To wonder why more people don't use reusable nappies?

[GinGeum]

I know this will be controversial and I know there will always be some circumstances when they are not suitable, but since becoming a parent, I've not come across a single other parent using reusable nappies.

Everyone I know has also said they were never mentioned to them at all by antenatal classes/midwife/anyone. In the hospital, none of the staff we encountered had any idea what our baby was wearing.

Surely now we are all thinking about reducing plastic, disposable nappies should be fairly high on the list of things to cut down on? Programmes like the war on plastic on BBC barely mentioned disposable nappies. Even switching to reusable wipes would make a huge difference.

AIBU to wonder why reusable nappies aren't promoted more?

15 years ago they came 'in' in our town and were promoted in the local maternity hospital. They offered a happy service where you could pay £10 per week, get a bale of nappies delivered and then the next week they would collect your used happy bucket and give you new ones. It meant no washing, I was initially interested but 2 things out me off: 1. You didn't get your nappies back, they were circulated and the thought of someone else's poo stained nappies turned me 2: I was concerned about leaving nappies in a bucket for a week until collection.

I spent a fortune buying various types of washable and hated them all. I knew when dd pee'd within seconds as the smell of ammonia was so strong, it would literally fill the room. Every single type I tried leaked badly too. Some of them took days to dry (the all in ones) ironically the people I know who like them all use a tumble dryer to dry them.

I tried them. They leaked like mad, needed charging constantly and I hated that they are so bulky

I haven't for a few a few reasons:

Initial costs were high and didn't have it.

Unsure how many nurseries would need from me to keep up (another extra cost)

Level of washing. With an older child with uniform and work stuff for husband to sort, I don't really want to mix their wash with poo and wee nappies.

I haven’t because it is far easier to use disposable ones. There! I said it.

We only drive electric cars though so I’m not all bad.

Re usables are a pain in the arse, that's why.

We were given a set. I tried them. Leaked instantly. So bulky I felt bad for DC trying to learn to crawl with them on. Also didn't fit into his trousers. That was just with wee, I tried them for a day and never made it to the poo stage. We don't have a tumble dryer so was drying outside which would have been impossible in the winter.

Resuables are for people with a passionate belief in them, for whatever reason.

I agree with what was said upthread about the families they know who use them being at the upper end wealth wise. That's true ime. Big houses with high earning DHs, tumble dryers, 2 cars, long haul holidays etc.

Bottom line though, reusables are a total faff and I don't have a personal belief that is strong enough to motivate me into adding that extra faff into my daily life.

That was a strange comment @user1473878824 - I was breastfed too, early 80's baby. Lots of other mums did too. I have heard, however, that mums didn't openly do it in public and didn't have the support we do now when things get difficult. Maybe people don't think it was commonplace as it wasn't so visible?

Reusables are more work but I disagree that they leak all the time. It takes time and research to find cloth nappies that work but once they do they're amazing!

My daughter leaks at night and wakes up in disposables whereas in a cloth nappy I can increase the absorbency, she doesn't leak and doesn't wake up.

Washable wipes are amazing at cleaning, I bought about 30 or 40 and haven't had to buy any wipes for about 18 months. At first I bought boxes and boxes of wet wipes as we went through them so quickly! I've saved so much money now on wipes.

Washing every other day is a pain but so is buying nappies and wipes every week and emptying a bin of shitty nappies. We also do it for the environmental benefits. We also eat less meat, have one car which I try not to use much, buy as much as we can second hand and avoid plastic if possible.

We are not wealthy at all, luckily we had enough money saved for baby stuff to buy a load of cloth nappies at the start. To be honest though some Terry towel nappies and decent wraps don't cost much compared to all the other baby crap you need to buy.

Washing every other day is a pain but so is buying nappies and wipes every week and emptying a bin of shitty nappies.

I find this kind of comment annoying. Of course those two hassles aren't anything like the same level of work. Fair enough to say 'it is more work but you should do it for the environment', but it's disingenuous to pretend it isn't more work.

I find the thing about doing more laundry very hard to get my head around. Unless you don’t have a washing machine (in which case disposables are probably the best option) turning on the machine is hardly a giant hardship. I don’t have a tumble dryer - I do have two of those circular sock hanger things which I hang my nappies from. They’re not hanging all over my house.

Also on this comment - if you're home all day then laundry isn't a big hassle (which is why we have do most of ours at the weekend - and that's one reason why we find the wipes annoying, they can't wait that long). We both work full-time and doing an extra load of washing every other day, hanging it out before work, etc is a pain. I'm not claiming it's a task of Heracles, but I do think it's disingenuous for people to claim it would be no effort at all.

Ahhh why can’t people just let parents use whatever the hell they want without lecturing them on fucking some environmental thing/landfill thing/ better for your soul thing!!!!!! - trying to make them feel bad? Not everyone can afford the huge initial cost, not everyone can afford the disposable bamboo liners, bot everyone has the bloody time. So many god damn reasons. I used reusables with my first, not so with my second as I had a toddler running around and didn’t have time to do so many washes.

I tried a starter kit from the local nappy lady when DS was born. After a week I had a meltdown from the constant laundry and the nappies leaking. Also, with the constant use of the washing machine they're not really as environmentally friendly as you might think. And so expensive to buy your own kit!

We also tried Naty eco nappies which were awful in terms of absorbancy and leakage. We did use water wipes until we realised we had to seriously reduce our spending with being down to one income. They're not cheap.

Ultimately these products need to be better and cheaper for the public to take them up en masse.

Haven't rtft but to me the whole thing seems like a massive ball ache when newborns and the accompanying laundry are already work enough.

I used them years ago, offspring now teens. They worked out much cheaper for me especially as used on second baby as well. Found them less leaky then disposables. Did not get any poo in the washing machine as once babies started solids I sat them on a potty while changing them and caught it all in there.

*Washing every other day is a pain but so is buying nappies and wipes every week and emptying a bin of shitty nappies.

I find this kind of comment annoying. Of course those two hassles aren't anything like the same level of work. Fair enough to say 'it is more work but you should do it for the environment', but it's disingenuous to pretend it isn't more work.*

Except I didn't have a car - sent my company car back while on ML so I didn't pay tax on it. The plan was I had the time to walk everywhere, and it was better environmentally, so I did. Also helped me shed more than pregnancy weight as a bonus. Had I used disposables it'd have caused issues with the volume of shopping I could buy, meaning more trips to the shops (no bus and 45 mins to an hour walk to the supermarket, lovely walk across footpaths so you can see why I opted for this)

Oh I walked everywhere on mat leave (got the shopping, including nappies, delivered though). Then I went back to work and DS didn't magically stop needing nappies and I didn't have time to fill with two hour walks!

I can see how it's pretty doable for a SAHM of one, and perhaps I should have used them for that first six months (though I'd have had an uphill struggle persuading DH, who did the next four months, to use reusable nappies tbh). I am sure now that everyone is back at work we would make it work if we absolutely had to but frankly it feels like all the plates are just about balanced and I don't want another one to spin.

Because I have to hand wash our laundry, and I don't much fancy washing dirty nappies by hand. We don't have a washing machine.

Washing every other day is a pain but so is buying nappies and wipes every week and emptying a bin of shitty nappies.

Buying nappies and wipes every week isn't a pain because I have to go out shopping anyway, so pick them up too, I don't go out specifically just for nappies/wipes... Neither so I specifically sort through the bin to empty it of dirty nappies - nappies go in the bin, bin bag goes outside whether nappies are in it or not, so again where is the inconvenience there exactly, when compared to reusable nappies?

We both work full-time and doing an extra load of washing every other day, hanging it out before work, etc is a pain. I'm not claiming it's a task of Heracles, but I do think it's disingenuous for people to claim it would be no effort at all

Have you used reusables? You don’t need to wash every other day.

We both worked full time.

I had enough terries to last me at least 10 days. Terries are less than £1 each so no huge expense.

At the end of the day I chucked the nappies and bag into the machine. Wednesday I’d run a rinse cycle, and transfer to the nappy pail.

Friday night I ran the full wash overnight, hang out when we got up.

That’s it. Hardly labour intensive. In fact now my kids are teens I do more towel washes per week than I ever did nappies.

One rinse and one wash and dry per week is no effort. For me running a bag of disposables to the outside bin every night is probably worse.

There are a lot of myths being pedalled out, some a touch melodramatic. They do not need 'constant washing' and most babies can use them without 'leaking everywhere'. They're pretty straightforward and you can learn to use them with a bit of a Google, or using a nappy library. It's not complicated.

If you choose to use disposables for whatever reason, then fine, but own it. They are not the most eco friendly option but are the most convenient option. Being vegan/not flying/buying second hand clothes/only having one child is great, but it does not make your does not make disposable nappies environmentally friendly.

It really isn’t a huge amount of work. I did mix it up with disposables. But still saved a whole load going to landfill

By the way, yes I have always worked. I feel like I made a minor reduction into waste.

NewAccount270219 I actually find it easier when I'm at work! The house gets less messy when I'm at work so I have overall less housework to do!

I don't notice the extra 2-3 loads a week. We had a period of 6 months between DS being out of nappies and DD making her appearance, I didn't notice the reduction in washing. It feels constant regardless!

Different reusables fit different babies and at different times, it's why I have a range.

I found some brands of disposables fit better than others though too

frankly it feels like all the plates are just about balanced and I don't want another one to spin.

This is what it comes down to for me. I have a 9mo and a 5yo, I work 4 days a week and DH works FT with a long commute and is away a lot. I have found adjusting from one to two DC incredibly hard and am still struggling with PND, although I'm getting there (slowly). Reusable nappies may not seem like much more work when life is generally ticking along ok. But when you're already exhausted and struggling to keep on top of everything, adding just one more task to your never ending 'to do' list can feel really overwhelming. So yes, I feel guilty about the disposable nappies, the baby wipes, the tumble dryer etc. But i've decided to give myself a break about those things for now because I feel like I'm just about keeping my head above water.

We tried them with DD and DS, we even invested in several different brand starter kits - every single one leaked without fail. DD had super skinny legs, so nothing gave her a decent fit (and after 4 nights of stripping all her bedding 4 times and resorting to her sleeping on towels (as we ran out of bedding)

DS was a super chubby baby with normal legs, but we still had the same problem. so they just didn't work for us.

@ArtistOfTheFloatingWorld I tried them. I had a small grant and spent £100 on set up, using questionnaire from the nappy lady. It was more work then I felt capable handling with a newborn, and they leaked every time. I was really barely hanging on: I had an emergency c-section and can remember crying the first time I cooked a meal 2 weeks in. I normally love to cook but it just felt beyond me. I own that decision, it was totally about convenience, but those ‘myths’ were my reality.