Travelling with a clothbum

[MissPitstop]

We are taking my DS to Africa in May to meet his grandma and grandad for the first time. He has been in cloth since birth but am worried about how I will cope on holiday. We have a 17 hour flight to manage then while we are there we have limited washing facilities so will be handwashing. Does anyone have any experince of travlling and using cloth, handwashing etc.

To be honest I would look into using eco disposables and flushable wipes while you're away. At least for the flight. Then you could wash once you reach your destination.

I've taken cloth on holiday if I've known there will be launderette or other washing facilities, especially for night time as I don't really trust sposies not to leak. You could rinse and handwash if you've got access to a bath. You can chucj the whole load in a nd rinse and wash that way - easier than in the sink I've found - but not ideal IME.

I would recommend Bambo Eco disposables from the Naturebotts website. They do biodegradable nappy sacks and wipes too.

hth have a great trip!

no

we do cloth for weekends with family etc where we have use of washing machine, but any longer or further afield and we use paper. Otherwise the luggage gets unreasonable, let alone the laundry situation.

We briefly thought we might be taking dd to Pakistan for a couple of months but would have been able to send out laundry - I think we would have taken terry squares as they'd have coped best with being bashed on rocks etc.

I thought about using eco diposables but we are going for just over 3 weeks so that would be a lot of nappies to take out with us along with all the other baby stuff we are having to carry half way around the world. There is very limited baby items available over there so having to everything we need with us. It will be worth it to see MIL see her DGS for the first time though.

Luggage is a consideration - I've not taken babies abroad so hadn't actually thought of that

I've done it - but ended up sending them out to a laundrette most of the time. I took a couple of packs of eco dispies (for the flight and occasional use) and took some nappies. If you use big fleece liners which catch all the poo washing by hand is not that big an issue, and if they are dried in the sun they get really clean anyway.

I did have to soak them sometimes though (I never do at home).

I think I might go for terry squares. I will have plenty of willing babysitters whilst I get the laundry done. Any ideas on wraps, I usually use Nature Babies but we are in between sizes and they have been leaking when I use them with terrys

what kind of place are you staying in? is there any possibility of getting laundry done? How do local women and their babies cope?

oh Motherease Airflow

can't be beaten

I'd consider paper liners to cut your workload though

(and nippas for the terries)

Those are all very good questions MrsB, but sadly I can't tell you as i don't know!?!! We are going to stay in a beach house owned by DHs extended family, I cant asked DH as he is in Iraq at the moment and doesn't get back until 5 days before we go to Malawi and I cant ask my MIL as they live in Zimbabwe and all calls to and from the UK are being barred at the moment! (Mr Mugabe doesn't seem to realise that I have a holiday to plan!) Joking aside I haven't been able to speak to DH or MIL for quite some time now so am trying to organise this whole thing blindfold. I really am starting to worry how we will cope (see also my post in longhaul for some of my other worries)

When I flew just myself with DS had no room for washables so I had a pack of Moltex + nappy sacks delivered to my relatives. It was not Zimbabwe though!