reusable napies

[jazz412]

now I know they're supposedly much more effort than disposable (understandably) however as this is my first I'm figuring I won't know the difference in the work load if I don't let myself :)

On MoneySavingExpert.com it states that you save a considerable amount of money doing things this way (honestly this is my main reason...!) but it also helps the environment :)

Just wondering whether anyone has any experience of reusable nappies (I'm not really looking for the clip it together with a safety pin sort more the sort you can whack on easily!)
Really interested in using them but worried that I might be wasting my time/upfront money, is it all worth it??

any advice greatly appreciated! :)
xx

Have used washables with all four of mine. You save a fortune. Google tots bots. Totally worth it x

I got all mine second hand - mostly use Little Lambs and Tots Bots. They are fastened with velcro so no more effort than a disposable really.

Ooohh now I was going to ask this question too, so will watch this thread with interest. :)

I used Fuzzi Bunz (daytime) and Bumhuggers at night for both my boys. Fuzzi Bunz are liner and inner all in one, which you stuff, so in some ways they're like a disposable.

I'd recommend them - although not for at least the first 6 weeks (especially if breastfeeding - too much leaky poo!), as little thighs don't fill them enough.

If you're keen it's worth buying them now, as by they'd paid for themselves within a certain time, and were free for subsequent children. I've even lent them to friends between babies, so currently mine have served 4 children and are going to do number 3 soon!

Not only do they look fab, they help your wallet and green conscience! x

I can recommend www.thenappylady.co.uk for great advice and downloadable factsheets.

I completed a personal questionaire and was recommended bumgenius which i bought and have LOVED.

Go read up and see what you think

thanks everyone! I've just read a review for smartipants which are new and they look amazing!
How many nappies would you recommend buying? also what other extras do you need? they mention a pail?
www.fill-your-pants.com/complete-nappy-kits/smartipants-kit.html
on this site there were also reusable wipes...too far?! xxx

I like using two part nappies, as the cover really contains breastfed poo! In the early days ds pooed 10-12 times a day, so realistically I'd say you need 12 nappies and 3 or 4 wraps.

I also use fleece liners - they protect the nappy from staining and keep the baby's bottom dry as they let the wee through but keep it away from their skin. I tried flushable liners at first but thought they were rubbish.

I've just started using reusable wipes at 5 months (bits of flannel basically) - up til now was just using cotton wool and water, but I've started weaning and cotton wool is no longer enough. If you're sticking nappies in the wash you may as well stick wipes in too.

Any bin with a lid will do as a nappy bin. Get a net bag to go in it, and you can stick the whole thing in the wash so no need to handle the nappies again.

what are the wraps? (sorry, really new to this idea - never even seen a reusable nappy in real life!)
ditto fleece liners - are they necessary and do they fit every sort of nappy?

When you're out and about, what do you do re dirty nappy/cloth? in a nappy bag and let it fester?
(what about camping... what would you do??)

great idea about the net lining! (why do people buy nappy pails - they just look like expensive buckets - am I missing something?)

With the reusable wipes, what solution do you use? just water or have you added oil etc?
xx

The wraps are waterproof covers that go over the nappies to stop wee leaking onto clothes. These are only used if you're using a two part nappy - cloth nappy with a wrap over.

You can also get all in one nappies which have the waterproof part built in, so it all goes on like a disposable.

I used bambinex teddies on DS with Motherease Airflow wraps over. DD is now 10 days old and as soon as her cord has healed over I will be putting her in DS's old cloth nappies :)

Try looking at Babykind.co.uk they have local agents who will be happy to visit you and talk through your 'nappy needs'

If you use a two part nappy, you have the cloth inner bit and then a waterproof wrap that goes over the top. So you change the cloth nappy every time but you only need to change the wrap if it gets pooey. I like the two part nappies as if anything escapes the nappy then the wrap catches it!

You don't have to use a liner, but if you don't the cloth will be wet against your baby's skin. Some people like flushable paper liners are they can stick them down the loo (though this depends on your plumbing!) but I much prefer fleece. They're just rectangles of fleece fabric, I bought some cheap Junior Joy ones off ebay.

Wipes, I just have a bowl of water on the changing table and dip the wipe in.

I use disposables/baby wipes occasionally though if we're out for a day, or staying over somewhere, going on holiday etc.

:) sounds great, going to sound a bit rude here and not meaning to but why would you get two party nappies if you can buy all in one nappies?

Before the cord's healed up do you use disposables? (is this the same with every nappy type?)

Sorry for the bombardment of questions but I figured where else to ask except those with experience!!
xx

I do have some lovely one part nappies though - Itti Bittis are my favourite. Two-parters are our practical everyday nappies.

Two parters leak less and tend to be cheaper, easier to pick up second hand.

Have used re-usables since day 1 with DS. They are a great thing! I had a friend who made her own; she gave us one completed one and one in bits, which I gave to my MIL and she made about 40 of them for me. They are held together with Nappy Nippas (don't ever tread on these they really hurt!). And we use the Motherease wraps to keep them waterproof. The ones with velcro are better than those with popstuds, IMO, and they come in at least 5 sizes. So far, and DS is now just 3, I have only needed to use the small, medium and large ones.

I was "lucky" that I had a huge number of dry wipes left over from when my Mum died, she had a colostomy so had massive amounts of these things, and mini plastic rubbish bags as well. The drywipes made excellent nappy liners that could just be dropped down the loo, reducing the amount of poo in the nappy bin.

the nappy bin - my friend of above gave me theirs - a 25L brewing bin. Airtight lid, and one full bin = one load of washing, worked brilliantly. No need to buy expensive ones though - but best to buy something with an airtight lid. I didn't "wetpail" (i.e. soak the nappies in water as soon as they go in the bin), I dry-pailed and then pre-soaked just prior to washing. Still do. Works fine, IMO.

When out and about for the day or just overnight, the mini plastic bags were very useful for holding a dirty nappy. But when going away for longer, we switched to Nature Care disposables. As DS got bigger and wking him to change his nappy became troublesome because he then wouldn't go back to sleep, we also switched to disposables at night.

I never used wipes except when out and about with no alternative - I bought a packet of Nature Care ones and have just thrown it away, almost empty, 3 years later. I had a bowl of water for dunking DS's bum into - he was always cleaned this way and still is (only now it's the sink or the shower hose rather than a tub) and he very rarely had nappy rash, and it never lasted more than a day with the cream I used on it.

I have saved a fortune.

Hi, glad to find this thread as I'm planning to use resusables but as yet know nothing about them! Hope no one minds me barging in with a couple of questions.

Queenofdreams do you have to use disposables until the cord has healed then? In my notes the list of things to bring to hospital for baby includes disposable nappies I'm assuming from this that the hospital wouldn't be too impressed with me taking in reusables, so would it standard to use disposables initially?

You don't have to use disposables til the cord heals, you could just fold the front of a reusable down so it doesn't rub. However you might want to consider disposables for the first couple of weeks anyway - you have enough to get your head round with a new baby!

I used terry squares with both DS's with nappy nippers to hold in place and nappy liners to collect all the poo! I think the nappy covers were nappyease??? Very good and I still use the nappies now as floor cloths and the like. They are actually really easy to fold and you don't have to keep buying new ones as baby grows! The only thing I would say is that you have to buy clothes especially trousers in a bigger size to fit it all in.

I'm currently 38 wks pg, and i've gone with Flip nappies, after lots of research... but i'm planning to use disposables for the first couple of weeks until the Mec. poos gone.

Check with your council - some give you coupons for money off.

Depending on where you live - I can recommend Nappy Ever After in London - which will let you try out the nappies, etc and explain the different ones.

And if you decide on Flip - message me and i can tell you a fab cheap website - but don't want to say on here, in case it seems like i'm advertising for them... but i was a nerd and did a huge spreadsheet working out costs, and the site i went with was far far cheaper than some other websites.

Oh - and have a look on place like Gumtree and the real nappy exchange and ebay for second hands ones too.

Two parters are more efficient at catching leaks - especially in the early days - and also easier to dry, as (from recollection of my pre-DS research) you can't put all-in-ones in tumble dryers or on radiators. I've always used 2 parters (old style tots bots or littlelambs and motherease popper wraps) tho' so am biased.

I have 2 big (15 l?) bins, from hardware shop, as official nappy bins seemed ridiculously small... but then I have enough nappies that I only wash every 4-5 days [lazy emoticon] although DS now 2, so not as many dirty ones to deal with, so its nots as bad as it sounds. I think I had around 30 size 1s and definitely have at least that many size 2s...

Until v recently I always used fleece liners (some cut from an ikea blanket, the nicer snuggly ones from little lambs) as until the poo is solid then the paper liners turned to mush when I used them. Now paper works well though.

Washable wipes are fab, so would definitely recommend those. I got mine from weenotions and they're still going strong after all this time. I have a plastic flip-top box (that came free with pampers wipes in the bounty pack) and just soak them in a bit of water and lavender essential oil, so they're fresh and ready to use... its really convenient. As a childminder I use disposable wipes that parents provide on the minded children and i don't find them nearly as effective - and so many chemicals!

If I'm going away for a few days I tend to use nature babies nappies, so still a bit eco-friendly, but less bulky than travelling with washables. For every day use I just take a carrier with me and put the used one in that to bring home and stick in the nappy bucket.

Hope thats some help. :)

dd has just potty trained and hasn't worn a disposable once i am VERY proud of this fact! i took washables into hospital and educated the midwives- they all thought they were adorable (but they were ultra snuggly and uber expensive swaddlebees ocv- totally unescesary but were given to me as a pressie!)

I use washables too and absolutely love them. We used disposibles to start with as we hadn't decided which to go with when she first arrived and had had a selection from the Nappy Lady to try out. Unfortunately their delivery is chronic (3 months wait on nappy liners has been the worst so far...) and when dd arrived the only stuff they'd sent out was way too big and then we had our hands full and didn't have any time to look into it. Anyway disposibles lasted about 10 weeks, then I felt a bit less frazzled and started looking into washables. Since swapping from disposibles, we haven't had a single leak (wee or poo) and the only nappy rash we've had has been dd's done particularly stinky poos (weaned now) and even then it was just a little bit pink and sorted out very quickly with a dab of weleda.

At the beginning we used thirsties sized with a separate waterproof outer - some were thirsties and some were motherease (they are huge!) They were brilliant and I recommended them to loads of people. But as they are sized we would have had to keep on buying the next size, so when she grew out of them we got Bumgenius one sized and she's moved through the poppers on those and now wears them at their largest setting. We have them with velcro and a few with poppers, but velcro is best as poppers are a pain to do up with a wriggly baby who is just desperate to get to anywhere that isn't the changing mat.

We also use one life nappy liners and the poopy ones get flushed, the wet ones go into the bin (biodegradable and keep the poo / nappy cream away from the nappy). We dry pail and wash every other day. We tumble dry or hang up in the winter and they go on the line in the summer. We've not run out of nappies yet and we must have about 22 that we use all the time a few others from the original Nappy Lady selection. Every so often they get a bit stinky and we wash them on a cold wool wash with no powder, then a 60 degree with pre wash, using powder in the pre wash only then a final rinse (sometimes 2 and sometimes with vinegar). This really helps to strip them down and keep them absorbing well. We bought all of ours as new, mostly from kittykins and fill-your-pants (who are just fab) and I'm sure we've still made a saving over disposibles.

Just make sure you avoid wee notions if you are doing this for financial reasons as it's wonderful, but expensive and addictive and therefore a dangerous den of temptation!!

:) I'm deffinately loving the response - no one has had a negative experience ... YET!

I think I'm pretty much set on getting reusable nappies - thanks everyone!

Keep the advice coming! I'm sure there's more I can find out from you lovely ladies :D xx

I'm sure you have, but just in case you haven't spotted it have you been on www.mumsnet.com/Talk/nappies_potty_training_etc ?

Another vote for washables here. I nod along when people say it must be nice to do somethingto reduce landfill etc etc, but thats just a bonus, I have 2 in cloth nappies and save an absolute fortune!

Saving the money I have to say is my primary concern at the moment - it's nice to be saving the planet and all too but I'm thinking about the money saved on this one soon to be let alone the money saved on and subsequent babies!

Must admit, I'm same as you Jazz - money was main motivator, then pretty colours and then planet. but i also don't work at moment, and luckily won't need to get to work until baby is about 18months - so feel i have the time to use reuaseables a bit more - although both my MIL and mum think i'm mad... but that's life!