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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

if I use cloth nappies and want anyone who looks after DS to use them too?

53 replies

bohemianbint · 26/07/2007 09:45

Just wondering really, no one else has ever really looked after DS but he's nearly 1 and I'm going back to work 2 days a week so he'll be going to a childminder. Is it unreasonable to expect them to use reusables as well? And what about if family members baby sit?

OP posts:
Brangelina · 26/07/2007 12:29

Lol at the washing in a different machine. I wash my nappies with my own and DP's white underwear, towels etc. I've never had a poo smelling skidmarked towel yet.

I didn't insist with my DD's nursery as the woman seemed perplexed when she saw me changing my DD and I'm already a fussy mother what with DD's veggie diet and not having crappy cakes at teatime. They provide the nappies anyway and as someone said the children are changed only every 4 hours or so, so it wasn't feasible. Had I been in the UK I'd probably have insisted, but here cloth nappy use is very unusual to say the least and they think I'm a weirdo foreigner as it is.

witchandchips · 26/07/2007 12:37

quick tell pampers marketing department. As an extra new washing machine had to be made for every baby using cloth nappies, then us wierdo hippie types must have a king kong size carbon footprint

belgo · 26/07/2007 13:16

not only do I was nappies in the same machine as everything else, but I often put them in the same wash as other items of clothing/bedding so that the machine is full - and everything always comes out clean!

I also don't scrap poo off of the nappies; I use disposible nappy liners that I flush away if they are pooey; if they are just wet, then I wash them and reuse them.

Original poster
bohemianbint · 26/07/2007 13:18

Cheers for all the feedback, good to see that it shouldn't be a big deal. I haven't actually got a childminder yet but I was worried whether to broach it with them or not. Will do now though!

Re family, I know my mum bought some disposables to use when DS goes there and it pissed me off a bit, but I couldn't decide if I was being a bit churlish. They weren't biodegradable either which is the only thing I will use now if I can't use cloth whilst away or whatever. They seem to think I'm fairly mental at the best of times but I don't think they're remotely arsed about the environment and I'm not sure I'll ever win them round!

OP posts:
HenriettaHippo · 26/07/2007 13:20

All you Americans would be shocked then that I just chuck DS's dirty nappies in the washing machine along with my clothes (and DH's and DS1's). No-one has died yet.

tassisssss · 26/07/2007 13:37

i have to say that IMO cloth is a bit harder work so if the person looking afer my dd is someone not used to cloth or if I thought cloth might freak them out or if I already felt they were doing me a huge favour then I'd put her in disposibles for the morning.

If I was paying someone to have my child, however, I'd want them if at all possible to do it my way!

laundrylover · 26/07/2007 13:49

Boho,

Hope you find a nice nappy friendly childminder soon. Just to add that my nursery were fine about cloth - had a few back to front wraps but they stayed on. Dd2 is going to a different nursery and she will be their first clothie - i think it is important to insist that they use them for two reasons:

Firstly: they can see how easy cloth is and maybe get converted (lots of young girls there!) when they have their own kids.

Secondly: if you say 'just use dizzies' then it's like saying that cloth are difficult, which of course they are not!

I tell you, it's been easier getting people to use cloth nappies than getting them to understand that fish and gelatine are not veggie.

krang · 26/07/2007 13:49

The Nature Baby disposables are 70 per cent biodegradable, I think. We used them for the first month when I couldn't get my head around who I was or what I was doing, let alone how cloth nappies worked. I remember getting the big bag of different ones, scattering them over the floor and weeping hysterically cos I couldn't work out what to do with them! Damn birth hormones!

Brangelina · 26/07/2007 13:55

Or indeed ham Laundrlover...

laundrylover · 26/07/2007 14:02

Brangelina. It's DD1's last day at nursery tomorrow and she starts pre-school and playgroup come Sept so the battle against f'ing Haribos will begin again....
BTW our nursery adopted a healthy teeth policy which then solved the sweets problem...DD1 has taken a tray of very sickly iced buns in though today courtesy of my mum....home baking counts as healthy snack in my book.

PavlovtheCat · 26/07/2007 14:21

'...f'ing haribos...'...rofl!

MaeBee · 26/07/2007 15:58

if a childminder can't figure out how to use a reusable nappy i wouldn't entrust them with something as complex as a child!!

laundrylover · 26/07/2007 16:03

Great post Maebee.

NAB3 · 26/07/2007 16:04

If you don't supply disposables they will have to use washables. They aren't hard, there is no reason why other carers canm't use them. Your child, your nappy choice, they will have to do it!

laundrylover · 26/07/2007 16:06

Actually our nursery supplied dizzies so I always thought I should get a discount really.

Once, when she only had a nappy on at nap time they put her in a pampers 'for a traet'....they never made that mistake again.

derah · 26/07/2007 16:20

YANBU, but it might be a good idea to have some pocket nappies or AIO's for people who don't understand the 2-part system. My CM and nursery have been amazing with using cloth, but my mum got very flustered when I tried to explain it to her (not sure why since she used cloth on my brother and I!). When I suggested a pocket nappy instead she was very happy to use it cos they're basically idiot-proof. Kind of a compromise...

MuminBrum · 26/07/2007 19:32

Admittedly I do live in a very knit-your-own-lentils area, but the two childminders I know both used cloth nappies on their own babies - so you may be pushing on the proverbial open door!
Witchandchips, my DS was in cloth from ten weeks on, including at nursery, and never once had nappy rash. And the nursery used to "sluice" the pooey ones and you'd better believe that not one scrap of anything adheres to a nappy that's been sluiced - so the bag I used to pick up at the end of the day had three wet nappies in it, all ready to toss into the machine ... and yes, Eleusis, of course we cloth-nappy types put the nappies in the same washing machine - just as we would put a pair of skiddy pants in the washing machine.

Shoshable · 26/07/2007 19:48

I'm a CM and have had mindees in both cloth and Disposables never minded which, but then again, my own DS is almost 30 and disposables didnt exist when he was a baby, it was good old towelling squares muslin liners and plastic pants with pins, if you can change them you can change anything

Jammer · 26/07/2007 19:49

for the childminder - it really does depend on what you've agreed - who will be responsible for washing them etc? I think it's something you should discuss as not all CMs may be happy with this.

as for one offs - i used to provide the most environmentally friendly chemical free affordable disposables i could find. I asked all my family/friends to apply for the free samples from Spirit Of Nature

2 excellent options - biodegradable reusables or biodegradable disposables

A good compromise IMO

CescaD · 27/07/2007 07:58

ha ha ha - just cackling at Laundrylover's comment about fish not being veggie. I always explain to people that if it has or ever did have eyeballs I don't eat it.

Am feeling rather traitorous to the cloth nappy cause though as am flying to Spain tomorrow and was thinking of buying some disposables for the journey. (Going back to cloth once we get there). Am trying to justify it in my mind with the fact that we will be moving house 3 days after we get back from Spain and I will probably be without a washing machine for at least 24 hours so can use up the pack of disposables then.

Oh the guilt though! Especially having been so evangelical on the subject of cloth nappies to anyone who will listen.

laundrylover · 27/07/2007 08:48

Anything with a face or a mother is our motto!!

I am heading towards 3 days of Moltex too as washing machine is being moved and the girls and I going on hols on Monday....back to cloth on Monday once settled at my sisters in Scotland.

I have taken cloth on hols to Spain and just handwashed each night....also 3 weeks round Argentina where no-one batted an eye about washing them for me.

I do occassionally use Moltex but the trouble is anything biodegradable going to landfill is a huge problem and in reality they will prob not break down....in a way I think 'eco' nappies are a bit of a wildcard!! Prob better than plastic ones but I bet Pampers will jump on the bandwagon soon enough...

CescaD · 27/07/2007 09:42

Handwashed? Am impressed. I bow to you Oh Mighty Cloth Nappy Mummy.

CrookshanksWhiskers · 27/07/2007 10:05

bohemianbint - what about getting some all-in-ones just for nursery/CM? I keep Kooshies AIOs for babysitters or to stick in the changing bag when out. They take a bit longer to dry but that's fine if you're not using them all the time.

laundrylover · 27/07/2007 18:30

Cesca - I didn't mean to sound high and mighty - I actually think I am bit sad for never wanting to use dizzies. Hand washing was only rinsing through in the shower/sink and chucking out on the balcony. I am such a pegging out freak that to have all that Spanish sun and no washing out seems a sin!!!

A few of us had a weather moan at indoor play today about our growing mound of damp nappies...going to wash mine and peg out overnight and see what happens.

CescaD · 27/07/2007 23:16

Oh I am genuinely impressed. My one criteria for our holiday rental place was that it should have a washing machine and will then dry them in the sun.

However (dare I admit this) they are currently all in the tumble drier so that they will be clean and dry to pack in the morning. Using up lots of drying energy and totally counteracting the benefit of using cloth in the first place