| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| rhubarb |
disposable nappies versus reusable nappies???looking for some advice.. got my first little bundle of joy coming into this world and was thinking about using reusable nappies. don't know anyone thats used them before and everyone i mention it to is screwing up their faces at the idea..i would just like to do my bit for the enviroment.. anybody had any experiences (good or bad) or advice to share.. much appreciated..ruth xxx |
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| Frewen |
There are a couple of articles on the site. Cloth nappies are easy to use - and you never run out 
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| Helen_A |
Go for it...
But I'm biased because its part of my living! 
Seriously - its pretty easy, even if you don't have a washing machine. Generally I suggest that people 'dry pail' (which means rinsing pooey ones, and otherwise just bunging them into a bucket) rather than soaking. Wash every few days, or as bucket full or stocks 'low'. No running out, you know exactly what is going on your childs bum, the potential for earlier potty training compared to the current 'norm'. You can buy new or secondhand, as you chose. Personally I suggest that people use organic cotton or hemp if buying new (linen also great if you can get it) as these are currently the most sustainable. There are lots of pretty ones, if that is your want... shaped, or flats, or ties, or nippas or poppers or velcro,....pretty much something to suit every child for every situation. Wool covers if you want natural fibres only. And even if you shell out horrid scary amounts at first, its a huge cost saving overall  especially if you buy nice WAHM nappies and look after them as they can then leave you still worth a pound or few, and if they are particularly sought after you may even make a profit! 
Helen_A |
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| Jamanda |
We have a member who joined recently who makes the covers.
Here we are. WeeNotions I'm sure she could answer any questions you have. |
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| Andrea |
Go for it Ruth. I used disposables with #1 & now use cloth with #2 so I can speak from experience when I say that there's really no extra bother involved in using cloth.
As most brands of cloth nappies have a new born & a normal fit, I'd use the newborn stage to experiment with some different nappies to find a type which suits you. I posted an ad on FreeCycle & was lucky enough to be offered a few of lots of different types to try out. I settled on Motherease, which you can buy in big branches of Waitrose. It's well worth asking around if you don't mind second hand, as there are loads out there. I bung mine straight in the washing machine, no faffing around soaking or anything. You can find companies who will launder them for you, if you really find that part a chore. Personally I don't fancy the idea of wet & smelly nappies hanging around awaiting collection, but each to their own. I expect that still works out cheaper than using one of the big brand disposables. I do use disposables at night now that little'un is bigger. Otherwise he gets a bit of a sore bum from wearing a wet nappy for too long. Other than getting him up in the middle of the night for a change I haven't found a workable alternative to that one. |
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| Green Rosie |
I used Motherease on both my bundles of joy - they were easy and much cheaper in the long run. Even after two babies they were good enough to sell on.
The Womens Env Network has a nappy exchange system that might be useful - http://www.wen.org.uk/ and follow the nappy link. There's also a site called the nappy lady with lots of good info - http://thenappylady.co.uk/ Also - my two boys came out of nappies at quite a young age and were dry at night at the same time - it is thought that because the child can feel the wet it makes toilet training quicker and easier. Go for them - and don't worry what other people say - it's only in the last 40 years that we have used disposables so why should the idea of anything else be so alien to people? (and every disposable ever put into landfill is STILL there  )
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| judith |
As Frewen is too modest to put a link to her excellent article, here it is!
And Behemoth's article is here. |
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| 2steps |
I tried cloth nappies with my first and lasted 6 mths but they were terries and I had no idea how to use them really, none to show me.... so I completely wasn't interested when I was pregnant again and jut used disposables. Didn't have the net then so couldn't look anything up... by the time I was pregnant the 3rd time I had seen shaped nappies online and wanted to try cloth again and am really glad I did I don't find them any extra work, just put them in with the normal washing. I have used disposables a few times when we've been away and for a while at night when my son was wetting through them no matter how thick they were but I wouldn't change back full time I made a lot of the nappies my son has based on a few different designs but I really like tots bots and clwt twt nappies. I've only bought secondhand but have had no problems at all
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| wizz |
We generally use cloth nappies. We have tried an assortment and my favourites are the tots bots bamboozles. Like andrea we use a disposable at night because couldn't ever quite sort out sleeping through combined with keeping bottom from soreness - though keep meaning to have another go.
To be honest however whilst I don't find it extra faff my OH will always use a disposable if given half an opportunity... (He'll come up with alsorts of excuses...) I also tend to take disposables out with me if out for the day and I don't want to carry dirty nappies around. I also have to keep close track, to ensure that they get returned if he goes to nursery in them.. (Loosing the odd vest at nursery is one thing... loosing a nappy and wrap felt a bit expensive!) wizz PS Check to see whether or not your council is running a real nappy trial/promotion scheme. The one here was either some money back (about £30) if you'd made a nappy purchase or a trial of different nappy types. |
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| marigold |
The council here offers free starter packs of cotton nappies and a cash-back scheme. The small print says that the "free" nappies have to be returned to the council if you decide not to use them and you can't sell them without the council's permission (though I can't see how they'll enforce that!). |
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| Blue Peter |
We used a nappy washing service with number one son for one and a half years. An unrelated, but particularly disastrous holiday, saw us switch to disposables for the rest of his time. We used washables all the time for the second.
I'm a bit surprised about people saying that washables are no extra work than disposables. They are: you have to wash them, dry them, keep an eye on them, prepare them for nursery, etc. We considered the extra effort worth it, but it is extra effort, Peter. |
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| Chez |
We use a mixture - washables at home and disposables if we're staying away overnight.
I've got a mixture of motherease, totsbots and ella's house with motherease and cotton bottoms wraps. I 'dry bucket' as Helen describes and we don't find it a bother. The only issue I'm having at the moment is that he's desperate to start crawling and I think he finds it more difficult to get underway with the big bottom that the re-usables give him .
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| Chez |
I think if you have a routine, then the effort isn't really very much, though? People tried to scare me off before we had Leo by telling me how much work it was - and it's basically putting a bucket of nappies in the machine every night and hanging them out in the morning (or shoving them in drier if it's been very wet ).
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| Blue Peter |
Agreed, you soon get a routine, and it is perfectly do-able, but I think that saying that they are no more work than disposables is false. It's the right thing to do, I believe, but it does require more effort, and you have to tell people this, Peter. |
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| Andrea |
Don't agree. I put them straight in the machine, & run the machine very time it's full then peg it out. I'd run it anyway, so I suppose I'm doing it more often, but I don't really see that as a whole heap of extra work. I don't have to buy them or empty the bin so often, so that's less work there to compensate 
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| rhubarb |
cheers for all the advice guys.. i'm definately going to try and use re-usables.. i'm really not fussed about a bit of extra work and i've even managed to convince my OH that its a great idea.. he was a total sceptic till i got him to come on here and read the posts..lol..please keep any tips and advice coming as i'm completely new to all of it..
ruth xxx |
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| Azura Skye |
I heard someone say the other day that reusable nappies (terrycloth) are more 'environmentally damaging' than disposable ones - I didn't have any time to question her on this, but I was kinda confused.
What did she mean? I'm sure something you can use again and again must be better that throwing something away after one use - unless she meant that all the washing that goes into material ones is wasting a resource? |
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| judith |
There was a daft newspaper article a while back comparing the two. It made all sorts of assumptions about the methods people use to clean reusables - using soaking solution, bleach, 90° washes, etc, etc, most of which don't appear to be true from what people have said here and elsewhere. |
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| Chez |
I wash them on 40 degrees using a tbsp spoonful of washing soda. If they are scarily poo-ey, I add a tbsp of grated soap and do them on on 60. I have been ragging the tumble drier over the winter because of our incredibly inconvenient domestic set-up - but from now on I'm drying them on the line and airing them over the rads or the solid fuel stove. Also, I bought second hand - some from eBay, some from The Used Nappy Company. I reckon I've spent about £200 in bits over the last (first!) six months and this will see us through until he's out of them. I am constantly having to remember not to swallow my tongue when I buy an occasional packet of disposables - at five or six quid a go for a week-ish's worth the numbers have added up fine - particularly as we now have number two on the way and we already have enough nappies for the two of them. I don't think I'd do it if I didn't have a washing machine, though - shades of Ceilia Johnson in 'This Happy Breed': [mock cockney accent] Oi don't fink oi've evva bin so tired in moiy entire life [/mock cockney accent] .
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| wizz |
Arrgggghhh just letting off steam following minor domestic...
As I mentioned earlier on the thread - OH looks for any excuse to avoid using the washables. i usually turn a blind eye to the odd occasion but DS is now in his second disposable of the day because"i didn't know where the others were..." (utter tosh... same place they always are... next to the disposables!)
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| Chez |
 . Have to admit that Leo is in a disposable this morning, though!
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| Frewen |
Hide the disposables?
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| wizz |
yep.... definately will do that!!
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| 2steps |
I would too
I got lovely nappy post this morning, 2 tot bots bambozles 
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| James |
We’re using a mixture of outers with pre-fold inners (most of which are second hand from one source or another). We’ve been using flushable liners, but we’re going to cut up & hem a load of fleece and make re-usable liners to replace these (well…I say we…probably my OH to be precise)
The bum-genius are sold as ‘birth to potty’ so they can be expanded with the baby. However he only grew into the smaller setting at around 3 months (before this, trials of bum genius resulted in horrible leakages all over the place). With hindsight, I wouldn’t bother with these again. But the bambino mio are great. Under normal use, they never leak. Like a few other people have mentioned, we use disposables at night becuase the re-usables don’t have the staying power to last for many hours at a time. We pre-soak with nappy-san. Llewellyn poos a lot, and his nappies a often VERY messy. Sometimes I give the material inner a quick run under the tap prior to putting in the nappy bucket (however I notice my OH doesn’t and it appears to make little difference in the end). We have never washed at more than 40c and they come up fine. We use “Earth Friendly” nappy cream, which really keeps his bum lovely and soft & smooth- would definitely recommend it very highly. Unlike the normal nappy rash creams, its quite mild and can be used regularly, which is more appropriate when using re-usable nappies. A few days without it and his bum starts looking a little red. I’ve also heard that putting a rung out muslin soaked in chamomile tea over the material inner (instead of a liner) is a good way to calm down nappy rash, but I’ve not had to use this advice yet. |
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| Helen_A |
Ooo - just one thing - you don't need to hem fleece..
Helen_A shudders at the thought of how much time she would have spent hemming fleece....
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| Frewen |
Oh yes - don't bother - it doesn't fray
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| James |
so we can just cut up the fleece into nappy sized rectangles and thats it?
If it doenst involve a sewing machine, even I could do it. |
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| Frewen |
Yup
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| Jamanda |
Are we talking about putting fleece right next to the babies delicate bit here? Wouldn't that be a bit hot and sticky for them? And not very absorbent? | ||
| Helen_A |
Some babies do find that an issue - and a bout of thrush means that you should recycle those liners and start again, as its almost impossible to get it clean and clear of that 
But what fleece (as long as its the polyester sort, the acrylic version doesn't do this!) does is act as a one way barrier - the wee passes through, but it then can't get back. It catches poo nicely too. Personally I found that fleece was only useful between 6 weeks and a year. After a year you get the 'power/volume' wee starting, which can end up with you having leak issues as the fleece doesn't let the wee through as quickly as the baby/toddler does it - it ends up aquaplaning off or puddling; and escaping out of the legs (although if you are lucky the wrap will stop it long enough for the underside of the nappy to absorb). Baby boys are particularly prone to this (not least because their directional equipment can get quite a pressure up, and if its pointing in the wrong direction they can get wee to bounce off the nappy even without fleece in the way  )
But fleece does breathe quite nicely, hence it also working well as a cover over everything else; and is a useful substitute for wool if you are avoiding that for whatever reason. Helen_A |
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| Andrea |
Fleece is used for most reusable sanitary pads, and they're not hot & sticky. |