Nappy Leaks is recorded in front of a live studio audience. I always wanted to say that, but I do have a few corrections. We were not in a studio we were in the office of Bubblebubs and the studio audience was 18 and 50% of those were babies. But it was fun doing this series of live show were the audience asked Vicki and Vashti all the questions.

 

Transcription: Nappy Leaks Live August 2019

Andrew: Welcome to Nappy Leaks with Vicki Simpson and Vashti Wadwell. How are you doing, Vicki?

Vicki: I’m good, Andrew, how are you?

Andrew: Good. I’ll paste that together so it makes sense.

Vicki: Thank you.

Andrew: How are you doing, Vashti?

Vashti: Good thanks Andrew, how are you today?

Andrew: Excellent. And as you can probably hear from the little bit of background noise, we are doing our live show. And we have, Hi Tom, don’t forget your name.

Vashti: Nerida.

Vicki: Nerida.

Andrew: Nerida. We’ve got Nerida with us today. And which one’s this, is this Paul?

Nerida: Victor.

Andrew: Victor.

Nerida: Victor is ten months old.

Andrew: Ten months old? Because usually when I read these, they were usually written months ago, so I don’t always get an update of the age. So actually written ten…

Nerida: Ten and a half then.

Andrew: Ten and a half.

Nerida: There you go, ten and a half months, if that helps.

Andrew: Ten and a half. And you’ve got, you’ve got some questions.

Nerida: I do. Many.

Andrew: OK, I will let you ask those questions to the girls.

Nerida: Fabulous. Question number one, so we’ve just started solids, which is always exciting with poo changes.

Vashti: That’s so much fun.

Nerida: So much fun. Actually we’re OK now, but my question is more about the staining of the poo. Is there any sort of specific foods, I’m thinking like blueberries or beetroots, that I should be pre-treating before I put in the wash, or should a good wash routine just get rid of all the stains anyway?

Vicki: Blueberries and bananas will stain, but yeah, Sards soap. If the stains are persistent, Sards soap or a Napisan paste. But yeah, a good wash routine should make everything come out.

Nerida: Because we haven’t had any problems so far, but I’m just like should I be, now that we’re in blueberry season, should I be just pre-treating everything?

Vashti: Look, you can definitely pre-treat, but it’s going to get pooped in again. And if you’re eating blueberries on a regular basis, then you’re going to be pre-treating every single load and then it’s going to be pooped in again and stained again, and really it’s on the inside of the nappy. Is it a big [indistinct word, 02:09] to you?

Nerida: No, it’s not. But I’m more just like, I should probably be paying a bit more attention now.

Vashti: I never pre-treated any of my nappies. Didn’t have any issues with staining or anything, and we ate lots of blueberries and bananas, especially number three.

Nerida: Awesome, well I think it will be just keep going until something pops up.

Vicki: Pretty much only worry about it if it starts to be a problem.

Nerida: The second question was, I’m not sure if we’ve got this issue with Victor, but other people might be thinking of it, because I’m way back in the podcast listening, I’ve heard Vashti, you talk about your son having really bad ammonia problems with your son. And I was just wondering, obviously night nappies, they obviously smell quite strong, but is there a way to tell if your baby does have a strong ammonia wee, to be more aware of that for your day nappies? Or would you like automatically know if it was a problem?

Vashti: I think it’s something that you do pick up really well. I never, ever had a problem with my first two. And had people tell me about strong ammonia, or really acidic wees and things like that, and was always like mm yeah, OK. And then when Kylan came along, it became very evident, you could smell it and it wasn’t a wash routine thing because it was nothing different from the way I washed my nappies between the first two and number three. The only difference was, I got a front loader instead of a top loader. I’m assuming my nappies were actually being washed a little bit better. It was definitely something I could smell. His wee nappies were very pungent and so you will pick it up very quickly if you do have any issues. And I think the best thing to do there was probably make sure that your wash routine is really spot on. Rinse out your nappies straight after they come off, and if you have really persistent issues, even go as far as soaking your inserts. So having them in something like your Strucket or just a bucket, to make sure that they’re immersed.

Vicki: Nice product placement there.

Vashti: Yeah, lovely product placement, wasn’t it?

Vicki: Did you hear that, Kelly?

Vashti: But yeah, definitely soaking your nappies for really strong acidic wee is a really good options. Or the inserts at least. So anything with your PULs and your elastics, try not to soak because that can definitely degrade the life of them.

Nerida: I don’t think we have that problem, but it would be good, just in case in the future. And then the last question talking about elastics, was we used Bambams for Victor as a newborn and they did a great job. So they’re all stored away for number two, if that ends up happening. I assume that the elastics are doing to be finished off by the time they come out. So considering Bambams are a fitted nappy with the cover on the outside, is it worth replacing elastics in them, or just make sure you have some good covers to just kind of hope for the best with keeping the poo in that way for some newborn poos?

Vicki: Yeah, you can kind of use them as contours without elastic. So a contour is just basically a flat shaped nappy. But the elastic shouldn’t be shot. As long as, the thing with storing nappies is you’ve got to make sure that they’re super clean before they go away, and just remember…

Nerida: Super dry.

Vicki: And dry, yeah. The things that degrade elastic, because it’s rubber, so it’s bacteria and heat. So if you’re keeping it stored in a cool, dry place, even some of those little sachets you get in shoes and stuff, chuck that in there.

Nerida: That’s a good idea.

Vashti: Tissue paper as well. Tissue paper.

Vicki: Tissue paper.

Vashti: So that’s why they always store wedding dresses in tissue paper, is to try and draw out any moisture from the wedding dress.

Vicki: So I’d expect them to hopefully last but it’s elastic just seems to be that…

Nerida: That’s it.

Vicki: …I don’t have an answer, even over 15 years, I still don’t have an answer as to why?

Nerida: Why do I not?

Vicki: I know, because the reason I, consistency.

Nerida: No, awesome. We’ll just see how we go.

Andrew: Thanks, Nerida.

Nerida: Thank you very much for having me guys, it was great.

Andrew: So did you do cloth from the start?

Nerida: Other than the free pack of nappies that they gave us at the hospital. Once that was all gone, we were 100% cloth from the word go.

Andrew: Nice, nice, cool. Thanks for coming.

Nerida: Thank you very much.

Andrew: Thank you, Vicki.

Vicki: Thanks, Andrew.

Andrew: Thanks, Vashti.

Vashti: Thanks, Andrew, thanks, Nerida.

Andrew: Bye everyone.

[Music]

Andrew: Vicki Simpson is a wife and mother to three children, President of the Australian Nappy Association and owner and founder of Bubblebubs. Vicki has been making and selling cloth nappies through her website for 15 years. Bubblebubs is now one of the most recognised and awarded cloth nappy brands in Australia, and is currently expanding to other countries. You can find out more and contact her through her website, bubblebubs.com.au. Vashti Wadwell is mother to three children and has been using cloth nappies for 13 years. She is the owner of Australia’s first cloth nappy store, Nest Nappies, located in Brisbane, Australia. She can be contacted through her website, nestnappies.com.au. If you would like to give us feedback, go to nappyleaks.com.au. If you are finding this podcast helpful, the way to thank us is to leave feedback in the iTunes store or wherever you listen to podcasts. I am your host, Andrew Simpson.

[Music]

Vashti: This is close enough for you?

Vicki: Would you like me to talk softly? I can’t get past the penis. [laughter]

Andrew: Talk clearly into the penis microphone.

Vashti: Just lean in, embrace it.

Andrew: Don’t worry, it’s protected.

Jenna: [laughs]

Vashti: Shush Jenna, shush.

Jenna: It might spray.

Andrew: How are you doing, Vicki?

Vicki: Hi, Andrew.

Andrew: No, you’ve got to be closer. How are you doing, Vicki?

Vicki: I’m good Andrew, how are you?

Andrew: Good. You can’t look at me while you’re talking too, you’ve got to look at the mic. Just kidding. How are you doing, Vicki?

Vicki: Oh, we’re doing really good.

Andrew: Yeah, let’s just keep doing it until we get it right. How are you doing, Vicki? [laughter]

Nerida: This is going to be a long day, Victor.

Vicki: I can’t. I can’t.

Andrew: You can’t? You don’t want to… that’s good.

Vicki: I’m good, Andrew.

Andrew: No, you’ve got to wait for me to ask, first.