To ask nursery to use cloth nappies?

[InMemoryOfSleep]

DS (17 months) is at nursery two days a week, and up to now I've provided disposable nappies for them, while he's in cloth at home. Am thinking of asking nursery to use cloth, but wondered if anyone has experience of this? Will they be at me?

I remember a nursery which insisted everyone had to use cloth. The nursery would make sure to send the child home in whatever final nappy of the day that the parent supplied, along with one clean cloth nappy the parent had to send the child in wearing, on first day back.

I'd say just be aware it's a bit more of a faff for them. Not all staff will know how they work with the liners etc. so they may need to train up staff who've not done them before.
Is it really necessary for two days? Would be maybe six or seven changes at nursery?

Our nursery was happy to use cloth, we provided them all made up and a zip up wet bag for the dirty ones. In the baby room they were changed pretty much every two hours anyway.

I don't get why but some childcare settings have a lot of problems with supporting parental choice. It's no effort for those changing a nappy to use. The idea that it is somehow harder I don't get.
Disposable liners maybe at a push for poo (but usually it falls off into the loo).
Generally it would put me off a nursery if their staff were so squeamish/ unable to figure out fastening (or whatever the stated reason). Looking after children requires a certain strength of stomach and thinking on your feet!

To be fair some reusables are more user-friendly than others. I do think a nursery's stance on cloth is a sign of how flexible/accommodating they are. If they say "yes to cloth on condition that the nappies are all-in-ones (or pre-prepared) and you provide disposable liners and a wet bag", fair enough. If they say a blanket no, it would be a mark against them (if deciding between nurseries) - not because I'm dead against disposables but because the nursery should be trying to accommodate what we want for our children (within reason).

I’m not at all squeamish but I only have an upstairs toilet so it’s a bit of a faff taking a pooey liner to flush. I ended up bagging it with the wipes in a nappy sack which sort of defeated the environmental health point of them.

Plus they stink.

I still did it though.

My youngest is at nursery and they have been fab with the cloth nappies. They even rinse them out when necessary (although I keep telling them they don't have to!). I now send in the cloth wipes too as they have been so accommodating, though always put a pack of normal wet wipes and a couple of disposables just in case too busy/leaks/new staff etc

It was never a problem at the nursery we use. They’d just come back in the wet bag less a liner and I’d sort them at home.

We used paper liners for nursery thiugh (fleece liners at home)

There are quite a few nurseries in north London which use reusable nappies as standard. Certainly enough to justify more than one nappy laundry service.
My childminder uses our nappies and reusable wipes. If she chooses to use disposables for whatever reason then she provides them.

I did with all four of mine, and everyone was nothing but positive. Go for it!

I had DS2 in cloth at full-time nursery from 7mo to just after 3yo - never an issue with the staff. I supplied them with pre-stuffed all-in-ones and a bomb-proof wet-bag, and just had to do the occasional bit of re-education on which poppers to use, as the un-initiated tended to put them on too loosely. I never bothered with liners as they just ended up in my DSs’ bum cracks and they’d very craftily shit around them, defeating the purpose. I felt very pleased that he never once contributed to the skip of dirty nappies they have collected every week.

To the poster who thinks carrying a bag of poo home every night is an issue...well, one becomes very blasé about poo when one has cloth-bummed two children in rapid succession

Also no more leaks here, either, than with disposables. If you’re getting leaks and having to change more often, you’re using dud nappies!

Dds nursery had no problems with it. We provide nappies anyway (which she sometimes went through mysteriously quickly! At least with cloth I knew it was only her wearing them!)
We used pocket nappies so just like a disposable but with poppers. Those papery liners that went in the bin with wipes and the dirty nappies home in a dry bag. If it was a particularly pooey nappy it was put in a nappy sack in the bag!
Just became part of the routine and they were happy to do it

Used cloth nappies for both my girls and now with my boy and never had any issue! Used a CM and a nursery during that time and it wouldn't have occurred to me that they'd have any issue and indeed they didn't. I provide them with a little waterproof bag to keep dirty nappies which I take at the end of the day. Cloth nappies are way nicer and more practical in my opinion. They also make potty training much easier so less work for everyone in the long run :)

Snap - pretty sure it's no longer recommended to flush liners even those claiming to be flushable... I just bin them. As for the smell, I'd rather deal with cloth nappies than a bin full of used disposable nappies. Plus I find my kids rly smell bad quickly if they wear disposables!

To the PP who voiced an objection to communal cloth nappies shared between children - I would have zero issues with this. I’ve had second-hand nappies, and I have sold many nappies second-hand, so cloth-users are generally absolutely fine with the idea of shared nappies. I wish more nurseries would go cloth-only. Particularly those nurseries that provide nappies I would have thought they could save themselves a fortune in the long term (and pass the savings on to paying nursery staff what they’re worth).

I still use flat terries and nippas - I have friends who do as well. My nanny uses them with no bother, but I probably wouldn’t have asked a nursery too, mostly because of getting the dirty nappies home again! I send her to nursery in reusable pull ups, since we are theoretically training her, and she has a stash of nappy sacks in her rucksack and a change of pants/clothing.

My nurseries used cloth because that was my choice for my children.
No big deal despite some staff trying to sabotage it. Cloth is no big deal and I dont understand any drama associated with it.

A couple of posters have mentioned the smell and that's just made me think - does anyone else find Pampers smell absolutely vile?! Really strong when they're wet, my MIL was worried DS had a urine infection!

My nursery were fine with cloth nappies as long as they were pre-stuffed so could go on as one piece. They tried ones with wraps but never got the hang of it. Each one just got wrapped in a nappy sack and added to a carrier bag to take home - I did have to remember to unwrap them that night and dispose of the poo surprises!

There was once that a temp chucked out a nappy by mistake which of course was the only lovely new nappy I'd bought, but in neearly 6 years that's not bad.

Yup, pampers reek!

We provide cloth nappies for DS at nursery. We looked at a few before I returned to work and they were all happy to oblige. Hopefully you'll have the same experience!

it's a hygiene issue if they have nowhere to store the dirty ones
But where do they store soiled clothes during potty training, or indeed dirty disposables?

Our nursery coped fine - wet bags, liners that were binned with the disposables. We used pocket nappies or all in ones.

Oh and I always had to "train" the new staff not to use plastic bags but they all got there in the end!

The wet bags have got a mesh liner zipped in, so you don't have to touch the dirties, just unzip and chuck in the machine

I don't understand the logistics as I've never used cloth nappies...

1. The nursery staff take a poo filled nappy off the baby and fold it up like you would a disposable 2)They drop it into a bag with a zip mesh liner
2. You take it home
3. You take the zip liner out of the bag (full of nappies)
4. You put the mesh liner full of nappies in the washing machine poo & all?

Interesting thread. My children’s nursery switched from disposables to cloth and almost overnight it felt and smelled a lot fresher. All babies provided with 2 free (to cover coming and going)