Reusable nappies

[PoppyPeaches]

hi! I’m due my first babe in December, so just starting to buy things and try and get myself a little more sorted. I am considering reusable nappies - with a disposable nappy liner as I cannot get on board with scraping solids off into the toilet 🙈 but feel that just disposing of the liner is still better than disposing of the whole nappy.
i wondered if anyone had any experiences of doing this, or am I deluded and should just get myself normal disposal nappies like most people do? I don’t want to be giving myself unnecessary stress trying to do something that’s really difficult, but as I try and live my life with minimal plastic and maximum recycling of everything I can, throwing thousands of nappies into the bin upsets me a bit!

Many thanks ☺️

Go for it! Reusable nappies are - even ignoring environmental and cost benefits - a superior product if you get a good fit and the right set up. A lot more bombproof for the newborn stage too! Facebook cloth nappy groups and your local nappy library will help you work out the best set up. Don't get tempted by pretty patterns - focus on function and what the best material and fit is.

However I don't recommend the disposable liners. They don't sit nicely in the nappy and feel a bit nasty in comparison to the lovely fluffy reusable ones, which wash really well. I never did any real scraping of liners, and the newborn poo isn't solid enough for scraping.

For newborn I really liked the Close Pop-in newborn nappies. You may be able to pick up a set secondhand that someone has not actually used.

Last time I checked some councils give you a reusable nappy voucher, so check that out in case that helps with the cost.

Reusable wipes are also much much better than nasty disposable ones. They just do the job so much better. Plus better for the environment and you save a ton of money.

They don’t really have solid poos for a while my 8 month old is still very runny. I think it would be a lot of hassle using reusable. It’s already a lot having a newborn with adding that to the mix. Just my opinion though as have never tried them

I used them and they were great. I worked full time and managed fine. My son was also potty trained by 19months and u think that’s because they can feel when they are wet as they are heavier.
i saved an absolute fortune.

I had reusable liners, reusable wipes e.g lots and lots of flannels when at home.

Fleece liners

Breastmilk stools you can rinse off in the loo but TBH there was so little they just got bunged in the washing machine.

There were some good paper ones for that in between stage that you could flush.

Once solid they would peel themselves off fleece and drop into the loo no scraping required.

We used them and loved them.

Another vote for Close Pop-ins. I liked the fluffy fleecy liners. I used to hold the poo -ey ones by one end in my fingertips at the back of the loo and flush the loo, that got rid of almost everything when the children were small babies and there's no really solid stuff. If the baby is breastfed the poo really isn't bad at all.

"Once solid they would peel themselves off fleece and drop into the loo no scraping required."

Yeah that's right, they peel by gravity it's great. Hardly leaves much of a mark on the fleece most of the time.

Used here and absolutely recommend. As a pp said, mine too were out of nappies earlier than the average these days (well, 10 and 15 years ago now!) because they can feel the wet and it's not wicked away like disposables. So much nicer for them to be out asap.
Cloth is much better for their skin, and I definitely recommend cloth wipes.

I did not bother with disposable liners. Good luck!

Yep agree with the above. Go for it! We used a combo reusables at home and disposables when out, whilst I built confidence in using them. By 4 months she was solely in reusables. We had mainly fleece liners where it just plops off and whilst they are milk fed you just chuck it all in the wash without scraping so by 6 months you are so used to dealing with it all scraping isn't so bad.
if you don't already have one I would suggest a heated airer just to speed up the drying especially as you have a December baby otherwise you might need quite a few as depending on the type it can take a good 24hrs to dry. Cloth wipes are soooo much better than baby wipes

edited to add that we also potty trained at 20months without any problems I'm sure cloth nappy babies train sooner because they feel wet and also because mums are keen to get all the washing done with!

See if there’s a local nappy loan or trial service, mine had volunteer contacts via the local council and you can borrow different types to try out instead of spending a lot for something that may not work for you.

I admit this totally put me off using them. The volunteer was a bit obsessive about them and she was very overwhelming, going into far too much detail. The trial pack sat in my house for a fortnight, had a go but it just seemed like so much hassle, so I returned it and managed to avoid speaking to her beyond getting the deposit back. At least I didn’t waste any money on it though.

We had a brilliant experience of cloth nappies and wipes, still using the wipes 6 years on! We used the paper liners, especially for nursery.
I found it all very easy to do.

See if you have a nappy library near you. Great way to see if you can get on with it before you outlay the cost of buying it all. I didn't do it from newborn but I did it from about 6 months.

We used disposables for the first few weeks just because the reusable ones seemed huge! Then we used the pop in nappies with disposable liners and reusable wipes - was absolutely fine for us

Our hospital required disposable so I did the first pack disposable and then reusable by day and disposable for night for both kids. I felt better throwing out just one a day. Agree with a pp that pocket ones are really easy - I did a few styles but pockets are easy for grandparents or daycare if they are helping. With my first I did those liners - go for it! I didn’t bother with liners on my second but it will get you past an ick factor then why not

Yes to reusable.
Even though nappies are super cheap in the uk, buying second hand makes them cheaper.
Dd1 had preforms with a waterproof cover from birth until fully dry (including nights)
Dd2 also prefolds but was a heavy night time wetter (and also travelling) so did disposable for nights from 1y onwards because by the time I added enough boosters she could barely move her legs
Dc3 will be a mix of prefolds and pocket nappies

Washed nappies every 2-3 days seperate to regular clothes. No fabric conditioner so wasn't like it was extra hard work to clean
Never had the need to strip wash, washed on 40c occasionally on 60 if they were heavily wet and I'd left them for 4-5 days
Line dried mostly, although winter was tumbled (but covers just air dried)
The first poop I would 100% use a liner for because that's sticky stuff and they don't pee much
Before solids unless it's a "blowout" never rinsed before wash
Solids just sort of plop right off liners so you can use fleece ones (also the throw away liners used to clump and fold up when baby was moving I found fleece stayed put more)

You'll find you'll need to size up in pants as they are bulkier than disposables regardless what type of reusable ones you get
The all in one with the pockets are even less work when nappy changing (ie no folding anything) but will mean you might need more of them whereas the prefolds you can reuse the cover all day and just change the folded layer.

Boosters are handy for nights as they get older
Leaks are a thing more than with disposable but not super often

All in all, I love cloth nappies over disposable way nicer for the environment and I feel like their little bums can breathe more

We used reusables with my daughter from day 3. Newborn poo can go in the washer after that it usually rolls off the fleece liner.
My daughter often had loose stools due to allergies and sensitive stomach responding to coughs and colds and teething. We usually manage to scrap them off quite easily and it didn't bother us. But she went on to developed toddler diarrhoea when she was 2 and now these were much larger poos and we did turn to disposable liners we did fleece then disposable liners as some times the disposable liners got a bit twisted up.

We fitted a shower head to the taps on our bath which reaches the toilet and that was the best thing for cleaning poo off nappies and later off knickers when potty training.

I'd start with fleece liners but I think there can be a place for disposable liners especially if it allows you to continue to cloth nappy

I was about to echo this, mine were trained also way before two.

I liked these nappies and there are always sales. Nursery managed with them also, because it’s like putting on a disposable https://babybarenappies.co.uk/collections/all-in-two-nappies

Wow, I wasn’t expecting so many replies! It seems like most people’s experiences have been positive - I definitely like the idea of the nappy library, and possibly just using disposables overnight to make it easier, I would still feel better about reducing the number of waste, even if it wasn’t eliminating it completely.
that also makes sense re the newborn solids - it doesn’t bother me so much, but it does my husband and I won’t want to embark on something that just creates more work for me if he’s not on board.
what I might do is start off with disposables down the first few days to get going, and then either try a nappy library if I can find one, or get a few on Vinted and see how I get on, before committing to buying a big supply.
thanks everyone for sharing your experiences, it certainly has made me feel more confident to go for it! Xxx

It is often possible to find second hand nappies that have never been used. We have found so many at a great price by people who bought but never used or who were gifted and never used!

You might find your husband is on board when he tries a reusable and disposable wipe to deal with a pooey bum! Mine hated disposable wipes as they don't do the job properly