Help - Reusable or disposible?

[Lemonbob]

My first post to Mumsnet!
I am having my first baby and am having the debate with myself about the different sorts of nappies. Disposible look easy and quick but the thougt of chucking all that in a land fill fills me with dread!
On the flip side, I am going to be new to motherhood and will I cope with the faff and the washing etc!

What are your thoughts? What can you recommend?

Thanks everyone!

I thought I would probably use reusables but didn't buy any until I thought I could cope with the extra washing on top of all the new strains that motherhood puts you under - so when DS was 3 months I did some research, bought one nappy, saw how easy it was to put on and wash, and bought enough to keep him in them full-time. It's good if you can borrow some or have a nappy trial, your council might even give you money towards some.

I bought Itti Bitti D'Lish by the way, really slim fitting so you can pretty much put them in normal sized clothes, plus they look lovely and colourful even nearly 2 years later. I'd definitely recommend them - I bought them in mediums as 3MO DS wouldn't have been in small long enough.

Firstly congratulations! When are you due?

Most people will tell you that the nappy type they use are easy and quick - regardless of whether disposable or washable, it's just a case of difference of routine.
With washables there's no weekly shopping or smelly bin bags to put out every day.
With disposables you may still have to turn your machine on every other day or every 3rd day and hang clothes to dry or pop them in the drier - a two part washable system (nappy + separate wrap = 2 barriers at the leg and waist) is far superior on containment of (particluarly breastfed) runny new baby poo than disposables !

Unfortunately most people that tell you washables are a faff are usually the very people who have never used them (if they say washables are a faff ask them if they ever have used them and you'll see my point!).

Most people that have used washables can't see what is difficult about turning the machine on every now and then, it's not like the olden days when you had to soak or boil them and didn't have an automatic!

Washables are great! even fun and not hard work at all
I would recommend for daytimes Bumgenius pockets or the new flip nappy, so simple and reliable. I second Itti's for the Fall in love with fluff factor-gorgeous strokeable addictive fluff. Makes a normally monotanous task fun!
At night, when they hopefully sleep through, two parters are more reliable. good old Motherease wrap or a lovely fleece soaker with a Wee Notions night nappy.

I am loving washables now that I have found the right system for us. With my previous two girls I tried (a prefold system) and failed and went for disposables. This time around I have totally different nappies to use and am loving them. Every time I walk past the disposables at the supermarket I think of the money I am saving! I use mostly fitted bamboo nappies with motherease airflow wraps and I get less leaks that I did previously with disposables on my other two girls. I made my own fleece liners from some fleece material bought on ebay. I bought the nappies and wraps second hand to try them with a view to selling on and recouping some of the money - it also meant if I didn't get on with them I hadn't spent a fortune. I have a lidded bucket and just rinse off any poo if necessary, and then pop the nappies into a net inside the bucket. Every other day I take the whole net out of the bucket and shove in the machine with a tiny amount of non-bio. I mostly airdry, though find the bamboo can take a while to dry unless I put them on the radiators. Hopefully in the summer they will be outside of course.
I am also using a few Itti bitti d'lish and whilst I love the nappy and good for absorbing wee I do find they leak poo at times so I'm thinking these will be better when my baby is a bit older and weaning hopefully (and the poo thicker!...hmmm nice conversation here!)
I would suggest have a read about different nappies and types, see what you think will suit and buy just one or two to try to start.

Welcome

I love my Bumgenius pocket nappies.
I bought a few Wonderoos too but prefer the BG as I find them less bulky.

The landfill factor of disposables filled me with dread too.

Wash ours every 2-3 days, cold wash with tiny bit of non bio, 40 degree wash with no powder, final rinse and spin and they dry overnight on the laundry rack. Very rarely have to use tumble dryer.

I don't consider it too much faff and would definitely use them again if we have any more babies.

Might be worth seeing if your local council have a washable nappy scheme, some of them seem to have really good offers and contribute to purchase of nappies (not ours unfortunately)

I completely agree with MissJamin - don't buy until after you have the baby. A pile of reusables that you've bought but are too tired to use will only make you feel guilty. Also newborns tend to poo so often (I once used 27 nappies in a 24 hour period) that reusables aren't really that great for newborns. Reusables are a little more work than disposables - and sometimes that little extra work can seem like the last straw.

Having said all that I used reusables (the same lot) for my four children - and I used to enjoy hanging them out on the line (I don't have a tumble dryer). I just think it's important to be realistic about them.

I used the washables from when the meconium stopped and never felt I was doing any extra work/effort than any other mum using disposables. Things are a bit of a faff with a new baby anyway and if you put off starting using them, you might think you'd be too busy - but I really didn't find it any extra faff.
For me, it was mostly about the money. I loved not spending out on nappies, and if you have another baby - that's double the savings!
Nicer for baby's skin too and I do wonder about those water retaining gel globule thingies, like in hanging baskets, being trapped around private parts.

Washables every time for ease, reliabilty, economy, nicer for your baby. etc, but I agree- definitely do a trial first to find out what fits, and what launders well for you in your own particular environment. Oh, and beware buying a birth to potty pack of anything, or buying highly marketed nappies - they are usually not the best, as those companies spend all their budgets on advertising, instead of improving their nappies!!

I haveused cloth on 3 boys and wouldn't use disps unless totally necessary - it was the waste and the chemicals that did it for me.

Yes - there have been times when I've thought about giving up but knowing how much waste - not just landfill but money usually put me back on course!

There are loads of great nappies on the market now - the following seem to be most popular and easiest at the moment

Itti Bitti
Bumgenius
Bumgenius Flip
Fuzzi Bunz

I like all in ones for day time and nappy and cover overnight for better containment/reliability - would then go for motherease sandys and a motherease rikki or air rika for chubbier babies.

You can wait til baby arrives as delivery is usually super quick. There are lots of good sellers out there.

My can't live without items are washable wipes (ecoearth, lollipop and cheekywipes) and a good wet bag - I use MonkeyFoot but you can get others.

HTH a bit!

Thanks to all of you for replying!! This is going to be a great forum as I really have NO idea about being a mum, but just know that I am REALLY excited!!

Thanks to you all and will keep you posted on my decision!

Hi Lemon,

Just wanted to say that my dd is 11 weeks now and has been in washables since she was about 2 weeks. I bought my bamboo little lambs from a mnetter before she was born, and did all my reading and research while pg too. I understand what people are saying about not going all out or buying big volumes before lo arrives, but I would never have got that chance to do my research/purchasing once she was here!! I have found this site and our local real nappy agent really helpful. Try and find out if they run a trial pack in your area
or of there is a coffee morning where you can look at different types of nappy - great way to meet oher mums too.

I second those that have said bamboo takes a while to dry - we have coped by sticking them on the radiators and buying some microfibre/cotton ones to get them dry quicker.

I use a prerinse cycle for nappies, then add any other light bits - mostly dds - and do a 40 degree wash, it is no extra hassle at all.

Good luck

It took me a while to work out which ones I wanted to buy - so many different types! I was a bit squeamish at the time about trials of used nappies, but think that would have made it all easier (Google to find companies that can do this for you).

I didn't get him fully into cloth until a couple of months old and he's in Flexitots with Onelife wraps. The nappies dry reasonably quickly, and the wraps contain poo explosions, keeping them off clothes (disposables generally don't do this!). Breastfed baby poo isn't really like poo as it doesn't smell nearly so unpleasant, but it is Runny and will Get Everywhere if you let it.

A question on your behalf for those who use nappies which don't have separate wraps, are they as good at stopping poo leaks in the early months? I tried out one 'Pop-in Dream-dri' nappy which made his clothes wet and then went back to the ones with wraps so can't comment.

Also (still on the subject of poo) it took me a while to work out the logistics of pooey nappies when most of it escapes the liner. My own personal solution is to dump the horrible ones in the washing machine, give them a quick rinse (stop the cycle part way through after 10 min) and then a quick spin. Then add to the wet ones in the Monkeyfoot bags. Not very energy-saving, but very easy. Hopefully when he starts solids soon this won't be so necessary...

So, for me it all took a bit of getting used to but now I'd say it's pretty easy. I found lots of useful information on here.

Good luck with everything!

I also agree about not buying until dc is here - and then trying different types from a nappy trial service - as different types and styles suit different babies. We really surprised ourselves going for prefolds rather than just shaped - but we found a combination of some prefolds and some shaped suited us really well - the prefolds dried quicker, so really not a problem how many you went through in the day, and thefitted ones slightly better at 'containing' if you are out and about (less of aproblem if you're in as you can just go and deal with things immediately before there's too much chance of 'spread' ). Ds also had them at nursery (we only gave them fitted as couldn't imagine that non-fitted would have been put on right!) from 6mo. We went for the separate wrap system too - loved the nature babies wraps.

I'd like to point out that it's precisely because newborns poo so much that it becomes quite economical (and better environmentally) to use cloth nappies as early as possible.

I love love love my bumgenius nappies and really couldn't ever look back at a disposable again (well for regular use anyway)
I've tried and tested so many reusables whilst my children have been through and I've not come up against a reusable that suits me better than bumgenius.
I've got a mix of the one size and all in one - the one size is a pocket nappy with a microfleece lining which is really soft. They look great and even better mine take about 2 hours to dry in the air!!! the outer only takes about 30mins!
Good luck with your shopping - probably best to just grab 3-5 reusables for when you have baby and then decide if you want to continue. For the first month I've ALWAYS used my reusables along with disposables - it just made things easier for me in the early stages.

We used disposables in the early days too, partly because the resusable that we had hit DS right on his cord stump so we waited until that had healed before switching over.

It is more work to wash and dry resuables but you soon get into the routine of it. Though I have to say, after 2 and a bit years of washing and drying nappies I'm starting to get a bit fed up of it and can't wait for DS to be out of them! But I'd probably feel equally as pissed off if I was sspending loads on disposables every week...

It's worth bearing in mind that you don't have to do all or nothing. We use disposables at night as we could never find any resuable that wouldn't leak and we were washing DS's pyjamas and bedding every day.

Do your research, buy a few nappies (or borrow some if you can) and try them out when baby arrives.

I started DD on Itti Bittis at 6 weeks. Friends used them; I liked how small they are and they're so easy to use (DH can't fail to put the inserts in correctly!) I got a set of smalls new, bought mediums secondhand and larges in a set new (helped cut the cost and I'm always looking out for secondhand ones!). At night I use Tots Bots Bamboozles because Ittis don't last all night for us, but I have to make them up and leave for DH!

Actually, I prefer Ittis to disposables, I hate the way they fill with wee and hang down. They're not difficult to wash and I don't find it any hassle at all. Our elec bill isn't much higher either. Plus DD has a nice firm bum for carrying her with A tumble dryer or an airer next to a radiator is useful for drying during the winter.

I do use disposables occasionally though

used disposables with dd, have just gone over to washables with ds, and washables win hands down. We use itti bitti for day, and bumgenius flip with a double booster or tots bots bamboozles with extra boosters for night. DS's skin is clera and lovely, his clothes much cleaner and free from leaks, no bin full of bags of smelly nappies and he looks v cute. Wish I'd done it with dd - would have saved even more.

Hi, I'm a very new mum as dd will be 3 weeks tomorrow! We've been using reusables for a week, I bought a selection (mostly pre-loved) before she was born as knew I wouldn't have the time afterwards. We waited until her cord stump had dropped off and healed over and for her to fill out a little as she was very long and skinny when born although an average weight.

We've been using tots bots size 1 with xs wraps (mostly one-life but I have a lollipop one and one each of the motherease rikki and airflow), pop-ins (dream dri and bamboo) and BGv3s. So far the pop-ins are the favourite, so easy to use and nice and soft on DDs skin, the BGs don't have the leg gusset and they are the only nappies that have leaked. The tots bots are fine but inclined to go a little hard so I worry about the effect on her skin.

It is no more hassle than disposables, I would say less in fact as we don't have the problem with nappies leaking that we had with disposables so I'm doing far less washing of DD's clothes. I just throw the dirty nappies into a pail lined with a mesh bag and wash every other day, the outers and wraps go on a clothes airer and everything else in the tumble drier. Doesn't take any longer and our shopping bill is considerably less now there are no longer disposable nappies in there!! If you go for an all in one type nappy then they are as easy to put on as a disposable as well and even coping with the nappy nippas and wraps if you don't isn't too much of a faff.