Letter: Real nappies

Sir: I have just read Vanya Body's letter (2 May) sitting in my sunny garden, where a line of snow-white nappies flap in the breeze, and would like to encourage her to resist peer pressure and try "real" nappies.

I started to use them four and a half years ago, when my second child was born, and my youngest is, I trust, about to bid them farewell. My original sets of nappies are still going (and white), and I reckon I have saved mountains of landfill, considerable sums of money and a great deal of muscle power, not lugging disposables home from the shops.

The secret is to build the soaking and washing into the schedule. Invest in a bucket with a lid, a pair of designated rubber gloves and a sense of humour for the occasional leak. Then when Vanya Body's adolescent accuses her of contributing to toxic landfill, she can say (smugly) "But I didn't."

CHARLOTTE OBOLENSKY

Bristol