Recently, I was laughing with a friend whose son is just five days older than my daughter.

Our chuckles were about how many people would shiver at the daily habits we carry out religiously in a bid to do our bit for the planet.

We both use re-usueable nappies and as a result we both need to sluice Terry towellings once our children have left their mark.

When I tentatively admitted to her that I rinsed the nappies in baby's left-over bath water, she sheepishly nodded and said she did the same.

It might be a generalisation to say that most environmentalists are messy people with lots of body hair and garish knitted garments - but in actual fact, maybe you do have to get your hands a little dirty to be truly green.

I know at least one person (they know who they are) who would turn their nose up at my apres-bath antics, but in the grand scheme of things using the bath to rinse dirty nappies is a small price to pay!

The friend I was laughing with also allayed my fears that the bulky nappies which increase my baby's bottom-size have no bearing on her ability to crawl. Her little man has just started to move, and is rather efficient despite the cuddly packaging!