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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think that the "reusable nappy crew" are on par with the "breastfeeding only crew" when it comes to hysteria?

350 replies

DisposableNappy · 20/02/2013 21:00

They both come out with that old chestnut "it doesn't take extra time or energy".

The reusable nappy crew keep emphasising how much money they save. How the disposable nappy parents are "harming the environment" with their non-biodegradable nappies and baby poo.

They try to make disposable nappy parents feel bad IMO. The same way those breast feeding mad mothers do.

OP posts:
AmberSocks · 22/02/2013 16:49

i use washable nappies and have for all of mine,except when i had 3 under 2 all i nappies,that was a bit much.

I like them,i like that i dot have to worry if ive ran out of nappies(although i do still have to make sure i have clean ones)

they also look super cute in them,ad i imagine they feel nicer on a babies soft little bum.

nickelbabe · 22/02/2013 17:33

icing - i assume those friends also throw away the vests when they've had a pooplosion....

TheBigJessie · 22/02/2013 17:40

OxfordBags:
"Yes, a few smug bores like to drone on, but there are far more chip-on-shoulder merchants ( stares pointedly at the OP )"

This.

WitchOfEndor · 22/02/2013 18:01

Thanks nickelbabe for explaining where the word comes from.

It still doesn't make me like it when people use it in a pejorative way against women who are just holding an opinion!

crocoldile · 22/02/2013 18:12

I was part of the reusable nappy 'crew' because it worked for me and was a damn sight cheaper than putting my twins in disposables.
I was also never part of the breast feeding 'crew' because I never wanted to do it.
The two 'crews' do not always go hand in hand!

OutsideOverThere · 22/02/2013 18:23

Oh I did the reuseables with ds1. It's a hard water area and they resembled concrete within a few months. Poor ds.

I kept going for ages. I kept them to use for any more babies...did it for about a week with ds2 and ds3 hasn't even seen what one looks like.

However I did breastfeed ds2 till he was at school - hmm. I like to think I'm not militant about anything really...lots of people are a mish mash of different things OP, don't get so worked up.

Fwiw I bumped into a friend the other day who is using formula with her fourth after 3 kids she breastfed - she said it is so much easier. I can't imagine it being easier - I run out of plates daily, I'd run out of bottles just the same. But if it works then bloody go for it.

PurplePidjin · 22/02/2013 18:39

Tbh, i find it a lot easier to bung on an extra nappy wash every couple of days than to drag a baby plus a giant bag of nappies plus a pushchair plus a changing bag plus whatever other shopping back from town and up the stairs to my flat.

Be a different matter if i lived in a big posh house and drove to the supermarket Hmm

IneedAsockamnesty · 22/02/2013 21:35

For anybody that's interested in a hard water area nappy stripping will get rid of the stiffness in the nappies as will using a ecoegg instead of detergent

iwantanafternoonnap · 22/02/2013 21:41

I couldn't breastfeed as nearly died in childbirth and massive complications after. Bottle feeding as a faff and more work. I used reusable nappies and did not find them much more work tbh.

I felt extremely judged because I didn't breastfeed. Reusables are very bad for the environment and yes I do feel good that I used reusables but haven't made any judgements on those that don't but I will always say how great they were. My DS was potty trained at 19-20 months as wellWink

nickelbabe · 22/02/2013 22:09

oh, witch I hate it too.!

nickelbabe · 22/02/2013 22:12

I hope it was just how you felt and not that you actually were jydged nap
:(

VisualiseAHorse · 22/02/2013 22:20

Oh yes nap - every cloth bum baby I know is potty trained sooner. My 10 month old has just started pooing on the potty. ^Smug^

JollyGolightly · 22/02/2013 22:43

I think you should work on being secure in your own choices; then you can be happy for others who enjoy the choices they have made. This will feel nicer than being all cross.

elizaregina · 22/02/2013 23:03

I am sure some studies have been done and hushed up that actuallyu there isnt that much in it when it comes to disposable and cloth. Even at 30 O.

I often wonder if there arnt some people who are more toxic just being them, to the planet than anything else they could possibly do.

IneedAsockamnesty · 22/02/2013 23:29

Eliza most of the studies done are readily available online

HairyHandedTrucker · 22/02/2013 23:49

I am sure some studies have been done and hushed up that actually

Yes, by the mighty cloth nappy lobby Hmm

Aethelfleda · 22/02/2013 23:58

OP, YABU. I assume that the judgey pants you are wearing today are actually reuseable ones? Yep, thought so. Let me cloth bum my baby If I want to, without it undermining you.

Illustrationaddict · 23/02/2013 00:01

With having admittedly only read a few of the posts, I use disposable, BUT I figure that you use loads of electricity and chemicals washing reusable ones, and also is your baby more prone to nappy rash with reusables? if you're gonna pollute either way, take the easy option I reckon!

Anyway I was wondering, is there a way they could be incinerated in a council nappy collection service? Or is this worse again for the environment?

IneedAsockamnesty · 23/02/2013 00:19

No nappy rash is not more common with reusables

Illustrationaddict · 23/02/2013 00:36

I'm just going on my mums experience, she said my brothers & I always got it quite badly, but she's noticed her grandchildren who have all had disposables have not had it which I can confirm for my dd. maybe she didn't change us fast enough?

JollyGolightly · 23/02/2013 03:33

Illustration, that is quite likely. Nappy rash is caused by poo and wee together in contact with the skin, which can happen in any sort of nappy if it isn't changed fast enough. DS1 was a stealth pooer when he was younger so he sometimes got a rash before I realised he had performed.

Thumbwitch · 23/02/2013 03:37

Visualise, I had DS1 in cloth until he could dress himself but he'd been in disposables overnight for a while by then - but he wasn't toilet-trained until he was 3.9. I think I put him in pull-ups when he was about 3.4 but I can't actually remember Blush. So, not all cloth-users toilet train early. :)

PolkadotCircus · 23/02/2013 07:30

I tried washables with my twins and after detergent,washing,liners,creams and drying there was nothing in it. It is bad for health to have loads of wet things hanging around so I had to use a dryer,I would only use Ecover which is £££££vetc,etc.

Unless you use a nappy washing agency there isn't enough in it environmentally and financially imvho.

I used Eco disposables,best of both worlds.

CheerfulYank · 23/02/2013 08:02

I just bought my first batch of reusables! Can hysteria be far behind?! :o

I plan on cloth-diapering, nursing, co-sleeping, and doing BLW with this one.

I did NONE of those things with my other DC (born in 2007). I'm in different circumstances now, mainly, I'll be staying home with this baby whereas I was working when DS was a baby.

Do I plan on evangelizing about it? Do I care what other people do? A resounding "no" to both.

cloutiedumpling · 23/02/2013 10:47

I use washable nappies with DC3 but only dabbled with them for DCs 1 &2 (I used them for about a year but not every day and not at night). I can very much see both sides of the argument. I think whether or not they are cheaper depends on how you buy them, how you wash them and how many babies you use them on. Some of the nappies are eye wateringly expensive if you buy them brand new from on line shops. I looked on e bay and found there are loads that are bought by people who intend to use washables but never quite get round to it. That made it much more economic for me to buy them. I reckon I bought them for about a quarter of the price that they would have been if I'd bought them for a shop. I try not to tumble dry too often but I've used the tumble drier much more than I'd have liked this winter. As some of our nappies have now been used on three kids I reckon I've more than broken even money wise though. I also plan to sell some of them once I've finished with them. I sold some a few months ago on e bay and by choosing to sell them on an auction that finished on a Sunday night I got more money than I'd paid for them. If you by fancy nappies from a shop, tumble dry them and use them on one child only I think you are much less likely to break even on them.