To start using reusable nappies at 1 year old?

[chocolaterain]

I know it's not AIBU, but whenever I post in relevant sections I hardly ever get a reply!

I have a 2 year old and a 1 year old and have always used disposable nappies. I'm aware it's very environmentally unfriendly, but have always imagined reusables to be like a terry towel with safety pins and a lot of faff with washing and cleaning and so have not really ever entertained the idea.

However I have recently come across the bambino mio ones in ALDI, and after having a little look into them it doesn't seem like much work at all.

AIBU to ask is it worth changing over to reusable at 1 year old? (Hoping to potty train 2yo soon so that won't be an issue). Is it much hard work? Will it cost me a fortune? I don't have space for them to be line dried outside so would need to be tumbled or on a clothes airer.

Whoops posted too soon.

What brands and things should I even be looking at? I want to make things as easy as possible for myself.

I know I would need Napisan but do I need detergent as well?

Any other tips very welcome.

No need for napisan. You wash them at 40 or 60 degrees on a long cotton cycle with a cold rinse at the beginning, and using non bio powder.

Definitely never too late to start. You could even look at overnight nappies for your 2 year old (nothing worse than throwing away night time pull ups that have little or no wee in! If you're doing a nappy wash for younger anyway, may as well stick a night time one in too)

I would advise you to fill out the Nappy Lady Questionnaire (just Google the Nappy Lady website) - there are so many different types and they all suit different people for different reasons

Absolutely! It’s not all or nothing - you can use cloth when you want and disposables when it suits better. Both of my children sailed through potty training after being in cloth; there are loads of benefits!

No reason why not! It will cost a fair amount at the beginning but over time the costs will be offset by not buying disposable nappies. Bambino mios also have a reasonably good resale value so you could sell them on when you're finished with them (there are Facebook groups specifically for this)

I found bambino mios great, we used them for about 18 months with DD. Washed with own brand basic powder and miofresh, tumble dried them most of the time with no problems.

As PP mentioned using cloth also helps make potty training easier/earlier. My daughter was potty trained at 21 months after being in cloth nappies whereas many of her friends were 2 and a half or more.

Thank you for all the info that's really helpful!

Interesting about potty training too, I may give that a go, as like you say still better than pull ups for night time.

With regards to cleaning them - how do you go about getting rid of poo before you wash them? Eldest obviously does normal "logs" which I can easily tip down the toilet, but youngest still mostly does mushy ones so I'm not sure about how to scrape it off?

I started using them when my eldest was eleven months old. I wanted to use them from the beginning but also imagined the old school terry nappies with a pin and my relatives said it would be too much hard work. It really isn’t! I have four DC now including a nine month old and have used reusables for all of them, some of them have literally been used for all four of them!

Bambino Mio is an excellent make, I love them. No need for napisan, just stick them in the machine and use your usual non-bio stuff.

Oh and yes, scrape the poo off if needs be with toilet roll.

See the nappy lady website for further advice. She has a questionnaire which signposts you to recommended products. You don’t have to buy from here, but it’s a good starting point. You can also buy them second hand from eBay, reusable Facebook sites etc.

I’ve recently bought some to be used when I have my next DC in a few weeks and would have hired or bought second hand if I could find the ones I needed.

Good luck.

You may have a Nappy Library in your area which could help www.uknappynetwork.org/find-a-library.html

See if there’s a nappy library near you. I rented a newborn nappy kit from them, with lots of different brands and types to see which worked for me, and they did a kit of nappies for bigger babies (I think basically just not newborn sized) to hire for a week as well, so you can see which types suit you best. They also did a demonstration of the various types, discussed how to clean them etc. It was an NCT one and when I rented the kit I also got a sheet of discount codes for various nappy websites so it was definitely worth doing.

Ooh thank you for the info about nappy library! Never even heard of it before, so clicked the link and there's one about 20 mins away from me which is fab!

It is ridiculously easy if you have a home washing machine (and dryer). We didn’t skimp on choosing cloth diapers and I liked having a good size stash so we didn’t have to wash daily and I only had one child so no reuse. Still saved money over disposables.

The only trouble we had was a trip we took that we decided to use disposables. Dd didn’t pee for 24 hours. Thankfully I had brought a few cloth diapers just in case she got a rash from the disposables because when I finally put one on her she peed instantly. I have an unusually stubborn child though. I don’t think It’s a common problem.

You put a liner in the nappy so v easy for poos - you can even get flushable liners, although I used fleece ones and just shook them down the loo to get the poo off. When DS was younger, I'd hold the liner under the loo flush to get the runnier poo off then put liner (and nappy) straight into the wet bag.