Re-Useable Nappies, are they any good?

[Leveller1]

I need to get some input from anybody who has used re-useable nappies with washable/diposable liners & pads, like mothercares smart nappy, fuzzibunz or any other brands.

I want to be green but my lady is scared it will be too much trouble or just Useless, not re-useable.

Any comments greatly appreciated...

I used them with 1st DS but didn't for DD2. I couldn't do two in reusable it was too much work. Also, we had moved house and didn't have a utility room. I felt it wasn't hygenic to rinse them in the sink.

There are some really good websites that will go through the basics with you and sell really good brands. I don't know about mothercare smart nappies, or fuzzybunz. I used Totsbots, they are really good. Motherese are also a very popular brand. www.thenappylady.co.uk/

I meant the kitchen sink. Also our wasning machine was rubbish and didn't clean the nappies well and we couldn't afford a new one. I'd say you need to be committed as they are more work than disposible. But cheeper and much much better for the environment.

Firstly stay well away form the smartnappy! they are dreadful, leak and will make you wish you had stuck to disposables!

You need to think what is important to you - do you have a tumble dryer or drying space indoors for the winter, do you want natural materials or is fleece/microfibbre okay. I would suggest you buy a few second hand ones - all in ones and 2 part nappies (nappy plus waterproof cover) and try them out. Cloth Nappy tree is a good place to buy seconf hand or on the for sale boards here.

We used only washable from birth to potty training, and I worked full time (as did dh) from the time ds was 4.5 months. No problem at all, and they are much less leaky than disposables going on how many leaks other people had

I'm using both - TBH I really prefer the disposables because:

No washing
No storage of dirty nappies for washing
Way less bulky - he can't move very freely in the washables
I can tuck the baby wipe in a disposable and throw away one neat bundle. I'd need to use washable wipes to do this with the washables.
When out and about it's way more icky to have a ziplock bag with a dirty prefold in it than a neat disposable parcel (which you would probably just put in a bin anyhow)

That said, having the prefolds and covers available is rather handy for when I realise I've run out of disposables and can't get to the shops for a couple of days, and they really are easy to use.

I'm not sure there's much of an economy either if you buy disposables in bulk - I have 12 prefolds and 2 covers and worked out that I'd have to use them exclusively for 6 weeks in order to get my money back.

If I was using these exclusively I'd want more prefolds for my 6 week old as he can go through 12 nappies in the daytime with no difficulty!

The TotsBots Flexitots ones are excellent. They're velcro-fastening so as quick and easy to put on as a disposable (no complicated folding or stuffing), they have bamboo filling so they're incredibly absorbent, and DD only needs two a day so there's not heaps of washing. She uses a disposable at night for convenience but the washables are fantastic. They don't get poo-leaks up their backs the way they do with disposables, either!

I'm not a fan of washable liners - we use a throwaway liner and simply stick that in the nappy bag with the wipes. Still a neat parcel to throw away. Modern washables don't need soaking before you wash, either, and if you stick a bit of bicarb in the bucket with them then they don't smell. There's no odour from our bucket unless you actually take the lid off and have a sniff.

We did used to use disposables when out and about, but now she only poos once a day in the morning and I can't remember the last time she had to have a nappy-change while we were out so the question of taking a nasty nappy home hasn't arisen.

I use plain old terry squares that you fold and I think washable nappies are easy :). The advantage of using terry squares is that they are so cheap you can buy loads of them which cuts down on your washing. Plus they are quick to dry.

However, you can get so many nappies that go on just like a disposable and are very easy. A few weeks ago dd went through all her nappies while at a friend's house and I ended up borrowing one of her bumgenius nappies and I was very impressed. Dd gave it a good poo test and it was so quick to dry.

bumgenius, fuzzi bunz, greenkids and happy heiny all a hit in our house, easy to use, easy to wash. Nappyzone gives a 10% discount to mumsnetters. Were not so keen on 2 parters, not sure why - think pockets suited us more as just went on like a sposie and were slim fitting.

We use Itti Bittis (snap-in-ones). They're really simple and have colour coded poppers so DH can put them together. They are sized though so you'll need small, medium and large, however I bought quite a few secondhand to keep costs down. 1yr down the line, I think we've saved loads of money over the cost of disposables and its one thing we don't need to factor into the cost of weekly shopping.

I've found the Itti Bittis to be great, they're slim fitting so fit under trousers quite well and they last on DD a couple of hours. If we're on a long journey, I do use a disposable for convenience just to be sure we don't have a leak if DD does a mammoth wee.

Washing is really simple and we use a nappy bucket in the nursery for dirty ones. They're really easy to use, you just need to keep on top of washing them! I would say that you need access to either/or a tumble dryer, airing cupboard or radiators for winter drying.

I used prefolds and got on great with them. Saved loads of money (Got all I'd ever need and more for about £60 from someone who bought them with good intentions, but never used them) - I loved not paying out for nappies. I didn't really get the shopping bug wrt the nappies - but you can if you're that way inclined; there are loads of really sweet and stylish ones out there, it's quite a market. And I really never felt I was doing any extra work with them. The washing machine does it. I didn't rinse them, just put them in the bucket. DD never got nappy rash. And if you have any more DCs you save again.
I've not heard anything good about those smart ones though.

STAY AWAY FROM THE SMARTNAPPIES!! They are HORRID and give cloth nappies a bad name (as generally the are the only ones available from an actual shop and not the internet!)

I second the pocket ones - we found them fab and they come in great cute designs.

Keep your eye out on your local freecycle and just give them a good wash (which is what you would do once they are used anyway!)

Also remember that a lot of councils give out a grant when you produce receipts - further reducing your costs! (The cost has to be looked at long term..even buying in bulk sposies and adding on water and detergent costs, if you use them exclusively you are quids in.)

I am on my third child with my set, and some of them look as good as new!

Thanks a lot for your advice, will defo steer clear of the smartnappy now, gona try one from online.
Also goodmanners, what are the pocket nappies which you refer to, is this instead of pads and liners?

Also what does everyone mean when saying prefolds?

Hi Leveller1, I don't know where you live but my local council loans out trial kits of washable nappies for a month for a £50 deposit. It allows you to see which ones you get on with both in terms of fit/ ease of use and drying. We had a winter baby with no tumble drier so all bamboo was out as took 2 days to dry on airer.

I use bumgenius but they aren't that great at night so I have just invested in some eccobots bamboo and fleece nappies with wraps.

Prefolds are nappies that you fold into a pad and keep in place with a nappy cover. They are very cheap and there is less folding involved than with terry squares, some people love them and others absolutely hate them so perhaps worth getting a few to try but not buying loads at once.

Pocket nappies are the waterproof outside bit but with nothing absorbant. This outer has a pocket on the inside which you then stuff to make the nappy absorbant. They are good because you can put as much or as little as you like in it and then it all comes apart to dry (you don't have to take it apart when it is dirty, all the stuffing will just fall out in the machine). You can buy inserts to stuff them or just use folded terries, muslins or even cheap microfibre cloths.

If you take a look at websites cuch as twinkle there are nappy trial kits you can get with one each of a few different nappies for about the cost of most council schemes.

We use 2-part cloth nappies with DS2 and they're great (popolino nappies with a mix of popolino and motherese wraps). They're really easy to use and just about never leak (whereas disposibles never really stood up to runny breastmilk poo). Now he's up and walking they give him lots of padding when he comes a-crashing down (and, as an added bonus, they help keep his trousers us).

His old nursery used cloth nappies too, but we've now moved and the new one provides disposibles. The result has been that poor DS has had loads of nappy rash.

forgotten tomato nappies were the only thing keeping ds2's trousers up. He has no bum. Since he potty trained he has been wearing only trousers with maternity-style adjustable waists.
We used prefolds with a nappy nippa, terry squares and at night a bamboo nappy was good...just got everything out as dc3 due in 4-5 weeks...
It is cheaper. Try eco-bumbles (£3) from easy peasy nappies, stuffed with cheap terry or microfibre cloth. And don't buy teeny tiny nappies for newborns they will grow out of them in 2 weeks. Ds2 had the same nappies from 3 months until potty-trained (but as mentioned, has not got much of a bum).

BumGenius Flip are excellent - never had a leak. You can re-use the covers up to 2 or 3 times, just changing the insert each time. So we bought 10 covers and 20 inserts, which works well for us. The micro-fibre insert dries really quickly and the nappies aren't bulky. Haven't really found it a hassle at all, and saves us loads of money. We got a 50 quid grant from our council as well, which helped. We use disposables at night.

Leveller1 -Kittykins, Kittykins Which Nappy and The Nappy Lady are great sites for info on cloth nappies imo.

Sorry leveller toget back to you pockets are like these. The absorbant bit goes in thepocket, between botty and absorbant soaker (insert) is normally a stay dry lining so little bums stay dry. They have pul outers to keep them watertight. Good luck with your search.

Smartnappies were good from about 2 weeks to 4 weeks old, and then too small.

It's a pad of cloth to absorb wee, held in place somehow. It's not rocket science but the exact best versions will be different brands for different babies.

Have a look on Freecycle, Clothnappytree and Ebay for a bundle of small-sized nappies, as they often go incredibly cheaply.

Just chuck them in a lidded bucket when dirty. I wash about twice a week, along with ds's clothes, and dry them on a radiators - I have lots of space though. If you're in a small flat without radiators then it's a bit tougher, but I only started using reusables as I was given some, and 2 years later I've probably spent about £50 on liners and extra nappies, and about the same on disposables for travelling/grandparents etc.

Well worth a try even if you don't use the reusables all the time.

Cheers All. Plenty of stuff to cogitate upon.

We used them with DS, mostly motherease and tots bots cotton ones (used to be able to get a VERY good value pack of those on Amazon, but not sure whether it's still on there!). Also Blueberries are lovely but very expensive (they are pocket ones).

I really didn't find them that much hassle as long as you have the shaped ones - we started out with terries but I hated them as they are so hard to get on a wriggly baby without them all unfolding. That said, I still found washable ones a bit harder than disposables to get on once they get a bit older and more wriggly, as you have to keep the liner and nappy together and then put on the wrap, so need to keep them still for longer. Pocket styles are a bit easier for that though as no separate wrap, so only got to keep the liner and nappy together.

I did find clothies better at keeping in explosive new-baby poos than disposables, where it tends to all shoot up their back or out the leg every so often! If we ever had leaks with them it was usually just wee, so not nearly as messy. When they get onto solids and start doing more solid poos, that's when the papery liners really come into their own as you can just chuck the liner and most/all of the poo straight down the loo, and the nappies stay much cleaner.

My top tip is ALWAYS try before you buy lots, as different styles work for different babies - if they don't fit your particular baby well they will leak (this goes for disposables too btw, don't buy tons of one brand without trying a small pack first!).

I didn't find washing them all that much hassle when we just had DS, just bunged a load in the washer a couple times a week, no need to soak them or anything. Also it is easy enough to combine them with disposables if you want, e.g. we used disposables if travelling, and always at night as DS went through a phase of very heavy weeing and I never quite trusted the clothies to get him through the night!

We stopped using them when we moved house though, as we were living at MIL's for a bit and it was too much hassle. Then when we got the new house, never started again - 2 reasons, first was that we ended up setting up 2 separate changing areas (upstairs and downstairs) and didn't really have enough washable nappies/wraps/buckets to stock up 2 separate areas.

And the second big reason was that DD came along and I couldn't face the extra hassle once we had two kids (esp as I already seemed to have the washing machine on non-stop just dealing with their clothes, bedding etc never mind nappies!). DS is pretty much out of nappies now though and I occasionally toy with the idea of going back to washables just for DD.. but still a bit put off as I just have so much less time to deal with washing etc now we have two.

chunkypickle, 6 weeks to get your money back sounds like a good deal to me when you'll probably be using nappies for 2.5 - 3 years!

We find washables great and they are one of the few things which are both cheaper and far more environmentally friendly - plus we have very very few leaks so I think we do less washing than with leaky disposables.

We have loads, and I would say that although the try before you buy lots is okay, it can mean you spend a lot of money before you decide, and also that you get confused between all the different types and decide to give up. I'd keep away from pre-folds and smart nappies, as others have said - get something shaped. I don't think you can go wrong with a good 2-part system like Motherease/One Life, and they're very cheap second hand. If you really want a one-part system (which are a bit less reliable and more expensive, but more convenient) then go for something like Bumgenius, Tots Easifit or Fuzzi Bunz. We have a mixture now of Motherease and Bumgenius which works well.

I used to sell nappies as an income generating things when I was on M/L - and everyone I sold Motherease or Onelife too were really pleased with them and are still using them full time over a year later.

I really think they're worth the extra effort - have you seen the pictures of how many bin bags of nappies in landfill one baby generates? And they'll probably stay there for over 500 years! All because we couldn't be bothered to do the extra washing in our automatic washing machines :(. Think of how much more work washable nappies were for our ancestors with no washing machines, and yet of course they did it as they had no alternative.

I used them for 2 DDs, never had any problems with them, loved them to bits and am actually sorry to be saying goodbye! The set I bought (mostly Bumbles and Motherease wraps) lasted both the girls, though they're a bit threadbare now.

All it involves is a couple of extra washes a week. I worked with both DDs, the nurseries had no problems using them and it was easy enough to find the time to wash them.

You'll have fewer leaks, especially of explosive newborn baby poo up the back of vests. So even though you'll have to wash the nappies, you'll save on clothes washing (or just buying new vests if it's too bad!!!)

And you'll save a ton of money.

What's not the like?!