WITH a snotty sprog on the way, I'm forced to

contemplate the inevitable.

With every soft pink bottom comes green goo, and although I accept my offspring is a girl and girls don't do that sort of thing, I feel the need to prepare myself nevertheless.

The thing is, I wrote a Counterpoints on Real Nappy Week three years ago and as a smug, eco-warrior, I naturally assumed I'd go the way of the terry towelling when I found myself with child.

But now, confronted with imminent motherhood, it's suddenly not quite that simple.

Niggling away at the back of my mind is this - to choose the tricky terry with its endless washing days amid sleepless nights, or the disposable diaper, a quick convenient way of dispelling unpleasant bundles without a second's thought?

Even my own mum, with "green" blood flowing through her veins, turned to a secret stash at times while raising my little brother.

But, like her, the statitics always make me stop in my tracks.

With each tot using around 4,500 nappies and each nappy taking 200-500 years to decompose, the impact on the environment is staggering.

Just because you close the door doesn't mean the mountain goes away - and it's growing.

Around 4.5 trees are destroyed each year to keep a baby in disposables for 30 months, costing the taxpayer £40 million to dispose of the 800,000 tonnes of waste produced.

And pondering our rapidly depleting finite resources, it takes a full cup of crude oil to produce the plastic for just one disposable.

Cost-wise, you can save between £500-£1,250 by buying real nappies, and even taking into account the cost of washing nappies at home (about £33 a year), the savings are still considerable.

Also, why put your precious baby's bottom in a complex chemical environment when you have the option of a natural product?

Disposable nappies are made of superabsorbent chemicals, paper pulp and plastics while real nappies are manufactured using natural fabrics.

Besides, after reading the latest bumph, it seems the days of the inconvenient, labour intensive real nappy are turning into an urban myth.

The Mother-ease range from Little Green Earthlets, a family-run company which offers high quality cloth/washable nappies as well as other baby products, includes the One Size, a simple, cost-effective nappy to take your baby from newborn to toddler with the minimum of ease, and the All-in-One, an easy care, economical nappy costing £8.75.

Soft, compact and absorbent, the One Size is made from cotton terry towelling and adjusted and opened with poppers, making it impossible for little fingers to open.

And the All-in-One promises to be just as handy as a disposable, made from soft, unbleached terry cotton with outer waterproof fabric of brushed knit laminated polyester.

Available in white with natural cotton inner layer, in three sizes, prices start at £12.75 for the small 10-20lb (0-1yr) and go up to £13.50 for the 13lb+ (2yrs+).

To see a full range of products, visit www.earthlets.co.uk or call (01825873301) for a catalogue.

But everyone has different requirements, expectations, likes, budgets, and most importantly, differently shaped babies.

Standard advice is to order trial packs from a wide selection of companies and try them out on your baby.

While some settle on a single make, others mix and match elements from different companies or select different nappies for different times of day.

And unwashed and unused nappies can be returned. Even used ones in good conditions can be bought or sold via the Real Nappy Exchange at nappies@wen.org.uk.

How many nappies you need depends on your washing routine but 18 nappies and three waterproof pants are usually adequate.

For a free information pack send a large SAE with two stamps to The Real Nappy Association, PO Box 3704, London SE26 4RX www.realnappy.com

For details of your local nappy laundry service contact The National Association of Nappy Services, NANS, 0121 693 4949 www.changeanappy.co.uk