AIBU to wonder why more people don’t use reusable nappies?

[KatyClaire]

I have a fairly new baby and I’m a little surprised at how few people I’ve encountered are using reusable nappies. I haven’t met anyone using them in my antenatal group / baby classes / local parents group etc. There has been such an explosion in the use of reusable products (sanitary products, straws, cups, make up wipes etc) that I had assumed it would have crossed into nappies as well.

I don’t know whether it’s a perception issue (people thinking they’re messy and hard to clean), the upfront cost, confusing information etc?

In all honesty, we did consider it prior to our twins being born (they are 4 now), but it just seemed like an additional stress. We live in a mid-floor flat, with a communal garden, no dryer, and it just felt like it would be too complicated and too much faff.
I had a really difficult pregnancy with them as well, and just... no. It wasn't the right call for us.

@MissBaskinIfYoureNasty

The ones I've used are either crap and leak or look really hefty and uncomfortable on my babies. I also think the culty hoarding of must have prints is a tragic community I don't want to be part of.

But the same could be said for any collectables? People collect all sorts of things, ornaments, stamps, music, cuddly toys, Lego, plants, shoes, models, board games, books, records etc doesn't make them tragic!

Honestly, people are just lazy and can’t be arsed to try. Very very sad, how wasteful our generation is.

oh wah
i didnt need to try to know i hate extra washing and stuff around

I didn’t know collecting prints was a thing! The wraps I use are plain white - very dull.

One person's lazy is another person's time efficiency.

I had twins, I had disposable nappies, I had pre made formula, weekly cleaners and I survived.
I did actually also pump and mix feed but if I had my time again I wouldn't bother with that.

I am profoundly disinterested in replicating what women in the past had to put up with.
After two weeks Dh was back at work and for my maternity leave the dc stuff was mainly up to me.
Large amounts of dirty laundry might just have pushed me over the edge.

Honestly, I found them a pain in the arse. I hated having them hanging everywhere in the flat, no way of drying during winter. LO always smelt a bit pissy too.

I'm environmentally conscious in other ways, and you are much more likely to have a positive impact with something like a ban on flying, or a plant based diet than with reusable nappies. Even changing who you bank with would have more of an impact tbh (if you currently bank with HSBC or Barclays for example)

At the end of the day, babies are hard bloody work. If reusables work for you that is brilliant, but absolutely no judgement should be made towards anyone who uses disposables.

A friend gave us both their old reusable nappies and their old reusable wipes. We tried both, and were open to both. The wipes were brilliant - not much extra washing, much gentler on DS's skin (he has very sensitive skin), and actually worked much better as a product than disposable wipes. The same was not true of the nappies, which leaked, gave DS nappy rash and added so much to our washing. Some of this was probably that because we'd not chosen them ourselves they weren't the right brand for DS, but nothing about our experience with them made me want to shell out money to find out. We weren't fundamentally opposed and didn't have any issues around poo in the machine etc (hence being fine with the wipes) but I just didn't think they were a good product, and I didn't want to spend time and money trying to make them workable for us when we knew that disposables worked just fine.

We tried the reusable nappies and the reusable wipes and gave up on both after a month. The nappies nearly broke me, they leaked constantly, they were big and bulky, the washing machine was on endlessly which is not at all environmentally friendly. One morning around 3am, I had just changed my baby as their nappy had leaked. Just finished and they peed and the nappy leaked again. My husband found me in tears and we just said enough. I found all the “support groups” for this sort of thing full of smug virtue signallers who were the exact opposite of supportive.

We also live in a very hard water area and don’t have a tumble drier (for environmental and space reasons!). The nappies and wipes ended up like sandpaper after a few weeks and were irritating the baby.

People bang on about reusable nappies like they're obviously better than disposables and anyone who doesn't use them doesn't care about the environment.

It's just not that simple:

<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=www.london.gov.uk/about-us/londonassembly/meetings/documents/s77088/c%2520summary%2520list%2520of%2520action%2520-%252023%2520May%25202018%2520LCA%2520updated%25202008%2520003.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwis9qe4htPuAhUCQxUIHSQLDkMQ6sMDMAx6BAgnEAY&usg=AOvVaw3NuT0RnkwWFn60imEEHQRm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=www.london.gov.uk/about-us/londonassembly/meetings/documents/s77088/c%2520summary%2520list%2520of%2520action%2520-%252023%2520May%25202018%2520LCA%2520updated%25202008%2520003.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwis9qe4htPuAhUCQxUIHSQLDkMQ6sMDMAx6BAgnEAY&usg=AOvVaw3NuT0RnkwWFn60imEEHQRm

There are some cases when reusable product are better, and some when they're not. These things are always more complex when you try and weigh up whole life cycle costs vs the plastic argument too.

Some of them, like me, live in small flats with little or no outside space so would find it impossible to wash and especially dry them.
Others may be working long hours and doing their best to do the basics, let alone washing and drying reusables.

Same reason I sometimes buy bottled water.
Or a coffee from Starbucks.
Or a sandwich from the shop.

Because it's easier.

I was quoted £400 by the Nappy Lady for all the equipment needed for a cloth regime to suit us. I think that’s where my flirtation with the ideal of cloth nappies ended......

Also, our household waste is incinerated so my disposable guilt is slightly less than it would be otherwise.

I am profoundly disinterested in replicating what women in the past had to put up with.

Oh, this in spades!

My grandmother used to tell me how endlessly shit her life was when she had three young children in the late 1930s. All that woman did was drudge from the moment she woke up until she went to sleep.

She was in her 80s when I had my first baby and used to love looking round mothercare with me. She thought electric breast pumps and bottle warmers were fantastic.

She would've probably thought I'd gone bonkers if I'd used reusables.

I was quoted £400 by the Nappy Lady for all the equipment needed for a cloth regime to suit us. I think that’s where my flirtation with the ideal of cloth nappies ended......

£400!!! Fucking hell that's a lot of money!

£400! I don’t blame you for finding that off putting. We paid £120 for our system (Terry cloths, liners, wraps, nappy nippers). I reckon that’s about half what we would have spent on this baby even if we had used disposables (based on the cost of a supermarket own-brand at 4p per nappy).

*if not even if

@AaronPurr

The cost is astronomical.

Why do you think the cost of disposables is astronomical? Again no children here, but most on the thread have said the opposite and it's the resusables that can be seriously expensive.

Over time disposables are more expensive. There is a surprisingly big market for second hand nappies, so they can be sold for up to 50% of the original price it does work out much cheaper. But it's an upfront cost which is prohibitive for some

Loved the idea and aspired to be the ultimate Earth mother. Bought all the gear. It was shit covered in shit basically.

Incidentally I also tried a moon cup but pulling it out felt surprisingly similar to attempting to suck my innards out with a plunger.

*Over time disposables are more expensive.
There is a surprisingly big market for second hand nappies, so they can be sold for up to 50% of the original price it does work out much cheaper. But it's an upfront cost which is prohibitive for some. *

Whilst some will indeed spend less overall using reusables I don't see how that makes disposables astronomical cost wise. Almost everyone could afford a pack of nappies every week or even less depending on how old your child is, I know very few who would be able to spend 100s upfront. Even the OPs £120 outlay is unobtainable to a huge amount of people.

Also it must be a huge gamble as there is absolutely no garuntee you would be able to sell the nappies on after using them.

I was really committed to using reusable nappies & did all the research. I got money off some reusable nappies through a local authority voucher scheme. It seemed very complicated & made me realise why so many people don’t consider it. Then my daughter was born after a difficult birth & spent time on the NICU & I just didn’t have the headspace for it. I actually no regrets at all & im glad I didn’t make my life any harder. I also think that toddler poo is a lot more gross than young baby poo & the thought of scraping & soaking seems rather grim.

I did for my first for some of the time, it was expensive to set up, they didn’t work well for us and they were bulky, we couldn’t dry quick enough to keep up with the amount we were going through, or the other washing, he leaked, tried others, they leaked, they didn’t keep his bum dry like disposables. I persevered for ages and I kept them but never got round to trying with DD and for all they’ve supposed to have improved I think they’re still shit!

@Bluekangaroo123

I was really committed to using reusable nappies & did all the research. I got money off some reusable nappies through a local authority voucher scheme. It seemed very complicated & made me realise why so many people don’t consider it. Then my daughter was born after a difficult birth & spent time on the NICU & I just didn’t have the headspace for it. I actually no regrets at all & im glad I didn’t make my life any harder. I also think that toddler poo is a lot more gross than young baby poo & the thought of scraping & soaking seems rather grim.

TBF you should have a liner inside the nappy that catches the poo so you just throw that out and the nappy is mostly clean (most of the time!)

For toddlers who only need to be changed once or twice a day they're pretty good. But then the cost-benefit isn't there to buy the reusable ones just for that stage.

Many reasons, most of which people have outlined above. Mainly because they're horribly bulky and keep baby less dry than disposables, which i can't imagine would be very comfortable.

@SummerHouse

Loved the idea and aspired to be the ultimate Earth mother. Bought all the gear. It was shit covered in shit basically.

Incidentally I also tried a moon cup but pulling it out felt surprisingly similar to attempting to suck my innards out with a plunger.

That's another thing I don't want to try after reading about women ending up with prolapses after bearing down whilst pulling out their cups

Over time disposables are more expensive.
There is a surprisingly big market for second hand nappies, so they can be sold for up to 50% of the original price it does work out much cheaper. But it's an upfront cost which is prohibitive for some

I understand that over time the cost of disposables probably exceeds that of reusables, but I still don't understand how anyone could call the cost of disposables astronomical.