Reusable/washable/cloth nappies

Judi101

Hi, best way to learn about resusable nappies is to find out if your local council do a trial scheme. Ours lent you a pile of different nappies for 2 weeks. A lovelly lady brought them all around and explained how they all worked. You get two weeks to use them free and at the end you know which ones you want to buy. You probably get money off your first purchase from your local council to. Definitely the way to go. I was way confused too by all the choice but love my washables now. Keep an eye on freecycle to see if you can get any from there.

Agutka

Such lovely COMPLEX replies. With a zillion brands preferred. I give up. Sounds like too much to risk before baby is here - by then I shall know people who know people and maybe give things a try. My council does not seem interested in helping out, other than mentioning these exist out there. I'll probably keep on looking round, before I get round to the pram research (took my brother five months to choose his but when his son was born they noticed they'd forgotten to even name the poor lil' man! At least he had a great pram though).

Justie

a good place to start is the nappylady advice section - you fill in a questionnaire and then get an email with suggestions. You can then ask more questions if you have any worries and they have lots of nappy advisers who are very knowledgeable. They also have a classified section for second hand nappies but to be honest I find it too confusing to work out what I want from there.

I've got a good friend who is using cloth nappies and it makes so much more sense to be able to get hands on with them. The one size are bulky on a new born so I'm going to get small ones for newborn and then ones for later on, a bit more expensive but not much.

There's loads of help out there so don't get too put off and you've got plenty of time yet.

kal25

Hi, I had looked at using reusables with ds2 but decided against it as hey were v expensive. However, with having DD I decided to give it ago. I brought a trial size pack from Boots and lasted ages.

lebly wrote: »

I used the traditional square fold it yourself nappies. Spent £80 on set up. They were v good (have twins). Still use the nappies as rags etc so they have not only lasted for the 8 months I used them but are still being used now!

I had to laugh at this as I sometimes use mine to mop up spills as they are very absorbent, I thought it was just me :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

larissa156_2

Agutka,

Don't give up just yet! As you can tell by all these replies, people do get quite passionate about their cloth nappies. The important thing to realise is that there is no one nappy that suits every baby and so every one will have different favourites. You need to get advice specifically for you and your baby and take it from there. I agree, though, don't buy a birth to potty pack before your baby is born as this can be an expensive mistake. Get advice, get a couple of different types to try on your new baby and then make a decision a few months down the road - you will have plenty of other more important things to think about in the first few weeks.

The other thing you can do is see if there is an advisor/agent in your area so that you can have a look at the nappies available and talk to them about how they work. Have a look here to see who is local to you:-

http://www.realnappycampaign.com/nappyfinder/

Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy.

Honeybee_2

I've used cloth nappies on 3 of my 4 children and I love them!

My children tend to get on well with Tots Bots, they fitted my skinny daughter, chunky second son and now my skinny baby boy.

My advice would be to try and source some different nappies to see which one you like best. I've swapped nappies with other parents and found out which ones were the best for the kids.

Ebay are banning sales of used nappies but the nappy lady has a used nappy section, ukparentslounge forums and usednappies.co.uk.....some are also advertised in the Bounty eco parents forum.

nadnad

i know everyone who uses them is passionate about them, and i would still like to use them - but it seems to me a bit of a risk - everyone says wait and see what your baby is like before buying them - and then test a few out - but surely this is going to be expensive - what if you have to try like 10 types before finding the perfect one? i live in northern ireland and i cant see that any council has a scheme to do with reusables. and i really couldnt afford to be buying loads of different types.

larissa156_2

nadnad wrote: »

- what if you have to try like 10 types before finding the perfect one?

This is why you need to get advice so that someone who knows about all the different types of nappy can tell you which are going to be most suitable. For example, if you and your partner are tall, chances are your baby will be tall and some nappies just don't suit tall children - there's one off your list. If you get good advice, you shouldn't need to try that many.

Besides, if you do decide not to use them you can sell them on for a good price, especially if you've only used them a few times to test them!

Try the nappyfinder service that I posted about above, or https://www.thenappylady.co.uk

Good luck!

sunshinegirl_3

nadnad wrote: »

i know everyone who uses them is passionate about them, and i would still like to use them - but it seems to me a bit of a risk - everyone says wait and see what your baby is like before buying them - and then test a few out - but surely this is going to be expensive - what if you have to try like 10 types before finding the perfect one? i live in northern ireland and i cant see that any council has a scheme to do with reusables. and i really couldnt afford to be buying loads of different types.

Hi,

Don't dispare its not that complicated, nor that expensive. It doesn't take that long to figure out whats right for you and your baby and you don't have to spend lots of money to do it.

I bought one or two of several different types of nappy "pre loved" from different forums and some new nappies to try. I bought Kissaluvs size 0 (as they were said to be one of the best newborn nappies), bimbles, tots bots (fluffle and normal), ellas house and some 40cm terry squares. I think, in total, I spent less than £30 on these. Plus a bucket, a nappy mesh or 2, some lavender oil and a couple of motherease rikki wraps as these were generally said to be the best on the market. All in all, after shopping about, I spent about £50 in total on the nappies and the accessories.

Once my LO was home and we were a little more settled (around 10 days) we switched to cloth and tried the different nappies. We soon learned what was good and what was bad (kissaluvs, bimbles and strangly the 40cm terrys suited us when she was little). From that, I went back on the web and bought some more of these (mostly pre loved). I think I spent around another £40.

Once she started to grow out of these (as they're all sized) I felt more comfortable about choosing the nappies that suited us as we knew what worked. I'd also met alot of other mums who used cloth (including one who'd set up her own business selling them) and chatting with people helped me choose the next step. I now use motherease one size as they suit us down to the ground (this doesn't mean I don't occasionally try other nappies as it's an addiction - currently toying with the Naturebabies Lovable - but the MEOS will win out I know!!)

Have a look round, try not to be squeemish about trying pre loved as most cloth users are passionate about their nappies and keep them in excellent condition, spend as little as possible and don't try and go "full time" cloth until you're happy with the nappies.

As for being bulky and looking loose, A good fitting nappy shouldn't be loose but sometimes the wrap is slightly bigger and can look roomier, this isn't the bit that leaks though (I've had more leaks from disposables than cloth) yes they're bulkier than a disposable and you have to give trousers a bit of a heave to get them over the bum, but a big cloth bot is lovely and you get so used to it that when they're in disposables you think somethings missing!

happyathome_withmyboys

lebly wrote: »

I used the traditional square fold it yourself nappies. Spent £80 on set up. They were v good (have twins). Still use the nappies as rags etc so they have not only lasted for the 8 months I used them but are still being used now!

I used these too - and loved them. You don't have to worry about buying different sizes (just adjust the fold), I used a double thickness of muslin squares when DS was teeny-weeny, and I just cut out fleece rectangles to use as a liner. I never had problems with nappy rash or leakage until I had DS2 in diposables (we moved into the tiniest cottage imaginable and I couldn't face the idea of inquisitive 2-year-old tipping up (or even drinking out of!) nappy buckets). I also used them at night with no problems...
I think the thing about finding the 'right type' is maybe a bit of a modern dilemma - I just decided I wasn't going the disposable route and couldn't afford any other - so stuck with it. Also, my mother and hers, etc etc - wouldn't have had any choice - but we all survived bums intact!
Unfolded nappies also got used as changing mats, sick catchers, etc before being reassigned to cleaning duty...