Jen Harris: Leading the Cloth Nappy Revolution

Jen Harris, founder of the Baby Room on Paris Street, traces an eighteen-year journey from a cold scout hut in Heavitree to one of the most essential community spaces in Exeter, and makes an unanswerable case for what new families need.

Jen arrived in Exeter at sixteen and has never really left. When her first daughter was born in 2008, she wanted to use cloth nappies and asked the council about a job she had seen advertised in Scotland. They offered her a voluntary role instead. She said fine, and started Nappucino, a weekly drop-in for cloth nappies, slings and breastfeeding support that grew from once a month to twice a week, from a scout hut to a school to a three-floor city centre shop. She and her colleague Jill have been running it together ever since.

The Baby Room, a not-for-profit Community Interest Company at 23 Paris Street, is now home to the Exeter Sling Library, the Devon Real Nappy Project trial kits, nearly 60 hireable breast pumps, birth pools, maternity and nursing clothes, a free accessible baby change, and a breastfeeding lounge where anyone can walk in and be given tea.

In the last month alone they gave out 97 pieces of cake and 59 bowls of soup at Nappucino. Jen talks about the numbers behind disposable nappies waste in Devon (roughly one every two seconds going in the bin), why the closure of children's centres has sent pump hire through the roof, and what happens when a mum does not make it across the buggy park and stands in the car park crying instead.

Get Involved

• The Baby Room Exeter website
• The Baby Room on Instagram
• The Baby Room on Facebook
• 23 Paris Street, Exeter, EX1 2JB. Open Monday to Saturday, 9:30am to 4pm.
• Nappucino runs every Wednesday, 9:30am to 3pm. Cloth nappies, slings, breastfeeding support, soup and cake. Check the website for the current schedule.
• Cloth nappy trial kits and sling library hires are free to borrow. Breast pump and birth pool hire from £20/month. Book or drop in during opening hours.
• Full class and session calendar at thebabyroomexeter.co.uk including baby massage, Sing and Sign, postnatal pod, new dads group, Pride and Joy, home birth group, and active birth yoga.