Twinkle On The Blog

For those that did not take part in The Great British Nappy Hunt, or who didn’t receive our email, I thought I’d re-post here as this code is valid to the end of the month!

Fathers Day Billy

As a collaborating retailer for Billy & the Great British Nappy Hunt, we’re delighted to share with you a special 10% off discount when you use the code ‘DADSROCK ‘ in appreciation of all the Dads that are using cloth nappies. Simply visit www.twinkleontheweb.co.uk and enter DADSROCK in the box on checkout. This offer applies to most products, however it does excludes some already discounted items and special offers. Read more about Billy and The Great British Nappy Hunt here: http://greatbritishnappyhunt.co.uk/blog/a-special-treat/

In Finland for the past 75 years expectant mothers visit their GP to register to receive a maternity box that contains a complete baby basics kit – clothing,  a sleeping bag, outdoor gear suitable for the cold winter weather in Finland, bathing products for the baby, as well as a cloth nappy kit, muslins, bedding and a small mattress – meaning the box can be used as a crib for the first few weeks.

Finland used to be a poor country with high infant mortality rate  – 65 out of 1000 babies died in infancy before the boxes were first introduced in 1938.  As the mother had to visit a doctor or pre-natal clinic before the fourth month of pregnancy in order to receive the maternity box the greater levels of pregnancy care along with the financial assistance of a complete ‘all you need’ for the new baby mean the infant mortality rate is now one of the lowest.

When the boxes were first introduced, cloth nappies were part of the kit, however by 1970 these were replaced with disposable.  Times change and environmental concerns has led to the boxes being supplied from 2006 with a complete cloth nappy starter kit along with muslins.

If only our Bounty packages could be improved to this level and include cloth nappies, or the NHS could be prevented from signing exclusive contracts for distribution of marketing propaganda to parents at local hospitals, I’m sure we’d see a far higher uptake of cloth (sadly Bounty is sponsored heavily by certain disposable manufacturer).  Bounty pay annually around £5,000 per large hospital for the exclusive right to distribute their packs and information, and to sell on the data (personal information names, addresses) they receive for commercial purposes.  Whilst Bounty allow advertising from others in their ‘magazine’ aka marketing booklet that comes in the pack, the cost is far beyond that of a typical baby magazine and way beyond the reach of all but the very largest cloth nappy manufacturers. Additionally, when newly pregnant or when the Bounty lady comes round the maternity ward, parents are at a very vulnerable time and might not be thinking of their privacy and not realise that giving their details will lead to a multitude of marketing literature arriving through the post.

The NCT and its members would like to see a severe restriction on this sort of selling by profit driven companies to new parents on NHS premises. 

Read more from the NCT here: http://www.nct.org.uk/press-release/nct-response-article-published-bmj-profits-pregnancy

Finnish baby boxes article on BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22751415

We’ve been in our little unit for 4 years, and it has taken me this long to realise that the rack-free huge space as you go in ends up as a dumping ground for boxes.  Mostly empty ones before they go for recycling.  I worked out that with a bit of juggling I could rearrange our shelving racks to make the space more efficient.  So, a four week plan of a reshuffle will leave us with a better more accessible arrangement of the stock, and free up some space for another project.   As a consequence of actually moving all the stock from one shelf to another, we’re taken the opportunity to sort out and list for sale some of the discontinued lines, colourways and prints at reduced prices. 

We’ve started listing here SALE  nappies from 80p, wraps from £2.50 and clothing halfprice.

Great bargain – we have a box of One Life one size nappies arrived which are in the Sale section at 50% off RRP.  We also have One Life Wraps which are available 2 for the price of one.

Do you have a child who likes to wrap their legs wround the duvet…and then wets the bed?

These waterproof duvet covers are just the job – no need to wash the duvet,  just the covers

We’re offers on Itti Bitti, Tots Bots, Nature Babies, Fuzzi Bunz and Motherease.

Please keep an eye on the Bargains section  as we still have to add the seconds, and single items for our annual sell-off – just got a bit behind doing the photographs.