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?

The worst is when you leave the house, feel proud of yourself for getting you both dressed and out and about, sit down at whatever baby class you're at, smell something odd, then realise you've got a smear of poo on your hand or poo under your nails.

@PaulHollywoodsSexGut the best thing for getting rid of stains is to hang them in the sun, if you have a garden.

@Celebelly I remember getting in my car, in the middle of summer, and driving to town. DC1 had done an epic poo before we left, so I’d changed her and cleaned her up etc. I kept getting this whiff of poo while I was driving and thought “she can’t possibly have shit again!”.
She hadn’t.
I realised that there was actually a little smear of poo between two of my fingers when I went to take a swig of my coffee in town From that moment on, I was really really thorough with my post-poo handwashing

PaulHollywoodsSexGut there arn't any. There are biodegradable liners, but they still aren't flushable. To be truly flushable they'd need to degrade at the same rate as toilet paper, which would defeat the point of them as they start to break down whilst in the nappy.

The problem with flushing biodegradable liners and wipes is that they contribute to fat bergs and pollution. They do eventually degrade but that can take months, or years.

To be fair, whether you use disposables or cloth nappies...we’ve all been in the position where the wipe slips and your finger takes a slide down mud valley right?! confused
So I can’t get me head around the squeamishness about washing a cloth nappy!

yep and i threw up cos of it
i reduced any chance of ick where ever i could

@Lucafritz there are nappy libraries ?

I remember as a child my babysitters son used reusable nappies and she used to rinse them in a flushing toilet ( do people still do that??)
I did consider reusables for dd1 but they are expensive and bulky and really I don't want to deal with actual shit all day when I can simply bag up a disposable nappy and throw it in the bin.

@Ginandgingers92 that pattern is beautiful. Just a shame that it ends up full of shit. Almost an insult to the pattern

mamaraah yes nappy libraries exist. They lend a starter pack out to people so they can test out a range of nappies before committing to them.

It's a bit yuck that you can rent reusable nappies that other babies have previously used.

I do my bit to help the environment( just one car in the family, recycling rubbish, avoiding single use plastic, no unnecessary purchases, hand me downs etc
But I buy disposable nappies, wipes and nappy bags.
I have never bought one of those weird nappy bins that wraps each individual nappy in plastic.
There is no way I would use reusable nappies.

I did use reusables with DC1, 12 years ago. I was having to change her way more than double the amount of times my friends with disposables were, they leaked at the legs every time. She had skinny legs, still does now!. I tried at least 6 different brands, different liners, different covers, all leaked within 2 hours, usually much less.

As she was DC1 I persevered, was not going to give up, but honestly I couldn't leave the house without having to change her at least once even if we were only out for an hour or so. Her tights or leggings got wet patches at the legs all the time. Thank goodness she potty trained herself at 22 months!

I used disposables with DC2 and DC3, with toddlers to keep an eye on aswell, I just couldn't be doing with such frequent nappy changing, when they could last hours in a disposable. I tried, but it just wasn't for us.

@daisydoooo

Good for you

@mamaraah 90% of the nappies I have are preloved. I've just leant my newborn stash to a friend, and then will use them for my next child. There's 13k members in one of the UK Facebook selling groups so obviously plenty of people are okay with secondhand reusables.

It's the replies on here that truly make me despair for the future if people really are too lazy to put an extra 2 loads of washing on a week

Is it lazy or people trying to keep their head above water.
Not everyone falls into parenthood all clucky, happy and in a state to be able to give 2 shits about a tree.
When dd was a baby, just getting dressed and showered was an achievement. 1 load of washing? Bloody go me!! It gets hung? it's a great day.
It was survival

Oh and washing a shitty nappy is no way easier than chucking a disposable in the bin.

People who use 2nd hand reusable, I assume you buy 2nd hand underwear too yeah? If it's good enough for baby, it's good enough for you yeah?

That's not really the same as underwear isn't disposable. A more fair comparison would be second hand reusable sanitary products, and yes, there's a thriving market for these too.

If you wash them properly it's fine. (I wouldn't say an hour wash is long enough though.)

@daisydoooo

“Sigh”

Do you also do tinkly little laughs?

@platform9andthreequarters I'm sorry but second hand nappies 🤢 do you buy second hand knickers for yourself? If not, why would you put second hand nappies on your child?

@daisydoooo how is it easier for you as a busy working parent to wash loads of nappies each week instead of simply buying disposables? By the time you factor in laundry detergent costs and the cost of running the machine, heating the water and drying it's likely more expensive than driving to the store and buying a packet of disposable nappies. Own brand nappies start at £2.99 and do not leak etc.

@mamaraah

@platform9andthreequarters I'm sorry but second hand nappies 🤢 do you buy second hand knickers for yourself? If not, why would you put second hand nappies on your child?

Did you birth on brand new bed sheets? On a brand new bed, in a hospital with brand new equipment?

Or did you probably use stuff that is possible to be appropriately cleaned and sanitised?

@mamaraah No I don't, because as @tangled2 said I don't throw my knickers out everyday. It's not the same. Reusables are designed to be used again and again... Clues in the name. I do buy a lot of clothes second hand though, my kids and mine.

I bought all mine barely used or got them from friends. Besides which, even if I bought them all brand new they'd be second hand by the second child anyway. I don't chuck them out after he's had a bug, I just wash them throughoughly, so it doesn't really matter who's bum they've been on before. (as long as they're washed properly)
Plus most nappies increase their absorbancy as their washed the first few times anyway, so barely used ones saves you time as well as money.

@mamaraah For the first 6months at least and with wet ones, you chuck them in a wet bag, instead of the bin. After a few days you chuck that whole wet bag in the washing machine. All of that would take no more time than chucking a disposable in the bin, then taking a bin bag out a couple of days later.
Then a couple of hours later you take the nappies out the machine and hang them up. Granted this is the bit you wouldn't do so is extra time, but it takes 5 mins tops. And I've pretty much trained my toddler to do it now.