Reusable Nappies

[Clueless20something]

My fiance and I are trying for a baby and I'm trying to become more planet friendly in terms of using less plastic etc and looked into reusable nappies.

I think they look like a good idea,cost effective in the long run, cute designs and eco friendly.

My fiance on the other hand doesn't like the idea of "putting poo in the washing machine"... and it's now making me think about as the baby gets older and starts doing more solid poos, do you scoop that out like with a dog and put it in the bin before washing the nappy?!

So just wondered what people's experiences were and if they were a good idea and what make people went with?

I'm a bit of a planning freak and as its about £200+ for the starter kits, it would be something I bought early on so wouldn't want to waste the money if they're no good

As kids get older you just flush the solid bits and rinse the rest off under a cold tap before washing in the machine.

We use little lamb one size pocket nappies for our 2yo , we use disposables at night.

Yeh poo goes in the toilet not the washing machine!!

Well newborn poo can as it’s sort of liquidy (though I used to scrape the worst of it off with toilet paper if it was a massive one).

Once they start on solids you can either use a disposable paper liner and throw in the bin (they claim to be flushable but they’re not) or plop/scrape the poo into the toilet depending on consistency! Sometimes it’s a faff but for me 100% worth it as I LOVE our cloth nappies! And along with flannels instead of wet wipes have saved us an absolute fortune and prevented so much waste.

Where did you get your cloth nappies from?

The Nappy Lady is a brilliant website. It has a quiz too to help identify the best brands etc for you.

I’ve just started using cloth nappies for my 7 week old (after doing the nappy lady quiz to help guide me to the most suitable ones). I love them. It’s easy and cleared up a stubborn nappy rash in 24 hours. My husband is a bit squeamish about the idea of them, but has fully converted after 48 hours!

Most of mine are hand me downs. Have used lots of different brands on my 3 kids but my favourite has to be “bambino mio”.

For nighttime we use totsbots bamboozle with an extra booster and a waterproof wrap over the top. Totally bombproof, never had a leak.

The nappy lady is good for advice. You can get second hand stuff on eBay.

It’s really overwhelming to get your head round all the jargon at first. But you get used to it pretty quickly.

Breast milk poonamis go all over babygrows. Toilet training toddlers poop their pants and trousers. Unless you’re going to throw a lot of clothes away, poopy clothes will be going through the washing machine anyway. You get over it pretty quickly!

I found they really smell and can't get them smell off of the buggy ect. X

I’ve used them for second baby from about 6weeks and still going at 2.5yrs. They are great. Do a wash twice a week.

They only smell if not washed properly.. detergent build up, not enough detergent, wrong wash routine, stored incorrectly etc etc

I love them! I bought cheapish ones off amazon - Little & Bloomz - and they're amazing in the daytime, you do have to be more proactive with changing them than disposables though I have to admit i.e. Change them every 2. 5 hours ish even if you don't think they'll need it. But they're no hassle at all. We used disposables when she was tiny (up to about 6 weeks) and the waste/ environmental impact of throwing so many plastic nappies in the bin each day made me feel ill!

For the ones I have you use a flushable bamboo liner which the vast majority of the poo sticks to and which you just peel off and plop into the toilet and flush.

We used them from 3 months because there are newborn ones and then “birth to potty”. We started with birth to potty but I think they would be too big for a newborn. Did the nappy lady questionnaire and bought a selection. You can get second hand ones easily off FB selling sites or I would recommend a nappy library to try a few. I think the Nappy Lady and Nappy Gurus do trial packs where £110 gets you a selection of (New) nappies and you can return the ones you don’t like.

I like Baba and Boo pockets because the shells dry quickly and there are 2 bamboo inserts which I rotate.

If the nappy doesn’t have a fleecy stay dry layer next to the skin I use a fleece liner.

We are still on breast milk poo but once weaning I will use disposable liners and scrape the worst off

My wash routine:
Dry pail nappies
Wash every 48 hours (wouldn’t leave it longer really)
“Prewash” - I use the quick wash setting, 30 degrees and half dose powder Non bio. Important part is that this is separate to the main wash as if you use the pre wash setting many machines will reuse water

Main wash- cotton wash 50 or 60, full dose powder, sometimes extra rinse (nappies are so absorbent they need lots of water to flush them through)
Line dry, airer or some can be tumbled

I find it pretty easy but it was a bit of trial and error which nappies suited us!

We use tots bots on our 4 month old. We did buy some teenyfit for newborn but he only fitted about a month as was almost 9lb born.

Use the tots bots easy fits daytime and bamboozles at night.
Would suggest going straight to size 2 bamboozles for overnight as the largest popper on size 1 is the same as smallest on size 2. Again size 1 didn’t last our little chunk long so we have used size 2 mainly ( only have 4 overnight ones)

We simply chuck everything in a 60 degree long wash (2-3 hr) wash with no pre rinsing etc atm. He is just breastfed so all poop liquid so far. Everything washes fine. We hang outside to dry if possible and if occasional yellow stain on a corner for example it comes out by sunlight.

The reusable wipes are bees knees. I feel we really save in money, and there would be a huge amount of waste on disposable as I like to properly wipe baby bum down with a few at each change, then use another on face/ neck, so we get through 4-5 wipes each change if he’s pooped or been dribbling. We bought x2 packs so have 50. Just use in regular Tupperware and wet in fresh clean water at home each change so we store dry

Do it! There's work involved but it's worth it. Check out Clean Cloth Nappies for washing advice. People often give up when they have smelly nappies or rashes from poor washing, so getting the washing right from the start is a good idea. There might be a local nappy library you can access, if you are in the UK. Check out the Real Nappy Network. You can often get starter kits from them or cheap second hand things. Also look on eBay.