Reusable nappies, good or bad idea?

[ShiftyEyes]

This will be our first baby, due in July and I'm looking for some advice on reusable nappies.

I have researched brands cost etc and it seems to be the way forward. Less chemicals, less landfill waste and cheaper in the long run.

But I'm worried I may be setting myself up for a fall. I mentioned reusables to my Mum and she had to contain a smirk / giggle and said "see how you go on with disposables for the first month or so..."

I'm trying to be realistic, from what friends have told me I can't begin to understand the tiredness / zombie like state I will be facing when baby is here. I wonder if I would be taking too much on with new baby and all the stress that brings combined with loads of extra washing and drying of all the nappies. I don't want to fork out approx 350 to find I just can't be arsed to use them and end up sending OH to supermarket.

I don't know anyone who has actually used them, so has anyone had experience of disposables and are they more trouble than they are worth?

I have my reusables all ready to go from day 1. DH and I are both off work for the first 7 weeks so I think between us we will muddle through. When I told my mum she said it was a great idea - apparently she had done the same with me in the eighties.

All of my friends here use them and rave about them. I've never heard a negative comment. Then again we live close to the equator and have about 20 rainy days a year so your washing dries in 10 mins flat outside.

I am planning on using them for dc1 due in August. I would probably feel less confident about this decision if I still lived in cold and rainy England, but tbf I know people in England who use them and love them.

Is drying indoors an option for you? Or over a radiator? They are designed to dry quickly. That way you don't have to rely on the British weather.

Hi @MsJasmineF I’ve been using washable nappies and wipes on my 6-month old since he was about 4 weeks old, happy to share my experience but I’m struggling to work out how to send you a direct message? Let me know how to do it and I’ll be in touch.

Sorry sheer laziness but haven’t RTFT so sorry if it’s moved on from your OP a bit and I’m answering the wrong questions!

We’ve used cloth since birth and DS has never been in a disposable at 6 months old.
Initially we used muslins and terries with wraps (mostly Miosoft covers, a few little lamb size 1, and some motherease covers - mostly secondhand ) and motherease sandys. After a few weeks we transitioned into Little Lambs BTP pockets which still make up the bulk of our stash now. We also use some Bambino MioSolos (he took much longer to grow into these enough to get a good fit and they aren’t great for in the sling or longer periods of time due to the microfibre), Totbots Easyfits (amazingly easy to use but no matter what I do these are the leakiest of our nappies), Milovia pockets and Bumgenius pockets. We use mostly Bamboozles at night with motherease airflow or Rikki wraps. We also use cloth wipes.

When he was little we found ourselves washing daily or every other day just to keep up with the sheer number of nappies we went through (8-12 in 24 hours) but now wash every 2-3 days. We do a rinse followed by a long cotton wash. We wash his clothes, muslins etc. With his nappies to bulk out the wash. If the weather’s good we dry outside or use a combination of tumble drying and heated airer (never tumbling or direct heat on PUL) inside.

I’ve honestly find cloth nappies no bother at all. Maybe because DH is incredibly supportive and pro-cloth so I don’t find I’m doing tons of work. We’d be washing clothes all the time anyway!

Unlike my friends who use disposables, we’ve never had a poonami situation and the worst we get is an occasional small wee leak if he’s left slightly too long or the nappy wash put on slightly wrong in a rush.

Our initial outlay was probably £300 which was mostly secondhand stuff. We have about twice as many nappies as we actually need tbh and I have passed lots of stuff on to friends. I love not having to worry about budgeting for nappies or running out!

Just to add: the heated airer was a complete game changer for us. We don’t actually need to tumble at all. I just find it good for softening up babygrows and bits so tend to leave the pocket inserts in as the tumble drier is on anyway.

We use cloth and ime they are no different to disposables in usage. Soiled nappies go in the bucket and are washed overnight at 40 deg. and hung to dry on the rail the following morning. We do a quick rinse first and then a cotton wash that we add other things to, so our total number of washes hasnt really increased.

We went for a mix of bamboo cloth and microfibre cloth nappies (little lambs). The bamboo are thinner and a lot more absorbent but take longer to dry. The microfibre are pretty much dry when they come out of the machine

I love reusables. I got loads in excellent condition second hand from Facebook market place. I got a few brands so see what suited. I love little lambs for night and Bambino mios during the day. I didn't use them for the first couple of weeks as little one was in hospital and I just wanted to get to grips with being a mum so I used naty ones. Also love cheeky wipes. I just put a load of nappies and wipes on wash every other day. If I go away for a weekend I take disposables because for me it's too much hassle.

We are still going strong with reusables on our third. There’s no denying it’s more of a slog than disposable but personally I feel like it’s worth it. Definitely research/try if you can beforehand and be prepared to do about 2 more loads of washing each week - I did about 20 nappies every other day when I had two in nappies at the same time. Now I’m lazy and do one load per week and we stuff them all at the weekend. We do however use disposables for a day out as I find they don’t leak as much.

I love mine, I've used them exclusively since my DS was about 5 weeks he's now 6m, before that I used a mixture of newborn reusables and single use. I first bought a load of second hand Totsbots Easyfits which I didn't like at all so I sold them on, I also had some Close pop in newborn which we didn't like either (if I did it again I'd get some muslins and a couple of Motherease Rikki wraps I think). I decided to try a pocket nappy I could boost and I wanted one with a double gusset. This we my last chance for reusable so I bought some Baba and Boo and they are great - B&B are lovely bright designs, British made, and quick drying. They are relatively cheap too about £15 for the nappy and two inserts, they are about £11 secondhand.

At night I use Totsbots Bamboozles with a little lamb booster, a fleece liner and a Motherease Airflow wrap - bomb proof! Bamboozles take forever to dry but I have 5 so it's fine. I have 2 wraps but 3 would work easier.

I wash every other day or at most every third day with other stuff like towels, cold wash then full wash at 60 in bio. I don't tumble dry generally but do chuck in my Bamboozles every couple of weeks to soften them.

I've spent less than £250 on my stash (a mix of new and secondhand) but anticipate making back perhaps £100 or so once we've finish using them selling them on.

I have a two week old and have been using the reusables since day 6 when we came home from hospital. I love them! Far fewer leaks than I got with disposables (only two minor ones and both my fault, once for knowing the nappy was a bit loose when I put it on and the other for not changing him soon enough as I was heading home and he nodded off in the pram anyway). I just stick a load on each morning then hang them up to dry, I don’t find it too much work and 2bh if you have enough nappies you could go two days before washing.

I am using bambino mio pocket nappies and LOVE them for my little boy, but he is a very long and big baby (95%), if you have a small baby a lot of brands don’t work so well until they’re a few weeks old. I second the advice of others to get some trial nappies. Do this either through your local nappy library or the brands sell trial packs of their own. That way you can choose the brand you like and fork out for them only.

Do you normally keep on top of your laundry? And do you have a drier? You can't tumble dry most reusable but it helps to get the normal washing out of the way.
J used disposables with my first two but have beeb using reusable with number 3 since birth and I absolutely love it! I bought a second hand bundle to try a few different types. For newborn to about 4 months I'd recommend Little Lamb two parters, then after that whatever pocket or all-in-one you like.
I'd say get a couple to have a look at and try out. Littles and Bloomz on Amazon are cheap but really great, so you could order a couple to get an idea. Even if you use one a day, it's better for the environment and way more fun than disposables.
I recommend joining some Facebook nappy groups like the one recommended above, also the Clean Cloth Nappies Down Under page is great for washing and storage advice.
Go for it!

We’re considering using reusable nappies and wipes so will give this thread a read.

People who told me I would never keep on top of the washing with cloth really pissed me off. We used cloth from the day we came out of hospital and it was fine. Yes you need to be dedicated to it but it’s nonmore difficult than disposables. Personally I couldn’t be faffed with going to the shop to spend a ridiculous amount on something to throw away and the rate DS poops I wouldn’t be emptying the bin 4 times a day. We also don’t have a tumble drier, just a pulley for the winter. They dry in a couple of days ready for the next load to go up

Also find your local nappy library and hire a kit from them. No big outlay then if it’s not for you

Given the original post is 4 years old I think the poster will have made up get mind and moved to toilet tracing by now

My mum had a similar reaction when we told her we were planning to use cloth nappies. I don’t think it’s for everyone. But we loved them and are planning on using them again for no. 2, who is due early October.

Do you have a nappy library near you? Ours was worth it’s weight in gold! We hired a kit of different brands for 4 weeks to test them out. The lady who ran the nappy library was super helpful, giving us lots of info and demos. We hired when our daughter was 2 weeks til 6 weeks and then took the plunge.

Like all things baby-related, you do have to get used to them (fitting them, what you need to take out and about, and getting into a washing and re-rolling routine). But you will find what suits you easily enough. (Our method for washing and rolling was putting them on a timer so they would be washed when hubby got up for work. If he had time he would gang them out and if not I would. We had a Lakeland heated airer, which was a godsend in the winter months! Rolling them up again we would do in front of the tele in the evening)

Our chosen brand was close parent pop-ins and we found them excellent, but that’s our personal choice.

The poo issue isn’t as gross as you think it will be: breastfed baby poo is water soluble so can go straight in the washing machine (or so we were told!!) when you start , it is a bit more gross but it’s generally easy enough to shake the waste off into the loo (we had fleece liners that caught most of it).

As other posters have said, we had a lot fewer issues with nappy rash with cloth nappies. But they do need changing more often than disposable as the little ones get older.

It also feels great to think how many nappies you have stopped going to landfîll!

Good luck! And feel free to private message me if you have any specific questions.

Also, congratulations on your imminent arrival!!

Hoping to use reusables too for my first baby but after reading this I realise there are dozens of options. Hope the choice isnt too overwhelming.