Cloth nappies when staying at someone else's house? An imposition?

[starkadder]

OK, we have used cloth nappies (mostly Wonderoos) on our baby since he was born, with disposables only for night time in the last few weeks (we live in Spain and it's so hot here, I didn't like putting him to bed in a huge fluffy stuffed nappy).

We're coming back to the UK this week for a month and we'll be staying with friends first, then MIL and FIL separately (they're divorced), then my mother.

I am kind of shrinking from the thought of using a month's worth of disposables.

BUT will it be really rude to expect friends and family to allow us to put so much washing on, using their electricity, and hang nappies all over their houses?

Plus will it be a stupidly annoying thing for us to have to cope with on top of the obvious difficulties of staying in different places with a 4 month old baby?

Any opinions gratefully received

Family , check but expect might be ok
Friends, I would use disposables

No one that we've ever stayed with has complained - if they have invited you to stay with a small baby, they'll be expecting you to do washing after all. You could always offer to go to the laundrette if you were really worried about imposing.

I think you should phone and ask them if they mind - and if some do, then either keep the nappies until you get to another person's house who doesn't mind (a brewing bucket has a very tight-fitting lid) and wash them there, or do a laundrette run; OR just use disposables when staying with the ones who mind.

I have cloth nappies and have been away for a couple of weekend recently and we decided to use disposabales for the weekend - but I don't like them much and couldn't wait to get DS back into his clothies so I think you will get quite distressed about using them for a month.

PHONE them - ASK.

I tried using cloth when staying with my dad and step mum for a week. It really did not work. Staying in some-one's house means different routines and fitting in an extra wash a day round this was just impossible. I would buy the most eco-friendly disposibles you can find and take advantage of warm weather by letting dc play nappyless in the garden as much as possible.

check - and be prepared to use disposables more (because you won't necessarily be able to schedule the washing as neatly as you can at home) or even entirely if it doesn't work out and ends up causing problems.

On the scale of things it's not the worst environmental crime, just for a week!

BTW with the hot at nights thing, I think several studies have shown that babies are actually cooler in cloth, because the pee can evaporate and has a natural cooling action. There's something abotu the gel in disposables, combined with the tight fit, that causes the genitals to heat up, I think?

sorry a month

Could be worse - when my granny had 4 month-old twins they went on holiday for a fortnight to a B&B, and had to take 2x2 weeks worth of terries there and (worse!) back (ie dirty!) as there were no washing facilities.

Mad. But that was the 50s.

! Good points, I will check
Young Visiter - imagine!! that is quite hardcore. LIke your name, btw - one of my favourite books.

thank you! (re name I mean)

Yes, very hardcore. It was on the train too, as they didn't have a car - she and her husband each had to lug a twin and a bag of clothes and nappies across London.

But she was quite a tough cookie in more ways than that so I think it stood her in good stead in later life - I'm sure she would claim that disposables took the backbone out of britain!

think my mil used to wash disposibles by hand while camping in whitby in the early 1970s

Man. We are namby pamby. My MIL used to take her washing every week on the bus to the nearest town (nearest laundrette) , plus 2 children under 2, and then back again.

we took our cloth nappies for two babies when we stayed with family lol. their faces when they saw a missed poo rolling round in their washing machine was worth it What did people do when there was no choice? Not have holidays or something?

I'd check, but only to be polite.

I'd be quite if anyone said no

About to go camping for a week, with one in cloth full time, and one just at night.

There is a laundrette on site though

i always asked but no one ever had a problem with it.
WhereTheWildThingsWere-camping with cloth is great as you can peg them all over your tent and as our dc said they look like flags

I was going to take an airer, but that's a good idea