real nappies vs disposables

[Holly290505]

My dp (despite not yet experiencing the reality of nappy changing!) is very keen on using real nappies when our first baby is born. I have had experience of them briefly as a nanny a while ago and it was a pain. I know where he's coming from on the eco-front but is it practical? And if so how does one go about getting the right system going etc? All debate greatefully read!

Thanx. Good luck with new arrival in may!

I fully intended, after the hectic first 6 weeks, to go for real nappies.

DS is nearly 5mo and I'm still in disposables, cos frankly I'm too knackered to do even more laundry.

ahem, that's DS that's in disposables not me!

Eco-disp are good but pricey in comparison to others, esp own brands which many people rate. They can also be difficult to get hold of, you often have to get them via mail order and you need to order many to make the postage savings.

It is more laundry but only 2.3 extra loads a week. And I am VERY sad but I actually enjoy washing the nappies and wraps, mainly because I've got pretty and funky ones. Hanging them out is the best bit and I only let DH do it if I'm not there. I don't say that about any other washing I do.

i wish I had a garden/balcony to hang mine on
mine all just have to go on the clothes horse in the sitting room. blah

At the moment, mine hang inside too, but in 2 weeks I'll have a garden with a washing line.

Probably give up hanging them outside once it's rained too many times though!

So glad I'm not the only sad case with hanging out nappies.

I like using cloth nappies and tend to use terry towel squares, liners, and nippas. I have got the odd tots bots but find terry towel cheaper. In general I use cloth nappies because of cost, my ds gets through so many in the day, now 5 months that I would have to spend an absolute fortune of disp. if I bought them. Also I can't stand the thought of having my bin clogged up with disp. nappies as some areas are introducing a new scheme when you don't take your bin out for emptying for two weeks. Can you imagine having a bin full of disp. nappies for two weeks, yuk!!.

I started off using terry nappies but this rapidly went down the drain (not literally!) when I was having breastfeeding problems at 3 weeks and getting NO sleep AT ALL. I started using Pampers Baby Dry and they are great, they DO keep your baby dry so are great for nightwear and going out. I am unhappy about the environmental aspect but when it comes down to it, I don't want to compromise my baby's comfort levels. With the terries he was always wet and crying but now he's happy smiley all the time. Do any of the eco disposables have the same "stay dry" feature? If they do, I will definitely give them a go.

What makes a eco-disposable "eco"?

Good question! It's to do with the energy and chemicals NOT used in making them and they are also biodegradable.

But how do they really compare with mainstream disposables? That is, droppping the theory and marketing hype...

I doubt they will ever let us know because it is not in their best interests.

VERY ballpark calculation but comparing online prices 56pk Pampers newborn is £7.49 which is about 13p a nappy and Bambo Eco Nampies are 180pk for £27.54 which is about 15p a nappy.

So not too much more expensive?? I know these are only prices from two retailers (I have also never used either yet so have no further comparison!) Are they worht it?

Agree with Ameriscot though - how does the 'dryability' compare ?!

Not read all the threads in depth so sorry if I repeat.

I started out with the best intentions of using real nappies and bought a whole lot at over £250 and gave up with them. I admire all those who stuck with them. I would say that you should buy a trial pack first and see which ones suit you best. Fortunately for me I was able to sell on all my lovely nappies so didn't lose out too much financially in the end.

There are eco friendly disposables made by some Irish company which you put in a compost heap but they are a bit more expensive and I think you'd need a big garden for a big compost heap.

Pity there is no communal council compost heaps - wouldn't that be a better idea than some of the far fetched ideas they come up with.

Best of luck whatever you choose

I'm going to sound naive here, I know you can get disposable paper liners you throw away each time, but with the washable fleece ones, what do you do when they're pooed on?

Pagan, i'm actually using disposables and bung them in the black wheelie bin. But our council is at present running a scheme where we alsdo have a wheelie bin for recycling collected every 2 weeks and a green bin for garden waste again collected 2 weekly. I wonder if you could put eco friendly disposables in the garden waste bin. The council take all this garden waste and put it into a huge compost heap. Then every year we get back a free litre of compost for our garden. See i use pampers but might contact council about this issue ..............hmm

I personally do not care if it is more work and less convenient, and whether it costs more.
I refuse to put chemicals against my childs bum like that
And if we put any however eco friendly nappies into our garden brown bin we'd stop getting our rubbish collected

lunavix, you hold them by the corner in the loo, then flush- the poo comes off! Then you wash with the nappies.

Eco-disposables vary a lot, some are compostable (but I bet the council would complain if you put them in your garden waste bin). Some have paper/ wood pulp as the "absorbent" bit, and some are made using a proportion of recycled materials. We used Nature Girl nappies for a few weeks before moving over to Totsbots, and didn't rate them much- leaked everywhere. Having said that my SIL uses them for her 3 year old, and doesn't apparently have a problem.

Oh well just wondered - won't be putting any nappies in my garden waste bin. Just thought it might be handy!

Looking back I wish there had been eco disposibles when I had my Ds. I used terry squares as I there was no way I could afford the wraps and such. I was so proud when mothers watched as I deftly folded terrys into pretty shapes when in Boots baby change. I was a bit earth mother about it all. Now they make great hand towels.

By the time I had the second Dd I realised you didn't get parenting points for using "real" nappies, I used disposibles (its not something I feel guilty about).

The second wasn't breast fed either ( me and Dd had to come to an understanding). But she is not the spawn of the devil. We all do what we can and if eco nappies are so well priced now it seems a sensible modern option.

hi

apologies for a slight hijack to this thread...

i'm planning to use cloth nappies when sprog1 arrives in may/june - the nappy lady recommended tots or bumbles.

i really like the idea of tots (get very excited at the idea of orange nappies!) - but i don't have a tumble drier - will be using outdoor line in summer, and clothes horse for the other 11 months

are tots likely to take ages to dry this way?

do u have radiators?

on a hot summers day mine take most of the afternoon to dry properly. but they are size 3.

Cornflakegirl (a tori amos fan? )

If you're in a hard water area then your Tots might dry a little spiky and hard but they'll be much better on the line where they'll get blown about. Rainbow tots are thinner than normal tots so won't take as long to dry. I found that by using every radiator in the house I could hang out the tots (on the radiator themsleves) in the early evening and they'd be dry in the morning. Give them a really good shake when you get them out of the machine and I've heard that white vinegar in the final rinse helps to keep them soft too. Tots are fab and really excellent at containment. They are more comfy if you use the fleece liners rather than flushable ones cos then if your nappies do come out hard then baby's bum is only next to soft fleece anyway. HTH

yeah, we have radiators. not sure about putting nappies on all the radiators though - if i have to turn the thermostat up because the nappies have stolen all the heat, my husband will be very unimpressed!

an afternoon to dry sounds okay - although i though summer would be all right. just this time of year i'm not sure about...