Some nappy advice please - Mum to be!

jellyhead

if you register with pampers and huggies they will send you some coupons (you can use them off your normal shopping in most asda and tesco stores) and pampers send the occasional nappy for you to try. i think huggies do too but can't remember, my baby is almost one and i still have mush for a brain :rotfl: i was also advised to buy a couple of packs of disposables for the first week or 2, until all the black stuff has finished (newborn baby poo can stain nappies lol!). you might not want to, but i used a disposable for night-time. he hated washable nappies and they felt wet, he wanted a change every hour or 2 which is okay in the daytime but not at night


things got better when i discovered fleece liners, they make baby feel dry even if the nappy is wet. he's lactose intolerant and still has liquid nappies, but i'm told by other mums that the poo thickens up in their babies. i will admit to putting poo-smeared liners into the wash along with the nappies. also, the prefolds got very messy, the wrap had to be changed every time, so not really worth it when baby has liquid poo but probably worth having later on. once i found fleece liners i didn't want to use flushables again.

a mesh bag in the nappy bucket means you can just lift the mesh out and chuck it in the machine.

my council gives £30 to real nappy users, your council might have an incentive scheme too.

don't feel bad if you use disposables while out, or at night, etc. - every washable nappy you use helps the environment. i don't use them now, he was/is a massive baby so all the nappies i bought didn't fit for long. i could use terries but have got lazy and selfish, i'm getting around to it, honest!

pdoff

hechizero wrote:

Disposables are what I recommend. Try all the brands as you go, you will settle on one brand in the end. We settled on Huggies as they offered more mobility than the Pampers. We tried the Tesco brand, and to be honest they are great, except for through the night, they get overloaded...
The re-useables are big energy and time consumers, beware. Nice in principle, bad in practice, unless you have loads of time on your hands. You can normally get freebie packs from all the re-usable companies if you ask for them - get your friends to ask and you will soon have a big collection. Give them a twirl as well and compare. See for yourself. I am guessing a couple months from now you'll be reaching for a disposable!

i thought that too till i tried it! i am rubbish at keeping up with housework but honestly u just have 1 extra wash load a day & thats it. takes no longer to change baby than disposable. 2 mins to load washer, 5 to put in dryer (10 if is nice enough to hang outside), 2 minutes to chuck them in popup laundry bag ready to use again. i have shaped terry nappies in cotton bottom wraps but i do use disposables at night as none of the washables i tried stay dry all night. i tried fleece liners (bought a metre of fleece & cut it up) but i find disposable liners much easier & if just wet can be washed with nappy & reused (found out by accident!). the shaped terries were £33 for 25 plus 7 soakers from ebay - new but seconds as some wonky seams. was a while ago though.
good luck & let us know how u get on.

runrabbitrun

Hi there,
Just a quick query for bailey. You've mentioned that you've bought stuff already using freecycle but i was wondering if the baby had been born yet?
Im expecting soon and want to use reusables (and hopefully get some bargains like you!) however Im not sure what to get as baby isnt due to September.
Did you wait or buy in advance?
Thanks. x

golddustmedia

Flushable liners are a MUST!!!

If you're using Cloth nappies you're already doing your bit for the environment, so make it easier on yourself and get flushable liners. boots do a pale blue pack of about 100 for £1.40 ish.

That way upon taking off nappy the nasties can be easily dropped in the loo and flushed, leaving a relatively unscathed cloth nappy for the wash.

Incidentally, we use Bambino Mio. You need a wrap (like velcro pants) which goes around the cloth nappy and a liner takes the brunt of the poo so is disposed of. We got a hand me down from a neighbour so costs per poo are:

liner (1p)
wipes and clean up (1 - 2p)
Wash the nappies once "hamper" is full (cost of wash approx 50p divide by 50 nappies) = 1p

SO, at maybe 5p each is certainly cheaper than disposables. Though I would recommend using disposables overnight once baby is able to sleep through. That is to say, once you're not going to be feeding/changing baby in middle of night you need something rather more absorbant for an 8-10 hour sleep! (This was 2-3 month stage).

Phatmouse

I am torn between little lamb nappies, 20 for £99 with some other bits and piecess they are so cute, I got a free sample and love it

http://www.littlelamb.co.uk/itemlist.php?clasrefr=products

and bambino mio which are cheaper, john lewis has them for 39.99 and with the £20 off £50 I could get 2 pack for £60. What do the bambino mio look like on the inside as I thought the prefold bit was just the outer bit, the inside looks like dishcloth from what I can see on the pictures, how does the inner fasten ect.

http://www.johnlewis.com/Nursery/Baby+Essentials/+Babycare+/Changing/3569/Product.aspx

Advice would be greatly appreciated

[Deleted User]

runrabbitrun wrote:

Hi there,
Just a quick query for bailey. You've mentioned that you've bought stuff already using freecycle but i was wondering if the baby had been born yet?
Im expecting soon and want to use reusables (and hopefully get some bargains like you!) however Im not sure what to get as baby isnt due to September.
Did you wait or buy in advance?
Thanks. x

Hi there,

My baby isn't due until December 7th, so I have been collecting baby stuff for quite a while now.

As I was given 17 bambino mio nappies, I have bought 4 wraps from ebay for £10.40 and 100 flushable liners also from ebay for £2.50. I bought 12 new terries from ebay for £8. I reckon that is enough to see me through and I can work out if reuseables are for me. But I'm also going to go down the disposable route if needed at night and when out on day trips.

Can you ask around, there is usually someone who knows someone who is selling nappies and remember to keep an eye on your local Freecycle.

Good luck and congrats by the way!!

Bay

Astrolabe

Phatmouse - I've used some Cotton Bottoms prefolds and I think Bambino Mio are v similar. The inner bit is a largish cotton pad which is sewn into three panels with the centre one a bit more padded. You fold the pad into three lengthwise and place it into the cover (other nappy manufacturers call these outer bits "wraps"). Add a liner and whack it on the babe's bottom, fastening the wrap snuggly. The inner doesn't fasten, it just lies between the baby's legs. It is a hopeless arrangement with runny poo, you would be much better off with a shaped nappy and wrap arrangement to begin with especially if you are planning to breastfeed, but I think prefolds definitely have their uses once weaning begins. Very quick to dry and v cheap especially on e-bay.

BernadetteN

Phatmouse,

Little Lambs have sold "slightly second" nappies, size 2, on ebay over the last few months, costing £35 for 25 nappies. I can't see any for sale right now but they may turn up again before you make your final choice. They are great value. I also use Bambino Mio prefolds but much prefer my Little Lambs seconds.

Ignore the advice that real nappies are bad for the environment, probably a reference to a highly flawed Environment Agency study which based some of their findings on just 2 parents who boil washed their nappies and didn't use them on any further babies. My Bambino Mio, Little Lambs and Motherease nappies have saved over 25000 disposable nappies being put into landfill at far less environmental cost.

Zed42

1stly congratulations on your impending arrival.

Now, nappies .... I intended to use "proper" nappies whilst at home, and "disposable" nappies whilst out and about .... never did quite work out like that. We ended up using washable nappies everywhere, including trips to the US / Ireland etc. I found them far more convenient than the idea of having to keep stocked up on "disposables", let alone the idea of the chemicals on baby's bottom etc.

We used a combination of MotherEase one size, with boosters, fleece liners and MotherEase wraps. Also used Fuzzi Bunz, Wonderoos, kissaluvs, you name it, we've probably tried them at some stage ... nappies can get addictive .. and of course you can sell them if they don't suit or when baby grows out of them.

I started off using paper liners, but found that fleece left baby feeling more comfy, just swirled in the loo and shoved in the nappy pail.

Also, used cloth wipes and water rather than Pampers or whatever, although have used some wipes in our time (but daughter proved to be sensitive to those, so kinda didn't go there!)

Washing them ... half the amount of liquid / washing powder as recommended by the detergent companies, normally doing a rinse first, then adding either tea tree oil or vinegar in to the fabric conditioner tray ... this helps remove the soap residues and makes the nappies softer.

A waterproof tote bag for when you're out and about and you're all set.

:j :j

Weesimba

Our baby is 7 weeks old now and has been using Motherease one size nappies and the velcro wraps since day 1. I have been so impressed by them and would recommend them to anyone. We use biodegradable and flushable liners which grabs the majority of movements. If it is just a piddle you can wash them and reuse. Tried the wraps with poppers but felt the flexibility of the velcro was much better. Just normal washing at 60 with a bit of white vinegar added instead of softener to keep them absorbent and are coming up great. Thankfully the weather has been great and has helped immensely in the laundering so long may it continue. Have a washer drier so on bad days just put on wash then straight on tumble dry last thing at night so they are ready for morning. 20 nappies and 6 wraps seem to fine stock wise.