Reusable/washable/cloth nappies

Nicki

I bought 12 mio bambino prefolds with 3 wraps for £32 in John Lewis on Friday last week. It looked like a special promotion. Also Mothercare does a starter set of its own brand shaped nappies for around this kind of money, which I was also looking at getting. I got a dozen fleece liners from ebay for £2.50, and 7 motherease nappies and 3 wraps also from ebay for £11. I'm hoping that this will do me at least to start off with, and I reckon I'll have got the same quantity as you want, plus all the associated bits and bobs for £100.

This is my third baby and I used disposables for the first two so its virgin territory for me too, but I'm hoping that I can make this work, and that it will be as easy as disposables. You could easily spend £10 a week on disposables in the early months, and there's no way that the electricity costs of washing the reusables will come anywhere near that, so provided that you don't spend too much on getting kitted out to start off with, I imagine you will be much better off going down the reusable route. Don't forget that you can keep them for another child, or sell them on for a reasonable sum when you are finished with them, so you will recoup some of your outlay costs too.

angelicmary85

Hiya,

Sorry for gatecrashing but I tried to use re-useable nappies but I found that none of bubba's clothes would fit over them!! Maybe I didn't pick the right ones but just a thought!

stmatt

Hi

I wouldn't rush out and buy a load to start with. You'll find that babies come in different sizes and shapes and a brand that suits one baby may not work on another (i.e. leaks). This happens with disposables too! I used fuzzi-bunz but I know they didn't work on my friends child. She had more luck with terry's.

Have you found the nappy lady web-site. I had lots of good advice from there a few years ago. There are also a few web-sites which sell second hand nappies.

Also check with your local council for incentives. I know ours gave out a grant which wasn't much but it helped. They may also have/know an advisor who can let you look and try different nappies before buying.

hth
Karen

robin_banks

I wouldn't buy any more just yet, you may just think life is too short to continue with 'real' nappies.

homeaway

Hi I would start off by buying a few of a particular brand and see how you like them.Babies grow at different rates as well and you might find that one size is better than another.My daughter was very petite but my son was a different story !!! I have heard of people cuttting the fleecy liners with zigg zagg scissors from a fleecy blanket !! I never had any problems fitting clothes over nappies. I ordered mine from the States but at that time it was not common to find nappies in UK. There is a section on the ovusoft.com site on the babies section about nappies ( it is an Amercan site) or there are other sites in the UK which you can do research on. Hope it works for you.

Blue_Fairy_3

Tots bots sell 'seconds' on their website - up to 50% off. http://shopping.netsuite.com/s.nl;jsessionid=0a010b441f43aaac9c1430a44d45a4b5f6a0063c20d1.e3iKaNePch4Re34Pa38Ta38Obxb0?c=427532&sc=7&category=341
I've also seen them in TK Maxx at 50% off too. (My SIL bought some recently.)

Do check out your local council - nearly all seem to have schemes now to encourage you to use washables, you will get something like a voucher to buy nappies, or they will give you several nappies for free. (I got 6 Bambino Mio's, 3 wraps, and a roll of liners from mine, plus info on using washables and list of local suppliers.) Just go on the council's website and see what they offer.

Bambino Mio seem to be the most widely marketed cloth nappies, but I didn't like them that much personally. I wouldn't dismiss having a few terry squares - they are versatile and dry quickly. (You don't need the big safety pins on them these days, thanks to a brilliant invention called a Nappy Nippa!) As stmatt says, different nappies suit different babies too, so it might be better to buy a few types and build up your collection. AFAIK no cloth user just sticks with one brand/type of nappy!

HTH

boo80

Hey Bear, I used Bambino Mio with my dd until she started walking, then they stopped fitting and I thought we'd just use disposables until she was potty trained but that took a lot longer than I thought and cost a blooming fortune! I would recommend the bambinos as you only have to change the inside bit for wees so you don't need many wraps. I plan to re-use the nappies when this bump is born and will be investing in the next size up this time! The lady at www.fillyourpants.com is really helpful and will offer you loads of advice on what works well and is affordable.

squashy

I built up my stash gradually, many from second hand. They are excellent and really not that much more effort. I have a couple of each brand but my personal favourite are weenotions.

You can usually get good offers on ebay or join a few natural parenting sites such as http://www.createforum.com/cosynostra/index.php?sid=20e460490ef027363f1493cea715b6e1&mforum=cosynostra
and http://www.naturalmamas.co.uk/ both of which have buy and sell forums.

Ishtar

It's difficult to suggest which nappies would be your best option - often the build of your child makes some more suitable than others. As a starting point it might be worth trying the nappy lady - they have advisors who will suggest various options to you...there's an online questionnaire to fill in. Website here. There's no obligation to buy from them (and, no, I am not connected with them in any way!).

I've just put my 5 week old baby into cloth nappies (his older sister was also in cloth, so I've had a bit of practice!), and personally I wouldn't consider trying it from birth - I'm a firm believer that disposables have their place and in the first couple of weeks they can be a godsend...

There are plenty of places to try for second hand - you can sometimes find them on eBay (although they aren't supposed to be sold on there any more)...also try the Women's Environmental Network as they can put you in touch with people who have second hand nappies to sell. And don't forget, it's real nappy week next week, so your local council may well be involved in promoting this - some council's give parents a grant towards buying nappies, which can be a great help - sadly ours doesn't offer a thing!

Also, check out your local NCT Nearly New Sale.

For info, I'm currently using Totsbots, a couple of Poplini, and some Mothercare shaped nappies. All seem to fit very well and don't seem to leak. I've also tried using a folded muslin square inside a wrap and this also works very well.

Sounds silly but my baby seems much happier in cloth than he did in disposables, the only drawback is that it's much more difficult to find trousers to fit him!

HTH
D

Blue_Fairy_3

angelicmary85 wrote: »

Hiya,

Sorry for gatecrashing but I tried to use re-useable nappies but I found that none of bubba's clothes would fit over them!! Maybe I didn't pick the right ones but just a thought!

There is a company who makes baby clothes to fit over cloth nappies (they cut them bigger round the bum area!). They are called Frugi. (easily found on google.) They're lovely clothes, however would work out pricey to buy a lot of baby clothes from them, even though they are organic and fairtrade so I spose that justifies it (if you have the cash!). I did buy a couple of their bodysuits for DS, as cloth nappies to tend to be a bit more bulky, making it hard to do up the poppers on normal bodysuits!
But I think there is more variety of cloth nappies around now than 5 years ago, and you can buy 'slim-fitting' types. (I never had any but apparantly hemp nappies are quite slim fitting, as the material is very absorbant without being too thick.)