could get a cute photo of the two of them in Christmas nappies, but he didn’t really need day nappies. We still put one on for sleeps, and that was it.
Andrew: So the question has come up, when do you start using night nappies? I don’t think we’ve ever covered when night nappies are something that comes in.
Vicki: Look, three to four months is usually about the time, because they stop pooping overnight. Because generally…
Vashti: That’s generally when we find most parents start looking at a dedicated night nappy.
Vicki: And day nappies aren’t cutting it anymore. Or they’re not wanting to change anymore.
Andrew: And there’s quite a few dedicated night nappies out there, isn’t there?
Vicki: There is, or the advantage of fitted nappies is you can make them into a night nappy, which is why I don’t make a specific night nappy. There’s plenty, if you’re after dedicated night nappies, I can rattle off probably, I’d have to think, but I could rattle off a dozen.
Andrew: Go on. If you can’t rattle off a dozen, I’m sure Vashti will. How many night nappy brands do you have in the shop?
Vashti: Three brands.
Andrew: And those brands are?
Vicki: Baby Behinds, Raw and S.H.P. Do you do S.H.P.?
Vashti: No, we don’t do S.H.P. Michelle can’t keep up with my demand, so she won’t stock me, unfortunately. But we do send people to her if they need specifics, because Michelle from S.H.P. can customise. But we have the Itty Bitty Boo. I suppose actually…
Vicki: Well the Boo isn’t actually a night nappy, it’s the same as a Delight, it’s a fitted nappy that you turn into a night nappy.
Vashti: It is Itty Bitty’s version of their night nappy, which is the same as the Delight is your version of your night nappy. But there’s Baby Behinds.
Vicki: Alchamena do one, don’t they?
Vashti: No, Alchamena is a day nappy that just has super absorbency.
Vicki: There’s another couple of that do all in one kind of night nappies.
Vashti: So Raw Stuff and Snap is an all in one snap pocket, basically. The Raw Soakmaster is a fitted. Baby Behinds night nappies are amazing, I love those. They’re a fitted nappy.
Vicki: There’s some bigger night nappies too. Aren’t there? Or is that the Behinds do a pretty big one?
Vashti: The behinds are about to come out, they’ll probably be out by the time this airs, in an extra large, their night nappy, which I’m so excited about, because really kids night train a lot older. Like the average age for night training world wide is somewhere between four to seven years. So yeah, it’s nice to be able to get bigger nappies, especially for night time because you do have older kids who need them.
Vicki: But having said that, that’s why I don’t do them. Why reinvent the wheel? I’m reinventing a new wheel with this new product. Which is out now.
Andrew: Yeah, right.
Vicki: It will.
Vashti: This is in February?
Andrew: February.
Vicki: February, yeah. We’ll be peeking all around the place. We certainly would have had sneaky peeks of it by now.
Andrew: So we’re not breaking news on the podcast?
Vashti: Not on this one.
Vicki: Well, I tell you what, maybe the first person who listens to the podcast and actually can tell me why it’s called a Bo-Peep can win one. How does that sound?
Andrew: And email address they should use?
Vicki: Whatever. Just the Nappy Leaks Facebook page. Just go and message the Nappy Leaks Facebook page and go I know, I know, I know why you called it a Bo-Peep. That works.
Andrew: So you’re letting the name out.
Vashti: It will be out by now.
Vicki: This is February.
Vashti: Can I message the Facebook page now? Because I know why it’s called a Bo-Peep.
Vicki: But I had to explain it to you, and I had to explain it to you.
Vashti: You didn’t have to explain it to me.
Vicki: I think there’s only been literally one or two people, well Jenna had no idea. Jenna had no idea that the Candies were named after lollies. Like the marshmallow and liquorice and bubble gum.
Vashti: Pineapple.
Vicki: Wine gum.
Vashti: Toffee apple, raspberry.
Andrew: Silly question, why is she still working for us? You’re so fired, Jenna. Anyway, she might be on maternity leave by the time this comes out anyway.
Vashti: You can’t fire her while she’s on maternity leave.
Vicki: Yeah, it’s actually against the law.
Andrew: I’ll be a trend setter.
Vashti: I don’t think you can even make them redundant, while…
Vicki: Oh, you can stop them from coming back.
Andrew: Vicki got made redundant.
Vicki: On maternity leave. Best thing that ever happened to me.
Andrew: Because she started concentrating on Bubblebubs then. You don’t think they’re going to want some royalties, do you?
Vashti: Too bad.
Vicki: They got sold to Microsoft.
Andrew: That’s right, yeah.
Vicki: Between me going on maternity, three month period, they were actually sold to Microsoft. Mind you, I’m not longer…
Vashti: Existing.
Andrew: Yeah, but they were doing so bad that Microsoft probably just offered them a dollar.
Vicki: Yeah, probably. Possibly.
Andrew: Here’s a dollar, we’ll fix all your problems.
Vicki: Sack everyone.
Andrew: So with a night nappy, I don’t know if we’ve covered this, does it have to be a dedicated one, or can you get away with…
Vashti: No, you can definitely get away with… I think it really does depend on how much your little one is wetting. So if you are using a disposable overnight, and you’re finding it is absolutely chock-a-block full or leaking, then I would be looking at a dedicated night nappy.
Vicki: Actually there’s a much easier way to… there’s science behind this. You weigh the nappy before you put it on baby. You weigh the nappy after it’s on baby, because people think that they have heavy wetters, and they’re actually not really heavy wetters at all. So once you know how much the output is, you then go to the manufacturer, or the brand, and they should know the capacity of their nappies. [laughs]
Andrew: You’re saying that because you just weighed all your nappies.
Vicki: I did. I just weighed, well I didn’t. We just worked out the capacity of every single one of our nappies. And boosters, and everything.
Andrew: And that’s on the new website that hopefully is launched by the time this comes out.
Vicki: The website’s been launched for months, what are you talking about? Oh my gosh, that was so last year.
Vashti: You’re so funny.
Andrew: I think we had this conversation this time last year.
Vicki: Last month.
Andrew: This last, because we wanted to launch the new website at the beginning of 2019.
Vicki: Yeah, I did, I did.
Andrew: And this is the website that was going to launch at the beginning of 2019.
Vicki: Did we actually mention that in a podcast?
Vashti: Yeah, we did.
Vicki: Oh wow. OK. [sigh] Anyway, I’ve got the capacity of all of our nappies, and actually any brands out there. The science was really, really technical. We weighed it beforehand, and we wet it, and we kind of, you know, wrung it out a little bit. Obviously not soaking wet, and we weighed it again, and one minus one equals…
Andrew: Three.
Vicki: Your maths is worse than mine.
Vashti: One minus one?
Andrew: Three people were doing it.
Vicki: It’s actually incredibly helpful because at any time, we’ve actually had that list for a very long time, it just hasn’t been on the website.
Vashti: It’s been on the Facebook group.
Vicki: It’s been in the Facebook group for a long time. That way we can give a more realistic answer. OK, my kid is outputting 200 mils at night, what’s going to do the job? Well I’m pretty sure a Bamboo Delight does 160 grams, plus you’ll need Candy booster, done. And that will get you through the night. Once you have that information, it’s much easier to see, or to work out what capacity nappy you need.
Andrew: I think we’ll finish up there. Thank you, Vicki.
Vicki: Thanks, Andrew.
Andrew: Thanks, Vashti.
Vashti: Thanks, Andrew.
Andrew: Bye everybody.