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?

the problem with reusable nappies is once you factor in the wear and tear on the washing machine, and the increased rate at which the washing machines need to be replaced, they are only really environmentally helpful and cheaper if you wash them by hand.

10 loads of washing a week is a lot more than we do. We do 4 washes maximum with 3 more when we had nappies. That's with 4 people also.
What are you doing that takes so long? We load washing in machine before bed. Put on timer so it comes on around 5.30am, so it's ready to hang up at 7.30am before we leave house . With nappies we washed in evening 8-10pm so we could hang up overnight and yes dry by morning. We both work full time so not in during the day so these ways work best.
Are you washing all clothes and towels etc after one use? Def don't wash jumpers or jeans , or shift dresses etc here after one wear unless actually dirty, so just daily underwear and tshirt / long sleeve top each

There are many different types of reusable nappy and some dry quicker than others. I recommend wonderoo v3 nappies. They are one size birth- potty but pocket nappy so all the thick padding comes out and dries open. Takes less than 12 hrs to dry

Yanbu op. That's my experience anyway.

5.30am please don't do this if you are still in bed at this time, it is a serious fire risk, you really need to be awake and alert when the washing machine is on

OP have you looked into biodegradable disposable nappies?

I love my Little Lambs. I do 3 washes a week and use fleece liners. Paid ??20 on ebay for the full kit and extra liners. Poo seems to stick to nappy and not baby so we'll be sticking with them.

Can I ask, what do you use to scrape the poo?? Pre-weaning I mean. DS just graced me with a huge sticky poop. I usually use the shower head to blast it off but would rather not stretch the shower head to the loo.

Reusable saved me a fortune I reckon. I didn't buy disposable liners, I bought a huge but of fleece from bargain bucket in my local material shop and cut out fleece liners. Poo rolled off it (generally... Well the solid ones did ;) ) and I put in the loo then I put nappies in a bucket (dry pail) and chucked them in the wash with other stuff.

I bought a lot of the nappies second hand which made them cheaper then sold a lot on when I had finished using them.

I did buy a couple of funky nice nappies for summer when they were just in a nappy and leg warmers but I wouldn't include that as nappy cost cos it's no different from buying nice clothes, right?

You don't have to spend much at all on reusables, fold a terry nappy, line with home made fleece liner, cover with a simple plain waterproof wrap. All very cheap. We are still using the terries for various things now.

Only negative I found was I needed a bigger changing bag as they take up more room!!

Also yes, terries are soooooo cheap and dry incredibly quickly too! Economical on all counts.

We have a "poo scraper knife" it lives down the back of the loo. Sometimes guests ask what it is...

Have no concept of scraping poo at the moment - it's all pretty well absorbed. Do they change before weaning or just get bigger?

saved us a fortune

I used fleece liners- homemade- and swooshed the liner in the bog when flushing
reusable wipes- again homemade- and stored in a tupperware box with a bit of boiled water, couple of drops of lavender oil and a tiny squirt of baby wash
dry pailed and then in machine for a cold rinse and 40 degree wash with non bio powder

I then went on to sell them for about half what I paid for them

Brokenhearted - I always deposit as much poo in the loo as possible, whether using cloth nappies or disposables. You need to do it for the cloth ones, of course, and it became habit so I do it for the disposables as well, I find it really hard to just dump the whole lot in the bin and won't do it unless the stuff absolutely refuses to fall off the nappy.

I've found it far more expensive to use the disposables with DS2 - I still use cloth nappies for short periods, but the kid's a super-soaker and can wee through a cloth nappy in under and hour, which just got tedious. DS1 was in cloth nappies daily for most of his 3+ years of nappy wearing; but he had disposables overnight.

We only use liners when using nappy cream, which is rare. We can generally shake poo into the loo. We use washable wipes at home (but not in the change bag). Wash nappies 2-3 times a week.
We also saved money, and hassle, because our washable nappies contain a poo-splosion, whereas with disposables it goes straight up DD2's back making her vest etc rank. Can't be cleaned up without going Everywhere - would probably have to burn bin her vests after that!

This may be a daft question but why use liners if they aren't disposable? I thought the whole point was that poo could be easily disposed off. If you don't mind handling the poo surely there is no difference if its on a reusable nappy or reusable liner?

Because it stops you having to clean off the whole nappy (in theory. DS' poops are explosive. Looking forward to when he's weaned!)

I use the fleece liners as the absorb most of the newborn poo so no scraping as of yet, plus the fleece is very soft against her skin and seems to wick a lot of the moisture away. She can soak a nappy and when I strip her to change her bottom isn't clammy or wet. I have cotton liners too which I can add alongside the fleece for extra absorbency at night when she's older.

I just soak them in the nappy pail with milton and then bung them in the washer. She is bf though so mostly liquid poop.

You say they only last half as long. How long are you getting out of the re-useables? We get 3-4 hours which I don't think is bad.

Bree re poo scraping what worked for us with non-solid poo was to have a nappy bucket in the bath. Used the shower head to rinse off, then tip the contents down the loo.

Fleece liners didn't agree with DS so we had paper liners which were semi-resuable (they could be washed several times and held up ok - think they were Little Green Earthlets, but he's 9 and my memories are fading).

we used fleece liners as then the poo just peeled off into the loo. Couple of packs of IKEA face flannels for wipes, bung the whole lot in the washing machine. for overnights I had a few pocket nappies which were terry on the outside and fleece on the inside and took a whole terry square folded up inside, with a slightly larger wrap, which lasted all night generally. They were made by a mum working from home, who used the most fabulous fleece patterns, I loved them so much .

Oh that's a good idea, thanks AAOML!

... Sorry... OOAOML!

I think we used old towels for wipes - I seem to remember cutting one up that had got too worn to use as a towel.

We use fleece liners for two reasons. First is less waste, they just go in the machine one poo is shaken off (not when only on breast milk/formula though). That doesn't bother me because I chucked DS's poo from disposables down the toilet anyway because we're in a flat and even nappy bags have a smell. The second is the fleece keeps them drier, it takes the moisture away from their bodies.

I don't understand want2b, ok it doesn't work out for you because of the climate you live in, but it works out fine for other people. I do a wash every two days, hang them overnight on a clothes horse and everything is ready for the morning (with the exception of bamboo which takes a little longer to dry).

I've spent about ??50-60 getting set up (inc smartpail, wetbag, fleece liners and 2-3 days worth of nappies), and 2 hours washing time every two days. Better than a pile of disposables going into the landfill for however long they take to break down.

Reusable definitely saved me money. Initial outlay (with some additions as time went on and needs changed included) of less than ??300.

The nappies have done 3 dc, all through newborn and toddler. One dc was late to toilet train (severe SN) and was in nappies until age of 5. 2 dc were very late to be dry overnight, well after the age of 5.

I did 3x nappy washes a week. With dc1 I didn't tumble dry, only line/airer. With the next 2 I tumbled just about everything.

There is no way that 3x wash and dry is more expensive than packets of nappies. Especially once out of typical toddler size/needing drynights (50p each!)

??300 for (in total) nearly 10 years of nappy use, plus washing costs.

Pandas and others, it is so good to hear your nappies have lasted so long!! Even with tumbling! DC1 is only 3 months and I hope the elastic in his nappies holds out as long as that!