Umming and aahing about whether to use cloth nappies or biodegradable disposables???

[Bicnod]

Hello - my first baby is due in April and I'm umming and aahing about whether or not to use cloth nappies.

Please can someone point me in the right direction for a cloth nappy system that is pretty easy to use and works well?

We were thinking about using biodegradable disposables as DH and I both work full-time at the moment and I'll be going back to work part-time so need something that little one's nursery will be happy to use as well... but if that's possible with cloth nappies would be great!

Thank you very much!

Nursery will have to use the nappies you provide.

Washables all the way. One outlay, easy to use, wash and dry, you can buy them second hand and you can sell them on.

I would advise not buying a cloth nappy system in adavnce as different cloth nappies suit different shaped babies - you're better off getting a selection to try. I ended up using mainly motherease one size but also have a few sandys, totsbots etc. If it's your first then you might prefer to use disposible for the early weeks until you hit your stride a bit more.

Good luck!

i would have to say that reusables are far easier to manage.

Thanks for the fast responses

Liath - can you recommend any websites for looking at different nappy systems? I've heard that it's possible to get samples - any idea where I'd get these from?

Maybe The Nappy Lady?? TBH I'm a bit out of the loop as I bought all my nappies for dd over 3 years ago (now reusuing them for ds and saving oodles of money ). I expect someone else will be able to give you some tips for that.

Babykind is good at describing each nappy

The Nappy Lady has some great advice.
When I bought my nappies, I visited my local nappy seller (www.cottonbaby.co.uk)and spent a long time looking at all the different options.

My advice would be to use reusables - but make sure that you really love the nappies you buy! I'm really happy with the Flexitots nappies that I have, they're absorbent, fit well and dry quite quickly. (I use Bumhuggers at night)

The debate rages on whether they're better for the environment but they certainly work out cheaper and I actually prefer them on my babies skin. I just think of them like any other item of my babies clothes - I wash his vests, I wash his nappies.

They shouldn't be any more hassle for a nursery to use.

Thanks so much for all the advice I feel like I have some places to start now... x

2 websites i can certainly recommend are Bumfluff nappies (flame) and nappyzone (me) and are both mumsnetters and would be more than happy to give advice - both websites have descriptions and lovely fluff to look at. I had the same debate myself with my own children and went for washables purely because of the landfill stinking wheelie bin thing....

Bicnod - another one for cloth here. I would recommend speaking to a nappy agent - they'll discuss your 'nappy needs' and show you different nappies/ recommend what they think would suit you. Look on babykind.co.uk and see if they have an agent in your area. Another couple of websites you could look at are twinkleontheweb.co.uk and boocoo.co.uk.
Love the cloth!

Another cloth lover here - they leak far far less than disposables and I reckon I do very little more laundry than if ds was in disposables.

Yes - another washable recommendation - and also recommend trying out (actually using) a selection on your baby first - we ended up getting quite a number of prefolds to use in conjunction with shaped as they seemed to work for ds (and were cheaper and v. easy to dry) - different shapes of nappy and wrap suit different shapes of baby.

cloth everytime for me.
i worked full time and my dd went to nursery and they preferred pocket nappies. these are simple to sue like disposbales adn drying time is usally a bit quicker.

with pocket nappies you have a shaped (and usually sized but you can get birth to potty pocket nappies) nappy, that is usaully fleece lined, you then stuff the pocket with an insert, some nappies coem with inserts others you buy seperatley. the advantage pocket nappies have with nursery is that you can send them in in your nappy bag already stuffed and with flushable liners in makign it a whole lot easier for nursery and usually a nicer wet bag to bring home.
i found when i sued 2 parts at nursery i often got a wet bag back with the nappies inside complete with contents! but when swapped to pockets they cmae back with teh contents flushed and just the wet nappy.

birth to potty brands i recommend are bumgenius, blueberry unforutnatley both are us brands, i also love weenotions which is a uk based wahm brand.

2 parters i couldn;t fault the tots bots, both the cotton ones and the flexi tots.

good webistes to use are www.nappyzone.co.uk , www.twinkleontheweb.co.uk , www.weenotions.co.uk , and www.kittikins.co.uk

Hi, I love my motherease one size, I always return to them out of all the nappies I have. I found www.twinkleontheweb.co.uk to be a good site.

Useful to have some eco disposables for the first few days in hospital etc. I found I used disposables for the first 4 or 5 weeks until things settled down a bit.

Another cloth fan here!

& second what others have said - don't buy a complete set of anything, the only people I know who've given up on cloth are the ones who've done this.

Buy one or two of a kind (totsbots with motherease wraps probably a good start), second hand if you can, & see what works for you (all 3 of my dc have had different 'best fit' nappies).

You'll be saving a fortune & you can always sell them on later.

Strangely - I bought all my nappies before DS was born, and I'm still happy using them. Although now I'm a complete nappy head and haven't been able to resist buying a few nappies of other types to use. Moved DS into cloth on day 5 (still managed to have a major poo disaster with the disposables in that time though )

Thank you so much for all your advice - I'm feeling much more convinced about cloth now... just need to persuade DH now

DH was hooked by the "technical" aspect of folding terry squares (+cost issue).

I would suggest that you don't buy any sized nappies that fit a newborn unless you are rich or plan to sell on/re-use - newborns grow at an astounding rate. I have 4 lovely wraps I have used for a total of 3 weeks (have 2 dc!). Hope to use them with dc3 should one happen .

What you choose depends on why you want re-usables - cost? eco issues? + how will you dry them etc. I hated the bag of soiled disposables. Also I understand the latest report suggests there is an environmental benefit - the first one assumed odd things like boil washing and even ironing nappies.

Bamboo is eco-friendly and very slim for the amount it absorbs but dries slowly - I have flat squares and boosters which are good. IME prefolds are fine if you nippa them instead of just folding into a pad.

bicnod - when I said I wanted to use cloth, DP was very and said he'd keep a pack of pampers handy for when he had to change. Strangely he now prefers the cloth nappies, and even has particualar favourites out of the ones we have.
Also to convince DH - try mentioning the fact that the chemicals in disposables create an exothermic reaction when it comes in contact with wee, generating heat inside the nappy. There is some speculation that this affects little boys' fertility.

The thing I love about cloth nappies is that you never run out! Check if your local council does a selection of real nappies. You might also collect some on Freecycle. We have a random selection as a result but it suits us.

mybabywakesupsinging - have you got a link to the latest report?

A relation gave us their old nappies but I've seen them advertised on freecycle too. Finding disposable liners is a pain though. Your council might even have a discount voucher scheme. I'm going to wait to see whether we need to add to our stash before using our voucher.