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?

I used them with our first and as soon as I went back to work dh bought disposibles. He hated carrying all of it about and then the washing of them etc. Plus nursery wouldn't use them, that was 15 years ago though.
When it came to dc 2 I don't think we even got them out. He was prem and then in and out of hospital so they stayed stored.

We bought a huge set 2nd hand for £50 and then I sold them on for over £100 when I came to sell them. So the cost saving would have been amazing especially as we went on to have 4 dc.

Haven't rtft but we're thinking of doing cloth nappies and DH was all for buying a second washing machine so I think that has something to do with it for some people.

I was also shocked how expensive they are in the UK. That's a huge barrier even if they do save you money in the long run.

Lots of misinformation on this thread, most of it anecdotal. That is the primary reason people don’t use reusables I guess, they listen to anecdotes such as ‘my friend uses cloth nappies and they have to bulk out the nappies at night so much pyjamas don’t even fit!’

It’s not true. You can buy amazing bamboo nappies or just a bamboo soaker which is more than sufficient. Baby/toddler pyjamas are generally cut to allow space for nappies so will be roomier around the bottom.

‘My friends child potty trained later than mine who was in disposables’ is not evidence that children in reusable nappies potty train later. That’s one case.

You don’t need to buy a second washing machine for nappies, that is OBSCENE. Also, they do not have to cost a lot of money. It completely depends on how bothered you are about cute prints, which type of nappy you buy, whether you’re bothered about using preloved ones etc.

You can buy reusable nappy liners, I’ve never used disposable ones. Poo enters your washing machine regardless unless you throw everything your baby poos on away (wasteful!)

You can dry in the winter using an airer- heated or otherwise. Depends on the nappy but all in one nappies practically exit the washing machine dry so don’t take long at all.

We are part time cloth users. A disposable at night and cloth during the day. We have 11 cloths - enough for at least two/three days then do a wash. the wash goes on when I go to bed then they go on the washing line or radiator in the morning.

Bought all of our cloth nappies whenever they have been on offer - started off buying just a couple then have bought a couple more when I can afford to - Bambino Mio have just been on offer at Aldi (£8 rather than the normal £15) so I haven't spent a fortune on them and I shouldn't need to buy any more.
My dh was unsure about using them at 1st but now he says there is no difference in using them - other than the cloth nappy goes in the bucket and not the bin.

We did have a couple of leaks at 1st but once I was shown how to put them on DD properly we haven't had any leaks .... unlike the nightly disposables which leak at least once a week despite changing brands.

Because as the main parent whilst my child was a baby (cause partner worked FT), I couldn't be arsed to make life any more difficult for myself. Yet another responsibility on a woman's shoulders? Nah mate, fuck right off with that.

Yet another responsibility on a woman's shoulders Quite.

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.

I agree.

@whattodowith the problem with heated clothes dryers is that, even with the window open, all that hot moist air hitting cold walls and windows in winter = mould. We found ourselves doing one wash a day, add on another nappy wash every other day and we kind of run out of places to dry things. And the house gets (more) mouldy.

@whattodowith and when we tried cloth nappies, they did not last the night. Sorry my anecdotal experience contradicts your opinion.

@reetgood but that is your experience. Maybe you tried the wrong type of nappy at night. I have used them with all of my DC and they never wake up wet, that has been my personal experience.

You can use normal airers too.

@whattodowith I had some great advice earlier in the thread that trying out a few different types, bit by bit rather than buying in a job lot works well. Sadly, that’s what I did and what we had didn’t work for us. Son is 19months now so ship has sailed but am repeating advice in case anyone is browsing and considering using cloth nappies.

We simply found that they didn’t work for us. Clothes airers mean nappies take longer to dry, and with sheer volume of laundry (reflux, so much spitting up) plus shock of newborn plus Velcro baby (did I mention reflux) plus emergency c-section plus all the newborn stuff... I did not have the capacity.

That’s the annoying thing on this thread, people pretending it’s ‘just’ another load and ‘just’ on the aired and ‘just’ so simple and you ‘just’ need to find the nappy that works for you. It’s not, they are a small but real extra effort and mental load. I did not have the capacity to add to my mental load. Some do, buts it’s mendacious to pretend that it isn’t additional work!

We tried & tried & tried, but all they did was leak!

And we bought ours for £50; not too bad.

This thread has encouraged me to try at least part time! Have ordered a second hand Bambino MioSolo from eBay. Anyone got any other recommendations for all in ones that fit like nappy pants? 9 month old still has terrible reflux and can’t have anything tight on her tummy.

Had a chat with MIL last night too (she has DD four days week in term time while I’m teaching, then nursery has her one day) and she’s really not keen. Said she had such a horrendous experience in the 70s with terries/safety pins/no heating/no bathroom that it’s put her off for life. Wonder if this is also true for some others of her generation? And therefore they have put off their children inadvertently?

@hooraysuperworm There's probably something in that. I was visiting my gran recently and mentioned we use cloth nappies and she was going on about the olden days and how long it took. And then I showed her one of our all in ones and she was amazed! She was still thinking safety pins and boiling nappies in big pots and complex folding techniques.

Oh and TotsBots do good all in ones but make sure you get the newer style as the old style had some leaking problems. They do good deals on their trial packs from time to time too where you get an all in one as well as a wrap, nappy, and some booster pads.

@Lucafritz 15p a nappy, where do you buy them from! Tesco newborn - £1.80 for 50 which makes them 3.6p each where I live.

I know @Armadiloes- I actually did a price comparison on them a few weeks ago and the only ones at that sort of price are the premium brands such as Kit & Kin, Rascals and Pampers Pure. Supermarket own brands are more like 3 or 4p a nappy.

I was looking at the main brand competitor which seems to be pampers. And using newborn nappies as price comparison is pointless as they get more expensive per nappy the bigger the nappy you buy but for sake of argument if your spending 3.6p per nappy and your baby was average at about 6-8 nappies per day you'd be spending about £8.60 a month in nappies with the added risk of running out of them or baby having a bad reaction to all the chemicals in them etc whereas with a reusable as i stated upthread it costs about 15p per wash to clean them so 2 washes a week depending on the size of the nappy stash would cost only £2.40 per month. Also as mentioned by previous posters disposables stink they don't biodegrade at all they kill the planet (that thing your children need to live) and there are expensive plus all the faff of running out of them having to go to the shops constantly for more etc. Im choosing to pass on all that plus a cloth nappy baby looks so much cuter than a baby in a soggy looking disposable that looks like it constantly needs a change. I rest my case won't be furthering this argument with idiots who can't see past their own selfishness and immaturity to actually do some of their oen research and do what's right for their children and grandchildrens futures

I've just read the whole thread and it's interesting that a lot of the people who use reusables mention having 3 or 4 children.

Not that environmentally conscious then.

We are one and done (not for environmental reasons) but I should be able to recoup quite a lot of the money I've spent on nappies by selling them on. It is more of an expenditure if you're just having one child as you don't get to use them for subsequent kids, but there's such a thriving second-hand market that I'll probably be able to get at least 40% of what I paid back when I come to sell, which makes the upfront cost a bit more palatable!

If anyone is interested in trying, if you use code WTRIAL, you can get the TotsBots trial kit for £28, which is really good value.

www.totsbots.com/category/trial-kits/product/one-size-trial-kit

It has an all in one as well as a wrap and nappy, inserts and liners, so you can try two different types. Even if you try and don't like, you'll be able to sell on and barely lose any money.

We tried them and spent over £300 on a kit but unfortunately they only lasted a couple of hours and left awful marks on my sons legs. We tried a few other brands but with no luck and it seemed like we were always washing them. So we've sadly moved on to using kit&kin which are working much better for us.