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?

Studies do show that they aren’t hugely better than disposable nappies but the study assumed lots of things but particularly tumble drying cloth nappies and also that they weren’t used for multiple children both of which are flawed assumptions. But irrespective they don’t fill up land fill which has to be positive. We used tea tree oil in our nappy bucket and reusables worked for both my DDs. We used disposables if we needed to like if we were going away for a weekend but I think more people should try them but get that they won’t work for all but think they would for more people than try them

@bananaontoast1 I'd try the FB reselling groups if ebay bidding is an issue. I got all mine on there, about 20 for less than £50. Have sold them all on again for what I paid save for a few which are going to my Goddaughter's mum who is using reusables. There also may be a nappy library near you, check on Facebook or ask about in parenting groups or at the children's centre if you have one.

They did soak through quicker than disposables, and DD's dad and my mum who both had her on their own refused to use them, but they saved me a lot of money and I could wash them and didn't even notice any extra washing as washed daily anyways, and DD hated being wet so was potty trained before she was 2. But disposables are a lot more convenient for many parents, so can see why they're not for everyone and don't really bat an eyelid at anyone who doesn't use them. I also loved how cute they were!

As for poo in the washing machine, you scrape it off into the loo (which you're meant to do with disposables but many people don't bother to do that) and give it a rinse, no more poo goes in the machine than a poonami explosion that gets onto their clothes which happens with disposables anyway, at least it did for me (didn't start using reusables until she was almost one). Lived in a first floor maisonette with no outdoor drying space but never had an issue. They were a pain to take outside of the house which wasn't a huge problem as I didn't go out much! I was a single SAHM, so had the luxury of time and making choices for my DD when she was with me, a lot of childcare settings won't do cloth nappies as they're a faff and have to store them somewhere.

Tl;dr: they're great if you can use them, but not convenient for a lot of people. My absolute favourite thing about them was never running out of nappies. A late night dash to the corner shop to pick up disposables when I ran out was no longer needed! Entirely to each their own, yes the environment is a factor but not one that even crossed my mind when using reusables.

Some people think you're minging or weird for using them, and how gross your washing must be if you're washing nappies. These responses are as silly as those demanding people who are unable to use cloth, to use cloth. You do you

It was already hard dealing with post natal. The environment can take a back seat.

That's the truth.

You don't get poo in your washing machine! You use nappy liners which catch most of the mess and then these are thrown away. However, I suspect nappy liners aren't recyclable so you need to take that into account as well as the water and energy you'll use when washing the nappies so don't think that reusable nappies have a zero environmental effect.

They're not so convenient if you're out and about. And to make it economical to wash them you need to keep them in a bucket until you have a machine load (they'll be washed on the hottest wash and obviously need to be done separately).

The answer really is to put pressure on the manufacturers to come up with a more environmentally-friendly disposable nappy.

I had three babies in cloth nappies. The benefits

1. No poo in my machine as it went down the toilet.
2. Didn’t take up much extra time, it takes as much time to bung them in the machine as it does to get them out of a packet. Takes as much time to peg them out and fold them as going to the shop to buy them
3. They saved me lots of money. First lot I bought pre loved then saved for both to potty ones after three months. My two youngest shared nappies
4. No stinky bins
5. No cancer causing chemicals on my babies skin and reduced nappy rash compares to friends babies in disposables
6. Plastic nappies last forever in landfill and my cloth ones were passed into other babies. They were biodegradable when their life is over
7. They look cute
8. Cloth nappied babies tend to be potty trained quicker

No brainier for us

The initial price to start up. Both of my children have allergies and would have explosive diarrhoea 10+ times a day that’s without wee! I would probably need at least 15 nappies a day. That would have been a lot to start off with or I would be washing an extra load everyday and no room to dry it all

I tried it with my twins but just couldn’t keep on top of it and had lots of problems - they had terrible eczema and reacted horribly to every laundry detergent, even the gentlest non bio. That didn’t seem to get the nappies clean enough either, which was a very bad combo as far as their undercarriages were concerned. They had insanely explosive poos which burnt their skin too (only realised this was down to CMPA much later), and leaked out of the reusables, plus we were dealing with other health issues, exclusively pumping because they couldn’t latch, so all the pumping time, washing up, sterilising... something had to give. I just couldn’t manage.

If I had a singleton and no disability issues to deal with, I’d definitely use them.

I think disposable nappies should be banned or made very expensive so they were a last resort. Think of the landfill that would be saved.

My DD has used cloth nappies on all 3 of her DC. She made me feel very guilty when she reminded me that the disposable nappies she wore 35 years ago are still in landfill! 😔

Can someone tell me how poops in a nappy loner are meant to be disposed of?

*liner

eveb

The same as any other poo - drop it into the loo or spray off into the loo.

I live in wales so we put our nappies in a separate bin and it gets collected weekly and recycled. So no smell particularly, no landfill waste etc. So it is possible. Our council recycles loads of stuff,our general waste only gets collected once every 4 weeks. Maybe some people instead of having a go at people using disposable nappies you could focus their energy on convincing councils to join one of these nappy recycling schemes.

Either shake/flush the solids off into toilet and wash liner if it's a fleece one or if it's a disposable liner it can be bagged and binned.

Mix of factors with ds1 (altho I am going to try and use some with DC2)

1. Not sure of environmental argument due to energy costs etc of washing reusable, especially if only used for 1 child.
2. I knew people who used them. They were full/wet more quickly than disposables and the child needed to be heavily boosted to last the night making it hard to fit pyjamas.
3. Cost. The easier shaped type ones are really very costly plus you need to add in washing costs. Someone upthread was suggesting disposables were 15p a nappy... I use asda little angels, more like 7-8p. You need to buy a LOT of washables because they can take a long time to dry thoroughly.. DS was potty trained by 2 so I think I might have actually spent more on washables. And before anyone says it, I just wouldn't have wanted second hand nappies.
4. Finding one that worked for us time wise. Different styles etc suit different people. As an underconfident FTM I just didn't have the time or energy to be faffing with nappy libraries trying to work out the best one for us to buy.

Ginny I saw a piece on the news about an Italian who set up a recycling plant for disposables... really cool!! Pampers etc surely have a duty and vested interest in doing the same, can only be a good thing (and would keep people buying their disposables)!

I don’t think this is a recent problem. I used terry nappies for our kids 20+ years ago and even then, I was the only one in our antenatal group and considered rather strange.
Really wasn’t difficult once we got used to it. Keep a pile of nappies ready folded, add a flushable thin liner ( the answer to all the poo questions), pin into place and plastic pants over the top. Dirty nappies (minus liner) in a bucket of sterilizing solution and one 90 degree wash each day.
Not sure why everyone else used disposables as they were horrendously expensive and had to be disposed of somehow Marketing hype probably

In our case? We both worked full time and long hours. Kiddo at nursery more time than most of the staff (around 50 hours a week). We did not have the time or the energy to do the extra washing and drying involved.

Oh and it's not true cloth nappy kids are potty trained any earlier. My friends who did cloth trained later than DS in disposables did, and at a similar time to friends who used disposables. Age of potty training seemed more influenced by how much time the parents had, nursery approach to it etc.

I did consider it briefly when DD was a baby but our washing machine at the time was really old (3rd hand) and not energy efficient so expensive to run and also was getting to the stage of not cleaning stuff properly so sometimes took 2 full washes to get stuff clean. Our flat also had no central heating and no outdoor drying area so it took a long time to dry clothes. I estimated the amount of nappies I would need to allow for drying time and all the extra washing expense with my rubbish washing machine it would have worked out too expensive and a lot of faff. If I was to have another (unlikely) I would now be in a position to consider them and would probably go for a mix of disposable and reusable.

I work full time!

Your nappies are lovely

As for poo in the washing machine, you scrape it off into the loo (which you're meant to do with disposables but many people don't bother to do that)

People keep saying this - says who? I checked earlier out of curiosity and it doesn't say this on nappy packaging and googling it I find either a) nothing b) Mumsnet threads of people confidently claiming this is true with no sign of where it comes from or c) references to putting a nappy in the toilet for potty training, depending on what search terms I use

I switched to cloth with my second and I wish I had started sooner. It was a bit tricky to get into the swing of things but now I'm much more comfortable with it. I don't even blink twice at getting rid of the poo!

We asked family & friends to help contribute to the cost of the nappies when they asked what we wanted which helped massively. I also think reusable nappies differ massively on quality - we've used some rubbish brands which could have put me off if we didn't have a few different nappy brands to start with.

I find a lot of these threads treat women's time as disposable as much as the nappies. I used eco disposables after a brief flirtation with the compostable type (it is feasible with a big garden - a trial was done in Ireland - although would be better organised by a council, like with the garden bin collections). I bulk ordered them mail order, so very cheap and never ran out.

Many aspects of life could be greener but it's interesting how many women use this sort of stuff as a stick to beat other women with.