Poll: What was the main reason you decided to use cloth nappies instead of disposable?

[JoshandJamie]

• cost
• environment
• comfort
• health
• other (please say what it was)

Thank you

Ah well, there's this special thing you can get from e-bay which allows you to vent inside.

Honestly, my electricity bill plummeted when I got rid of my condensor and got the other oen.

As has ds got older he doesn't poo much so it just felt really wasteful throwing away loads of wee-soaked sposies - I felt that it wouldn't be much work to wash mainly wet nappies. I do use disposables when it's more convenient for me though - like when we're going away or if I'm expecting him to do a poo

environment - horrified with 2 in nappies at the amount we get through - and all the chemicals involved too

cost - although I'm not sure that it's as cut and dried as its made out - once you factor in the electricity needed

however - the bumbles are great - no leaks and not too bulky

Environment/landfill, then cost.

Sadly, the cost thing has gone a bit awry since discovering just how cute cloth nappies are. And addictive. I think people should tell you these things. Preferably BEFORE the addiction sets in and not six months afterwards.

switched to cloth with ds2 (having had ds1 and dd through disposables) - reasons;
cost/environment
comfort/lack of chemicals next to skin for ds2
cuteness!

Thanks for all the replies. Just interested to know what prompted it.

I am ashamed to admit that I have never used cloth nappies . To be honest, I'm not even sure why. I think I had my first and didn't know what I was doing and had no family around to help. And then number 2 arrived pretty soon after number 1 and I was so exhausted it just didn't even enter my head. It's not even like it entered my head and I dismissed it as an option, it just never even occurred to me.

Now that my second is 17 months old I feel as though I am emerging from some kind of cocoon and now am really mad with myself for not having used them. I almost think it's too late to start now because I will get so little wear out of them as he has already started potty training.

I think the thing that drove home the message of cloth nappies was something I read on the nappylady's website. It said something about comparing disposables with paper knickers. Which would you prefer to wear, paper knickers or cotton? And the penny just dropped and I thought, duh. Why did I never think that before. Sigh

Anyway, am not sure whether it's worth investing in them now. Feel free to convince me otherwise but I have the end of nappies in sight (probably another 4 to 6 months or at least that's what I am hoping!)

It's always worth switching to cloth. You never know how many nappies you will need and 6 months worth is quite a lot. Then you can sell them on and get some money back. Helps everyone and the environment. You get some money back, someone else gets a nappy at a cheaper price and no new ones being sent out and using fuel etc.

1. Environment
2. Cost
3. Cuteness/comfort

Main 2 reasons:
Environmental - Used disp for a short while and hated the amount of rubbish we created.
Financial - seemed so wasteful. I got my cloth ones 2nd hand so they were really really cheap.

As a minor point she seems to get nappy rash worse in disp, but that may be coincidental ?

Forgot the cuteness factor!

"Which would you prefer to wear, paper knickers or cotton? And the penny just dropped and I thought, duh. Why did I never think that before. Sigh "

I always say this at nappy demos.. only it's not just paper, it's plastic. Now, ladies, who would like a pair of plastic knickers???

You may be interested in this:

a page on my not-up-to-date non-commercial version of Makes a Change

and click on the link to the German study. If that doesn't put you off dispikables, nothing will. I have a son - I want grandchildren at some point. He's not worn anything other than cloth or the odd Moltex since then (not that he had much else before!)

I have spoken at length to Pampers about it (Huggies won't respond) and they have no response to the study other than saying that the probs used were designed for adult testicles, not babies'. Now, you don't need a science degree to know that temperature is temperature, not matter where it is. I pointed this out and that is when they stopped responding.

It's very worrying.

I then started to talk to infertility groups who are also looking into this - hopefully more research will come out soon.

Emma

Originally
-cost
-health
Didn't think about the environment until later

josh and jamie

you could probably pick up some cheap second hand nappies on the nappy lady website

and then sell them again when you've finished with them

think about how much you're going to spend on disposables before potty training in a best case (ie early training) scenario

factor in that you can use cloth wipes too if you just buy some dead cheap facecloths

and see what you can get for less than that - oh and you'll need a bucket

1. Cost (terries)
2. Environment (nearly equal first) - but then (Hunker) we BOUGHT a tumble drier to get the nappies dry as well as DS's other stuff cos we've hardly any drying space indoors or any usable space outdoors either. Still reckon it'll work out cheaper though and at least using a tumble drier doesn't clog up a landfill site.

we have got a tumbler but try not to use it

we have no airing cupboard; bought an airer and put it upstairs next to a radiator

it's only like drying a load of clothes

environment
cost and comfort (still love putting cloth next to DD2s gorgeous bum )

Hunker
both me and Dh work FT, we only have one in nappies now it's true

but we manage without a dryer or airing cupboard - we've just put a radiator extender thingie in DD2s room and use a circuar peg thingie (lots of thingies in our regime) for putting the liners etc on (yes, reusable liners too)
the reusable wipes we don't need to dry, just put them straight into a fresh wipe solution when wet

must say, the DD2s bum got really very sore when we gave up on the reusable wipes lately in favour of disposable ones (sheer laziness on our part) much better now we are fully back in the total lentil fold

Hmm.

Are you also moving house and currently only have your living room to dry things in though?

Maybe when we move, and have more room, I might (MIGHT) use cloth more.

Maybe.

Because my mum brought a massive pile of them over that she had found in a Mothercare bargain bin for next to nothing - less than the cost of the same number of disposibles - so a no brainer really.

Big cute bum.

Live in NZ so loads of sunshine (and wind!). hardly ever had to dry them inside.

We pay extra if we exceed the number of bin bags we are given.

only got one child.

cost - already have two in nappies and do not need to be paying for a 3rd in disposables. Having said that dds do not use that many compared to newborn. Had dds in cloth for a time and then changed to disposable.

Easy - now in Aus - no need to dry them in dryer or all over radiators - dry quickly and easily.

nope, you got me on the house moving front

VERY envious of you ladies down under with your outside drying - it was great doing that last summer

Other.... They looked cute and also health I guess (DD always got the granules over her bum and I didn't like the idea of not knowing what wa sin them and what they might do).

For DS it is again cute, health and a bit of (odd as it sounds) -less washing... disposables always leak poo over my babies' clothes

In response to hunker... I don't work full time, but I do sod all housework during the day, so in those terms might as well iyswim.

oh yes flame is right

leaking poo

whenever I went away for the weekend and used disposables dd got covered in the stuff; had to change her clothes regularly

cloth is a bit more bombproof for the tiny wee babies

had forgotten the explosive poo business

never experienced with DD2 as she was in cloth from the word go but we had some horrendous episodes with DD1 in disposables. Yeurgh!