Why did you choose/not choose to go down the washable nappies route?

[tellyaddict]

I used disposables on my older two, the thought of 'all that extra washing' put me off reusables and there wasn't the wonderful range we have now. With no.3 I saw an article that said disposables can cost around £800 over 2.5 years whereas terries were £182 and shaped two part/pockets etc £300-£400 - from then on it was a no-brainer.

What I didn't expect was to actually 'enjoy' using washables as I'm Mrs Undomesticated!!! The washing doesn't bother me at all and I love never running out of nappies. There's the added bonus of my baby's bot is lovely - no redness even first thing in the morning, no rashes (and I never use a cream)and then of course our landfills..... I'm a complete convert, totally addicted.

How about everyone else?

I tried the one size ones! They didn't work at all on my newborn, leaked like crazy. good concept but practically a non-starter. cue more wasted money...

riven you're better than me

for me, it was plain easier and not much eco savings.

Largely because having 140 nappies in the wheelie bin is just disgusting (2 children, fortnightly collections).

Also because if any of my babies did a poo in a disposable (before weaning) it got all over their clothes - I don't mind doing a nappy wash twice a week, but I object to having several poo-stained outfits to deal with every day!

Oh, and the money. Definitely cheaper (I'm on dc3 now, same set of nappies). Actually I saved quite a bit even on dd1 (I sat and worked it out once, when trying to avoid doing the hoovering). See here too - costs

Irks me that people compare buying shops own brand with buying expensive Bumbles and fluffy butts or what ever they are.

Love my terries~got them for £30 when Boots had them 3 for 2. Wraps I get on eBay for around £3/4 each and I have had about 10 (in two very adjustable sizes. Few buckets, wash nets and some tea tree oil. I reckon about a £100 all together.

We've use the same adjustable fold since birth and find it rearely leaks dispite being on dd around 12 hours at night.

I have loads of sicky/poohy/foody washes anyway - 3 loads of easy to wash terries is piss easy in comparison. Very efficient washer and dryer (present from friends and family on occaision of dd's birth) and water from dryer goes onto plants. We try to use soap nuts that are mega cheap off ebay, good for baby skin and have minimal effect on enrivnment.

We have used disposable but couldn;'t believe the cost, how much they STINK and the amount of waste. However they were neede when we went away to somewhere where washing and carrying heavy wet nappies was hard.

I just prefer the idea of dd wearing cloth rather than paper and chemicals I suppose.

OOOOOh riven.... I love having my terries FESTOONED around the house in warmer weather.....

oooooooooooooh mkaes me want to have more babies!

I chose washables while I was pregnant and got some really lovely ones of different sorts to test and choose my favourites. But ds was prem and all our nappies were normal first baby size when I finally got him out of hospital and got to the point where he fitted into reusables he absolutely hated them with a passion and nothing could convince him otherwise. So all my lovely fluffy reusables went and we use nasty disposables. If (when) we have another baby I will try the reusable route again.

I always knew I wanted to use washables. I love them. Mainly an environmental decision - my first £50 of nappies were free from the council. Then bought a few terries, and a few shaped / bigger wraps 2nd hand - definatly spent less than £100, probably more like £60.
The argument that the eco benefits are minimal - does that take into account I don't have a tumble dryer so they're all line dried, and our electricity comes from a renewable supplier, and I use ecover?

I used terry squares on dd1&dd2 as i naively didnt realise about other types but with the aid of mumsnet i found out about 2nd hand nappies etc and im hooked. I love the washing on the line, the attention at baby clinic when the nurses come to see what dd3 is wearing today, and never running out of nappies! Dc4 is due in october when dd3 will be 13 months and im excited already about buying newborn nappies!

Was a no brainer.
Who would want all those chemicals near to the most sensitive skin on a baby's body, let alone filling the earth with them?

My nappies have served three children and i have just sold them on to a first time mother.

I chose washables as I hate disposable stuff in general. I just hate the waste of it. Washable napipes can be used for more than two children so you feel like you're making less on an impact. I reckon it was about two extra loads of washing per week, max. I started from the beginning with my DS1 so it was always part of our routine and it wasn't a burden. We agreed we'd give it a month before even starting to panic but by about ten days we had it sorted.

I loved the big bottom look and had no worries about big nappies at night as I am from a generation which was brought up entirely on terries and we can all walk fine . I also hated the idea that huggies. pampers etc have stuff in them that was banned from tampons long ago. This may no longer be true of course, but it was at the time.

Babies used to get nappy rash because of the old fashioned ways of laundering cloth nappies. These no longer apply and babies are no more likely to get rash from cloth than disposables.

Then I got ill, seriously ill. I had to find every single way of making everything easier from embracing baked beans to buying ready grated cheese. After nine months I had to admit defeat with the extra washing (well, pegging and drying really) and learned to welcome disposables. I don't find it any easier when out and about, or any easier for changes but two less loads of washing a week is welcome .

We use good old plain square cotton nappies.

For all the same reasons already said but also because the amount of water used to make disposables is heaps more than what's used to wash cloth. There is some stuff somewhere on this that I can't find..

Also those crystals... in some nappies they are the same thing that was banned in tampons years ago for giving people toxic shock. That was a biggie for me, plus they smell really yuck when wet.

And those big cloth bums just look soooo cute

I didn't want poo in my washing machine, but every one of dd disposables leaked so I had loads of washing and poo in my machine when I grudgingly made the change. Best move I've ever made, it's so cheap, I love her little bottom in them and I feel proud that I'm doing my little bit for the environment everytime I put her in one.

Tried washables with my first, used them part-time then. Tried them with my second and stopped again almost straight away . I just realised I couldn't face all the extra cleaning - the hours (in total) of scraping poo off off them that wouldn't come off, the washing out of buckets, having to wash the bath nearly every day after bits of poo being spattered over it from where I'd tried to get poo off of nappies it was apparently welded to - also the smell of soggy wee-soaked cloth that's been squashed up against a baby's skin (even with a good fleece liner). I just couldn't do it again... and yet I have inspiring friends who've found them an absolute dream to use, so I'd never say to anyone "don't try washables" - they're definitely worth trying.

Now we have a worse landfill output than we should have as a household, but we are better than others on other things, and much better on washing and drying (nappies, clothes, bathrooms, ourselves...) than we would be if we used cloth nappies, so it could be worse... paper nappies are awful as landfill waste goes but they're far from the only things that don't biodegrade - it's worth working on all the other plasticky things too. Which isn't to say I think we shouldn't all use cloth - I think we should - I think we need some more washable-nappy-friendly bathroom fittings to make it easier though!

Have had good experiences with Moltex nappies, too.

Side,if yuo put a ppaer liner in,you can just lift the poo out though.

I used washables with DS1 and 2 but disposables with DS3. I'm ashamed to say that I have a whole set of Kushies up in the loft which I have not used this time round at all.

I think, to be honest, I was so overwhelmed with it all when DS3 was born that I just thought disposables would be easier - and they have been.

PS To everyone who's itching to post about how I must have been Doing It Wrong or I wouldn't have found the cleaning difficult, because they've always found it fantastic - I wasn't. I had and have dozens of washable nappy users I could ask and did, I hung out on boards, I tried all sorts of things, it was still a nightmare. Maybe it was the style of poo, maybe it was because I'm more fussy about hygiene in my bathroom, i don't know, but it was crap (everywhere!). Sorry .

I was really keen to use resuables - bought tots bots, some bumgenius, a few other 'single' ones to try. DS looked so ridiculous in them, huge and round and not like my friends babies. And I couldn't get trousers to go over them (he was a spherical baby anyway), then the bumgenius gave him shocking nappy rash... We used Moltex instead for about a year, then Nature Baby. Total cop out by me, basically down to not finding suitable clothes for DS to wear with his cloth bum.

I did paper liners, I did fleece, I did paper and fleece, I did different shaped ones and different shaped nappies. It always went round the edges and stuck. It was (peotry the brook) yuck .

Like I said, I know lots of people who've used them and found them fantastic, that just wasn't my experience.

What were you doing Sideboard? I am lolling at the thought of poo everywhere, including in the bath . You really didn't get on with them, did you?

Do you laugh about it now? Or am I just being mean thinking what you have posted is funny?

Frugi, formerly Cut4Cloth, make clothes cut to fit over cloth nappies.

They are lovely designs, hard wearing, organic cotton and from a very ethical company.

Not cheap but they seem to hold their value very well on ebay.

They can be found on: www.welovefrugi.com

Sorry, I don't know how to do the link thing.

just totted up I have approx £520 worth of cloth nappies, wipes, vest extenders, nippas, wraps, bucket, mesh bags, fleece liners, wet bag etc. However, in the same way my mother bought me the travel system, my MIL spent about £330 to get us going with nappies. I got £45 voucher from the council too. I have probably only spent about £145 or so myself and will be spending about £20 this week as local nappy lady is selling a load off for £2 a piece. So yes I have an awful lot of ££ worth of nappies but I hope to have 2 more children and will also lend them to friends to try. Maybe if they are ok at the end of my nappy days I will sell them on. What is not included in the disposable sums is the price of baby wipes and nappy sacks. I believe baby wipes are quite pricey?

My motivation was mostly financial and also I hate baby wipes with a passion, don't think it can be very comfy to wear paper knickers all the time, plus all the chemicals. We have an A rated washer and use a small amount of supermarket own non-bio. We do use the dryer but mostly just cos we can't be bothered hanging all the little wipes on the airer and because the weather hasn't been up to it yet (well once or twice), wipes don't take long in the dryer. The environment thing is a bonus and I do believe cloth is greener - the study which said they were equal didn't use a modern efficient washer and they tumble dried everything. Besides everything cloth is cute!

PS when I have bought more this week I should have enough for 2 babies although only have one at present (would like 3). Financial savings will not apply if nappy addiction continues

When DS was born we lived with my parents and my mum absolutley did NOT want washable nappies all over the house, then when we moved and I opened my shop, didn't want a bag full of shat nappies in the corner, would hardly have been a welcoming ambience for customers... So it's been disposables all the way, and I can't say I feel any guilt or anguish about it.

always knew i wanted to use washables. planned to use disposables for a month at first but was using the washables after a week because i just hated disposables!

1. the waste!
2. the landfill!
3. horrible chemicaly crystals on dds bottom
4. the cost
5. love her cloth nappies hanging on the line
6. love her squishy bottom
7. feel virtuous when people ask!
8. makes it easier to use washable wipes as washing nappies anyway - and like them for the same reasons as above!

main downside is finnding clothes to fit.