Nappies: wisdom pls

[Nope2024]

I'm looking into nappies and want to buy some bamboo-based ones mostly because they're chlorine-free and less likely to cause nappy rash.

(I made the switch to cotton period pads and could tell the difference in comfort - so there's method in my madness.)

I'm also a bit conscious of all the plastic in nappies but figured bamboo ones would be slightly less terrible than Pampers. I know they'll still go to landfill and I know they're still not sustainable - but I'm aiming for progress, not perfection. I think cloth nappies might be a bit beyond me when baby first gets here.

The ones I'm looking at are pricier but claim to give up to 12 hours protection from poonamis - but wouldn't I change baby after every poo anyway?...I'd be mad to think that I could get away with 2 nappies a day, right? (More like 6?)

*I'm obviously looking at other factors, too e.g. cost, comfort, how good they actually are.

I’d say you’ll need 6-8 a day to start with and then it’ll gradually decrease as baby gets bigger. Most nappies say 12hrs protection but they will often leak before that due to the sheer amount of wee!

We went for fragrance-free nappies and have used various brands - the basic Aldi ones, Boots, Eco Naty and Pampers Harmonie. Baby has never had issues with rashes, despite having incredibly sensitive skin that goes red after contact with e.g. plastic bibs and the synthetic material of the baby carrier.

I was keen to try cloth nappies after about five months when the number of nappies had reduced but my husband wasn't keen so we didn't.

We also use reusable organic cotton wipes from Cheeky Wipes, which are excellent, though we start with a disposable wipe for messy poos.

Sorry to say but I tried bamboo ones and found them awful. Loads of leaks etc.my baby was a bit bigger though when I tried them. they might be ok for a newborn.

Can't help but feel bamboo nappies are green-washing. They definitely won't last any longer per use and I've not seen proof they are better environmentally.

I'd start with any brand of disposable that works for you, and look up if you have a nappy library locally. You can get tester kits from them with different reusables to try so you know which ones work for you. I think they recommend starting from a couple of months so after some of the newborn stress has passed.

I completely understand about the green washing - and if I thought I could hack it, I'd start with cloths and try to toilet train early, the idea of using any disposable nappies at all really stresses me out. But I figure bamboo isn't virgin plastic so is slightly less bad rather than better, if that makes sense. But main motivation is that they'd be more breathable and better for baby's undercarriage tbh.

Thanks for other suggestion re: nappy library, I'll look into that. 😊

Just regarding when they say about 12hr protection, I've always assumed they are talking about overnight use when there may be more time between changes due to baby being asleep (don't know if this is unpopular but I've only ever changed my babies' nappies at night if they've pooed or are really wet as to as to minimise disruption to sleep) Day time you'll definitely be using like 8-10 I would say to start with.

10 a day, minimum (for us, at least), a big poo usually appears just as you’ve done the last popper up when you’ve got them dressed again after already having changed them once 😄

We started off with Aldi nappies, but bought some in Asda when we did our shopping as we were running low, and they are much softer and seem to fit DS a lot better, so we’ve switched to those.

We use a mix of reusable nappies and pampers.

I use a pampers if we have a long car journey or are on holiday so i would say 80% reusable in our house.

Reusable nappies are actually easier from a washing front when newborn as all poo is water soluble, so everything just get bunged in the washing machine.

We used little lamb 2 parters ( size 1 bamboo velcro nappy with a separate wrap over the top) from when we came home from about week old. Note birth to potty nappies only fit from 10lb whereas sized nappies fit from 5.5lb depending on brand.

Change every 2 hours at first. Now baby is 6 months with the addition of hemp boosters I change every 3/4 hours, during the day. No changing at night since he stopped pooing at night.

I also bought all my reusable nappies second hand.