It was nice a big square towel with a menacing pin, but the cloth nappy has quietly reinvented itself. While the world continued its love affair with disposables, the washable nappy went back to the drawing board and the new model looks a lot like a disposable, with Velcro tabs and snap buttons in the place of glue strips.

The new washables range from right-on hemp varieties to state-of-the-art fleece and polyurethane laminates. For an initial outlay of anything from €70 to €150, you can equip your baby with all the nappies he will ever need. From an environmental perspective, washable nappies are a vast improvement on disposables, even when you count the energy costs involved in washing them. So they're cheaper, greener and kinder.

But - and it's a big but - you have to wash them yourself. With all the work that a baby entails, who's got the time to wash nappies? "At one stage I had three children in nappies and I simply could not afford to pay for disposables," Co Meath mother Jeanette Smith explains. "As well as that, one of the children was allergic to disposables, so I felt that washables would provide a solution to both problems. At one point I had 24 nappies circulating between the washing machine, the washing line and three bottoms. I stuck with it because it wasn't hard at all."

Carol Feller, who runs the Baby Orchard, supplies cloth nappies and uses them on her own children. "There is a wide range of different types available and not every one will suit each baby," she says. "Once you hit on the right type, washable nappies are a great alternative. You can buy special bags to put the nappies in and you just throw the whole lot in the washing machine. With modern machines the prewash setting does away with the need for soaking. Modern washable nappies come with flushable liners that minimise soiling."

If money is not the main issue, than the perfect solution is a nappy washing service. Louise Dempsey from Athboy, Co Meath. has recently set up a service for the Leinster region which supplies, collects, washes and returns cloth nappies for an initial layout of €45 and a weekly charge of €17. Depending on the size of your baby, the weekly cost of disposables ranges from €10 to €20.

Rebecca Jiggins from Belfast started using old-style terry nappies when her son was born because she couldn't afford disposables. She eventually discovered that there were more modern cloth nappies available and she now works to educate other parents in Northern Ireland. Last year she and her husband set up the Belfast Organisation for Real Nappies (BORN) to spread the word about cloth nappies in the community. She has since set up a nappy laundering service and cloth nappy supply network, called Blooming Bottoms. She hopes to link up with suppliers in the south soon.

"We have managed to convert 500 families since we set up in March last year," says Rebecca. "Some used our laundering service for the first while but soon switched to washing at home when they realised how easy it was. We work on a not-for-profit basis because we are more concerned about usage than sales. Our advice to parents is to combine cloth and disposables if your child is in crèche or if you need the convenience of a disposable at certain times. We find that many parents mix and match at first but when they realise how easy cloth nappies are they soon switch over."

Pros:

Washable nappies, compared with disposables, can save between €700 and €1,000 per child

If a month's worth of disposable nappies fills one regular wheelie bin, that's a minimum saving of €60 per annum on bin charges

Even allowing for the energy and water costs associated with washables, cloth nappies have a reduced impact on the environment

Washable nappies made from natural fibres are easier on the skin

Cons:

Keeping one baby in clean cloth nappies involves a full washing-machine load every two days

The absorbent materials used in washables can take up to 24 hours to dry on the line

An Siopa Beag, Co Clare. (061) 921649, www.ansiopabeag.com;

Cotton Baby, Co Westmeath, (044) 45372, www.cottonbaby.net;

The Baby Orchard, Co Cork (021) 4776197, www.thebabyorchard.com;

Páiste Sásta, Natural Nappy Products, Co Leitrim, (071) 9651966 www.paistesasta.ie;

Blooming Bottoms, www.bloomingbottoms.org