Cloth Nappy World Record Attempt

I have been meaning to write this for a few days now but haven’t managed to get around to doing so until now.  As I mentioned last week I planned on attending a Great Diaper Change venue last Saturday to participate in the World Record Attempt of the most cloth nappies changed simultaneously across the globe.  I managed to get along to my nearest location hosting this event and had a great time.

My mum had the day off work so we decided to make a day of it and have a look around the shops in the day before going to the event at around 4.30pm in time for the change at 5pm.  My sister moved away last year, she didn’t moved terribly far but far enough that I don’t get to see her as much as I used to so she decided to pop down from her house about 20 minutes away from the location of this event to meet up with us for the afternoon.  We had a lovely day and it was great to spend some time together and for Tristan to see his Aunty Boo.

Whilst we were in town I visited Nappy Go Lucky, Bum Deal Nappies and the council who had a stall which they had set up in the town during the day to promote cloth nappies.  The stall looked lovely and colourful with gorgeous cloth nappies hanging attractively at the front of the stall with pink and purple balloons adorning the stall too.  They seemed to be quite busy at the stall, talking to lots of people about cloth nappies including lots of people from the older generation who were reminiscing about how nappies were in their day and how fabulous the nappies are nowadays.

After a lovely afternoon it was time to head over to the location ready for the event.  As time was getting on I went to the location by myself with Tristan leaving my sister and mum trying on clothes in Monsoon.  When I arrived there were already a few parents outside waiting to go inside and as we waited more and more people started arriving and it started to look like we would definitely have the 25 babies needed for the world record attempting change.

Once they were ready inside we queued up to enter and on our way in we had to sign a consent form allowing pictures to be taken and the first 25 babies were given a goody bag and number.  Inside the goody bag was some reusable wipes and nappy booster from Bum Deal Nappies, a pack of Bambino Mio disposable liners and a sample of Sheepish Grins wipes solution provided by Nappy Go Lucky as well as some leaflets.  They had provided food and drink for little ones and there was a good selection of snacks to satisfy their hunger.  The room was rather small and as more people entered, most of us with pushchairs and buggies it got more crowded and a tad hectic.

As I was sat there with Tristan talking to the other parents my sister popped in to say goodbye as she was heading home and mum said she would be back in a bit as she was taking her shopping bags back to the car.  With about 15 minutes to spare it looked like we would be short of a few babies and not have the 25 needed at every location.  Ella from Bum Deal Nappies took to the street looking for parents with babies willing to take part.  The rules of the change meant that parents who currently used disposable nappies could take part as long as the baby was changed from a disposable or cloth nappy into a cloth nappy, Bum Deal had nappies on hand for this.  By allowing disposable nappies to be changed from into cloth nappies it was also a way of promoting cloth nappies and introducing parents to cloth nappies.

In the midst of the panic at not having enough numbers those of us who were ready to take part once it was 5pm got ready in the designated area and found a place on the floor to change our little ones.  I was sat next to a woman from the council who was going to change another woman’s little baby girl as the mum was one of the adjudicators for the event.  The little baby girl was not very happy, as she was crying the woman was trying to comfort her and then all of a sudden the little baby was sick.  Sick all over me sat next to her.  The poor woman who was trying to comfort her was apologising profusely saying sorry she’s not even my baby, so sorry.  I just laughed it off and like I told her it’s not like it’s the first time a baby has been sick all over me and I’m sure it won’t be the last time.

Luckily a few more people with babies turned up and we only needed 2 more, and then Ella found a lovely lady who had two little ones in nappies who said she would take part but she was by herself and they need someone else to change one of her children.  It was in the midst of this hectic-ness and me having sick all over me that my mum walked in.  Even before I realised that my mum was back she had been asked to help out and had agreed to change a baby’s nappy.  With time to spare my mum and the lady with 2 little ones sat next to me with the woman’s babies.  The woman who had agreed to take part so we had enough people and who was happy for mum to change her son was a tad overwhelmed by it all, telling us that Ella had come up to her on the street and explained what was happening and pleaded for her to help out.  As a disposable nappy user the woman didn’t know about cloth nappies and was provided with some from Bum Deal nappies for the change.  Her son who my mum was changing was fast asleep and my mum was dreading that he would wake up mid-change and not know who she was but surprisingly he peacefully slept through the whole thing.

At 5pm exactly we were told to change our little ones nappies and everyone had their heads down, getting on with the job.  Nappies changed, with clean, gorgeous fluff on all the babies’ bums we had done our attempt at being a part of the World Record for the most cloth nappies changed simultaneously across the globe. 

After the change they held a raffle and I was lucky and my number was picked and I got to pick from a selection of nappies and accessories and I choose a Rumparoo one size as I’ve never tried that brand before.  After talking to a few people as Tristan was very tired I said my good-byes to Ella from Bum Deal and picked up my order from her which she had kindly brought along with her to save on postage.

It was great fun and brilliant to see an event like this happening around my way as living where we do in the Countryside it’s very rare that events happen and I usually miss out on things that usually only happen in the big cities.  It was fabulous to see cloth bums and cloth nappies being promoted.