Reusable/washable/cloth nappies

fernliebee

I agree with becs. Everyone is different but for me personally the environmental reasons were second on the positives list. The deciding factor for me was the amount of petrochemicals that touch their precious botties!! I don't use petrochemicals in any of my own toiletries and would feel terrible going to the effort for myself and not for my DD. Everyone has their own issues with things, and their own levels of what is important to them and so they should, but for me personally the 5 minutes it takes to flush some poo down the loo before washing doesn't mean I miss out on anything. It's one of those things that sounds worse than it is. Also as she doesn't wear nappies at all in the house her botty gets lot's of fresh air and I get less washing

lynnexxxo

Just a question to the ladies who use reuseables... what do you do when sending your little ones to nursery? I just couldn't bear the though of picking him up and gettting handed four full nappy sacks for me to deal with (especially if they hadn't scrapped the poo down the loo).

Fly_Baby

I don't know if it applies to every baby, but a friend of mine used washables from the birth of her son and she said that they all bulkier than conventional nappies and that she had difficulty finding clothes for her baby because everything was to small and tight because of his bigger bottom clad in the reusable nappy. So she ordered clothes for him from the Internet and his bottom really did look very big because of that nappy. So as far as I can tell from her experience - that can be an issue as well.

robin_banks

It's a personal choice, tbh from day 1 we were always going to use bio-degradable disposables.

For other items we used charity shops, hand me downs and freecycle and have no doubt saved a good few quid on the way.

jellyhead

Fly_Baby wrote: »

I don't know if it applies to every baby, but a friend of mine used washables from the birth of her son and she said that they all bulkier than conventional nappies and that she had difficulty finding clothes for her baby because everything was to small and tight because of his bigger bottom clad in the reusable nappy. So she ordered clothes for him from the Internet and his bottom really did look very big because of that nappy. So as far as I can tell from her experience - that can be an issue as well.

That's the reason I stopped using washables at 4 months - my baby was/is just enormous. Even without a nappy now he's toilet trained it's difficult finding clothes wide enough for his hips. He's not fat, but is very solidly built. I still have a lot of sewing to do to make clothes fit him.

None of the other babies I knew at bumps and babies had this problem though, because they were average sized babies. Some mums bought special clothes meant for cloth nappies (they can usually be found cheap at NCT sales) but most could just use ordinary clothes.

I suppose you don't know what size and shape your baby will be. Lots of nappy systems include wraps or nappies at newborn size but there was no way my newborn would fit into his, and he weighed under 9lb.

I bought lots of nappies to try, and my favourites were the all in one type. You have to have enough of them dried each day though, whereas if you use an insert in a wrap then the wrap won't need changing with each nappy change.

I changed him the same number of times as I would if he were wearing disposables, and he never got a rash. Disposable liners are one-way, I preferred fleece though and the liner was never wet, you have to try it to believe it, I was surprised at how dry it kept my baby's skin.

foreversomeday

Some washable nappies are bulkier than others. Fuzzi Bunz are known for being smaller. I used disposables until my baby bulked out a bit but now I've got used to it and his clothes seem baggy if I do put him in a disposable. But I tried a few types out and some did look ridiculous!!

fly baby, do your friends really iron their nappies?? That just strikes me as bizarre - like ironing pants! I don't iron anything my baby wears, I don't see the point.

Ms_Piggy_2

Fly_Baby wrote: »

disposable sanitary pads,

SHOCK HORROR. Some people use cloth sanitary pads / the mooncup too! Mainly because they are far, far nicer than the disposable version!

Every nappy contains one cup of crude oil and takes 400+ years to decompose. Personally every cloth nappy I use is one less despicable nappy so I'm happy!
And yes, I do use disps when on holiday etc.

lynnexxxo wrote: »

Just a question to the ladies who use reuseables... what do you do when sending your little ones to nursery? I just couldn't bear the though of picking him up and getting handed four full nappy sacks for me to deal with (especially if they hadn't scrapped the poo down the loo).

I'd have a fit if they hadn't flushed the solids! It'd probably be half a dozen nappies tops. They'd come home and go straight into the washer.

Fly_Baby wrote: »

no, no way my husband is going to do the washing of nappies - and I would never ask him that.

Why not? It's his baby too?

Fly_Baby

Ms_Piggy wrote: »

SHOCK HORROR. Some people use cloth sanitary pads / the mooncup too! Mainly because they are far, far nicer than the disposable version!

I am aware of that, but I am using disposable tampax and wouldn't have it any other way. There is nothing appealing to me in having to wash blood-soaked pads. We are not in the middle of the war when you have to wash cloths and reuse them to dress up soldiers' wounds.

[quote=Ms_Piggy;Why_not?_It's_his_baby_too?[/quote]

I am not asking my husband to wash nappies. I wouldn't do it myself either. And I'd rather he kept being a great partner in other ways: i.e. cooked dinner, did the washing-up, entertained the kids while I was in the bath for a much-needed solitude.

Js_Other_Half

lynnexxxo wrote: »

Just a question to the ladies who use reuseables... what do you do when sending your little ones to nursery? I just couldn't bear the though of picking him up and gettting handed four full nappy sacks for me to deal with (especially if they hadn't scrapped the poo down the loo).

I send DS to nursery with motherease cloth nappies. I use disposable liners for there so they can just flush the dirty ones. The wet liners get put in the nappy bag along with the nappies. He was 11 months when he went; I think he was bringing home 4/5 a day at most. Now at almost 2 he's only bringing home 1 or two, and sometimes none.

fernliebee

The clothing can be an issue, my DD is quite 'long' though so we just buy a size up and the nappy pads it out. As a previous poster point's out I think it depends on the shape and size of your LO, and the nappies you use! I use imse vimse shaped nappies, with cotton bottoms wraps in the daytime as these are very trim and so don't have many problems now. When I was using prefolds she did look funny with a big bum!
We don't really do dresses cos I find them a faff but my friend says she just puts her DD in dresses so doesn't have a problem with getting trousers to fit!
I haven't really looked into specially made clothes, but I know they do them, as someone else said NCT sales usually have them.