MCN & Childcare?

[MelZ]

this thread is making me feel more hopeful.... I was under the impression that a lot of them wouldn't let you do cloth, and I won't be doing the sposies thing.
Not that Lachie is anywhere near ready to go yet, but I've been thinking about it.....

The centre that my dd is at now that wont accept cloth nappies is an ABC centre. I would assume the are all the same, unless the director at my one just isnt interested. I didnt think of telling them she's allergic to disposables... Thats a good one, what would they have done then!

[Ying]

Our daycare is happy to use cloths I talked about it with the director saying Becky is allergic to sposies (of course she isn't ) so they have no choice but use what I provide. I was a little surprised too when they said yes as this is the big chain childcare centre.

I just showed them how to put the nappies on and they're quite impressed how easy they are. I only send the front velcro type as they're similar to sposies. AIOs, AI2s, and pre-stuffed pockets are the best as they're very simple and easy to use. I also put liners on every nappy to make it easier for them to dispose poo. I send about 3-4 nappies and a wetbag and they just put them back in the bag for me when I go and pick up Becky

[MelZ]

Good idea about the liners.

I find liners a bit fiddly though, do you just sit them in there and do them up ready to be used? I sometimes struggle with getting them to stay in place.

Liners are a great idea though, saves them rinsing etc, and saves me some pooey nappies too!

I think I'll send all the velcro ones (we mainly use the snap ones at home, because I often snap them together then she steps into them like a pull up, plus they dont get fluff in them if theres no velcro)

[mum2lucas]

I didn't offer a choice I told them Lucas used cloth nappies and cloth wipes and they were fine with that. We use green kids pockets and home made PUL pockets with bamboo stuffers. They have a spot on a shelf for each child for their nappies so there are usually 5/6 ready to use for each day. I put the wipes in a smash brand sandwich box with a flip lid and I use large home made wet bags that fit inside a small step bin that has Lucas' name on the lid (this bin lives at childcare) and I just bring home the wet bag. I also showed them how to wrap up the nappy with the outer aplix if it is a pooey one, and I just spray them at the end of the day when they come home.Good luck with it

[MichelleP]

The centre that my dd is at now that wont accept cloth nappies is an ABC centre. I would assume the are all the same, unless the director at my one just isnt interested.

I helped someone in Queensland out recently who had a problem with an ABC centre not accepting cloth. I spoke to the ABC centres head office to ask about their policies on using cloth and also gave the person a heap of information to arm herself with and lo and behold policies changed! There honestly is no reason to refuse cloth.

I (and the ANN) are more than happy to assist anyone who is having problems getting cloth accepted at childcare centres.
Also dont forget if you have an experience with cloth in childcare positive or negative the ANN is compiling a database of cloth friendly childcare centres that we need contributions to ANN Cloth Friendly Child Care & Cloth Friendly Hospitals Surveys - Can YOU Help? « Australian Nappy Network® Ltd

[Lis]

I helped someone in Queensland out recently who had a problem with an ABC centre not accepting cloth. I spoke to the ABC centres head office to ask about their policies on using cloth and also gave the person a heap of information to arm herself with and lo and behold policies changed! There honestly is no reason to refuse cloth.

I (and the ANN) are more than happy to assist anyone who is having problems getting cloth accepted at childcare centres.
Also dont forget if you have an experience with cloth in childcare positive or negative the ANN is compiling a database of cloth friendly childcare centres that we need contributions to ANN Cloth Friendly Child Care & Cloth Friendly Hospitals Surveys - Can YOU Help? « Australian Nappy Network® Ltd

That's really interesting. My sister works as a group leader/sometime director at an ABC centre and she was adamant that they wouldn't accept cloth nappies because of hygiene reasons or some rot . I am happy that you got a change of tune from them!
Great to know there is support out there from the ANN

eta: despite the fact that she works there, I wouldn't have my kids at an ABC centre because of their policies, and the general environment of the ones that I have seen, and the behind the scenes info that I get from her... arhgh. I disagree with so much of what they do and the systems they have in place.

[Wems]

I hope everyone who has been refused cloth at daycare are reporting them because it should really affect their accredication

[MichelleP]

Technically centres *can* put in place their own policies that do not allow cloth BUT there is no justification for it and in my opinion does not conform to the principles of accredition that encourage respect for parenting choices and continuity of care between home and care. Childcare worker trainers (TAFE lecturers) that I have spoken to were shocked when I told them that there were centres that refused cloth.

[bilbylove]

Michelle, we were using childcare at Northgate Children's Services - to put on your list, and now we're using Il Nido (The Nest), another to put on your list.

at both places, bilby is the only child in MCN.

Firstly Mel, i armed myself with information, before i approached the first CCC.

i printed out the information relevant to my state, under the Childrens Services Act. Would not have known what to go looking for, had i not seen the info on the Bubblebub's website.
Cloth Nappy Info: ~*~Bubblebubs~*~, Where style and comfort meet modern convenience
click on the link "Cloth Nappies and Childcare"

i printed out the info on Nurture Nappies bumgenius nappies Tots Bots fuzzi bunz reusable bamboo nappies, reuseable Flexi Tots, itti bitti modern cloth nappies, organic nappies, diapers and organic baby products under INFOMRATION and the link "What is in a disposable".

so i went in, with this stuff printed out, so if i got opposition, i had stuff to show them.

Just being shown around the centre, i was told to bring in 7 disposables per day, and i said, "my daughter is in cloth nappies", to which i was told, "our centre only uses disposable nappies for hygiene reasons" - i said "but under The Children's Services Act . . . . " and i didn't even get any further than that before the person said "As a centre, we ensure the care we give your child, is as close to what you would do at home, so if your child is in cloth nappies at home, she will be in cloth nappies here". Talk about a backflip!!!! I didn't even have to get my printouts out to show!

WHen i took bilby on her first day, i discovered the babyroom staff had a stack of CLOTH WIPES for all the children, cos bilby does react to commercial baby wipes and i was all ready to discuss that too.

I took in 7 swaddlebees side snap pockets, even though she never uses that many (she is there for what is classed as "a short day").

Flushable liners were requested by the staff, so i got those, and yes Mel, the night before, i put liners in all the nappies, then put them in the nappy bag so there is nothing for CC worker to assemble.

I showed the team leader how to put the nappies on bilby, and on any ocassion i picked bilby up and the nappy was done up loose, i made sure i explained to the worker the next time, that a loose done up nappy could mean poo leaking on them! and they would look at me very gratefully "oh thanks for telling us!". cos who wants poo on them?

At the next childcare centre, again bilby is the only baby in MCN. They are a community CC and were much more positive about MCN.

Again, i provide 7 MCN, a large wetbag. They don't have much space, so i think a bucket would be out of the question. They use paper towels to wipe the children at nappy change time. If space wasn't such an issue, i would ask about cloth wipes (me providing them). i'm not going to push that, with their space constraints.

So in only a few months, at two CCC, one for profit, on community, we have used MCN there.

My way of making it easy for them has been

• a set of the same type e.g side snap closing,
• one step nappy system e.g pockets only one thing to put on,
• same brand of MCN.
• Flushable liners for the poo disposal

bilby is one of the few kids in her room, who is wearing the same trousers when i collect her, as i dropped her off in e.g no leaking nappy for her!

The CCC at the community one, are quite young and i get the feeling, they will be considering using MCN for their future babies, cos they are impressed with bilby's nappies. (I haven't taken her specky ones in).

As i'm getting more confident, i'm starting to drop her off in a Ai2, so she arrives in something else, but all they have to change her into are SS pockets.

I have also left her in a hospital creche (one-offs, so very occassional), two community centre creches when i did some short courses - where i showed the head worker how to put on her MCN adn the wetbag - and even in those very short stays, the workers were fine with her MCN. They had a positive attitude and plus, i had nothing else with me, i don't have sposies - so really, what else could they do?

I am grateful to the ANN, if i did come against a problem centre, i would contact ANN and ask for help. it's nice to know Michelle is there, going to bat for us.

[Nadine]

my centre is an ABC and they accept cloth

Nadine