Terries on holiday – am I mad?

[vkone]

Here?s the thing. We?re taking our son (will be 16 months) to Spain for holiday and staying at my mum?s flat. I am a late convert to cloth and really do not want to use disposables whilst abroad (they?re nasty and expensive ? just my very personal opinion).

Well, there is a washing machine and I usually use it when there, but it only has two settings: cool and very hot. For this reason I don?t want to risk DSs usual nappies ? I use Tots, Bumbles and Sandy?s (also lets face it, they take up a lot of room).

I have one terry which I have tried using kite folded with mixed results and pad folded successfully, but I?ve never gone further than that with them.

So what I?m wondering is, should I buy a pack of 10/12 60cm terries and pack them or is there something else that?s cheap/foolproof and won?t be destroyed by an old and dodgy washing machine that I can buy? AND if I do get terries, which ones? I?d like fairly cheap but ones that?ll work.

Any advice, help or offers of 2nd hand terries welcome!

Mia

you're on holiday! get disposables!

What about prefolds, vkone? They're made of terry but easy to fold inside a wrap.

can't you wash your normal nappies cool for just the holiday? we wash ours quite cool, you can wash them hotter again when you get home if they need it.
take fewer than you'd usually use and wash a bit more often on smaller loads.

we take ours on holiday sometimes, even camping when we're feeling masochistic.

If you're interested in some not-much-used shaped terries, I think I've got 8-10. Make me an offer & I could dig them out.

We use tushies disposables (don't contain chemicals, just cotton pulp and similar) on holiday but I applaud your determination. In your position I'd recommend the terries and buying them from a nappy supplier you're generally happy with for other nappies.

The other problem is bulk, we have to take travel cot and pushchair as well as all my clothes (essential!) so can't pack bulky nappies or even eco disposables. Last time we went (using disposables) I bought at the hypermarket and Toys R Us, but I don't remember seeing any terries on sale (not that I was looking)

I have been using Boots Terry Nappies fine for the last year- I'd happily recommend those. we do use them as a pad in staffables mainly, but also with a standard wrap. You should be with those.

eco disposables might add to the bulk on the way out, but at least you wouldn't have to bring them back.

I admire your determination, but as JoolsToo so eloquently put it, you're on holiday! - why make work for yourself?

I used cloth nappies (V Bulky bambino mios, but absorbent...) but used nature boy and girl nappies (sainsbury's eco disposables) for going away...

I'd opt for the terries. If you've got access to a washing machine then there should be no problem. It will be no more difficult than using disposables. If your concerned about sanitizing them, take some nappy soak powder with you and soak before washing cool. I'm still using a nippa'd origami/bat folded terry on my 21month old with no leaks and no problems at all.
And I agree, disposables are expensive, nasty and will add to your luggage bulk. And just the thought of those sewage filled disps in the hot sun is surely enough to put anyone off them.
My vote's for the terries fwiw
Julie

I finally plucked up the courage to do washables on holiday in Spain last year and it was no hassle at all. We compromised so used disps sometimes for days out but most of the time used totsbots - they dry dead quick so you only need take enough for 1.5 days - we took 8 per child and it was OK - you could also take a few terries as back up but if you're new to them you might find them a bit of a pain.
The sun bleaches them so no worries if you wash on cool setting either.
hth

It'll be warm, skip the nappies let babba go naked and just take a pooper scooper.

he'll be potty trained by the time you get back too!!

I use terries as the main form of nappies on dd2, but folded into a pad rather than kite or anything else. No problems at all, very cheap, easy to wash and dry and no leaks at all.

To make the pad I fold the terry into quarters, then fold the quartered nappy into half or thirds, top off with a flushable liner and hold in place with a poppered wrap. I use Nature babies wraps, and have never needed pins or nippas. You can use muslins instead of terries, but you'll need to use two at a time to get roughly the same absorbency as one terry. If you do buy terries, take them out of the packet for a look first, as some are bulkier than others.

HAnging the nappies to dry under the heavy sunrays in Spain will kill a lot of bacteria and remove lots of stains so, I won't worry much about the temperature setting of the washing machine. They will dry faster as well (less than an hour if in southern spain), so you may find you don't need as many as you would here, However.... all these benefits are subject to sunny hot weather conditions, if it gets cloudy or rains, the heat is not going to be enough to dry them fast

We used terries when staying with Spanish friends, DD was 8 months old. Hardly got thru any (they dried on her bottom, it was that warm), and they dried when hung up overnight, too. So you don't need many, 12 would be enough if you wash every other day. You only need to wash the poopy nappies at very hot (to sterilise them), rest can go at "cool". Or you can soak the poopy ones at very very hot & then actually wash them on "cool".

We were near Yecla (near Alicante). It was June but cloudy & almost cold, the nappies still dried very quickly overnight, even, hung in a breezy place.

We used our regular cloth nappies (Tots Bots) on our holiday abroad last year and will be doing the same again this year. I thought it was going to be difficult and everyone told me to use disposables but I stuck to my guns (same opinion as you) and it wasn't at all bad. The nappies dried quite quickly and it was pretty stress free. Perhaps I needed to be a little more organised than usual but remember they may be in the pool or sea a lot anyway, which will cut down on the amount used during the day (swim nappies dry very quickly).
Good luck and go for it. I'm sure it will work out.
CC

Thanks for all the advice and experiences. I "accidently" bought some cheap nappies on ebay and I'm toying with the idea of posting them there so that I don't have to travel with so many.

Remembering our last visit (DS was 4mths), the disposables were a pain - the flat is v small, on the eigth floor and we use carrier bags for refuse as there is no actual bin, so it meant trips down to the communal bins each day to get rid of the stinky nappies. I will invest in a large waterproof sack and that can do for a nappy pail whilst we're there.

Vkone, Fuzzi bunz do a heavy-duty sack for that purpose here

Thanks chipmonkey will be ordering a bag.

Does anyone ever feel awkward about using friends machines to wash nappies or am I just being too sensitive?

I don't think you should feel bad about using their washing machine for nappies...........think of the alternative of handwashing them in the sink!!!!!
Hope it all goes well.
cc

Thanks, I've always used eco friendly disposables when visiting friends, family are always accommodating. Well I shall ask friends from now on. Especially as I tried to ds on disposables to day and he really objected to them, in fact I couldn't get one on him that'll teach me!

If you have Bumbles, you can use the pop-in pad thing quite well as a sort of bulk filler for a nappy made out of a muslin square. These take up less space than terries, and dry at the speed of light. You need to fold them in a funny way - let me know if you are interested and I'll try and explain!

We took this system on holiday with us when we wnet to a cottage in the Scottish Highlands with no washing machine! We just wanted to see if it was possible. Washed them in the bath.

Have used Tushies on holidays since... (but have recently noticed that for all their eco blurb it's the skin kind thing they sell on, not the bio degradability)

Well, back from hols and I thought I'd put an update on and thank everyone again for their advice.

We ended up taking Little Ewe pastel terry squares (my fave) and Koalas and 3 Bumbles for nights. In the end we hardly used the Bumbles as they didn;t wash/dry well and both DH and me found the terries so much easier than expected. I used the Jo fold and DH was talking about selling all our Tots and sticking with terries!

The koalas were good and pack down well - they make a good change bag nappy as they are v thin. We used dispoables for the flight out and home and lo and behold DS had nappy rash by the time we got back!

I did also use muslins with boosters when caught short - great tip Spots, thank you for getting back to me!

Anyway, thanks ever so much for the advice, Mia