Muslin Squares - where to buy?

[readyornot2011]

Hello ladies,

Am in full on prep mode and one of the things that seems to be on everyone's 'must haves' list is an endless supply of muslin's.

Just wondered if you had any recommendations about where to by reasonable quality for reasonable price. I'm surprised how much they are at first glance...

TBH I barely used mine but I seem to be in the minority.
If you are handy with a sewing machine you can cut and hem a hhhuuuuggge amount of muslin from a haberdashery for about a fiver.
On the other hand, I spent a fiver in mothercare & got 3.

I got mine at mothercare - when its on sales around 1 quid each. packs of 20. I've been told by other mums its essential! :) good luck

i got some from asda £3 for 3 or 5 pack cant quite remember!

Now I am going to sound like a complete amateur, but what are they used for? Is it shoulder protection from puking?

DS managed to avoid the muslin and went for the pashminas instead.

I have millions as everyone has bought me them - apparently they are the baby essential?! Don't see what they do that a piece of kitchen towel or a tea towel wouldn't, but anyway. Tesco seem to have them quite cheap.

I used them for everything - to mop up sick, put over shoulder while burping, stick down bra in emergency breastmilk dripping situation, wiping baby's face/hands etc. Never went anywhere without a couple for first year. My nieces still have to have one each to take to bed, aged 5 and 2 (although in our family we call them 'flimsies' as that is how our mum always refers to them!).

I hardly used mine for baby things, except early days when lined changing mat with one. So even then I couldn't have done without them and my babies weren't sicky. Now, dd is 5, ds 2 and i have a drawerful. I hardly use kitchen roll any more, they mop up spills brilliantly, I use them instead of bibs, sometimes to dry my hands, for wiping condensation off windows in the morning and as dusters. I clean my cooker top by wetting one with washing up liquidy water - it is exactly the same size as my hob and if i leave it there for a few mins it all just wipes off. Once they're washed a few times they're lovely and soft and I just throw them in with whatever wash I'm doing. I got a dozen for each baby - and bought more for dd because was using one for every nappy change as she seemed to wee on contact with air! Sorry that seemed more of a household tips post!

I never used them at all with DS or DD -just used bibs. This time around I bought a pack of 3 from IKEA, just because really! The look pretty, were cheap and I'm sure I could find some use for them.....

My DS was really pukey, I had at least three on me at all times. For us they really were an essential.

I use them loads for all kinds of baby related jobs and now DD is 3 DP uses them as mansized hankies when he has a cold (really!).

The IKEA ones are great.

DON'T use fabric conditioner with them - renders them virtually useless (non-absorbant).

I don't think they are new at all but in the olden days they were called nappies (the ones you had to fold yourself).

Tesco do them in packs of 6 huge ones for £3, still expecting so I've not used them yet but they seem like they'll do the job

I didn't know that about the fabric conditioner finding Too late, cause I already washed and put them away!

I got a couple of packs from Ikea. Useful for catching/mopping up baby sick, over your shoulder when burping, breast leakage (especially at night), putting under the baby's head in the cot/moses basket so you don't have to keep changing the sheet, putting over the hood of the pram to make it dark for sleeping, and as a comforter.

these are great. They are larger than normal and really good quality. I have a sicky baby and they seem endlessly absorbent.

Definitely wash at 60 and don't use fabric conditioner though. My MIL washed some with softener and they smelt lovely but they were useless!

asda ones are enormous

DS is two and a half and we still use them for nose wiping, mopping up spilt milk and as impromptu bibs. Got through two or three a day when he was a tiny baby, then more when he was teething and dribbling constantly. We had a pile of them in most rooms in the house so that there was always one to hand.

Supermarkets all seem to sell them pretty cheaply.

I couldn't be bothered to spend money on squares of fabric so I have made my own from scraps of material, I hope they will do the trick. If not I'm going to be covered in baby vomit, drool etc

try ebay shops. i got all mine from there, most recently i bought a new pack of 12 for about £11 including postage.

Tesco, Ikea, Asda. All cheap enough but worth every penny. So many uses!

I had them and used them for puke wiping, sunshades, bibs. We still have them and it makes me laugh that dd2 looks like such the little lady as she delicately pats her face with her "napkin" after dinner, when in fact she's just carrying on the tradition of wiping food off her face, hair, everywhere since she was a baby!

They're great because they have texture, so they wipe very effectively. I have a couple for myself too as they are great as gentle exfoliaters.

They've also lasted a zillion washes. I do have a weird habit of ironing them into 16th squares - then they fit exactly into the ikea sideboard little drawers we have... pleases me for some reason

I use them for just about everything too! I used to put them down on DD's changemat when she was newborn so that she wasn't lying on the freezing mat. It also helped to absorb any pee that escaped before the change was complete!

Oh, and I second the ironing satisfaction too!

Haunted thanks for not leaving me on my own on weirdo-ironing planet!

I used to do that with the changing mat too. Funny how you forget these things!