Ready to give up on washable nappies

[hjscho]

I'm 39 weeks pregnant and DS wants his nappy changing every couple of hours, as he gets very uncomfortable...finding this really hard, as being 18 months he wont cooperate once lying down. The worst thing is the smell of the nappies (have read the thread about nappies smelling of wee - I will try some vinegar, I have already reduced amount of washing powder and do extra rinses). I have recently changed the paper liner I use and I was wondering if anyone felt that this may make a difference to his soreness. Up until now I have been a firm believer in using washable nappies, but I feel like I am never going to cope with two in nappies and changing them so frequently. I also feel sorry for DS who seems to have a constantly sore bum.

I second Pannacotta, I was just going to say the same thing! I use EasyPeasy Bumbles and have only good things to say about them but they do whiff in the morning and I know I would not be able to cope with that whilst pregnant. I'm a doctor and had to smell lots of people with UTIs / sick people who hadn't brushed their teeth when I was pregnant so I really appreciate where you are coming from.

Very occasionally I use Eco disposables and IMO the Moltex are softer on your baby's bum than Nature Babies (although these are easier to get hold of). Whilst I did use reusables on mine when newborn they do so many poos a day at that stage that I did question which was more environmentally friendly - using something like Moltex or repeatedly tumble drying to keep up with your baby.

I'm sure you will get back to cloth because it is undoubtedly better than disposables as I am sure you would agree. But take it easy on yourself and use some disposables for now!

Lots of Best wishes and good luck

Holly x

I can't find moltex anywhere

just buy some disposables - you are using detergent when you wash them anyway and if your child is sore disposable naapies will be much better for them anyway.

My daughter was only ever sore in disposables.

It depends why they are sore!!!

yes, just sort of dangle them as you flush (lovely!). For soreness, loads and loads of barrier cream helps, and running around bare-arsed when feasible (looking ahead, this is also good for eventual toilet training).

Agree with dry-pailing (put in a few drops of tea-tree oil or something similar, e.g. lavender).

We did have a bit of an ammonia smell with washed nappies at one point; we changed laundry product brands and the problem went away (we mostly used Ecover liquid for our nappies - we're hardcore, us!).

But I also agree with everyone who says go easy on yourself. We always used disposables on holiday, and at the point where our younger dd was dry in the day, we switched to Moltex nappies at night so that we didn't have the cloth ones lurking around too long while a full load accumulated. We found them very good.

hth, and all the best for the birth

forgot to say that you are also absolutely doing the right thing to cut down whiff by drying out of doors - so taking a break till the weather improves makes sense on that front anyway

my mum says that we were all sore when kids and our children are not and she says it is because of disposable nappies absorbing the wee and keeping it away from the skin.

If that was true then no-one would use cloth as they would all have sore children!!

In the shops I go in

Fairy Edwards - Not a criticism but I'm not sure that less babies have nappy rash now than a generation ago. There is plenty of research to show that it is not the type of nappy you use that causes nappy rash etc but how often you change it. In fact in your mum's day it was probably recommended not to use disposables overnight or if baby was sore! It's a common misperception that babies will get more nappy rash in cloth nappies but my experience is that cloth nappies are really good for getting rid of nappy rash! I only ever use fleece liners or nappies with integrated fleece and so these keep bum's nice and dry anyway - just as much as a disposable would but without all the nasty gel stuff. Some babies have more sensitive skin than others, and all babies go through sensitive phases. It's interesting to note that some babies do better when their nappies are washed in Bio rather than non-bio.

I thought nappy rash was caused when the wee and poo mix together to create bacteria which if left too long causes a rash - hence why any nappy - cloth or disp - should be changed as soon as they have pooed. I agree with the others - fleece is great to wick away moisture and don;t be hard on yourself if you use disps for a few weeks when the new baby arrives. My two older ones are out of cloth now but no3 has a bag of moltex waiting for him - in fact not sure if will use them all as will be desperate to get him home into cloth!

www.earthlets.co.uk (sorry can't do links...) sells Moltex and offer good deals if you buy large packs, which makes them much cheaper.

Lots of reasons for nappy rash - the main being the poo/wee bacteria mix.

Others can be caused by too much powder residue in the cloth

Reaction to the powder (bio or non)

Reation to fleece (DS has started getting really weird sores - think its the fleece)

Reaction to the gel in disps....

Lots of reasons for rashes - all fixable.

I very rarely use disps (have on 2 occasions - 1 was herpes.. needed to change there and then to help it heal, and the other is this week when he has had poo from hell with german measles and I couldn't cope with the nappies every 2 seconds plus him being miserable), and when I do it is an emergency situation so I can't buy the moltex online as i need it now kind of thing.

WHY don't rl shops sell them?!?! Boots used to

Not sure why flamesparrow - may be worth getting some Nature ones from sainsburys (boots may do them)

dont you end up washing all the time and having loads of smeely nappies aroud though?

What cloth nappies have you tried Fairy Edwards? With the right sort the answer is no and no!

er no - not really. I wash most days anyway and chucking a mesh load of nappies in the machine, turning dial and switching it on are pretty easy. I put nappy sanitiser in the machine with my powder to keep everything smelling fresh.

I keep my nappies in a lidded bucket dry pailed.

To dry I chuck them in the drier or on the line like any other washing.

For me its the scrotum temperature thing, landfill, choice of nappy and satisfaction of using them that keeps me using them.

I have never tried washable nappies.

I admire you but don't know if I could make the effort - it sounds like loads of work!

FairyEdwards - if you are genuinely interested in cloth then there are lots of people happy to answer any questions.

I have always thought to use cloth you have to want to - not feel as if you should have to iyswim!

I don't think I'd given much thought to the type of nappy I would use when I announced to the world that I was pregnant. It was my mum that assumed I would use cloth and I suppose I saw her point about landfill. Everyone told me I was being very "green" and I think they meant naive more than environmentally friendly! I started out with the wrong type of nappy for me and my baby (Bambino Mio BTP) and it was hard work. I gave up for a brief period and went onto disposables, but the nappy rash convinced me otherwise. Plus I hated seeing the sheen of the gel from disposables on DS skin, wondering what chemicals I'd exposed my future grandchildren to!! I took lots of advice and choose new nappies (for me mainly Bumbles and ME rikki wraps, but several others used on occasions). Now I wash every 2-3 days, I wet pail with lavender oil so it doesn't smell bad. I find it's not more washes as cloth nappies leak less often, but if you didn't have a garden or a tumble drier then cloth could be a pain. I try to avoid tumble when I can but do like it as a last resort.

There are so many reasons why I prefer cloth but that's a whole different thread of which there are many!! You've got to try it to understand the hype. And coming back to the smell issue - I looked after a friend's baby in disps and couldn't stand the smell. the gel swells up with wee and starts to smell early on , whereas with cloth initially the wet nappy smells of your laundry powder!