We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum. This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are - or become - political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.
We're aware that dates on the Forum are not currently showing correctly. Please bear with us while we get this fixed, and see Site feedback for updates.

Disposable or reusable nappies - Which is cheaper??

135

Comments

  • I use a mixture on my daughter. When she was first born we went full on into reusables and got on with them tremendously. I didn't find any hassle in washing and drying them and the poo wasn't a problem at all. However dispos are so much easier when out and about for us as they're smaller to keep in a change bag (ditto the dispo wipes against reusuble ones) and you don't have to open a bag containg a yucky nappy when you get home (or do what I did and manage to loose one in the junk that lives in my car only to find it a few days later:eek: gross just doesn't describe it!)

    w.r.t drying you can't beat frsh air and line drying which also helps with staining as the uv removes the stains and keeps nappies looking lovely. If you tumble dry it shortens the life of the nappy and can decrease absorbancy (ditto fabric softener) in the same way as it does with towels. the drying time varied so much between different types. The all in one nappy takes longest as like it says its all in one whereas the ones that have the outer and inner plus a booster separate dry quickest as the layers are all separate hence moisture evaporation is faster. I found the good old terry squares were hard to beat on any front. They were cheap, very quick to dry and once you get the hang of the fold that suits you and bubs best takes no time to fold. Us a nappi nippa and theres no pins to stab baby with. I used these in conjunction with Motherease wraps. There are some fantastic looking nappies about in funky colours (wonderoos, fuzzi bunz, minki) which we also loved. Another favorite was tots bots which took slightly longer to dry but gave the 'fairy' baby bottom look. I used 1/4 (max)of the recommended washing powder and some bicarb with some white vinegar. i dry pailed with a cotton bud soaked in tea tree oil taped to the inside of nappy bucket lid and washed every other day

    There are so many different types/makes/versions of nappies around you'd be (imho) mad to buy a birth to potty pack without trying one first. Not all babies fit all nappies.

    Try having a look round on the sites already mentioned and also https://www.babykind.co.uk and get a trial kit either second hand (https://www.ukparents.co.uk has an excellent cloth nappy forum and a for sale forum or ebay although watch the prices) or from one of the suppliers.

    I must admit I've got slightly lazy now she's bigger and seems to have increase her poo outages 3000000 fold (seriously we're getting a good 6 a day and it honks) I find that dispos work better for us and she's not been in a resuable since she outgrew her size ones and needed more outlay which I couldn't afford in a lump. I had a few one size ones but couldn't get the fit right so had to stick with sized ones. We but whatever nappy works out cheapest and signed up to pampers, huggies and other baby clubs to get discount vouchers which help minimise the weekly spend.
  • MarkyMarkD
    MarkyMarkD Posts: 9,912 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    We have used Motherease one size re-usables pretty consistently since our DD was 3 months old, following a two week County Council trial with various different re-usables. We have found them fine and not as much hassle as some people seem to think, although we have gone onto disposable (flushable) liners which make poo disposal far less hassle than when we used the re-usable liners.

    We wash them overnight on Economy 7 electricity so that isn't particularly expensive; we have metered water, though, and our water consumption has gone up substantially - by maybe as much as £10 a month - but I can't fairly say how much of this is due to nappy washing as obviously we use water for her baths and washing her clothes and other things.

    The only times we've not used them is on trips away from home - although my Mum asked us to use them at her house over Christmas to save filling her bin up, which was a good thing. :)

    The full set of 20 (new) nappies, wraps in birth to potty sizes, and some disposable and re-usable liners etc. cost us £220 less £30 County Council rebate = £190.

    I think that the debate is slightly biased, depending who you listen to.

    If you use brand new re-usables, have only one baby, wash them on standard rate electricity, tumble dry them (and we never do that!), and have metered water, then the costs are fairly evenly balanced IMHO.

    If you can get them secondhand, or intend to have more than one baby, or wash them overnight on Economy 7, or don't use a tumble dryer or don't have a water meter (or preferably all of the able) then re-usables are definitely going to work out cheaper.

    If local councils are serious about cutting down on nappy waste, they need to do more - especially for those with limited funds. I can't see many poor people, with hardly any spare cash, shelling out £100-£200 for re-usables, even if it is going to save them lots of money over the long term.
  • Its interesting to see the different advice and experiences.

    e.g. Lillibet mentions spending £1.75 a week on Napisan, but my baby is almost 5 months old and I am only on my second box of sanitiser - and the first one came free with my nappies! I only need to use two teaspoons, and I wash the nappies about three times a week (approximately every two days). Its not Napisan though, its a different brand. Maybe you need to use larger amounts with Napisan?

    And Evilwitch refers to tumble drying damaging the absorbency, whereas the advice I was given was that the absorbency of nappies and towels is improved by tumble drying (no fabric softener though!) but as I got my nappies from an environmental co-op, they still didn't recommend tumble drying.

    I don't mean this post to come across as criticism (I'm aware that saying something and seeing it written down, it sometimes doesn't come across how I intend it to!) as its each to their own with nappies, but I am interested in how different people are finding the costs to be.
  • mum26
    mum26 Posts: 1,485 Forumite
    all the info I was given recommends avoiding using napisan if you use nappies with elastic in them (i.e round the leg cuffs etc) and there is no need to soak nappies these days either! dry pail them then bung them in the washer :)
  • roversbabe
    roversbabe Posts: 1,008 Forumite
    Debt-free and Proud! Mortgage-free Glee!
    I use Kooshies and Motherease one size and am really happy with them - I got the motherease nappies new with a voucher from the council and bought the kooshies off ebay. DS (6mo) wears a disposable at night and reusables during the day.

    As for nappy rash, he does get it occasionally but he did get it before we started to use them. Each baby is different and some are more prone to nappy rash than others. I've never soaked them yet, just put them in the nappy bucket (dry pail), then wash every other day. I tumble dry them too as the weather is just too cold to dry outside.

    I'm with Lillibet on baby clothes not fitting over cloth nappies, its a right pain. I tend to put dungarees on DS as there's a bit more room round the bum.

    Don't buy a birth to potty pack as your little one might not get on with that brand. Have a look on ebay as there are always sellers who sell the odd nappy and you can try before you splash out loads.

    Check with your local council as there may be an incentive scheme too (Lancs county council give a £45 voucher)

    I'm so happy with the Kooshies that I've bought the next size up for when DS hits 22lbs, I've also bought bigger wraps for the Motherease (both from ebay) and would recommend both nappy styles. I personally prefer the Kooshies cos there all in one nappies, no messing about with a wrap.

    Good luck with whatever you decide.

    rb x
    Official DFW Nerd Club - Member no. 027

    Debt free: 6th April 06 :T Proud to have dealt with my debts
  • MarkyMarkD
    MarkyMarkD Posts: 9,912 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    What is it with people saying they use disposables at night but re-usables all day? We never use disposables at night, and we never have night-time leaks either.

    Are you having leak problems at night, or are you just worried they aren't absorbent enough?
  • Before my DD was born I brought a lot of reusuables from Ebay that were brand new.
    DD was born so small that they didnt fit her so at birth she was in disposables
    To this day I havent used one of those reusable nappies. I brought them to save money and I wouldnt have minded the extra washing etc but I now pay less than 5p per nappy (disposable) for hers.
    I bulk buy when they are 3 for 2 at Boots get double advantage points whixh I then use for gifts and things that we need etc. Once your child gets into size 5 nappies which I believe is the largest that they make its easy to bulk buy. If you say 20 nappes cost me £1 when you take inot consideration electric washing powder and also the extra use on your washing machine im better of this way.
    Assuming that my DD shall be in nappies till she 2 and a half my spend on nappies will be around £200. My washer should last longer, ive no extra powder to buy, si in my opinion do whats right for you its swings and roundabouts!
    2007 is my getting slim year
    Total weight loss so far is 16llbs:T
    Total to go 15 pounds:eek:
    Not no more as im having a baby:D
  • I'm a big reusables fan and the cost differential is enormous as I've used the same nappies through 4 children.

    There are ways of making resusables cheaper, such as buying terries or second hand or freecycle. I don't use napisan, don't use paper liners and use fleece liners instead, store them with tea tree and lavender oil. The total cost has been around the £500 mark for all 4 children, including nappy costs, electricity, washing machine, washing powder/soap nuts.

    PS I don't iron my nappies and wash at 60 degrees maximum, not like the Environment Agency do their nappies ......
  • Judi101
    Judi101 Posts: 134 Forumite
    I love my reusables. We got ours from freecycle and only bought the wraps. Find a good wrap and they will eliminate alot of the leaks. We used a trial scheme operated by our local county council and it was fab. If you have the option of this with your council try it. They bascially lent us a load of different kind of nappies to use for 2 weeks to see which ones suited us and DD best. We use pre-folds. They are really quick to dry (we dont tumble dry) and we dry pail. I use both fleece and paper liners but when DD was smaller just used fleece ones. The nursery takes them without any probs. We use Motherease Rikki Wraps, velcro fastenings - definitely the way to go and find not being an all in one system the washing and drying is easier and quicker.

    I used to use disposables at night but actually find now they leak more than our washables. No idea what the cost of washing is (2 loads a week) but wraps work out about £7/8 each. We use 4 of the same size and will have gone through 4 sizes by the time we are done so i guess about £120 for wraps in total but you can by these in bits as the baby gets bigger. The fleece liners was bought as a metre of fleece from the local market for a couple of quid and the nappies were free being from freecycle. the council also gave us £30 back so the first batch of wraps actually worked out free.

    In total we must have spent about £95 plus the costs of washing so way way cheaper than disposables. We will keep them in case we have another baby then freecycle the lot on. Oh and do try out washable swim nappies if you are going to take the baby swimming regularly.

    I'd say try washables via a local council trial scheme if you can as soon as the little one comes along.
  • roversbabe
    roversbabe Posts: 1,008 Forumite
    Debt-free and Proud! Mortgage-free Glee!
    MarkyMarkD wrote:
    What is it with people saying they use disposables at night but re-usables all day? We never use disposables at night, and we never have night-time leaks either.

    Are you having leak problems at night, or are you just worried they aren't absorbent enough?

    If I put a re-usable nappy on DS at night, he wakes up every couple of hours wanting a nappy change for a wet or dirty nappy - a disposable seems more absorbent and he only wakes for a nappy change for a dirty nappy, not a wet one.
    Official DFW Nerd Club - Member no. 027

    Debt free: 6th April 06 :T Proud to have dealt with my debts
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 348.3K Banking & Borrowing
  • 252.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 452.4K Spending & Discounts
  • 240.9K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 617.2K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 175.7K Life & Family
  • 254.1K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.