When we decided to use PUL we decided to do so with good reason, in fact we did used to sell cotton and nylon covers too. 

Here are the sumarised reasons why we chose PUL:

• Real Nappies PUL diaper covers are by far the most waterproof and the most durable fabric,
• Our diaper covers are breathable and used in hospitals and daycares by a wide range of babies and skin types,
• Real Nappies diaper covers were chosen over any other fabric as they are the most durable, waterproof and breathable against babies delicate skin. 
• We offer a 2-child guarantee, no way could we do this with the other fabrics. 
• PUL has become an absolute favourite for cloth diapers all over the world.

Our nylon covers and cotton covers stopped selling simply because people wanted a reliable, durable cover that was extremely waterproof and lasted: PUL won and is now the best selling diaper cover in NZ and is taking the USA by storm!

What is PUL?

Our Real Nappies PUL diaper cover is actually a thin 100% polyester knit fabric laminated with only 2 mil of polyurethane film.

Please see the exact definition of PUL in Wikipedia:

‘Polyurethane laminate (PUL) is generally a polyester interlock knit fabric that has been laminated to a thin film of polyurethane. This laminated fabric is useful as a wind and/or water barrier in the construction of fluid-splash protecting garments, shower curtains, outerwear clothing, cloth nappies / diapers and cloth menstrual pads. It is very thin and breathable. It can be machine-washed and dried.
Polyurethane laminate was first developed for hospital equipment, where reusable waterproof fabrics were needed.’

Some more facts

We found some more great information from Celtic Cloth too:

- PUL, otherwise known as polyurethane laminated fabric, is a lot more technical than just a plastic backing on fabric. 
-The original application is the medical field, and it is still used for this purpose. 
-Like cloth diapers, it is used to replace disposable products with reusable. 
-It provides the waterproof barrier needed in the medical field that can survive multiple institutional washings.  
- The polyurethane laminate can be customized by the manufacturer and comes in different thicknesses.  For cloth diapers, 1 mil or 2 mil is generally preferred. 

-This allows for a good stretch, complete waterproofing, and is still comfortable enough to wear next to the skin. 

What testing have you done to ensure it’s safety?

We are New Zealand’s number 1 reusable nappy company and have been in operation for over 7 years.  Our diapers and covers are the only reusable diaper used in Hospitals and Day Care centres over in NZ and have to go through rigorous testing to get the approval for use in these facilities. 

Every component of our nappies, covers and liners have also been tested for harmful substances by Armstrong Forensic Laboratory in Texas, USA.

So you see we are NZ’s #1 reusable diaper for a reason – our products are simply the best!  Real Nappies Snug Wraps are the most economical and durable on the market, they are soft, snug and extremely waterproof.  Teamed with our divinely soft 100% cotton prefold diapers and flushable, gentle diaper liners we are sure we will soon be your fave cloth diaper too!

One of our happy customers wrote a great review on Amazon, so good we thought you may like to read some of it, so we’ve put it into a list of reasons to use Real Nappies, for the full review check it out at Amazon!

1.  Other uses for Real Nappies:

‘I ordered the birth to potty pack because this system had the best reviews.  I went to pack away the newborn diapers, when I realized I can use the smaller diapers as a “catch pad”/bib for breastfeeding. I’m currently on the Infant size and I’m using the Crawlers and Toddler sizes as tummy-time drool mats, drool mats for naptime, lap pads, and as changing pad liners. The use as changing pad liner was an epiphany after reading so many bad reviews for changing pad systems that required special liners that ultimately end up rolling and bunching in the wash. I received some name-brand washable lap pads as a gift, and they were really small and only lasted two washes before falling apart because they’re just two pieces of felt glued together; what a waste! These Real Nappies have turned into so much more than just diapers, and this set really is everything you need to diaper your baby!’

2.  Easy to clean:

‘I use Charlie’s Soap and Haven’t had any staining or odor issues yet.’

3.  Know when your baby needs changing:

‘When you feel the diaper, there’s never any question if it’s wet, versus with disposables we’re always poking the diaper over and over again to figure out if that’s the reason baby’s crying.’

4. Nappy Rash?  What’s that!

‘When my baby was sick and having diarrhea, we went 48 hours in disposables, and in that short amount of time he got diaper rash. When we switched back to the nappies, the rash went away. We’ve never had to use diaper cream (why add more chemicals to your baby’s life?).’

5. Excellent Quality.

‘These cloth diapers have far better workmanship than other prefolds out there.  The sewing is tidier and doesn’t unravel. For the diaper covers, I love that the fabric is soft and there’s no exposed PUL (other companies have an exposed polyurethane liner, almost like pizza parlor tablecloth, and it tends to get sweatier).’

and another reviewer:
‘I have had the whole gamut of issues with previous diapers that I have tried, and these are far superior in function, at a fraction of the cost. Add to that a two child use guarantee out of your diapers and you really can’t go wrong.’

6. Slim Fit diapers.

‘I wanted a few extra inserts so I bought some prefolds and covers from other companies for comparison. I found that the Real Nappies are a little narrower in the crotch so baby’s legs can be closer together (how is baby supposed to crawl with a huge diaper in the way?) so I joke that they are European cut.’

7. Quicker Potty Training

‘People have told me the cloth diapers will make potty training easier because baby will know when the diaper is wet, versus with super absorbent diapers, babies tend to sit around in them for longer periods of time.’

8. Who needs Gussets?

‘I was initially concerned at the lack of leg gussets, but have been pleased and relieved to find that they function perfectly without them. I think perhaps with some of the thinner inserts out there, the leg gussets become more necessary. But, as these are meant to fit firmly against baby, that doesn’t pose a problem with these and I have not had leaking issues’

9. Save money too!

‘I never planned to “go green” but after trying these diapers, I can see how easy it is to make my household healthier by reducing the amount of chemicals and trying to choose greener products. While the initial investment is upfront, in the long run, I will spend less on diapering my baby.’

And the conclusion: ‘I love these diapers.’

Well what more can we say, other than there are many many other reasons to use Real Nappies but this is from just one of our happy purchasers!

There’s many more reviews on Amazon and on the Real Nappies USA site, so check us out and don’t forget to give us a thumbs up if you like what you read!

‘Nonwovens Expert: Cotton Is Best For Gulf Oil Spill
Posted on May 18, 2010 @ 08:41 am

As oil continues to gush from the exploded Deepwater Horizon oil rig, a Texas Tech expert in nonwoven cotton technology believes that cotton may do a better job to absorb the oil spill than the booms made of synthetic material.

“Already, several million feet of the oil-containment booms have been used to capture the oil spilling into the Gulf,” said Seshadri Ramkumar, associate professor of Nonwoven materials at The Institute of Environmental and Human Health (TIEHH). “They are made of synthetic materials, don’t biodegrade and absorb only a third of what raw cotton can do. The properties of raw cotton allow it to soak up 40 times its weight. With chemical modifications, it can soak up to as much as 70 times its weight. And it won’t just stay in a landfill forever.”

Well what more can we say GO COTTON!!  Absorbent enough for your baby’s diaper and the Gulf Oil Spill!  LOL!

1. Real Nappies is the most comprehensive pack available, it is a serious Birth to Potty Pack!  When checking out competitors make sure to look at actual pack contents, our pack gives enough for 24 newborn changes for example so it means 1 machine wash every 2-3 days per child. 
    
   2. Real Nappies or Pocket diapers?  Pocket diapers means they have a pocket that you stuff with the absorbent part, there are also All in one systems (AIO) these mean the absorbent part is built in to the diaper.  Every time your baby wets the diaper this means you have to wash the whole diaper.  With Real Nappies you simply change the inner and keep the same diaper cover on (unless on the odd occasion it gets soiled or wet),  Real Nappies covers usually need changing every 3rd change.  Less washing, less expense!
    
   3.  Real Nappies per diaper change are heaps cheaper than other systems!
    
   4.  Real Nappies is a 2 part system (separate cover to inner cloth diaper) and is very quick and easy to dry.  The inner cloth diaper opens out for easy and quick washing and drying.  The diaper cover dries pretty much instantly, the inner diaper about equivalent to a small hand towel to dry.  All in ones / pockets can take up to 3 days to dry per diaper, who’s got time for that with 2 kids in cloth!
    
   5.  Real Nappies cloth diaper is 100% natural, breathable cotton – most other systems use synthetic fabrics next to baby’s skin.
    
   6.  Real Nappies offer a unique guarantee  – we guarantee our products will last for a minimum of 2 kids.  Therefore if a cover / cloth diaper breaks, velcro fails etc we replace the product with brand new product (terms and conditions apply, does not cover normal wear and tear).  No other company offers this unique guarantee simply because their product will not last as long!
    
   7.  With Real Nappies you can machine dry the cloth diapers and the covers if you wish to.  Some other diapers you can only line dry.
    
   8.  Real Nappies are used in New Zealand Hospitals and DayCare Centres and are NZ’s #1 reusable cloth diaper.  All other brands competed for these tenders (including well known other pockets and AIO’s) and because our system is so simple, economical and versatile we were chosen and won the tender.  Subsequently Real Nappies Cloth Diapers are used successfully in Day Care Centres and Hospitals in New Zealand.
    
   9.  Real Nappies cloth diapers can be folded to accomodate different wetters: boys, girls and newborn (liquid poo fold!)  Therefore the diaper can be made thicker and more absorbent where ever your baby needs it most.  With other systems that use pads this is not always possible.

10.  Real Nappies uses a prefold cloth diaper system, any expert will tell you that prefold systems are the system of choice for newborn babies – other systems are too bulky or do not provide enough containment.  Real Nappies have 4 sizes which accomodate all different weights and sizes of babies.
 
11.  Real Nappies use velcro closures which are quick and easy to use – especially on a wriggly baby, no fiddly snap closures.  Plus velcro is more adjustable than snaps, and Real Nappies guarantee the velcro!

12.  Real Nappies use a flushable diaper liner - no need to scrap poo from your diapers, simply pop the biodegradable liner in the toilet with the solids, no smelly trash cans.  BEWARE!  Not all systems use a flushable liner.  We include 800 liners in our Birth to Potty Pack!

We hope this helps answer your questions – if you need any more help our customer careline and website are second to none.

Let’s face facts – who wants their diapers to take 3+ days to dry?  Have you got the time to wait this long?  Is your child that considerate with their pooing times that you have enough diapers to last you whilst the others are drying?

OK, so you’ve heard hemp, bamboo and fleece are ** more times absorbent than cotton, but ask yourself this….

How often do you change your baby? 

Probably every 2-4 hours for a newborn and every 3-4 hours for an older child.  So regardless, you change your baby the same amount of times, whichever fabric they are in.  So you are paying extra for an add-on that becomes redundant. 

Ummm, in actual fact you are paying for a fabric that because of it’s absorbability actually takes in far too much water in the washing machine and subsequently takes days and days to dry!

2-part system solution

Add to this the fact that Real Nappies cloth diapers are separate from the wraps, meaning you only need to change the wrap aprox every 3^rd diaper change.  With many other cloth diaper systems you have to change the entire diaper each and every change, well hello, this can equate to 10+ entire diapers being washed per day!  With Real Nappies 10 changes per day means 10 cotton diapers, and aprox 3 wraps.  These take no time to wash and dry, making it even easier!

Machine dry or line dry – it’s your choice.

For those of you who are wondering, our wraps and diaper can be machine dried if required, but for those who prefer natural methods:  Our wraps dry pretty much instantly and well, our diapers are 100% cotton, what does this mean?  This equates to super soft, breathable diapers that take about as long as a small hand towel to dry.  Add that to the fact that cotton is comfortable and the least likely fabric to irritate baby’s skin and you have your solution.

 Come on, us parents are busy people, do you really have time to wait till next week for those diapers to dry?

 Our Liners are an optional part of our Cloth Diaper system and come in a roll of 100.  They are on a perforated roll and are easily ripped apart to put on your diaper.  They are divinely soft against babies’ skin, and their one-way action draws the moisture through the liner onto the Cloth Diaper whilst remaining strong enough to capture the solids.  The liners can then be flushed away with the solids, meaning no more smelly bins!

 Some parents do not use diaper liners on newborn babies as their poo may be too runny (especially if being breast-fed).   However give them a go on a newborn and see what works for you.  We recommend cutting them in half for littlies, making them even better value, but do not fold them: this would make them too thick and may not allow the moisture to pass through onto the cloth diaper.

 Real Nappies Bioliners are included in our Essentials Packs and 800 of them are included in our Birth to Potty Pack!  Of course you can also buy them separately, another item from Real Nappies to make your cloth diapering system an easy, enjoyable, leaf-proof experience.

Best Quality Cotton

Well we use only the best quality Cotton for starters.  Now that is no mean feat – our cotton diapers may look like a basic piece of cotton but believe you me they have taken years to perfect to get to the product we today can offer you.  There are so many different types and qualities of cotton, and the quality of machinists that sew them and the layers that go into them, plus the number of stitches per piece has to be perfect before they pass our rigorous testing.  To top it off Real Nappies Cloth Diapers have passed Oko-Tex testing (the much acclaimed European testing standards – please see other blog for more details).

We’ve got it all wrapped up!

To support our fantastic quality Cloth Diapers we insist on having fantastic quality diaper wraps to go with them.  Once again this has taken many years to get right!  Our diaper wraps are made of PUL (Polyurethane Laminate).  We decided that in order to stand up to our 2 kid quality guarantee it was essential to manufacture these with 2 layers of PUL.  These 2 layers of PUL are sandwiched together to give excellent waterproof protection, and a totally breathable diaper wrap.

Velcro-like closures

Our Velcro-type fasteners are made of a superior quality rubberised hook fastening that partners with the loop fastenings to give a snug, fully adjustable fit, easy opening and closing system on our diaper wraps.  With a wriggly toddler, believe me you need a quick and easy to use Velcro-type closure system to make diaper changing a breeze.

Our brilliant machinists

Our stitching uses top quality cotton and is double stitched to ensure these don’t fail you when you need them most!  Our machinists care about the final product and you can tell this by the quality of the end resulting product.

Awesome elastic

Our elastic in the diaper wraps are top class, we’ve sourced the best you can find so you can pull the diaper wraps around your baby snugly and firmly again and again.  Diapers leak if you have gaps around the legs or tummy, with our specially designed covers and the elastic we ensure that for every baby’s shape and size, Real Nappies cloth diapers will give you a customised fit each and every time.  So you can rest assured that each time you use Real Nappies you will enjoy a leak-free diaper!

As a mother I share every parents concern for the welfare of their children and the world they will inherit. However, as a busy working parent with two children I also understand the pressure of just keeping up with day to day demands and the need for convenience and labor saving solutions. It always troubled me that the two always seemed at odds and out of necessity I, all too often, opted for convenience. That was why I was so delighted when a friend introduced me to a modern re-usable nappy system. I found that reusable nappies had changed dramatically from the old-fashioned terry nappies our parents used – no more pins or tricky folds and they were so much easier to wash and care for. They had truly became an easy and convenient alternative to disposable nappies that also saved me a small fortune!

I became a convert!

The Real Nappies system was born from a vision of a reusable nappy system that would become the preferred alternative. To achieve this we knew we had to improve what was available until it was no longer a struggle to do what you knew to be best.

Thanks for reading!

- Liz from Real Nappies

So there you have it, why I’m a convert to cloth diapers and more importantly why I now have created my own cloth diaper system that has been improved so that everyone can make the right choice.

Ok so we’ve all heard of the kid that potty trained at 1, or maybe those kids that never wore diapers at all……  Anyway let’s face it for the majority of us parents, potty training is a nightmare we would all rather avoid.  Read on to find the ‘real’ solution… The potty training age is getting older and older.  At Real Nappies, we often getting despondent parents calling us saying their kids are 3 or 4 and still not out of diapers.  Well I’ll tell you something, the main reason kids are still in diapers at 3 of 4 years old is because the disposable diaper manufacturers have got too good at what they do!

Why are kids in diapers for longer now?

The chemical super absorbent polymers found in disposables are getting too efficient!  The chemicals draw the moisture away from your child’s skin so quickly that your little one hasn’t even got a clue they have done a wee!  Now try potty training your littlie, they haven’t got a clue what you are talking about as they can not feel a single bit of wetness so how can they tell if they have had an accident?  Poor little thing! 

What does this mean for you? Hundreds more dollars spent on disposable diapers, well that’s what the disposable manufacturers are hoping to achieve, THEY DON’T WANT YOU TO POTTY TRAIN YOUR KID EARLY!    

Cloth diapers make potty training a breeze!

Here’s where cotton wins hands down, parents tell us that littlies in Real Nappies Cloth diapers tend to potty train up to 6 months earlier or even more than that. 

Why? Simple, because littlies in cotton can feel when they are wet and therefore understand their bodies a whole lot better.  They associate wetness to an accident.

Don’t make this mistake

One of the biggest mistakes a parent will make when potty training is to use underwear at home and then change back to diapers when out and about.  Well this confuses your child no end as again they go back to not feeling when they have had an accident and therefore not associating wetness with an accident. 

The solution: Real Nappies Potty Training Pants. 

These pants have a cotton interior, meaning they can still feel when they are wet!  They still use our awesome PUL outer fabric but have a cotton interior with the padding built in.  They are essential for successful potty training as littlies can pull them up and down themselves.  Real Nappies Potty Pants are super thirsty and will contain a few accidents, little one will know they have had an accident, but their clothes will stay dry. 

When the Potty Pants are wet simply pop them in the washing machine, they can also be machine dried if preferred.

Real Nappies Birth to Potty Pack include a pair of Potty Training Pants too to make potty training a breeze!

Oko-Tex (sounds like echo-tex) is a process of testing that checks for over 100 harmful substances.  Our cotton diapers go through a pain-staking process whereby they are tested for over 100 harmful substances.  Oko-Tex is the evaluation standard for the human ecological standard of textiles.

Why do we love öko-tex?

When you deal with Real Nappies you will know from the beginning that you are dealing with a company that cares, well Oko-Tex have the same ethos.  The testing that our cotton diapers undergo is absolutely exhaustive, every thread, every stitch, every layer is tested for over 100 harmful substances.  Plus to achieve certification our cotton diapers must be regularly re-tested to remain certified.  

Why should you love öko-tex?

Real Nappies cloth diapers use pure, natural and chemical free cotton.  By having Oko-Tex certification you can rest assured that the cloth diapers you put next to your baby’s skin are as pure as you can get.  We care about you and your baby and want the best products for you. By gaining Oko-Tex certification it’s just another little way we can show you that we care about the quality and purity of the Real Nappies products we offer you.