cloth nappies 13 January 2013 at 5:45PM in MoneySaving mums 55 replies 7.9K views

jar_fairy

We use mothercare smart nappies, which are sadly now discontinued! They're pocket nappies so just flush the liner and swap the insert out (I don't even soak them...they just get thrown straight in the washing machine!) and rinse or wash the outer part when needed.

We also use dudeybaba nappies which are all in one nappies. They're bigger, but fit her ok now.

We use disposables at night as she gets very wet, may have to try cloth again now she's sleeping through.

I love cloth nappies and they're a lot easier than you expect! I also wash at 40c, even the dirtiest are clean, you find the liners catch most of the mess anyway!

endoftherainbow

Contact your local Council. Many have real nappy lending kits (usually free to borrow) containing a variety of different brands and styles. It will help you decide which ones work best for you before you commit to buying them. A lot of Councils also have cash-back schemes where you can claim back some money if you buy real nappies.

Bluebell1000

We've tried Flips, an ebay cheap one from China, and Bambino Mio. The Mio's were very hard to use with the folds and didn't absorb well enough. The ebay cheap one is a faff to get on and isn't as absorbant, but it'll do for a couple of hours. Flips have been great for us. With our baby almost 1 year old, we do need to add in a bamboo booster from Little Lambs to every nappy. Then they'll last about 3.5 hours between changes.

We bought in 'Real Nappy' week when they were on special offer - do look out for offers around that time. Our council did cashback on buying cloth nappies, which was useful. Our setup cost, with buckets etc, has been in the region of £150. Flips are a bit cheaper than some nappies, but as people have pointed out do try different types first (not that we did, we just took a gamble, bought a full pack, and they fitted) in case they don't suit.

With Flips you wipe the outers and reuse, and just wash the inserts (and the homemade fleece liners). We wash the outers when they get pooey. Using Flips daytime only, we've found that 8 outers and 20-22 inners is about right. I'd say we get through 5-6 nappies per day, and wash every 3 days. We do use disposables overnight, because they tend to last that little bit longer.

We only started using them at about 3 or 4 months because getting used to a new baby was hard enough without getting used to washing nappies too!

building_with_lego

notanewuser wrote: »

That's a bit of a myth I'm afraid. No, they don't go into landfill, but the extra carbon emissions from the energy required to wash (and usually) dry them pretty much cancels that out.

Being cheaper or not really depends on what you buy and how long baby is in them.

In the study a few years back they found that cloth nappies had the same impact as disposables IF
they are washed at 90 degrees
using standard detergent and fabric conditioner
tumbled dry
and then ironed.

Most of us wash at 60, don't use conditioner and certainly don't iron!
That study didn't take into account the disposal either. My cotton prefold nappies were gone within five weeks in the compost bin- if I'd used plastic disposables they'd still be in landfill. Two babies wore them for a total of over five years and only some of them have gone to compost; the rest clean the floors.

(You can get all pernicketty and argue that the resources used to create the washing machine far outweigh the damage of plastic nappies but I'm going to assume that very few families but one especially when baby arrives )

shirlgirl2004

I agree that study was very flawed. Both my children used cloth nappies full time and then they were passed on for another child to use. Additionally statistically a cloth nappied baby will be potty trained earlier than a disposable using baby. Mine were both clean day and night by 2 years old which is probably a year earlier than most disposable wearing babies.

notanewuser

building_with_lego wrote: »

In the study a few years back they found that cloth nappies had the same impact as disposables IF
they are washed at 90 degrees
using standard detergent and fabric conditioner
tumbled dry
and then ironed.

Most of us wash at 60, don't use conditioner and certainly don't iron!
That study didn't take into account the disposal either. My cotton prefold nappies were gone within five weeks in the compost bin- if I'd used plastic disposables they'd still be in landfill. Two babies wore them for a total of over five years and only some of them have gone to compost; the rest clean the floors.

(You can get all pernicketty and argue that the resources used to create the washing machine far outweigh the damage of plastic nappies but I'm going to assume that very few families but one especially when baby arrives )

Those are very different assumptions to the report I linked to. Might be worth you reading it.

notanewuser

shirlgirl2004 wrote: »

I agree that study was very flawed. Both my children used cloth nappies full time and then they were passed on for another child to use. Additionally statistically a cloth nappied baby will be potty trained earlier than a disposable using baby. Mine were both clean day and night by 2 years old which is probably a year earlier than most disposable wearing babies.

None of the other children I know in cloth nappies were potty trained any earlier than other children.

shirlgirl2004

notanewuser wrote: »

None of the other children I know in cloth nappies were potty trained any earlier than other children.

If only I could find the research that showed it was the case but I have neither the time nor inclination to look.

notanewuser

shirlgirl2004 wrote: »

If only I could find the research that showed it was the case but I have neither the time nor inclination to look.

I don't really care to be honest. It's not a competition.

clare64

I used terry nappies and reusable liners with my twins. We had used terry's with DS1 and had kept them. What I like about terry's is that once you have bought them you can use them until they are out of nappies as one size fits all ( you just change the way you fold them).
We washed them at 40 degrees and did not use any bleaching chemicals or a tumble dryer. With the cost of plastic pants and nappy pins( which we had also kept from DS1), but not the price of washing , we probably spent 150.00 max which is not bad for 'nappying' 3 children.
We now use them as floor cloths - the nappies not the children:D