Nappy Laundry

[pudding1976]

Hi there, just wondering if anyone has used a nappy laundry. We're thinking of using Nappy Ever After, based in London. Any comments? Would love to know your experiences. xx

IIRC most of these services use prefolds, which I found utter rubbish compared to shaped nappies

but apart from that I can't comment...

Agree with MrsB - steer clear of prefolds. Washing your own nappies is no biggie (providing you've got a washing machine).

Yes, prefolds are horrible - loads of leaks. You still have to wash the wraps, so you might as well wash the nappies as well. Plus having a bin of nappies for a whole week must be minging - you would need to store it in a garage I would think. Plus it is very expensive - more expensive than using disposables. I can't think of any plus points of using a laundry. Do you use a laundry for all your other washing?

If unsure about using cloth get a few to try first rather than going for a leaky prefold. I don;t know any who used shaped nappies as part of a laundry service.

I have prefolds that I give away to people who have little money to spend on nappies as can't bring myself to sell them!

There are several sites you can buy trial kits from - maybe a nappy advisor coming to your home before you make a decision would be better??

I've used a laundry service for 4 weeks before as our council offers it as a free trial.

The service itself was fantastic (no washing nappies for the first 4 weeks with a newborn - great)

However they only supply prefold system which wasn't so great. Prefolds are a great budget system but can be a bit fiddly and leaky.

If you really don't want to wash nappies then it might be a good option for you but do some research on the other nappies available for home laundering - it really isn't that much effort

Shame your not in Manchester as I could have given you a 1-2-1 demo and free nappy advice

Hello everyone, we do apologise for breathing life into a zombie thread, but we've had a mail from the folks at Nappy Ever After who wanted to respond to some of the comments on this thread.

Their response is below:

My name is Joy Vick. I am responding to this MN thread as it seems to come up easily in searches about the not-for-profit, social and environmental enterprise, Nappy Ever After. I'm afraid it may be giving people outdated opinions of prefold nappies. If so, this is a shame because the humble prefold is a very practical and affordable reusable nappy, although quality does vary.

Nowadays, if you find prefold nappies leak you just need to visit YouTube and search "how to prefold diapers." You will find loads of videos showing you how to make a prefold work on your baby - especially around skinny thighs. The big advantage of prefolds on new born babies (and other flat nappies, such as terries and muslins) is that you wrap them round your baby's bottom to get the perfect fit!

Newborn poo is bright yellow and stains so if poo does get on the wrap (that goes over the nappy to make it waterproof) use olive oil soap to get it off. It's like magic! It gets the stains off vests and clothes too. You can get olive oil soap from any wholefood shop.

I set up Nappy Ever After in 2003 because I used prefold nappies on my second baby and loved them but I didn't love the washing and drying in a small London flat. Nappy Ever After is here for people who feel the same. Our deliveries are zero tailpipe emissions (electric freight bikes) which has kept us very local and means sadly, we only serve a small area of London.

Nappy laundry services tend to use prefolds for many reasons, but mainly because the nappies need to be 100% cotton so they can be sterilised with heat. Synthetics don't survive high temperature washing. Soon nappy laundry services will probably use Otex (ozone) to sterilise nappies and will then be able to launder synthetic ones. Washing with Otex will also help us reduce the carbon impacts of our business.

For further information search "prefolds" on YouTube!

Haven't used a laundry service- so much cheaper to wash your own- but I use prefolds nappies almost exclusively. I find they work brilliantly and are so cheap to buy preloved. You need a good wrap- that does the "containing" I use the Bambino mio system and really can't fault it! Have tried so many other types/brands and keep coming back to good old prefolds, so don't dismiss them before trying!