Has anyone used reusable nappies?

[Abilouise]

Sorry ive only been on Mumsnet a few months (if that?) So I don't know where to post this, I have no AIBU.

Im pregnant with third child and used disposable nappies with first two children. I am desperate to use reusable nappies because of how much better they are for my pocket, the baby and the earth.

Call me thick, but I have no idea on where to start? How many do I need? Which brand is best for the nappies? Which brand is best for the liners? Do they hold much pee? If my baby does a poonami, how do I wash it? Surely I can't chuck the lot in the machine, so I'd have to prewash it in a sink to get excess runny poo off. What do I wash it up with? Just water and let the machine do the rest?

Sorry about all the questions, I literally know nothing and only thought about using them a week ago and have done little to no research. Any help is appreciated please

Reusable nappies are brilliant, I recommend them to everyone.
Been using them on our youngest for 2 years now.

There's some Facebook groups that can be very helpful - i would recommend joining 'Babipur Hangout' for nappy tips.

Also worth checking whether your council runs any incentive schemes for reusables, or whether you have a local nappy library.

I wouldn't spend too much on one brand f nappy as they all fit babies differently so you might not get on with one but love another so I would get a few brands. Tots Bots do an offer on a trial pack I believe, their bamboozle nappies are brilliant for nighttime.

Reusables contain poo much better so you don't tend to get the 'poonamis' that you do with disposables.
They need changing slightly more often than disposables depending which brand you go for, but you can always add a 'booster' to give them a bit more absorbency.

Washing wise, breastfed / formula baby poo is water soluble so you can just stick nappies in the wash - do a cold rinse, then a long hot wash (over 2 hours), using washing powder not liquid or tabs.
You don't have to rinse in the sink before or leave them to soak. You can either have them in a bucket (tots Bots sell them) or a wet bag till you wash, we wash every other day.

Liners - we use fleece liners (tots Bots again) to wick away moisture, the disposable liners in my opinion are rubbish & just don't stay in place, despite what some may say they also should NOT be flushed.

I'd also recommend swapping to reusable wipes whilst your at it, cheeky wipes sets are good beginner wipes.

Hope this helps!

I've switched to cloth nappies for my second baby and I love them. I do get a bit fed up of the extra washing though but I hated what I was putting into landfill every week!

I use little lambs, I have 15 bamboo and 3 microfibre and about 8 wraps. This keeps baby going for about 3 days and I use a couple of disposables if I can't get them dry quick enough.

My baby is breastfed at the moment so her nappies literally go straight into the washing machine at 40 with an extra rinse at the end and that's them washed. Any stained just get out in sunlight and stains vanish. I'm not sure if I'm saving much money and I'm not looking forward to my water bill!

If you do switch to cloth, you may aswell change to cloth wipes too which are so easy to use, much better than wet wipes

There are so many brands to try but I love LL. oh some councils give you a voucher towards buying cloth nappies, I got £30 back

Reusable nappies are great. I love 2 parters though they can be bulky. My favourite are Totsbots stretchy fabric ones with a Motherease wrap. Milovia are good for a light duty slim nappy. Try the Nappy Lady website. I do prefer a disposable for night though.

I tried for a few months and used bambino mio. They started leaking pretty badly and I did all the steps to strip them etc but they just never seemed to regain their absorbent, which was a shame as they were so much more gentle on the baby.

There is some research that shows the usage of reusable isn't much better for the environment - I read up about it at the time through guilt of reverting to disposables. But I hate putting nappies in landfill at the same time.

If anyone has any tips on bambino mio and getting them absorbent I'm all ears as I still have them all!

Go the the nappy lady website

www.thenappylady.co.uk

Everything you need to know is here.

I used disposable nappies on all 3 of mine and was evangelical about them.

Good luck

@Scientistic seems a common problem with that brand, how often do you change them?

You could try adding some boosters like the Close boosters are meant to be good.

Try your local council. Most have an attempt at advertising real nappies - many have a discount/cashback scheme. They also have different types you Can look at.
Definately worth it. Cuts down on nappy rash, and they contain a poonami unlike a disposable! Nappies are only a wash away so much less likely to run out. And there are so ,any varieties and specials you can have a whole wardrobe if you want - or keep to a small number if that's better for your budget.

There is a " nappies" section on MN here www.mumsnet.com/Talk/nappies_potty_training_etc so you might get more targeted advice there.
I read similar reports on how the final impact - because of the extra detergent, extra water, extra temperature - in the end was almost zero and they went on to say that online shopping was far more detrimental to the environment than nappies, ..... there were other examples such as farmed meat, but then they listed coffee as being bad for environment and stopped reading.
Don't touch my coffee!

Yes - definitely worth it. My advice is don't be tempted by pretty patterns or a desire to avoid a bulky fit. Get ones which you can work with and which don't leak. Also don't use disposable liners - they are more faff in my opinion and the fleecy reusable ones are lovely and soft, so much nicer for the child and they work well to wick moisture away from the skin. Join some cloth nappy Facebook groups, do your research and then buy a few from different brands to work out what you like.

We use Little Lamb nappies (cotton for day, bamboo for night). They are bulky and the outer waterproof layer is nice but there aren't as many options in terms of pretty patterns. But this isn't why you should use cloth nappies. The most important thing is fit - I have never ever had a leak, they fit perfectly. Bambino Mios seem to be a favourite brand as they are slim fitting and have pretty designs but lots of people seem to report leaks. Little Lambs do a trial pack where you can return for a refund if you don't like them after 6 weeks. That's what we did and we never returned them.

Thank you everyone!
Everyone's advice is brilliant 😊

I'll have a look at the nappies section, KingIrving. I was looking around to find a section for nappies before posting here but must have totally missed it!!

I used cloth nappies with my third too and he had the best time of it out of all three. Never had nappy rash once, in fact the skin on his bum was always just so pristine! The best bit as well was I never used a 'system' because they can take a lot longer to dry, I bought a meter square of fleece and cut sanitary pad style strips to go between his legs which wicked the moisture away like magic. Then I bought traditional terry squares (except they were bamboo which dried so quickly when washed) and learned the different folds, it changes as they grow. The only thing I spent money on were the waterproof outers and I went a bit mad with faux pony skin and tiger print etc (less outlandish designs are available .) There are grippers now instead of pins so no worry of sticking your baby either.

One last tip, I used to make up waterproof bags of each 'kit' - liner, bamboo square and some fleece scraps to use as wipes (even more environment points) with water so I was always ready to grab a few and go, spare outer and gripper incase of a poonami and and then I was ready with a change and a bag to put the used stuff in each time. I would do it again and again if I wasn't so over having babies! Good luck, third is the best.

The nice thing about the fleece liners is that once they're on solids and doing formed stools these just fall off the liner and inti the loo so the amount if poo that goes into your washing machine is nil.
The environmental comparisons leave out that disposable nappies and their plastic will sit in landfill for hundreds of years and that we have finite landfill options.Also with disposables mist people send all the poo to landfill too.

I just used the terry towelling ones. And, oh yeah, you wash every day but, even so, I saved so much money and DD never had a problem. I didn't bother with liners but used www.egopharm.com/silic-15-cream-and-lotion/ as a barrier.

This was fantastic littlesquirt.net.au/ and life was easy.

Cloth is so much better for containing poo but some styles / brands I've tried aren't good with wee!

IMO, the PERFECT nappy is the tots bots easy fit star. It's quick to change, all in one (but unfolds so is easier to wash/ dry), very soft and comfortable for baby (doesn't dig in around the legs), is extremely absorbent and easoft
sily boost able. It's also birth to potty. The downside of this nappy is the expense! (hence why I only have four of these).

The ones I'm using most at the moment are tots bots bamboozle or a little lamb bamboo with a blueberry coverall. They are great for containment / absorbancy but I find them slightly fiddly and bulky and find they build up a smell quite often.

I never got on with pocket nappies. I tried the little lamb ones, which were terribly leaky, even the double gusseted type and Alva baby double gussetted. Of the two, Alva were best but I just find pocket nappies leak around the legs!

I'd say the best liners were the mio liner, I find tots bots scrunch up too much and don't stay in place.

Oh yes, fleece liners are beautiful! The little lamb nappies come with these. I really should switch to fully using fleece liners.

Different nappies work for different kids, nappy libraries are great or you can buy cheap second hand and resell if they don’t work for you. I like 2-part nappies and my favourite combo is motherease sandys with either a motherease airflow wrap or a close pop-in wrap.

Also there’s loads of Facebook groups you can join for advice or buying/selling

Pocket nappies worked for my DD, but not my DS (not sure whether it was penis related or just they were different shapes).

Little lambs with a wrap were good, but do take a while to dry. It's worth at least having some terry squares because they do dry quickly and also you can add something absorbant into a fold to bulk it up for overnight for nappy emergencies.

I tried disposable liners but they moved around too much so I used fleece ones.

Oh and for terry squares, get some nappy nippas rather than pins. And yes to cloth wipes.

Also, bamboo is more absorbant than cotton, which is more absorbant than microfibre.