Saving money on nappies

ladyjane_4

I've just had my 6th child - do LOADS of washing as I also have 2 childrens clothing businesses (one is resale) and I too thought cloth was more hassle than it was worth
How wrong I was though - the amount of extra work is minimal - washing is easy and I wash them around every 4 days. No soaking needed.
I find it fun choosing new nappies

My other children didnt have nappy rash either when wearing disposibles but I didnt get such a 'kick' out of using disposibles. Now nappy changing is fun!

System

I have to say my daughter has really bad eczema, and I find the softest and least agressive thing to have next to her skin in cloth, cotton and fleece again, I know what I'd rather be in.. (have you ever actually smelled a disposable? :-X ) and obviously I put my girl in!!

Also if anyone is interested in money saving alternatives to sanitary produce..

Galstonian

"I know what I'd rather be in"

And I know that if I did !!!!!! myself I'd want changed pretty quick regardless of what I was wearing....

System

I used disposables with both of my first two childrenand started off on disposables with my last child now 14 months and I deaply regret not using cloth sooner!

if I try to put a disposable on her now, she screams ripps it off and goes to the nappy box of a cloth nappy, so that initself appart from the enviromental issues etc is good enough reason for me! they look better and are not as hard scratchy or cold when damp as disposables.

I now never run out of nappies and have to dash out to buy some more.

I wash every 3 days which is no hassle, there are no nappy pins and no soaking in water and nappy solution, i dry pail them the wet ones go straight into the nappy bucket they pooey ones get a sluice in the toilet flush to clean the poo off so to speak, then they to go in the nappy bucket till I do the next wash. What people forget is that you are supposed to sluice poohey disposables in this way too not just wrap them in a bag including the contents :-[ and bung them in the bin for them to sit there a whole week waiting for the next rubbish collection :-X

Try using a nappy wrapper then you will see just how many nappies you use in two days and how heavy and smelly they are when used and in the bin :-X

A line full of clean nappies blowing in the breeze looks lovely. so does your babe in summer when wearing just his/her fancy nappy to keep him/her cool when out and about. A great talking point for people spoting your babe and saying how lovely he/she looks in summer!

some one mentioned on a previous post that ther is a site giving out free eco disposable samples for just the postage costs. This site is also giving out cloth nappy samples for just the postage (I am currently waiting a brand new bright bots which is winging its way to me for just £3.95 postage costs!!

so go on give it a try all you disposable users out there you will be surprised at how easy it is and NOt a faff or mess around! There are also other very good sites out ther such as wahmall and ukparents who you can get new and second hand nappies from and endless reams of help and advice from all other cloth nappy users allways will to lend a hand.

People forget that these days nappies are not just plain white or un-bleached you can get endless numbers of patterns tv characters etc on your cloth nappies and wraps much nicer than looking at boring disposables. you get the satisfaction of knowing that when your great grandchildren are born your childrens nappies are not still sat on a landfill site festering somewhere :-X so thet you future familty will not be fighting for space amongst the rubbish!

I can also say that ANY nappy if not changed at regular intervals will result in nappy rash and a rather sore babe. I have spoke to people who have proudly announced that they only use 3 disposable nappies a day ??? POOR BABY the parent sould be made to sit in soggy clothes all that time, no wonder babe gets nappy rash! :'(

Also regards to the wearing paper knickers comment - a lot of us mums wore paper knickers (disposable maternity type) on the maternity ward so as not to spoil your underwear with inevitable leaks after giving birth, these paper knickes are non to pleasant to wear either and if I had my time again and new what I know know I would have bought really cheep knickers to wear after borth and wash them though instead of throwing them away!



Now having said all that I am going to change my babes bum into a blues clues SOFT flannel nappy and put on her leopard print Breathable pul wrap. and feel satisfied that I have done my little bit to help the world.

and I will now gracefully get down from my soap box!!!

Galstonian

"I will now gracefully get down from my soap box!!!"

I don't have a soap box. Do you get one free with the nappies?

System

i feer i may face some ones wrath over this

but

isnt there argument that the savings of not buying disposables is eaten up by the cost of extra electricity, wear and tear etc on the washing machine over the longer term, not to mention the cost to the environment. i read somewhere that the cost equaled out over time and that the cost to the envirionment was roughly the same whichever type of nappies were used

slycod

System

For the lady whos children are in Pull-ups...

there are many cloth equivalents of pull-ups - which although they are generally quite expensive per item work out a LOT cheaper than the disposable ones...

and have lovely bright patterns too!

Caterina

Just another point re. nappy rash:

It is much more common in bottlefed babies (formula-fed) than in breastfed ones!

Please breastfeed your babies!

Caterina

System

Galstonian - 'when was the last time I wore paper knickers?'
You've made my point for me! If I don't dress myself in paper underwear then why would I want my sone to spend 2-3 years in paper pants??!! (the answer to your question is, in hospital after giving birth).

Re: energy. I believe it takes 5 times more energy to make a disp nappy than it does to make & launder a cloth one.
Studies have shown it costs about £125 to wash nappies for one child's use (about 2 1/2 years). So it still ends up cheaper than disps.

Karen

plumpmouse

As a new mum I have been using disposable nappy. No-one has every mention re-usable ones to me before but i am planning too look into it.

However I do feel that every mother and father has the right too choose what is best for them and their baby and not too be told by people who don't know them.
Also regards to the breastfed babies having less nappy rash it is there again a personal decision. I have exculsively breast fed my little boy for 5 months but do feel that women who bottle feed are often criticise too freely. Some women can't breast feed at all and others have many problems. I can quite understand why a women who is in pain from the labour and emotional from all the hormone changes would decide not too breast feed if it was to much for her.

Everyone is entitled too decide for themselves and no-one should be criticise for their decision