Reusables - too hot for summer?

[Moorhen]

Switched to cloth a few weeks ago - Wonderoos and Wambamboos, plus a few Bambinex Teddies arrived today.

DH not keen (admits he's lazy ) and Mum clearly thinks I'm off my rocker.

DS has been ill the last couple of days, and DH has put him in disaposables cos he had the runs, and y'day DS was griping all afternoon and Mum kept saying he might be too hot in the Wonderoo and why not take his nappy off?

Am getting a bit sick of defending my nappies, TBH, but did she have a point at all? Are reusables going to make DS hotter? And if so, anything I can do to make it better for him?

I'd say breathable cloth is going to be a lot cooler than a load of plastic and chemicals

So tell them how wrong they are, smile sweetly and leave them to mutter to themselves

They are definately hotter in disposables, scientists have proven this:

Disposable diapers raise the temperature of baby boys' reproductive organs, affecting their development, according to a scientific study done at the University of Kiel, reported in the British medical journal "Archives of Disease in Childhood".

The scientists who did the study had noticed that baby boys with a fever had very high scrotal temperatures if they were diapered in disposable diapers, and this led them to investigate whether baby boys with a normal body temperature, would also have a higher scrotal temperature. They studied a group of 48 boys, within a year's period, except for the hot months of July and August. They compared the boys' scrotal temperatures when they were in disposable diapers to the temperatures of the same boys when they were diapered in cotton diapers.

They state "exposure to increased temperature for prolonged duration during childhood as a result of the use of modern disposable plastic lined nappies [diapers] could be an important factor in the decline in semen quality and the increasing incidence of testicular cancer in adult age."

They say that the physiological testicular cooling mechanism is significantly impaired during plastic nappy [diaper] use, (in 27% of the babies tested, the cooling mechanism was completely destroyed).

This may have a negative long term effect on testicular maturation and spermatogenesis, and may facilitate the development of testicular cancer. And, because babies diapered in disposables often have a prolonged diapering period (especially now that there are plastic training pants and plastic bedwetting pants), the scientists state that the problem may be becoming more severe.

nooooo baby monster has been less gripy in his reusuables! (i think its wambamboo i have) i think he gets sweaty in teh disposables (i use the cloth ones at home and disposables when out) but in the cloth his sweaty bum would sweat into the material

god thats not making any sense!

i have had hardly any sleep for the last few nights!

Both my DDs were born in hot summers but only DD2 used cloth. I would agree that cloth is far more breatheable and they don't get too hot in them. Disposables used to stick to DD1's bottom if she was sitting in her pushchair on a hot day (yuk).

I like the airflow wrap as it does increase the breatheability of the nappy without wicking.

Also what Jane99Thomas said - there has been a lot of research into this as they are now discovering an unusual proportion of young men who are infertile - and are investigating whether the trend to move over to disposables 25 years ago or so may be partially to blame (although you would hope todays disposables are better than the early ones).

I saw a 'which' report once comparing a range of dispicables and cloth, it was a bit limited but of those they tested wonderoos came out top, and were, in their test, the most breathable of the cloth and more breathable than many of the disposables.

Ofcourse if you were really worried you could use your wambamboos with a wool wrap, that would almost certainly be more breathable and cooler than anything short of going naked (but offer better sun protection!). Bamboo is supposed to be very good at transporting heat away, whilst the evaporation from the wool has been shown to lower the temperature inside a nappy by a couple of degrees

depend what else you put on them, Ds spend chuncks of the last two summer in nappy and nowt else. They breathe more than plastic lined disposables unless your useing old fashioned plastic pants rather than a breathable PUL or wool or fleese wrap. You could leave the wrap off if your not worried about the odd damp patch of floor

sorry you're not being supported in your decision to try cloth

i use cloth (admittedly in Scotland so it's rarely ridiculously hot!) and it never crossed my mind that cloth might be hotter than disposables.

and as for having the runs, i find the containment when in a cloth is a zillion times better than a disposible! sounds like your poor wee lamb's not on top form, nothing to do with the nappies.

Cloth is best for so many reasons. Weatherwise, all mine had washables on in the summer and it didn't do them any harm.

Thanks everyone, good to have some evidence to back me up.

I do feel a bit unsupported. I mean, DH is right and it's more work - but it's not MUCH more work, and I volunteered to do it and I am doing it.

He's normally really great about everything, but on this one thing v sceptical.

Its really strange how cloth nappies seem to be a very emotive subject for some people. I did a lot of nappy demos over real nappy week and there were some very strange comments made to me . Some people seem to immediately be on the defensive. tbh I care not whether people use cloth or not, its a matter of personal choice I just like to put the nappies out in the public domain for those who want to see them close up and learn more about them.

At least your choice in nappies is keeping them all occupied - they'll get over it eventually .

Moorhen, tell your Dh you can sell on your washables and you can't get any money back from disposibles!

I went to school with a D Moorhen. Is that you?

Banana, fraid not - it's a jokey version of my maiden name. I have strange friends...

Have told DH I can make my money back. Have pointed out we'll never run out of nappies. Have pointed out that we're saving the planet. Have pointed out that his life is easier cos he does the laundry and now he's not constantly cleaning poo off vests (my lovely clothies don't leak [smug emoticon]), have pointed out that nappies will do for baby no 2 (this didn't go over too well as still trying to convince him there should be a baby no 2, but that's a whole nother story)...

...all I get is that DS's room smells of poo (it doesn't, there's a brief whiff when the bucket lid is off) and, when we're talking to other people, "oh, they're a lot more work". (FOR WHO?!?!?!?!)

You're right, they're an emotive subject. And I'm obviously a bit more narked about this than I realised!

Moorhen - look upon this thread as therapy

Maybe try mentioning to your dh that a nappy change taking an extra coupke of seconds is FAR less hassle than running to the garage at 5am because you have run out of nappies!!!
That worked on my dh!
Dont worry about what others are syaing - you are doing a great thing for your lo and the planet - i keep having to remind my husband how much more comfy a cotton nappy must be for ds than a horrible Pampers - who wants to wear papery plasticy pants - i know i wouldn't (esp in this weather!)

Maybe try mentioning to your dh that a nappy change taking an extra coupke of seconds is FAR less hassle than running to the garage at 5am because you have run out of nappies!!!
That worked on my dh!
Dont worry about what others are syaing - you are doing a great thing for your lo and the planet - i keep having to remind my husband how much more comfy a cotton nappy must be for ds than a horrible Pampers - who wants to wear papery plasticy pants - i know i wouldn't (esp in this weather!)

Maybe try mentioning to your dh that a nappy change taking an extra coupke of seconds is FAR less hassle than running to the garage at 5am because you have run out of nappies!!!
That worked on my dh!
Dont worry about what others are syaing - you are doing a great thing for your lo and the planet - i keep having to remind my husband how much more comfy a cotton nappy must be for ds than a horrible Pampers - who wants to wear papery plasticy pants - i know i wouldn't (esp in this weather!)

Maybe try mentioning to your dh that a nappy change taking an extra coupke of seconds is FAR less hassle than running to the garage at 5am because you have run out of nappies!!!
That worked on my dh!
Dont worry about what others are syaing - you are doing a great thing for your lo and the planet - i keep having to remind my husband how much more comfy a cotton nappy must be for ds than a horrible Pampers - who wants to wear papery plasticy pants - i know i wouldn't (esp in this weather!)

oops - sorry - my computer has a mind of its own tonight!