1st Baby - Cloth Nappy Help Please

[fruitandbarley]

Hi All,

We are expecting our first baby in 4 weeks and have decided to use cloth nappies, we are just about to order a set of close parent pop in nappies from our local nappy lady, but I have a couple of questions.

1. Nappy lady tried to sell us a powder to add to the wash which makes a 30 degree wash Ok to use, I am now wondering what i need to buy and use to wash the nappies.

Any recommendations for detergent? Do I add anything else to the wash ?

1. Wheres the cheapest place to buy disposible liners ?

Any other tips?

Thanks in advance.

I don't use anything special in the machine. Just put in my usual Daz (or whatever I use!) but only about 1/4 of the usual amount. No fabric softener. Use a long wash, or something which uses a good amount of water, and at 30. Nappies come out clean and smelling good and fresh. Then I line dry them. There are a few stains on them here and there but they are clean. Can do a hot wash every now and then to give them a blitz but I've not had to yet. I think you do a hot/strip wash if they become a bit smelly and less absorbent.

I have a bucket with a mesh bag in it. The bag and the contents go in the machine and the bucket goes in the bath after DD's been in it for a rinse.

Having tried a few different liners, my favourite are tots bots ones. They're really thin and don't fall apart. In fact I've found a couple in the wash and they came out intact - could have used them again!! They're flushable too.

Hope you enjoy real nappies

I buy TotsBots liners but you won't need them for the first 6 months. Milk poo doesn't need a liner. I started using them after introducing solids at 26 weeks.

I'm very glad I bought a TotsBots nappy pail with a locking lid - keeps little hands out after they start moving!

I would definitely recommend hiring a nappy trial kit from a nappy network or your local authority. I hired one for 3 weeks - £10 - and it helped me understand which nappy type suited us (pocket) and which brand fit DD (BumGenius).

I started with disposables as the meconium poo is like tar! I kept DD in a disposable at night until I knew more about cloth. We now use Little Lambs bamboo with Blueberry & Motherease wraps. We put her cloth overnight from 6 months.

I have actually found I love reusable wipes as much as (possibly more than) cloth nappies. The savings are immense and, as they go in with your nappies anyway, there is no real extra energy/powder used. You can make your own but I bought Cheeky Wipes. I use bamboo on bottoms & microfibre on faces. I bought 2 packs of bamboo and 1 pack of microfibre. I also bought the double wet bags - small for faces wipes & medium for bottom wipes.

I just use my normal laundry powder - Ecover. You only need a tiny amount per wash - a teaspoon! Remember to prewash cold and add an extra rinse cycle at the end. The nappies should come out smelling of nothing. Detergent build up is a big part of stinky nappies. If you can dry them outside, do it! Sunshine really brightens them. I now leave all the stained baby clothes out for a week to get rid of stains - amazing!

Beware: cloth nappies are addictive

Any non bio washing powder will do. Only a little bit. And a few drops of tea tree oil (don't use if allergic try lavender oil instead)

Mothercare have flushable liners £2.50 for 100 and they are 3 for 2 at the moment. Plus they are quite big so I cut them in half

Bambinex liners are good. They are £5 for 100 but they are washable. So if they are soiled then flush them but if they are just wet then you can wash them. My child is EBF and is at the stage when she does a poo approx every 3 days. As a result they are very economical.

I don't use a mess bag in the bucket. I use old pillow cases instead. They work the same. And don't bother soaking. I put them on an intensive wash instead. Washing machines are allot better then they were in the old days.

Just use non-bio at 60 and no fabric softener.

Tesco is by far the cheapest for liners but not every store does them. And they're the nice thin fabric like ones not the scratchy kitchen roll type.

Don't worry if they don't fit when your baby is brand new sometimes need to grow into them even the from-birth kind.

Thanks all very much for you help.
Were getting very excited now.

Stargirl1701 - My husband decided we should use reusable wipes (I wasn't originally keen on the idea), and hes convinced me, and were going to buy flannels and use those. Do you think that will do ?

The dry pailing method described above by punky pod is very easy. I would then put the whole bag into the machine with tea tree oil or another disinfectant and use a rinse cycle (so I didn't need to handle wet dirty nappies). Then put on a normal 60 degree cycle with ordinary washing powder.
The nappy lady sells reusable wipes which are just small and frankly quite crapy flannels, however we found them brilliant for all kinds of wiping, and after the disinfecting I have described I didn't feel too concerned about the reusability. However simply cutting up an old towel would likely work as well (there is no need to dry them).
Good luck congratulations oh and use disposables at night it's just easier as you don't want to wake the lo up because of leaks.

I bought a pk of 10 flannels from Ikea and then cut them into 4 and hemmed them. This gave me 40 (very cheap) washable wipes (which I have found to be plenty). You can also buy some fleece from a fabric store and just cut into squares. These don't need to be hemmed then. I have a tupperware box that I put boiled water, with a couple of drops of lavendar oil and then my wipes in. It holds about 10 and is small enough to carry around in my nappy bag as well.

To wash the nappies and wipes I just put the normal powder in on a 40 degree wash and then do an extra rinse. Left over wash powder can cause nappy rash. Any stains come out if you hang your nappies on the washing line (doesn't even need much sun).

'Real nappies' website has lots of useful info and also sells a wide array of reusable nappy products.

My best tip would be not to buy all your nappies at once.
I know it is very hard to be patient when it comes to cloth nappies but you think you might prefer one type of nappy then change your mind once the baby is here. There is no point in having a bundle of nappies you don't like using.
Get one of different types (pocket, 2-part, ...), try them on then buy more of the ones you prefer: you will always find some offers going on.

Also check your council for any scheme and do not hesitate to ask your friends and family to help you cover the cost by asking for NapNap Vouchers, which can be exchanged for the nappies of your choice with lots of different retailers.

That's hundreds of £££ saved which you can spend on whatever takes your fancy.

No need to stick to non bio either, there's lots of info out there on the fact that bio is a bit of a con anyway as to make up for the non bio bit they whack bleachy stuff instead! Just don't use fabric conditioner, or a 2 in 1 (Bold is the only 2 in 1 one I think that can be used as it's a natural clay based rather than oil based conditioner)

Don't discount buying secondhand either, lots of people think they don't get on with cloth and you can pick up some fab nappies for pennies on ebay - there are selling pages on FB too although these tend to be more expensive I find but still cheaper than new!) and of course you can sell yours on too after to recoup some of your outlay ;)

I brought loads 2nd hand. Read the reviews before buying. The good thing about that is if you don't get along with them you can sell them for roughly the same price. I got some really good ones (and some naff ones)

Anything except ecover. Don't want to burst your bubble but I had my heart set on close nappies and was going to buy a full set. I had some old ones to try. Luckily went for a fitting and bought bumgenius. The tabs are better and they are a better fit. I know every baby is different but see if you can try one before you buy the whole set, my close ones leak all the time and take ages to dry

Necrobump... why is Ecover discouraged?

It always amazes me the variety of ways folk was their nappies.

After much experimenting the only thing that works for me (on the two different machines I have used) is ore wash, 90 wash with half washing powder (ecover) and napisan. Extra rinse, extra spin and dry in the sun where possible.

Even when I tried washing at 60 nappies smelled strongly of wee and yet loads of people (and the tub of napisan) claim washing at 30 works fine

Op I buy my liners on amazon, and either get tots bots or one world

And I second the advice about trial packs

Oh and one more thing

Using reusable wipes with nappies is actually easier because you just leave used wipes in the nappy. If using disposable ones you have to find somewhere to dispose of them. If they end up in the wash (and they inevitably do) they get all tangle up and stick to the Velcro

Reusable wipes are great. I bought mine, and a friend uses mini muslins from mothercare which were a bargain and very cute.

Third the trial kit. Most councils offer one and give you money off any you buy. I found what i thought I'd like and what actually worked for us totally different. Also recommend disposables for very early days... There's plenty of time for cloth!