Meet Nappy Science Gang: Hayley, the play worker’s story
We asked some of the members in our first citizen science project – Nappy Science Gang (NSG) – to tell us about their experience of being involved in the project. This is Hayley’s story:
Name: Hayley
Occupation: play worker in an after-school club
My NSG journey: I never thought about using cloth nappies with my first but when I fell pregnant with my second it was something I wanted to try! I had seen a Facebook friend showing off a custom nappy and fell in love! Anyway when I saw the advert for volunteers for nappy washing I jumped at the chance. It was at the time when I was thinking of the dreaded time of going back to work after having my baby and thinking about options of working from home, but still earning enough money to live comfortably. I’m a member of a couple of cloth nappy groups on Facebook and I’ve noticed that people recommend different washing techniques. So I thought this would be an ideal opportunity to set the record straight.
So the nappies arrived I was so excited, as I had only really seen my stash the different varieties in the pack was awesome to see. I even had my husband youtubing how to fold terry nappies and using a teddy to demonstrate! He helped me with measuring and weighing the nappies too. We both had fun! I did find the washing of them quite a hard task. Finding time to wash them and keep up with my own washing was difficult but I did manage it and was pleased when I had finished and was able to send them off to the next person.
Although I haven’t had chance to read the final results I’m hoping that they say washing nappies at 40 degrees is fine as this is the setting I use ha! I have a feeling the washing at 90 will damage the nappies badly and washing at 30 may not clean the nappies properly! I did actually really enjoy taking part and am glad I did.
NSG’s effects: I guess it will give people insight into how washing nappies affects their lifespan. That’s quite difficult to answer! Maybe it’s given people a chance to experiment with different temperatures so that we all know how best to wash our nappies best!
Related links
Meet more Nappy Science Gang people
