Would like to try cloth nappies - any tips?

[lovecloud]

Hello

I am pregnant with my second child, only 6 weeks and feel so yucky.

I have a two year old dd and I used diposables the whole time. I had no problems using them and they never irritated my dd's skin but I know they are bad for the environment I really got into recycling this year and would like to try using cloth nappies.

So if you dont mind I have a few questions:

1. Which cloth nappies so you recommend?
2. Where can I buy them?
3. How do I use them, do I add an insert of paper of some kind?
4. How do I wash them, what temp etc. - Does this cause alot of washing? I just wondered about this, wil it mean I will spend alot more money on electricity, washing products?

Also Baby wipes?
Who makes their own?
I did see on another thread awhile back that you can buy some pieces of felt and put them in a baby wipe box and pour over camomile tea with lavender oil? Any do this? How much tea and drops to a box of wipes.

I really want to give this a go but if it means endless washing I cant see me lasting, I love in a top floor flat so I can just imagine in the winter, wipes and nappies drying everywhere.

I know at the beginning they go through alot of nappies.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you
x

in the same boat as u, PG and determind to use reusable nappies, we do have a tumbler thou/ garden.

have thought about tots bots as JM&B recommended them.

hopefully thou someone else will come along who's used em.

1. I used tots bots, but wouldn't recommend the basic ones for you as they take ages to dry. They have just brought out fluffles which are meant to dry faster, but I've not tried them to know for sure.

I'm hoping others can give you fast drying advice ones.

2. Oodles of places online... www.thenappylady.com, twinkleontheweb (not sure if they are a .com or .co.uk), www.totsbots.com (only tots though), pretty much typing cloth nappies into a search engine gives you shops - they have various posting deals on some, so shop around for the best deal for you.

Or... if you don't necessarily want new, you can get good deals on ebay.

3. They have a liner (either paper ones that you can get from tesco/boots/online, or cloth ones which you can buy online or make yourself), the nappy, and a waterproof wrap. Some come with wraps attached (all in ones AIO). It all depends on which type of nappy your go for really...

4. I always rinsed any poo into the loo, left em in a bucket - with no water in.. just a few drops of tea tree oil, although you can soak them... entirely your choice, I just don't like dealing with manky water. I would then do a rinse wash (to get out anything nasty... not necessary if you soak), then a 40 wash (and give them a blast at 60 every few weeks or if she had any rash etc), and then a final rinse to get out any powder residue. I washed them in surcare - about a 1/4 of the amount of powder they say you need, and a splash of white vinegar to soften them a bit.

For me, I was doing 2 extra washloads a week (I started at 6 months, so less nappies than a newborn), but it all depends on how many nappies you have etc... I was using so little powder, that it cost very little in extra products, so just the cost of the extra couple of washes.

Babywipes... I didn't, I used normal shop bought ones most of the time, so no advice

this site gives loads of advice, and has forums dedicated to cloth.

Can't beat a personal consultation with an agent so you can see and touch the nappies and get expert advice. You may completely change your mind about things you've heard of once you see them.
Visit Real Nappy Campaign to find who's local to you.

I not sure what to use now, I have been using tots, but find my lo is getting wriggly, I was thinking of trying kushies, I thought that they might be a bit easier and quicker to dry and I need to cut down on tumble drying and don't relish the idea of waiting forever for the tots to dry.

Any one any ideas ?

I'll post the name of where I bought mine in a sec, she did an on-line consultation which I found useful.

Stuffables work well for wrigglers ine.

nappy consultant on this sales site was very good

Can i NOT recommend cotton bottoms (ther prefolds!) i HATE them!

On the other hand i LOVE Kissaluvs (my favourite!)
Motherease sandys (soo soft and lovely)
Tots bots (great for night)
Motherease one size, ok but not good fo night!

Did you know you can make your own stay dry fleece liners.... by a fleece throw and cut to size

The family i used to work for made their own wipes cutting up towels... (or use some thin 'value' flannels which are cheep and dont take long to dry!)

we just dipped them in water, and washed with the nappies.... worked fine!

I LOVE moteherease airflow wraps!

like you I am also venturing into the world of washable nappies and eco-friendly disposables with our first babies (twins).

Bought some Tots Bots as it seems to be the best and highly recommended ones. Thinking of buying a couple of the latest ones - Fluffles or Bamboozles.

Also bought some Moltex Oko disposables as back-up, in case I ran out of dry/clean nappies.

Good luck with yours.

bumbles great for nighttime
big on a newborn though, although size can be adjusted. dry a bit faster than tots

fuzzi bunz great for quick drying. but you will need different sizes

i do my own wipes. 1 chamomile tea bag, 4-5 drops lavender oil & 1 tsp olive oil.pour over the wipes in your box - i use nappy lady pre-cut ones but you could easily make your own. wrt drying, i dont think the wipes need to dry after washing just bung them into the chamomile solution

good luck
ps like you i didnt do it with DD1 and find it much easier than I expected with DD2. Have only done in summer so far tho' (DD2 5 months) so am dreading the winter drying business myself

Hi

Thanks for your advice

I used a laundry service for the first 3 months - that way you use the nappies but don't have to fork out for them all at the beginning and maybe not get on with them.
I used Cotton Bottoms but after the 3 months bought some Kushies

Hi there,
I've used cotton bottoms for both my children and got on fine with them although I didn't realise there was such a big choice. As my two are 15 months apart for 6 months I was doing two babies worth of nappies, but have always done one load of nappies per day (not any more - both out of nappies.) I always soak in a bucket with Napisan then 40 degree half load with any non-bio liquid. I have found that the velcro on the wraps has worn out which is one reason both mine were potty trained before 2!

Does anyone else on here use reusables on holiday - we never have - just wondered what anyone else did?

Boots even sell their own all in one shaped nappies (some branches) and plastic pants. If money is a problem, terries secured with the wonderful invention that is Nappy Nippas are very, very cheap - about a tenner for 6 I think. They also dry very quickly too. I used Motherease and Sandys and they are really lovely but take a while to dry. You can get nappy covers with cute pictures on too from Motherease. I use cotton wool for wiping at home and am not too hard on myself so use the cheapest non-smelly wipes when I'm out.