Reusable/washable/cloth nappies

leilasmummy

hello, i'm thinking of going down the reuseable nappy route this time but have no tumble drier. has anyone gone down this route. any suggestions of the types of nappies to try / avoid and how about liners ??? also does buying a tumble drier make it cost effective???
hope i can be kinder to the environment this time!

demonicangel

An idea that will allow you to use reusable nappies and not use a tumble drier, use pocket nappies!

If you dont know what they are, they are basically a pocket that you stuff with almost anything to make it absorbant. Fuzzi Bunz are an example of this. They are very quick drying.

Failing that, most nappies can be tumbled on a low heat.

I use cloth and have a tumble drier although I try to avoid using it as much as possible. The only drying space I have is one clothes horse, two lines above the bath and radiator space.

I manage getting my nappies dry pretty well by hanging them up on the windows.

Fluffles by Tots Bots are quick drying and dont need liners. BAmboo and hemp take longer to dry but they are more absorbant. Its up to you if you use liners, I use paper ones when I remember!

Katyag

Im in a similar situation as OP.

DS#2 is due July and im determind to do cloth nappies, very keen on Cotton Bottoms, but after my tumble dryer set fire to my house and us losing virtually everything we had in 2004 we refuse to have another tumble dryer, sure you can understand why.

We have whirlys outside but as we live in a flat with 4 other flats its often a fight to get one and i dont get one everyday (no set days for each person) so im wondering how effictive the nappies will be after being dried inside / on radiators.

demonicangel

Katyag wrote: »

Im in a similar situation as OP.

DS#2 is due July and im determind to do cloth nappies, very keen on Cotton Bottoms, but after my tumble dryer set fire to my house and us losing virtually everything we had in 2004 we refuse to have another tumble dryer, sure you can understand why.

We have whirlys outside but as we live in a flat with 4 other flats its often a fight to get one and i dont get one everyday (no set days for each person) so im wondering how effictive the nappies will be after being dried inside / on radiators.

I have never had problems drying them on radiators etc.

The best way I find to dry them though is to hang them on a hanger, and put them on a curtain pole and they dry in about 24 hours unless they are bamboo.

They can go a bit crunchy drying on the rads but rubbing them together helps that.

bumpybecky

if you use pocket nappies it doesn't matter how crunchy they get as the inner bit doesn't touch the skin

howdumbarewe!

I use the bamboo bamboozle nappies. They take ages to dry even after being out on the line on a lovely day like today they usually need to be put in front of the fire overnight or put in the tumble dryer.

They are brilliant nappies highly absorbant but take ages to dry (between 2 & 3 hrs in tumble dryer) I have a couple of other nappies which are cotton and they are not nearly so absorbant but take half the time to dry.

I am so glad that I chose re-useable as they are much kinder to my boys skin and they save loads of money. Just add up how much money the nappies will cost to buy in total and then add on the cost of buying tumble dryer to see how cost effective it would be perhaps that will help you to decide.

maow425

DH and I finally saw the washable nappy light when DS3 was on the way, and we also started using them on DS2 (not pottytrained yet). We used to use a tumble dried on them first of all, but this was only until we got our dehumidifier back up and running. DH made up some elaborate airing system in the bedroom (lived in 2-bed flat with no outside drying, and no room inside either), from plastic clothes hangers and pegs. This worked great, although they did take a while to dry, we just had to keep on top of things. We use Motherease one-size nappies, the wraps do not go in the drier (now that we have a washing line they dry in about ten mins on a good day), as they would probably melt. I don't really worry about the "crustyness" of the line dried nappies, as I use homemade fleece liners, so the crusty bit is hardly toughing the skin - only fleecy softness. I save soooo much money on nappies now, because I don't have to buy them. But I also save on washing as DS3 used to have very liquid explosive poos, and disposables (used when we were moving house) just couldn't cope. Every time he'd done a poo, he leaked onto clothes (his and ours), seat covers, blankets, sheets - everywhere. I should have stuck with the washables, as the disposables probably caused three times more washing that the same amount of our motherease ones!

anguk

I used reusables when my kids were babies but that was in the days before the fancy shaped ones you get now, I had to make do with folding terry squares and plastic pants The good thing about terry squares is they dry really quickly, I didn't have a tumbler so I'd line dry them or stick them on the clothes airer.

MarkyMarkD

We have never tumble dried our Motherease one size nappies. Drying on an airer is better than radiator drying IMHO if you have the space for an airer.

Suet_4

Hi,

We used terry squares mainly on ds with some kooshies and got some motherease one size when dd came along. We didn't have a TD then, but didn't have a problem drying them either - terries dry really quickly, even in the house, the others did take longer. As someone else said, as long as you keep on top of things then you'll be okay. Our older neighbours used to be quite impressed and reminicent sp? of our line of white nappies! Good luck!