Naive question about reusable nappies/diapers and liners

[TeacherSimon]

Please excuse the ignorance of an old man! I'm a British male teacher, working in Burma (Myanmar) for many years. I also support many orphanages and childrens' homes with educational resources to help the young students learn English. So usually I support kids of primary school age.

But today I visited an orphanage which had many abandoned babies, including new-borns. There were perhaps 150 kids! The orphanage was doing their best to care for these young kids with disposable nappies, but they simply don't have the funds to buy these.

Therefore, I thought that reusable cloth nappies with washable liners would be more appropriate and save money! However, such items are not available to buy in Myanmar, (there's a huge shortage of everyday items, due to the ongoing civil war).

But I can buy these items in Thailand, and then bring them to the orphanage.

My request to this forum is some advice to help me to choose the correct and most appropriate item for these young babies.

I appreciate your advice. I have 6 daughters of my own (blood and step-daughters), but they all grew up decades ago and my knowledge of baby nappies etc is very out of date :)

The easiest and cheapest way to do this is Terry nappies (the old school way) reusable all in one nappies are great, but you need multiple different sizes. They also don’t last as long as Terry nappies as the in built wraps go. Do they have adequate washing facilities including access to a disinfectant like napisan? I soak mine in napisan and then bung them in the washing machine, I also tumble dry them so they aren’t like cardboard 🤣 but I only have one child so wash a load every other day. I get through a box of napisan every 2 weeks (it’s cheapest in Morrisons at £4.50 a box).
Im not sure how practical reusable nappies are with 150+ kids, at around 8 a day that is 1200 nappies a day (newborn will be more and toddlers less). Do they have the machines and labour to wash this many?
One thing I would recommend before reusable nappies is reusable wipes (like the cheeky wipes) they are amazing, you use a lot less than disposable wipes and they are a lot easier to wash as a lot smaller.
If you want to do it buy a few and see how they go, it would be a big investment to buy that many nappies and find they aren’t used. You could also try different types,
some terries and some of the reusable ones. You can get different fitted nappies from the all in ones with the liner, nappy and wrap built in (so essentially like a disposable that you wash) and ones you build up from multiple parts. The all in ones are easiest, but I preferred the separate build your own style as you can add extra thickness for nights and keep the wrap and just charge the nappy if it’s not dirty (I found the waterproofness of the wrap went quickest).

It is a big undertaking to use reusable nappies - it’s why disposables are so popular. But once you get the hang of it, it’s not too bad. You can also get disposable liners which make it easier.
I wouldn’t use reusable on a newborn though and we used disposable when we are out and about for ease.

Thanks very much for your advice! There is no washing machine or tumble dryer - everything has to be handwashed, but the hot weather allows clothes etc to dry quickly. There are local volunteers who can do the washing.

I already spend perhaps 1,000 quid a month of my own money to support children at other orphanages, so an extra large expenditure will be difficult. Perhaps it would be better to stick with the disposable nappies...