Reusable nappies or disposable - partner says he won't use reusable

[dec20]

Hi everyone

I've been looking into reusable nappies and would really like to try these. My fiance is really hesitant about using these and he has no logical reason. It's really frustrating me.

Has anyone used reusable nappies and find they've been ok or do you prefer disposable? Also any recommendations?

Thank you

I used the square terry nappies with disposable liners, which were flushed down the loo. Then had a Waterproof knicker over the top (I forget the exact name).

They washed and dried so easily. However when DC2 came along I couldn’t cope with baby and having a toddler so used disposable.

You don't have to choose between them. You can use cloth and he can use disposables. The washing machine needs to go on one extra time every 2-3 days and then it takes under 15 mins to put them away when they are dry. If you don't have a garden or a balcony then using a sock/underwear hanger works really well to dry them.

I used mostly cloth with the occasional eco disposable. We used a nappy laundry service with the first born. Might that be an option? Cloth ones are excellent.

There's a lot more poo mess with disposables as they rarely contain poonamis and disposable wipes are awful at cleaning poo. So the 'yuck' argument is defunct.

Cloth nappies are better for baby, much kinder to skin - would you want to wear plastic pants? Better for the environment. Better for your wallet.

The only downside is the amount of washing. But babies generally create a lot of washing anyway!

I had something like this for washing off dirties. Shower Fresh Clean After Every Poop | Bum Gun Bidet Sprayers (thebumgun.com) It worked a treat. Nappies then went into the bucket waiting to be washed.

Also useful for washing out vomit buckets.

Like most things with parenting it's not all or nothing you can use both.

I use reusable sanitary towels when I'm at home and disposable when out and about. They are softer but bulky which is why I use disposable outside the home, are nicer to use in hot weather as they aren't plastic just as I expect nappies are. I soak them to wash them before putting them in the wash so there's no blood same as you would a reusable nappy to get rid of any waste. Each reusable one you use is one less plastic one going to landfill for 500+ years too.

If you've got a baby then poo particles get on everything anywhere, either microscopic or larger ones following a poonami you just soak then wash and do a separate wash if you like.

I'd also look into reusable wipes when at home too even if you use the disposables out and about they are useful for more than just bums.

We used cloth nappies with fleece liners, so they don't feel wet against the skin. Really simple to shake the poo down the loo, or hold it in the flush if it's not so co-operative. The idea of putting human poo into the bin wrapped up in a disposable nappy became quite a disgusting idea to me! Poo belongs down the loo! Washable wipes are so much nicer too, we used camomile tea, a bit of baby soap and some olive oil to soak ours.

When I switched to reusable san pro, I also realised now much nicer cloth feels next to your skin then plastic disposable ones, so it's a win all round for me!

They also leak much less and look cute!

I got some multi size ones second hand, and sold them on when we were done with them.

It's not worth having a fight over. Having a baby is hard enough. I'd just use the disposables and get on with it - it's not forever.

We did the reusable ones with my sisters when I was a teen and they really are pretty gross.

We use mostly reusable, but some disposables (particularly when we are out). Reusables were much better at containing the milky poo-splosions, there is less of a difference in on solids as everything is generally more, well, solid. Scraping poo into the toilet is usually not too bad but yeah it's sometimes quite icky, but you can also use disposable nappy liners to catch that if you want to (it's just a layer of thin paper, so nowhere near as bad as a whole disposable nappy in landfill).

Do you think there's no poo or wee or any kind of bodily fluids in yours or a baby's clothes ever
...?

Or does your washing machine not clean, rinse or drain properly or something?

More gross than folding up a poo filled nappy and putting it in the bin to go to landfill for decades?

I don’t often shit myself, no. Do you?

No, but I'm not so naïve to think that bodily fluids don't end up on people's clothes.
Especially babies.

We've just starting mixing and matching with Bambino Mio reusables. We use reusables mostly at home and disposables out and about.

Getting on fine with them so far, 10 week old DS seems comfy in them and no extra hassle washing them as (unless very badly soiled) I just stick them in with whatever else I'm washing that day.

We use the disposable liners in them which catch the majority of 'solids', but are then binning much less bulk than a nappy.

We did a mix, but tbh I gradually sifted from mostly reusable when DC1 was small, to almost entirely disposal by the time DC2 was a toddler.

There's nothing really wrong with the reusable, but they need changing much more often, and can lead to more leaks if you don't change in time. So started just having disposal overnight, to avoid waking up DC, then just when going out, so I wasn't carrying so much and didn't need to find somewhere to change as often, then at childcare. In the end there was almost always a reason not to use them.

Right…well, I’m a nurse and have dealt with some real messy situations and still never gone home caked in shit or anything else.

Is the baby actually here yet? He may get much less squeamish about poo very quickly if not.

We use reusables. I would add though that my partner just hasn't ever been on board with them so I end up doing all the washing / drying etc. I find them really easy and wash the poo off with the shower head over the toilet when it (rarely) doesn't come off easily (although pre weaning poo doesn't need to be removed)
when going away and sometimes when out and about we use disposables.
I would fully recommend cloth wipes even if you don't go for the nappies.
We got a hire kit from the nappy library for baby 2 for newborn stage.
Lots of advice on the nappy lady website.

Okay? So what?

Does your vagina not have any fluids leaking from it ever?

You've never once had blood on your clothes?

You've never once in your life had a child that's pooed it's pants. Never once had vomit on clothes?

Clothes get bodily fluids on them.... Every day.

I used disposable ones for my first and cloth ones for my second child. Much preferred cloth, used fleece liners and cloth wipes.

My partner wouldn't use them so I basically did 90 percent of nappies. I really loved cloth so I didn't totally mind. I really hate disposables personally although understand why people use them.

There are plenty of eco nappy brands to choose from. The choice isn't between "plasticky/chemical smelling" disposables and cloth.

Bambo was the brand we used for nappies and Water Wipes.

I think there's definitely an argument for mixing and matching.

I agree with the poster who said that reusable San Pro had somewhat changed her mind on this.

What swung it for me was the washing machine was in the kitchen and that didn't seem great to me.

I also agree that the person doing most of the work decides on the methods.

We used cloth nappies for our first and are definitely using them again for DC due in Oct. It’s much less offensive than you’d think and if the poop is an issue for you, you could get biodegradable liners which are flushable. Compared to the 8 other parents from our NCT class we were the only ones whose baby didn’t get sore skin or have blow outs/leaks. I am confident it’s due to the reusables but we will see with DC 2!

What I would say is, if you do a lot of travelling then bare in mind how you’d manage that. We died on the eco hill washing them when we visited family but we have settled into eco disposables for travel and cloth when we are home now (eco originals are by far the best disposables we have used but we compromise with eco by naty if we need to buy over the counter).