to think reusable nappies are a lot of faffing about...?

[Wigglewoo]

Hmmm. Willing to be converted...

My ds is 5 weeks old and I decided to buy a range of reusable nappies to give them a go... Tots bots, little lambs, fuzz bunz, smartiepants....

So far they have sat unused on the side. I am tempted to return them.

I love the look of them and I'm not bothered about getting closely aquainted with ds's poop but I just find myself reaching for the disposables everytime I change his nappy as it just seems somehow easier.

I'm not even sure its cheaper... The little lambs took ages to tumble dry when I pre washhed them so that has to cost a fair bit... And the actual nappies themselves cost quite a bit now esp the all in ones!!! But then I guess you do buy them once ...

What do others think? Just being nosey really.

Once you used them you will never want to go back to disposables

I also used reusable wipes which I had never thought about until I started to look into the whole cloth thing, DS used to have very sloppy poo which took ages to shift with disposable wipes. A bit of fleece with a drop of some nice quality bath stuff shifted it no problem. It would cost about £4 and last ages. much cheaper.

It is easy to get quite obssesed by all the different designs and such of cloth

I used Tots Bots with DS2 (he's 10 now, so was a little while ago) and they were brilliant, no leaks, washing etc was not a prob, it was just about getting into a routine and no incidents of nappies bursting as we'd had a few times with DS1 in disposibles.

I got given loads free by the government, so I've no excuse not to use them really, but I tried once with DS and he was really uncomfortable in the splits position, got horrific nappy rash and the poo leaked out of the leg holes.

But the main thing is I just hate the way they look - great big fat arse making the baby look all out of proportion.

I did think the Cheeky Wipes were a little expensive...but I had a bit of money to spare, and like supporting small businesses like that.

Well the smartipants did well - and coped with a massive poo explosion too! (I must be odd as I'm excited I actually have a poopy nappy to wash now!! Weirdo!)

I think my dh might be the main hinderance actually... He thinks its all a bit "fiddly" as in having to put poo in the loo and fit a liner etc etc... I'm tempted to leave out the liner as its just getting rumpled up anyway...

Going to look at the cheeky wipes now :)

I love my reusable nappies - until DS got to the point where he would wet through them overnight and not wake up, then I switched to overnight disposables but kept using the clothies during the day.

I did have a "lifetime" supply of liners for DS though, which I won't have this time around (not sure how I'm going to cope without, will actually have to buy some!) and dropping poo straight into the loo made life so much easier.

I was given a load but I hated them and so did DS. He was miserable in them and seemed really uncomfortable with the bulk of them, they leaked everywhere and and I was forever washing, not just the nappies but the umpteen changes of clothes he needed every day because of the leaks. I had started out really committed to them, but MIL persuaded me to have a few days off from them and I never went back. I've just given them all away because there's no way I'd use them again with hypothetical #2.

Had a quick look through this thread, and I am reminded of how much I enjoyed using washables for DD1 and DD2. I stopped using them at night as they were both such heavy wetters that their bottoms ended up way higher than their heads due to all the padding, and they still leaked. I used them until they started in childcare as the nursery would not use them.

I am pg with DC3, and will use them again thanks to this thread I have fuzzibunz, and will ask for advice over on the nappy board as I am sure there are new things on the market since I last looked to help with heavy wetters.

I wish the nice modern shaped ones had existed when the DDs were older.

I resented throwing away vaguely damp, very expensive large nappies and pull ups in the morning and on long car trips when DDs started toilet training.

I had the same "rumpled liner" issue. If you fit the liner to the bottom, not the nappy, you don't get this problem.

Hth.

ooh, don't leave the liner out!
the amount of poo that will go all over the nappy will take forever to wash out (voice of bitter experience)

We started off using disposable liners, which we composted, but now we use cloth ones - the Little Lambs come with liners, but other don't.
we bought 5 fleece liners from nappyshedsal and the other we use most are just baby flannels
(fold under the hemming)

it's amazing how they're so much easier to wash than the nappy itself - they take most of the poo and swoosh them about a bit to get the worst off before washing.

the fleece are the easiest to get the poo off.

I used them (after a few weeks) with DD2 but gave up when she needed the next size up. I was going back to work when she was 8 months only anyway and there was no way I was going to ask the childminder to use them and get a load of dirty nappies back at the end of the day, or do the extra washing. Also I never found them that reliable at night.

I would never have tried them with DD1 as she was a summer baby, (I did buy some then but never used them after I tried Pampers) they seemed quite thick and cosy for winter though.

What has when the baby was born got to do with not using cloth nappies?

Genuinely confuzzled.

demented - cloth nappies are easier to deal with when drying is easy. If you don't have a tumble then long periods of wet weather make cloth offputting, whereas lots of sunshine for line drying makes them easy and encouraging.

Or did you mean baby's age? I found it hard to fit a small baby, who pooed at every feed. A month or so later it was all more predictable.

No, previous poster said she would never have tried using cloth as her DD was a summer baby.

Am just a bit miffed as to why when the child was born would make a difference.

I've cloth bummed my last three babies from birth, summer and winter and not noticed a difference.

ive got a march baby, august baby and february baby and they have all been cloth bummed, get a maiden, you dont need a dryer

I use little lambs and waiting for them to dry is a faff... But otherwise reusables are awesome; much fewer leaks than my mates' babies. No nasty chemicals & they look cute! They aren't Much of a faff at all, you just need to get into the groove.

Use flushable paper liners if you can't be arsed with the washable ones.

Hmm fair enough.

I struggled with cloth and without a tumble when it was constantly raining because the air was so damp they didn't dry on the maiden. If that was your first experience you'd be quickly put off and give up.

Maybe a summer baby first tries cloth just when the weather is on the turn...?

I use fleece squares too instead of wipes. I make a flask of chamomile tea and a few drops of tea tree oil to wash her with. Like I say, never had nappy rash.

The dc (x3) have worn the same (flat) nappies from 3 months until toilet - training, so v cheap. Wraps second hand can be cheap too. we don't have a tumble dryer and use eco balls for washing. Use disposables if travelling, though...

I think maybe she thought her baby would be too hot in a cloth nappy in the summer? I remember having similar thoughts with my pfb when summer came round .

I admit washing wise this year with the shit weather has been hard, no heating on so takes an age to dry inside and rain outside. With a newborn I think a couple of packs of disposables would have been used! Thankfully we got the teeny tiny newborn phase out of the way while the fire was still on.

DD was born in Winter! and then has been older during the wettest summer ever - we've managed to do cloth since she was 2 weeks old, and we've not had any problems drying them (well, okay, we bought another clothes horse and have a very good and airy landing/bannister)

It's all to do with air and spacing.
If you wash all the nappies in one go, wraps dry almost immediately (provided you hang them so the inside plastic is outside), and the bulkiest nappies should be put at the top of the airer, taking up two lines (so the air gets to the underneath), and turn them over every couple of hours.

I think MarysBeard was trying to say she thought they would be too hot for summer usage.
I think that's the opposite!
they're mostly cotton, right, that's got to be more comfortable on a summer skin than the plastic disposables!

becsparkle - i prefer little lambs for drying, because the booster is separate (well, it's sewn in on one end in the bigger sizes) so they dry quicker - you need to compare it to Nature Babies' Diddy Diapers - they're all sewn in together and they take nearly 3 days to dry inside!

I do have a tumble dryer, but am yet to use it for nappies - they're mostly dry when they come out of the machine anyway, the spin cycle seems to fling out most of the water. Then I sling them on the dryer next to the radiator in the bathroom. Microfibre inserts are dry within about 4 hours, and the bamboo ones take about 12 hours. The wraps are dry almost instantly.