A mother of four, who designed a nappy easy to take on and off, is now exporting her product to 22 countries.

Jenn Philpott, 41, of Upminster, got fed-up with the design of disposable nappies, when she had to undress her children to use the potty and decided to make her own.

“Baby clothing make it very hard to make your child use the potty because of all the poppers and Velcro, ” she told the Recorder.

Her Flaparaps are drop-flap nappies especially designed to make it easier for the child to use the potty.

The mum, who also runs a parenting forum, shared her invention online and quickly received more orders than she could produce.

The IT consultant gave up her job to dedicate herself entirely to her new business Born Ready and her husband Mark also quit his job in the city two years ago to support his wife’s venture.

After months of research, the young entrepreneur found a factory in Portsmouth, which would cut the fabric and one in Newcastle to stitch the nappies together ready for sale.

Now Flaparaps are sold online to 22 different countries but Mrs Philpott has bigger plans.

“In the past, everyone used nappies but since disposables came in, everything changed,” she said.

“Although it is a small market, more people would like it if they knew about it.”

Encouraging parents to give it a try, Mrs Philpott said this helped her “to really listen and pay attention to children’s needs”.

Sold with washable pads, Flaparaps are also designed to reduced waste.

“It costs the country £36 miilion a year to put nappies in landfill – it’s a lot of money,” explained Mrs Philpott.

The nappy-maker entered Virgin chief Richard Brandson’s Voom start-up competition for £1m to share in prizes and the hope for a successful boost to her business.

The competition involves a public vote, which closes on May 23, and so far the Flaparaps venture is ranked 13th out of more than 300 entries.

If you would like to find out more about Flaparaps, visit here.