The Letter - I need you help please, all feedback appreciated!!

[Indadhanu]

Yep, I agree with ausgirl on the soiled clothes issues. I'd take out the part where soiled clothing are put into children's bags as they aren't (or shouldn't be), and add in a part that says something like "in line with policies, I will provide an airtight container/bucket to put used nappies in, as is the guidelines for soiled clothing" (or something like that lol, my brain isn't fully engaged right now!). It sounds like their issue is with putting dirty nappies back into a bag, which I can appreciate they probably aren't allowed to do. I guess if you and some other parents who use cloth pooled money and bought one of those storage containers to keep at the centre, and then each provided a wetbag, staff could put dirty nappies in the wetbag into the container, as they do with soiled clothing. It's not more work since they have to change dirty nappies and put them in a nappy sack and then the bin anyway, so its just changing the 'bin' step to 'container'....

Hope you can change their mind. Disposables for CC could get really expensive especially since you're already outlayed the money into cloth.

[alioops]

I just found this on the dept of health website and thought it might be useful

Most child care related infections are more common in infants and toddlers than among older children. A study of bacterial contamination in centres found that the prevalence of faecal coliforms on hands, surfaces and in air samples was inversely related to the age of the children. The likelihood of faecal contamination was greatest on the hands of infants and carers, and least on those of the older children.38 Disposable nappies appear to be superior to cloth nappies in preventing faecal contamination of the environment.39 Whether the use of disposable nappies can reduce the incidence of diarrhoeal illness is not clear.

Two prospective studies of risk factors for diarrhoeal illness found that centres with non-toilet trained infants, and those in which food-handling staff also changed nappies, had higher diarrhoeal rates.40,41 The risk of diarrhoeal illness in three year old children who stayed in the same room as under two year olds was 4.3 (95%, CI 2.1-9.0) times greater than the risk in those separated from the under two year olds.40 In common with other enteric infections, hepatitis A outbreaks are most likely to involve centres containing many children who are still in nappies.42

Prevention of the spread of enteric infections is best achieved by ensuring that wherever possible, carers have not been involved in nappy changing prior to handling food on the same shift, that minimal contact occurs between children in nappies and older children, and that the same members of staff do not look after both age groups at the same time.

[Madissun]

I think your letter is fantastic hun. You even educated me

[lisaandshaun]

I think it is a well written letter and dont see how having modern cloth nappies at a childcare is an issue.
I mean yes as a child care worker i feel they do take a little longer to change and clean (we used a high pressured hose attached to the toilet to spray off any waste straight into the toilet).
I worked in a centre in Darwin for 5 years and had several parents who used both the terry towelling and modern cloth nappies which worked wonderfully.
We would rinse off the waste into the toilet using the hose then bag the nappy and place into a plastic tub which was then tightly sealed. The parents provided plenty of nappies to use through out the day and were also on call should we run out.

I am a cloth user and think the modern cloth nappies are wonderful and very easy to use. Good luck in getting the centre to change their mind. Please keep us posted.
Lisa

[~Hestia~]

Beema how did you go? Have you had any response?

[*Beema*]

Thankyou all so much for your responses, I have been flat out for the past week and haven't had time to rewrite the letter Apparently they are writing me one as well as to why the are banning them.

Since last week I have found out that...

I am the ONLY person using cloth nappies now in the centre
and....
The Director apparently didn't know how many people, which made me angry as she didn't even take in account how many people it would affect and that perhaps a more individual approach would have been more appropriate. Before just plastering it in the newsletter.

I am going to review the letter either tonight or tomorrow - finally a day out of the office and not travelling! And I will post another version here for some final comments before I submit it. I was concerned that it was too long, so hopefully I can make it more succinct

Thankyou all so much I really appreciate it

[Rowellen]

Surely if you're the only person that uses them, then it can't be too hard for them to continue. I think I'm the only one at my DS's CCC & they are fine with them (so far). Tell them to wear gloves & wash their hands, like they should be doing anyway.

As for your letter, I agree with some of the others - it might not get read properly if it seems too long. Perhaps remove some of the background research to an appendix, that way you can keep your letter short & to the point but still include sound basis for your arguement.

Good luck Beema.

[MummyTummy]

Let me know how you go!! I only just found this thread! My feedback is pretty much the same as everyone else, perhaps a little long but it sounds like you are on top of it. Maybe we can chat tonight if you are on!