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Considering starting using cloth nappies for toddler. I have questions.....

2 replies

paperclips · 09/04/2014 22:42

Hello

Since DS was much younger I have thought about using cloth nappies. He's now 18 months old. I figured he's still got a while before we potty train, and we are ttc so hopefully we could pass them on to future dc2.

However, the reason we've never tried them has been finding space to dry them- as we struggle to get laundry dry as it is, especially when it's rainy and damp for weeks on end. I really wish we had room for a dryer. Sad
How do cloth nappy users manage to get them dry?

The whole thing is still a bit baffling, liners, boosters, bamboo, fleece, covers, all-in-ones etc. I have had a read around, and found the Nappy Lady website useful.

Do most people use disposable liners? I like the idea of flushable ones, just emptying it into loo. Is there a specific brand you recommend and how much do they cost? They look uncomfortable- are they softer than they look? Do they move around and get all bunched up?

If you use washable liners, what type? I guess you have to scrape the poo off? What if its soft squidgy sticky poo? If so I guess you'd have to pre-rinse it before you stick the liner in wash? I'm a nurse so I am quite happy talking about poo! But not too keen on any more poo scraping then necessary! Smile

Are all-in-ones a good idea? Seems simplest to me. Was looking at trying Tots Bots.

I thought I would probably carry on using disposables at night (I'm actually v happy with my Asda and Aldi nappies they don't leak). Would probably keep using the disposables at nursery too. Do nurseries cope with re-usables? Does anyone do this and how does it work?

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Trenzalor · 10/04/2014 20:41

I read the reviews on the nappy lady website to help me choose liners. I use fleece (junior joy) with a washable paper liner over the top. If it's wet I wash the paper liner, if it's pooey I flush it. With solid poo though a fleece would probably suffice as it would roll off easily into the loo!
I love all in ones - bum genius free time are my fave. They also dry very quickly and are easy to put on. It might be worth buying just one to try to see if you get on with it. Make sure you prewash it a few times first. I haven't used totsbots easy fit but have just bought one to try.
If you fill in the nappy lady questionnaire she gives you recommendations and a 5% discount code to use on all future purchases.
Most nurseries are happy to use and as some people say you can see by the dirties how often they change your LO! Give them a dry bag and a wet bag for the dirties and make sure they know reuseables need to be changed 2-3 hours.

januaryJump · 11/04/2014 17:02

We wash every 2-3 days. Spaced out nicely on the airer so that they get a lot of air circulation. Dry within a day, sometimes the bamboo boosters we use stay on for an extra few hours/overnight as they take longest to dry. No dryer here and no outdoor space, our airer goes up in a corner of our living space where it's unobtrusive and near a radiator (not that we've had the heating on lately). I worried about the drying before we got them but they're actually quite quick, but we use wraps with inserts (Flips) so they can be spread out easily. All in ones will take longer as they're denser.

We use fleece liners, DS' (16mo) poop is quite solid so it just rolls off. Few times we've had sticky/teething poop I've shaked the liner and wiped excess off with toilet paper, flushed, liner goes into dry pail as usual. Always cleaned up fine (60C wash, small amount of non-bio). Tried flushables but found fleece easier and stayed put, DS wriggles so much the flushables just bunch up. We got some standard Tots Bots fleece ones.

Nappy Lady does a questionnaire if you haven't done it already, a lot of people find that handy. I also went to a nappuccino to see the different types available and talk to others who use cloth, again I found that useful and made up my mind with those.

DS sleeps 12h and moves all night but actually doesn't leak with cloth, previously Pampers was the only brand he could go all night in. For 5mo we did full time cloth (we started at 11mo), just started using Pampers in pushchair as he wets heavily now and seems to leak within an hour in that position. Not a problem in Bamboozles so we'll be adding to our stash soon (we've kept it pretty simple so far, just wraps, day inserts, night inserts and boosters, plus fleece liners). We've used all Flip for main nappy parts, Little Lamb for boosters.

DS isn't in nursery but around here the main thing is to supply ready to use nappies(eg AIOs, or pre stuffed), a dirty bag, boost sufficiently so they can go 3h (easily done in cloth, DS goes about 3h between changes), and be flexible to accept loaded nappies back as not all will shake off poop for you. They usually want to use a new nappy each times, so if you had wraps they'd all just get used once and come back in the dirty bag. They're usually sensible with wrapping the dirties up though, just as you would with a disposable, get it into a small ball so nothing falls out.

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