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?

When my DCs were born, the only reusable nappies that were easily available were the traditional terry ones. I expect others were available, but not easy to find and, pre-internet, research was more difficult.
I priced up the cost of good quality terries, along with the plastic pants, liners, cost of extra washing etc and concluded that the initiioutlay was just not doable for us. Coupled with the fact that dc1 was an autumn baby and I had no drying facilities beyond a washing line and a clothes horse for wet days, all in all, disposables seems the better choice for us.
My children only ever had a couple of hours of nappy rash, accounted for by something they ate. Because I dismissive at the time, I used a nappy delivery service - if I called before 10am, nappies were delivered same day, along with various other items they carried, such as creams, formula etc.
Baby wipes were available, but costly, so I only had a small pack I kept for days out. Otherwise I used warm water and cotton wool to clean my babies at nappy change time.
When I was born my mum has no option beyond Terry nappies. But, back then, most new mums stayed home so they had tine to soak nappies then boil wash them. I remember her doing my siblings nappies and it seemed like a neverending job, especially as my mum didn't have a washing machine so washing was dine in the sink or in a 'copper ' with a mangle!

This is similar to what my mum used.

When my DD was a baby, I was a single mum living on the 4th floor of a building with no washing machine. I had to go to the launderette every week-end with a lot of dirty laundry plus a pushchair. That ws not an option for me.

@bluebluezoo it’s always right where the waist band sits on him, always goes when he’s got a disposable on for a few days with steriods usually in the end... it’s the same if he over heats at night too

I'm back again - can anyone recommend some prefolds please? I've been looking at bambino mio, and various bamboo ones, and I'm fairly confused. Are the cheap amazon ones okay? Would you recommend pre-owned? That is of course if I can bid fast enough on eBay - I've been outbid 3 times today, once with 3 seconds to go. :( thank you in advance!

And also... are pocket nappies any good?

I'm sorry for all the questions, I know absolutely nobody who has used reusables and this thread is very helpful!

I love pocket nappies - I use a lot of Baba and Boo. The outers dry really fast, and you can add or take away inserts of different materials to vary absorbancy. We use them successfully at night time too.

One wash a week

And where do the dirty ones go until the "one wash a week" just sitting in the laundry basket?

Pleased to say I used them with DS, now 12, expecting to use them for subsequent babies. I bought some new and others s2nd hand and then sold on what I could after they were no longer needed. I passed on a whole motherease birth to potty set to another mum I bumped into at a soft play who was expecting her 2nd as I saw her 18 month old was in washables and she was able to share them with her sister who was also expecting.
Even my childminder was happy to use them.

I did notice that Aldi currently has on offer the bambino mio BTP nappies, liners etc

And where do the dirty ones go until the "one wash a week" just sitting in the laundry basket

Either a mesh bag in nappy bucket with lid closed or sealed in a wet bag. Not sitting in laundry basket!

@bananaontoast1 I bought a massive bundle of prefolds before DC2 was born so they were used on three of my newborns. I tied them with a thing called a ‘nappy nippah’- safer than a safety pin. It does take some getting used to but doesn’t take long. Also bought the wraps primarily from eBay and again, have been used with three newborns!

Pocket nappies are great and very cost effective. Alva baby pocket nappies are cheap and work well.

Aldi has super cute bambino Mio prints in atm and they’re almost half the price they are on the Bambino Mio site.

You store dirty nappies in a closed bucket or a swing bin will work too. I wash every other day.

I think it's not hard to understand why people don't use them. As someone who did use them exclusively for about 6 months, they are definitely more work than disposables. Not a lot more, but more. I especially hated stuffing liners into the nappy pockets, dull, dull, dull. Prepping them with the liners etc. The smell of the nappy bin when I emptied it (hot country). All liveable with though. Then I put him back in disposables for a summer of travelling and just kind of ... never went back to the reusables . I meant to, but I was lazy and just not motivated enough. If you are someone who cares about the environment, you'll probably stick with it. Otherwise ... meh.

I never thought of a swing bin!
The nice thing about a nappy bucket is that you just take you the mesh bag out and don't need to handle any nappies.
We never soaked anything, we were told not to. We washed about 3x per week.
To avoid leaks leg gussets are good. We tended to buy a couple of different kinds 2nd hand and then buy more of what worked.
We've resold a very large number of them too. I just sold a toddler night nappy for over £25.

@user1480880826 the liners are made out of paper like so. Literally chuck them in the toilet with the poo and flush. I used to make the nappies up as I went along so didn't spend ages preparing them.

This thread is sounding like a 'bottle vs BF' thread - advocates are totally deaf to the reasons why they haven't worked for lots of people and seem to think it's all a case of 'didn't try hard enough'

Nope I totally get why people don't bother with them. I literally bought a few second hand and went from there, No pressure, no large outlays. Plus I used disposables. To be fair I think my eldest was 18 months when I first braved it.

If I'm honest, I haven't used them, as I'm selfish and don't care enough about the environment. My twins are almost out of nappies, but I probably should have used reusable. I struggled with extreme PND and went for the easy option, I guess.

Disposable nappies are a huge problem but the environment impact ia about the same , electricity, detergent. Please DONT flush liners down the toilet, EVER

All my babies were pre disposables, never found the good old terries a problem,

I suppose using reusable nappies in summer is ok (when the weather is good) but where would you dry them in the winter especially if didn’t have a tumble dryer it’s also the thought of poo in the washer as well, they just aren’t very handy really like disposable nappies. My mum used them when I was a baby & said they were brilliant because i was out of nappies by the time I was 2 as didn’t like the dampness & disposable nappies are just too good today!

I meant to but I was ill after the birth and started using disposables. After that the washing got too much - very little space to hang outside, little space indoors and a house that was damp anyway, no tumble dryer.

And, yes, I felt bad about it.

Blimey. It really is no wonder the younger generation are called snowflakes going by a lot of comments on here.

Reusable/washable nappies have been around a lot longer than disposable ones. Mine had Terry nappies and I used a twin tub with my eldest. Guess what, the nappies remained pristine white and none of my washing stunk of shit or had stains on. It's called a washing machine for a reason!!!

Environmental issues go out the window when reusable nappies are compared to disposable due to convenience.

My set of cloth nappies saw my 2 boys through, then were handed on to a friend who used them on both her kids, then got handed on. I reckon I've prevented around 20,000 nappies from entering landfill. Worth the effort of tipping poo into the loo occasionally.