To think reusable nappies don't actually sace any money?

[hibbleddible]

I've started on reusable nappies as I was horrified by the amount of landfill my baby was generating!

The nappies only last half as long as reusables though, and when the cost of disposable liners is factored in (3.5p each), along with electricity, water and detergent go wash them, it doesn't work out cheaper than disposables (7.8p each from Aldi). This is not considering the initial outlay.

I will continue using them for environmental reasons, but aibu to think they aren't any cheaper? Or am I missing something?

What else would you do with the poo jelly?

I don't want those bad boys in my machine!

Sorry jelly you were quoting. I meant broken

I thought everyone flushed poo down the loo.

Hold nappy in toilet and flush was the procedure I thought.

It's been a while for me (but I loved my cloth nappies), though I remember using cheapo microfibre cloths as liners as well as precut fleece ones.

I second fleece liners and reusable wipes. Just buy a cheap fleece blanket from Ikea. Cut it up into disposable liner shapes. Ta-dah.
I prewashed my nappies with detergent and then they did the main cycle without detergent.
They were fine. Dried them on the radiators/outside.
I did however use disposables at night.
You also need to consider the impact on landfill, disposable nappies take decades to break down.

Having more children will totally negate the environmental benefits of using cloth nappies.

We used cloth nappies for ds1, but ds2 would soak through everything, so that I'd end up having to wash the nappies, outfits and cot sheets every day. Sadly, I had to switch to disposables for my own sanity.

Elimination communication + cloth nappies = environmental win. ;) I used cloth on my toddler as backup but offered a potty when she woke from naps or seemed squirmy, and often only used one nappy a day as it was still clean. She was out of nappies at 19 months.

Here in the US where I live you can only line dry about 2 months of the year. Its either freezing or very humid. That means a dryer is a necessity otherwise laundry is a huge nightmare of clothing that takes forever to dry.

I have had friends here use washable diapers and they get funky. After a few cycles they need a special soap that isn't good for the environment. Also, water conservation is a huge issue in parts of the country. The washing machines here are crap because they use about half the water that machines use in the UK. As a result nothing gets as properly clean. There are services that will come and pick up dirty diapers and deliver them back the next day clean. I hardly see that as environmentally friendly.

In addition, from a woman's lib perspective, I have a job with quite substantial hours (80% schedule that works out to about 45 hrs a week) and I am not spending my limited free time cleaning diapers when I could be spending the time with my family or on myself. Nor am I am going to hire someone to clean the diapers for me as it is far cheaper to use disposables.

Want - we live in a flat, ours just dried overnight hung up on laundry rack

I like the washable ones, but my dd is too tall for most of them.
Yes, they need changing a bit more often, but in the summer, they dry outside.

No idea on cost/savings as I didn't get them until she turned two.

Always used pampers overnight as they are well and truly full in the mornings. She hardly ever poos in the day (apart from first thing in the morning), sometimes a bit extra at tea time, so we only used a fleece liner at tea time. Washed them every couple of days with some lavender oil as well as washing powder.

We use a mixture now. If we are pottering around the house, it's washables as we can change more often. If we are out and about, it's disposables.

Oh my days I loved cloth nappies. Cost us a bloody fortune buying all the cute ones.

It's true, washable wipes are 100x better than disposables for cleaning off poo!! DS only poops once a week max, and is on laxatives, so needless to say his poos are MASSVIVE. Used washable wipe on his poo this week (recently got them) and only needed two wipes. Need about 6 plus a bum-dunk-bath if using disposables!

I heart using cloth nappies. I've just completed my stash this week so need to stop myself buying any more - they're addictive so I can definitely see that the costs might spiral out of control! But I won't need to buy nappies or wipes or nappy sacks ever again which feels good (I'm a cheapskate, would run out of disposables a lot, and concerned about landfill!)

I scrape nappies, what else would you do with the poo?

I've always used paper liners but have just bought a couple of nappies with fleece liners so after reading this I'm looking forward to trying them out.

I wash mine on 60??c with half dose of washing powder and a tiny bit of napisan. Seems to work OK. Why do you wash them 3 times pp?

It really doesn't take that much time to do want2b. Load them in, take them out, put on airer/washing line, fold up when dry. Even better, get husband to fold them!

Yes we scrape too - unless they shake off :)

Another benefit I have found is early potty training - possibly because they feel wetter. So ours were out of them at 21 mo and 18mo.

Fleece liners, although post weaning poos are quite solid so less mess, the nappy detergent is ??4.50 for 50 wash pack, the regular powder does loads of washes too and only costs a few ??. A pre rinse and one wash is fine and we dry on the line or a clothes airer in the bathroom (although all bamboo ones can take days). You can get nappies cheap enough second hand or the budget brands. We use cloth wipes too. And my nappies will do soon to be born ds2 once he grows a little, although i will need more.

Having said that we use supermarket brand disposables at night because nothing else lasts 12-13 hours and his mega wees. which annoys me as we still have to buy a pack a month.

I use bumgenius pockets - no liners required. Bought a ridiculous amount of a few nappies before finding these ones. I sold all I didn't like and in some cases made a profit.
All in I have 32 nappies each costing ??10-11 each, 2 wet nappy bags ??30 ( could have gone cheaper but used daily and will use for swimming etc after potty training) and a few packs of ikea flannels and cheeky wipes ??15ish.
I wash them every three days, and they line dry 99% of the time.
I use the same powder I use for clothes.

i do believe they are financially and Environmentally better than disposables. Every disposable nappy that has ever been worn is sitting in landfill somewhere ( unless it was incinerated, Obv!)

It freaks me out, esp, as many have pointed out, most people prefer to "gift wrap" their dc poo in the plastic nappy then wrap it in a scented plastic bag before disposing.

HAHA love this - stuff dries overnight, doesn't take that much time to do the laundry. I wish both were true.

We do on average 10 loads of laundry a week which I think is quite normal for a family with 2 DC aged 2 and 4. This takes up about 5 hours of time as it is. DH is away from Friday afternoon until Wednesday next week and I have 12 hours days Monday-Wednesday (Thursday too but DH should be home from work at 7pm thrilled at the prospect of doing laundry!) with 2 hours of commuting each day. I have a laundry service do the kids clothes while he is away because I don't have time to fold everything. For $1 a lb I outsource the kids stuff as loads of pieces and just spend time putting the clothes away.

I have a couple of things on the airer from yesterday morning and they will be put away tonight. It is so humid outside right now that even with the AC on it takes a while for things to dry properly as don't put the AC on high. If you preempt and put away things early they go mouldy and you have to throw them out. In winter we don't have the heating on during the day so its about 15C max in the house. It is dry but really cold so nothing dries during the day or over one night. It's always at least 24 hours for a good 8+ months of the year. If I didn't use the dryer I would need about 4 to 5 airers and everything would need to be ironed in summer to ensure no moisture left in it before it is put away. We also live really close to NYC in a 2 bed apartment so space is limited, hence my comment about the place looking like a laundrette if I didn't use my dryer!

DS is only 6 months, but we love our fluffy nappies and practice elimination communication - mostly because it's so obvious when he is having a poo. If I can't get him to the toilet in time, then poo gets flushed.

For me, it's about reducing landfill rather than saving money. And his nappies are just so darn cute

They definitely can save money, if you don't get carried away buying up cute ones! For me the idea of landfill is really horrifying so that was the major motivation. When we didn't use them I used Eco disposables (they vary quite a bit in their credentials so worth researching) but I mostly preferred cloth. We definitely didn't do ten loads of washing a week, even with the nappies and there are five of us. I couldn't cope with that much washing!

i used cloth from birth with all 3 dc. cost me approx ??200 in outlay and other than washing and drying costs thats all i ever spent. it certainly saved me a fortune, particularly when i had 2 in nappies for a total of 20 months.

Wow - 10loads of washing is a lot more than we do for a family of 4. 2-3 a week currently and when we have dc3 in nappies I am expecting 2more (inc baby clothes)