Anyone considering cloth wipes and/ or diapers?

[Zahrah5]

I think Im already sold on the idea of reusable washable baby wipes.
There are 3 main reasons:

1. i am conscious about chemicals in common wipes and cosmetic.
2. looks like they clean much better than disposables
3. financial, of course

The Cheeky Wipes set looks really neat.

Not sure about cloth diapers yet, looks like overkill but it would make sense to run one wash together for diapers and wipes.

I would probably combine with disposables when conveniet- out of the house?

Anyone else considering and pondering over this?

OP - what extra oils do you think you will need, out of interest.

Room temperature flannels are fine. It is not as if you would have a warmer when out and about anyway.

Im a mum in waiting, PFB due in April, and planning to use cloth nappies though I admit I have felt completely overwhelmed at times. I like the idea of resusable wipes, would possibly try them at home but I cant see how I would use them out and about. Ive already stocked up in some Totsbots Easyfit V4s along with some Bummis prefolds, terry nappies and various wraps. Im now looking into getting some XS wraps and some muslins to use when bambino is too small for the terries and Totsbots, though i do intend to use disposables during the first week or so, whilst getting to grips with everything. Im already a dab hand at the Chinese/origami fold!

I agree that Cheeky Wipes etc seem to be overpriced. I used to use cheap face cloths (20p in Tesco) and keep a bowl of water near the changing table. Dunk one cloth in water, wring, wipe, use a dry one to dry. If things are really messy, more than one wet cloth might be needed! Sling into the bucket with the dirty nappy. I never felt the need for anything other than water to wash and DS never suffered with nappy rash. He never seemed to mind about the water being cold either!

Just a quick question to the PPs saying use disposables until pooing settles down - how long does that take on average? I am planning to bf if possible, the Nappy Lady said this could have an effect!

Zahrah I reckon I'll be sticking to lavender oil, and only a well-diluted dropette to start with. I do also have some Vit E oil, which I use when making my own face scrubs etc., but not sure how baby skin would tolerate it. I'll see if I can find out via Dr Google.

Check Freecycle, and your local council for real nappy schemes if you're on a real budget.

I loved never having to worry about running out!

Why would they be hard out mrswibble? Maybe I can help.

Am using Cheeky Wipes and am intending on moving onto birth to potty when DD is a bit bigger as the Nappy Lady says 12lb is a good starting weight.

I managed to convince DH with this review by a Dad.

Penguin

do you mean for oils for wipes solutions or for baby skincare?

I think those included in the kit are small and would eventaully run out. You can get essential oils cheaper some other place so you dont need to reorder from Cheeky wipes. And you can change them up, for scent and variety, I like to always alternate things.

Lavender /Tangerine is nice combo as well as Lavender/ Lemon or Lavender/Lime. Rose geranium if you have a girl.

I dont know yet what I am getting for baby skincare. From what I read so far any gentle carrier oil is fine such as sweet almond or apricot kernel. Somewhere I read Marulla oil also.

I have just placed an order for a bigger supply of oils to use on my prego bump, it wil last for the baby also.
I researched some stretch mark oils on the market and choose sweet almond as base, wheat germ and Baobab oils all recommended for damaged skin. Also Vit E oil. Then i will add some of the Lavender/Tangerine and Lavender/Lemon combo into it. I can make up new batch every week to change scents around. It was dirt cheap comparing to prices of ready to use commercially sold oils or some other creams and body butter.

I have also gotten raw shea butter for the first time and will be trying to make body butter- you just melt she butter and combo of oils to your liking and then whip it with mixer. Can do same with cocoa butter, coconut oil,mango butter, avocado butter of any combination of these. This might be good for baby as body or barrier cream also. Instead of petrolleum based Bio oil or Vaseline.

I am not crazy eco or organic fanatic but I have been using oils on my face and body for years succesfully and I like the flexibity of ingredients.

Zahrah - ooo, you've inspired me! I have sweet almond and wheatgerm oils and an afternoon free to make bump oil

I'm not a crazy eco either, but some home-made cosmetics are far superior to shop-bought ones. Like my face scrub, which is sugar + carrier + aroma oils. Works way better than anything I've ever bought. Even my DH is making his own now!

I've used cloth nappies with DD1 pretty much since the beginning. Both Dh and I love them and as DD has sensitive skin they have been really good. We will be using them with DC2 as well soon so will have two in cloth.

One thing to bear in mind with the Nappy Lady questionnaire, is I think she will only recommend the nappy brands that she sells. I may be wrong in this though, but that seemed to be the case when I filled in the questionnaire. But it should give you a good idea of the type of nappy to look for but bear in mind there are other brands available. We ended up going with a brand not on her site and love them. We didn't get on with the brands suggested but cloth is a bit of trial and error which is why trying to get a nappy trial is a good idea.

Gosh that is enthusiastic! We have always just done lavender for clean and tea tree in the wash. If you are into it I am sure you will have fun experimenting.

TBH I have never gone in for oils and creams on skin. Just gentle baby wash stuff in the bath.

Im just not sure on the logistics of it all penguins. I can understand that with dirty nappies you can get rid of the majority of the poo down the loo, shaking off the liner or even sluicing it under the flush without getting your hands in there too much, but with a very dirty wipe im just a little unsure of how you would get the worse off before stashing it in the wet bag. Though, I will admit that I have NEVER changed a nappy so im possibly over thinking the whole thing! V happy to recieve any pointers

The wipes don't tend to be that messy. I would never sluice a nappy in the loo other than at home. But you can often tip. Or if you have a disposable liner you can do the same thing as with a disposable nappy and sort of do the first wipe with the nappy liner before putting it in the nappy bin. I have sometimes found bringing a real pooey nappy home a bit yucky, but the wipes have never been an issue and you just need a good wet bag.

Penquin
simple is also good. But I need excuse to buy more stuff. :-)

In oils you can get so many different ones........

Tesee

Oh yay! It takes just couple of minutes to put them together.

I have just finished wonderful pregnancy care oil which was pre-made but the company doesnt ship to UK. In meantime I will use my own mix.

A pp said to use rose geranium oils if you have a girl....is there any reason I shouldn't be using those oils on my boys??

We use cheeky wipes and v4 bumgenius nappies and never had any issues, never had a really sore bottom since ditching the disposable wipes, but sometimes use the weleda calendula cream if a bit red, that is safe to use with cloth. The bumgenius have a fleecy layer next to skin as well so you don't need to use a liner.

Don't use microfiber cloth to wipe bottoms as the poo bits get stuck and don't wash out properly. Bamboo and cotton flannel work really well.

I use cloth sanitary pads as well, to the pp that said she didn't like the thought, they are much, much nicer and comfier than plasticky disposable ones!!

Which liners do you recommend penguin? I had sort of decided against disposable liners as I have read that none are truly disposable/flushable and seeing as we're in the middle of a hellish bathroom refurb I definitely dont want to clog any pipes!

Yes, do try cloth nappies and wipes! I bought secondhand nappies (not as eww as it sounds! and you'll save a fortune) off ebay and used them from when ds was about 6 weeks old. He is 20 weeks now and by my calculation they have already paid for themselves!! Free nappies from now on, and free for any subsequent dc's too I used 'sposies for first few weeks as ds is my first and the whole baby thing took a bit of getting used to! Also use sposies when out and about.

I have Bambino Mio nappies with Little Lamb fleece liners - don't bother with paper or 'flushable' they are a waste of time IMHO - just shake/flush 'solids' off into loo and chuck liner and prefold in bucket. Nice slim fit - can wear normal clothes over no problem. They dry quite quickly

I have little lamb bamboo for nights, with 2-3 boosters. They look huge and need 1 size bigger clothes over, but last all night. They take forever to dry- I have 4 which isn't enough when washing nappies every 2-3 days

For wipes, I cut up an old towel into 12cm squares, same as cheeky wipes and zigzagged on sewing machine (before ds was born and I had spare time!) one bath towel made 25 which is more than enough. They fit perfectly in a 'sandwich' sized plastic tub. Total cost about £2

If you're not sure which brand to go for, get a couple of different single nappies and try them out. Nappy lady is a good starting point but remember she gets an incentive to recommend certain types so you won't get the full picture.

Muslins done in origami fold with a waterproof wrap over the top are perfect for newborns and dry almost instantly.

Enjoy experimenting!

joaninha which wraps did you use over the muslins and what size? Ive got a Motherease Rikki in S which looks fab and is very dinky. Would it be worth getting a few XS's? Im pondering trying a Blueberry Mini Coverall but they still look like they would be v bulky compared to the Rikki.

We use cloth with DS1, love them, ebay cheapies are great orjoin a few preloved groups on facebook for some great bargains and good advice. We did use wipes but just use disposables again now, but they often find their way into the machine if they were wee ones and get used a couple more times with just a bit of water. Cloth can be sooo cheap if you want it to be. I also made lots of extra inserts from old clothes and they work fab.

Could I please hijack the thread to ask experienced cloth nappy users which washing powder you recommend? We usually use Ecover but that's not good on delicate fabrics like bamboo so I'm looking for a different brand of non bio powder for washing nappies. I'd rather use an unscented eco one but was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for the best brands to avoid irritating the baby's skin and avoid too much detergent build up in the nappies. Is something like Rockin Green worth the price?

Ecoballs? Soap nuts? I used ecoballs on nappies it was fine as far as I remember. What effect does Ecover have on bamboo?

I have soapnuts thinking that they would be fab for my cloth nappies but according to the bumf that came with them, they're not to be used on Tots Bots. I imagine they would be fine on terries, liners, etc though as I currently use them on my towelling dressing gown, flannels, towels, etc and they come out brilliant.

We used an 'Eco egg' on ours and washed at 60. They washed fine.

We always extra rinsed first also though so any excess wee/ poo was removed before main wash. Only extra 15 mins on our washing machine