Reusable nappies - first timer here, totally confused!

[ThePartyArtist]

Pregnant for the first time and feeling generally overwhelmed by it all! Just been trying to research eco friendly reusable nappies. I wondered if anyone can offer advice like;

How realistic is it to use them from birth (will baby be too small, will we be too busy getting the hang of this parenting thing etc.)

How realistic is it without a tumble dryer, i.e. just line drying them, in the UK?

How expensive is it?

Does it make any difference further down the line if you're toilet training toddlers who've had reusables rather than disposables?

Does it just add too much to an already enormous washing pile?

Any practicalities you'd advise on as regards using them out and about, or anything else that differs from disposables?

Which type would you go for - seems to be a minefield!

Hi,

We have used reusables for DC 1 and 2 and currently have them out drying on the line getting ready for imminent DC3.

With both our others we have used disposable for a week or 2, and then switched to our washable nappies. We found the washing completely manageable, although we do have a tumble drier. You might want to buy a few more if you a planning to rely on line drying.

I would thoroughly recommend going to the nappy lady website and doing her questionnaire, she's very helpful and bases suggestions on what to get on the facilities you have etc. It's www.thenappylady.co.uk

Some people say it makes toilet training easier - But I can't say we found that a breeze to be honest!

The initial layout is a lot but then you don't have to buy anything else so should save you £500 or so in the long run, more if you plan more children!

Some councils will give you done money back for using them - have a look and see if yours does (mine doesn't. 😡)

There are also nappy trial kits and things where you can try out a few brands and see what works best for you.

HTH.

We started using some size ones and birth to potty nappies from 4 weeks old without problems. We found them more reliable at containing breastfed baby poo!
We had a tumble drier for a while but mainly just hung them out, you might want to get lots of microfibre nappies for your stash if you will be line drying them, although I've been fine with bamboo too – you just need more nappies as they take longer to dry.

You wash so much with a baby that it somehow doesn't seem like THAT much more, which seems weird but it's true! Also, we've always hung the nappies from two IKEA sock hanger things from the shower rail so they don't interfere with drying space for anything else, I think that helps.

I tracked my spending on a spreadsheet and it's been around £400 for EVERYTHING and my DC is near potty training. I could easily have spent half that if I didn't really like buying nappies.

If you buy new nappies with the latest cute designs, you could spend hundreds. If you pick up whatever you can find on Free cycle, local FB groups and Facebook's preloved nappy groups and NCT sales etc, plus any voucher from your council and sell them at the end, it could cost nothing.

I found with my babies that the reusables with a nappy wrap kept clothes cleaner than other babies whose disposables didn't contain poosplosions so it wasn't much extra laundry. It's probably a load a week and if you are happy to dry up to 20 nappies by radiators in the winter, no dryer needed.

I'd try them once your baby has finished with the meconium and is around 7-8 pounds, though 'birth to potty ' ones tend to be best from about 10 lb. I found ds got rash with disposables so that was an extra incentive, but with both kids they worked well. It's not rocket science, it's some cloth to absorb wee!

We used washable nappies with our dd who is now 3. We found it so easy, and only washed every 2 or 3 days. We mainly used microfibre nappies with a wrap over the top (we found these most reliable) - microfibre dries really quickly (overnight) so no need to tumble. Bamboo nappies are very absorbent (more than microfibre), and we used these too - although they take a couple of days to line-dry (still do-able though).
We used disposables for the first few weeks, as we didn't want to fork out for newborn reusables (and it was one less thing to stress about during the first sleepless weeks).
Nursery were fine using washable nappies although it was their first experience of it.
I would definitely recommend washable wipes, you will save a fortune and they are much kinder to baby's skin.
Our DD was potty-trained just before 2 - not sure if that was down to washable nappies or just a coincidence. However, they definitely know when a washable nappy is wet - disposables lock all the wetness away from the skin.