The old moneysaving nappy debate

mum26

just wanted to say what interesting reading this has been. I am a mum of six who currently has three children in washable nappies - I am also a nappy agent!

I used disposibles for the first three then switched when i had twins (had previously wanted to but this time i was armed with the internet, lol!)

I don't soak nappies, there is no need to at all, i have an aa rated washing machine and a c rated tumble dryer which i use to "fluff up" my nearly dry nappies if they need it, if you buy fleece lined nappies you don't need to worry at all.

I find there are so many myths about cloth nappies out there it is shocking (many of them put about by the disposible manufacturers) and many preconseptions abotu the amount of detergent you use etc, in fact any clothie will tell you it is best to use the minimum possible as too much causes a build up in the fabric, many people use eco balls etc instead, there are some shocking statictics out there about disposibles and their manufacture - including the amount of oil it takes to produce one single nappy.

this "report", it is so unscientific that i am surprised the environmaent agancy will actually be assosciated with it, based it's findings on someone using terry squares, rubber pants and boil washing! and they also only surveyed something like 200 cloth users, completely ignoring the large internet communities, i've also heard the "report" was funded by a rather impartial party. there was no mention of the many british made nappies at all.

to the lady debating using Kooshies, i'd say i've heard more bad opinions than good and you see a lot of them on ebay going very cheaply, they are quite expensive to buy compared to other better brands so if you could i'd say choose a different type, many brands such as tots bots, bumbles, minkis etc will be sold for 50% of their initial purchase price plus!

the reason i switched to cloth was the gel stuff in the disposible nappies, it has no safety standards as far as i can tell (if it did it would be splashed all over the packaging) and i don't trust the big profit hungry companies to put my babies safety above shareholders profits! whats next disposible clothes?!!!!!

Savvy_Sue

mum26 wrote:

whats next disposible clothes?!!!!!

Well we have disposable flannels advertised on TV (what else are those Kandoo bath mitts I keep seeing advertised?) - ghastly waste of money and environmental resources as far as I can see!

jellyhead

yes ... my mum bought some of those washcloths for my 8 year old! she likes the frog ??! he hasn't used them though, he's quite capable at 8 of washing himself, and i can imagine being in a situation where a child got used to using them and they became a weekly/monthly supermarket buy :eek: hubby said the same the other day about throwaway dusters i think it was, or mop-heads, something like that. do you think there are people out there who use disposable everything??

jellyhead

forgot to say, i was offered some nappies in the playground by a mum whose son was allergic to the nappy soak - terry nappies they are, they're cheap so i think they're worth trying to get the hang of. i did wonder though why she didn't just stop using the sanitiser? i suppose women without the internet just see the sanitiser on sale next to the terries and assume they HAVE to use it?

poorcat

Jay-Jay wrote:

So for me with a 16 month old is it worth me getting started with reuseables or should I stick to disposables seeing as she's going to be (hopefully) getting out of nappies in 8 months ish?

Out of nappies by 24 months? That did make me giggle. If I'd known that my son would have no interest in moving from nappies (well, training pants) to real pants at the age of 2yrs 8 months even though he can use a potty (he actually told me today "I don't want to wear pants, I like wearing nappies" I would have invested in washables all that time ago.
May not work out that much more economical - and I'm not sure about the environment issue - but my mum had me and my sis fully potty trained well before the age of 2, and she said it was because terries were so grim to wear that we couldn't wait to get out of them!
I know girls are meant to be earlier to potty train, but my sister's got a 21 month old girl who's not very interested in the potty at all.
I just think disposables are too comfy for them to wear, even when wet. I thought training pants would overcome that, as their capacity isn't so great before they leak, but that doesn't seem to have made a difference either.

Haize

Not planning on kids just at the moment myself (might be an idea to finish university first, and maybe buy a house...), but I was convinced that I would use proper nappies (when the time comes) many years ago:

On a trip to an arboretum, the guide/grounds keeper pointed at an enormous tree, and explained the amount of it that would be used in making disposable nappies for ONE child from birth to being potty trained. It was a lot. More worrying was the heap he pointed at afterwards to indicate the amount of landfill site that would be used as a result.

So many of these disposable things are truly ridiculous. I am so glad I see so little TV, that Kandoo flannel ad was infuriating!

Savvy_Sue

jellyhead wrote:

forgot to say, i was offered some nappies in the playground by a mum whose son was allergic to the nappy soak - terry nappies they are, they're cheap so i think they're worth trying to get the hang of. i did wonder though why she didn't just stop using the sanitiser? i suppose women without the internet just see the sanitiser on sale next to the terries and assume they HAVE to use it?

Well as I seem to be one of the few people old enough to have used - or willing to admit to having used - 'normal' terry nappies I'd say they're worth a try. I think the old-fashioned advice was to have a pile ready folded for use, but tbh it wasn't that hard to fold one when you needed one. I can't remember any of the folds, but I know there were different ones for tiny babies and bigger bums.

But then "in my day" we didn't have all these fancy new styles around - or if we did we didn't have so much internet access to find out about them!

Even if you don't use them as nappies, they are a lot more use than the fancy shaped ones as burping cloths if you have a sicky baby. Couldn't look at my eldest without he'd regurgitate milk all over you!

mum26

i think flat terries are GORGEOUS! they are so economical and as you say you use them for everything, plus if you buy the big ones (60cm by 60cm) they really will last, like you say even if you fold one as you use it, if you use a nappi nippa like with shaped nappies it only takes two ticks and they look divine! always handy to have some whether you use cloth nappies or not, lol!

I am worried about all the disposible this and thats too, i mean the councils and governement spend millions advising us to "reduce, reuse, recycle" etc etc but they allow these companies to market things witht he incredible philosophy that it is easier to use a disposible top for your duster than to shake it outside, i mean come on! get a gerip, noone is THAT busy, lol!

jellyhead

i remember mum using her terries long after my brother had outgrown them, they made great dusters, were fab at mopping up nosebleeds etc. and yes i hadn't thought of burp cloths, better than using a tea towel every time. easier to dry too i suppose. i probably haven't got enough nappies anyway, i've got 11 all in ones, 3 shaped nappies, 3 wraps and a set of newborn bambinos, i assume i can use the bambinos in my ordinary wraps, and if needs be buy some bigger bambino wraps but everything i have will be outgrown by the time baby reaches a year old, even sooner if he's a fat baby - he's small but his belly measures really large on scans lol! the terries will last until he's potty trained i think, just need to buy larger pants. i've seen the plastic pants in boots, £2.60 for 5 or 6 pairs but if they cause a rash i assume i can use breatheable wraps over the top of the terries instead of pants.

i looked at nippas the other day though, do any of you use them? they look a bit flimsy, do they actually grip properly?

Savvy_Sue

jellyhead wrote:

and yes i hadn't thought of burp cloths, better than using a tea towel every time.

More hygienic certainly! No chance of confusion ...

jellyhead wrote:

easier to dry too i suppose.

Well they take longer than tea towels, I'd guess. Muslin squares is an alternative, but they're not as aborbent as terries, next to useless for the Prince of Pukes!