Reusable nappies

[Bekki]

I want to try reuasbles but I'm not sure which are the best overall. I'm not quite sure what extras you need to buy with them ie; liners/outer wraps. I quite liked the idea of an all-in-one but on closer inspection on a bambino mio site it seems to say that you have an outer cover, and inner nappy and a liner. I'm quite confused now. I've had a look at the reviews on here and I would obviously pick the most reliable ones 'Mother-ease'(according to the reviews) over clever designs and other extras. But it would be nice to have some variety. I used terries with a Kooshie cover with my first baby for a week before I gave up completly, I couldn't get the stains out and they leaked after 5 minutes. How easy is it clean them?

Bekki - the first thing I would say is to get yourself on to the nappylady and get some tailored advice from them. I was in your shoes with my first and the advice from them was great.

I used Motherease Onesize and found them to be wonderful. I also used the Motherease wraps (velcro ones at first and popper ones for larger sizes). We have had no leaks at all and the nappies are not at all stained. The only slight problem with the MEOS is that they are NOT a birth-to-toddler nappy as they claim to be (there's a thread somewhere on here where someone reported them to trading standards!). If you have a tiny little baby who stays in the lower percentiles you might be lucky.

We traded up to the Totsbots size 2 when DS was about 10 months and they too are great nappies. Also no leaks and no staining. Totsbots also do a size 1 for smaller babies and we use the same Motherease wraps.

As for quantities - we have around 18 Motherease and 16 TotsBots 2's. In eash size we have 5 wraps which we bought as and when we needed them. We have 3 night time boosters which we used from about 5 months onwards, and about 20 fleece liners. Whilst we have spent quite a lot on nappies with number 2 on the way and DS being only 19 months we'll have plenty of nappies when we have two lots to wash! There's also a roaring second hand trade in these nappies. I saw a set of Totsbots for sale at £5.50 a nappy and they were gone within an hour.

Wash-wise we "dry-pail" which is the easiest option - just bung them in a bucket and put them in the washing machine. No soaking. We them put them on a full 60 degree wash - no prewash. If they are particularly nasty then I do sometimes soak them in water (normally the poo shakes off into the loo before the nappy is put in the bucket but sometimes it's a bit too sloppy). I also very occasionally do a 90 degree wash and sometimes put in a bit of Napisan which freshens them up.

Good luck - there are quite a few of us real nappy users on here using all sorts.

Oh Bekki - I'm with you on the utter crapness of Kooshies. We used them for 5 long long months with ds before switching to Totsbots. We use a Motherease popper wrap over the Totsbots which is excellent. I would have gone for Totsbots own make of wrap but ds can undo the velcro so I wanted poppers.

Several friends use Motherease one size nappies, although they all use disposables at night because they say the absorbancy isn't so great. Motherease are a lot slimmer than a bulky Totsbots nappy, but possibly not so great at "containment" as a result. You could consider a bulkier cotton nappy for night time?

Bambino mio use prefolds which is folded cloth inside a wrap. I personally prefer the shaped nappies because I'm not so great at origami

Mumsnet have their own reviews of washable nappies here . Also try The Nappy Lady who will suggest an assortment of nappies depending on what you want.

If you want variety then how about a general daytime nappy, something all-in-one (nappy and wrap stitched together) for going out and something mega absorbant for nights? Alternatively find a nappy you like and buy loads of different wraps! Nature Babies are good - similar design to Motherease but more patterns.

As for stains, I use fleece liners rather than paper flushable liners (the poo usually just falls into the loo).
I sluice the worst of the poo by holding the liner in the flush flow.
I soak nappies in nappy fresh and tea tree oil.
Wash at 60 with non bio and a scoop of OxiClean (blue tub - supermarkets sell it).
If that fails (and it hasn't yet) then hanging in the sunshine will do the rest.

Long answer sorry. hth!

Agree about the Nappy Lady, she is a marvel! (and they will also sell trial packs if you're still not sure)

I only have 12 Tots Bots size 2s, plus 4 wraps and about 20 liners. We did use Tots Bots size 1s, but you can just use muslins for the first few weeks and then switch to the TB2s folded up. It is really easy once you get the knack and they never leak.

Cleaning - well, yes, some of my nappies are a bit stained in places. The trick is to rinse off any poo fairly sharpish and I am occasionally too lazy! Then they just get bunged in the washing machine every other day at 40 or 60 degrees.

Totsbots are wonderful! They never leak! I found that the nippa version fit better. A nippa is a stretchy Y-shaped piece of rubber with a gripper on each arm, it secures the nappy, but is faster abd safer than pins. With velcro you are constrained by where the velcro is stitched on, and my dd is very skinny, so nippas are better for us. Have a look at the Totsbots website to see what I mean.

We use fleece liners for home, paper for nursery and dry pail, adding a little tea tree or lavender oil to sweeten up the bucket. We wash every other day; first we do a cold rinse then a 40 or 60 degree wash depending on how dirty the nappies are. You need very little detergent- honest! Cut your amount of non-bio down by 50%, you won't notice the difference.

In case anyone thinks I am employed by Tots Bots to promote their product, I would also like to plug Ella's House who make lovely nappies made of hemp.

I never realised there was so much to know. Thankyou. The nappy lady is wonderful I'll wait for their advice until I decide. I'm definatley going to try them. But I don't know how the nappy liners work with breast fed babies. Ds2's poo is very runny and stains like you wouldn't believe, so I think that I might have to wash them immediatley after changing. The tots bots are very cute but I like the idea of a slimmer fitting one for daytime. But all the one size nappies must be quite bulky anyway. Great advice thanks.

Hi Bekki
Glad you are convinced and welcome to the real nappy club! We use totbots (size 2 since birth - they are big but help to hold little ones!) and fleece liners - we had problems with b/f stains and ended up using Vanish, either as a pre-wash scrub with the bar (mmm - nice!) or as a powder you add to the wash (White tub, pink lid) which is less intimate! Seems to do the trick pretty well. Good luck.

Bekki, breast fed poo just washes out, honest! Fleece liners will catch most of it, the pile seems to help prevent it squishing too far! I would think that a large proportion of cloth nappy users are breastfeeders- the two go together!

The hemp nappies are slimmer fitting, because hemp is more absorbent than cotton, but you are never going to find a reusable nappy as slim as a disposable unless you sacrifice some absorbency. Yes, a prefold in a wrap is pretty slim, but you will have to change it more often than a disposable to keep the baby dry, and you WILL get leaks of poo with a prefold/ wrap system. Tots are VERY absorbent, fit beautifully, don't leak BUT are bulky, particularly on a newborn. You just have to live with that for a while, till the baby grows. Personally I like the big cloth-bum look!

Don't wash the nappies immediately after changing- that's just making extra work for yourself! If you're worried about stains setting, you could wet pail (i.e. put the nappies into water to soak), but I always found that they smelled more this way. Any stains in the nappies will come out, I promise! I sold my set of size 1 Tots Bots for £5 each. I bought them brand new for £6.50 each, so had over a year's use for £1.50 each. When I sold them they were completely unstained, I promise.

totally agree with how naff kooshies are although that said I've found them much better now I've got decent wraps. Been using them with DD2 for 3 months now since birth and its brill. Use mostly wahm ones - gorgeous designs, work better than kooshies. Will post details later but got to dash now. Try UK parents cloth nappy forum and Byy and sell forum. Also wahmall.co.uk is great for shops for WAHM made ones. Try tiddlybums for starters.
Got to dash....

Just about liners, Bekki: do you have any old t-shirts around the place? I just cut up stained or old clothes, anything DH, me or the kids have worn out, and use the rags as liners. Washable if only wee'd on, disposable if smeared with excrement. For disposal, Double wrap in spare plastic bags and put in the outside bin. Makes the washing a lot less disgusting while they're still fully breastfed.

That said -- you are in the same town as me! So let me know and I can give you a good starter supply of old rags I have saved as liners for the eventual next baby. Just let me know if you want to try it.

Bekki,

I'd recommend buying several different sorts - everybody ends up prefering different ones and its hard to know what suits you and your baby till you've tried. There is a thriving secondhand market for nappies. So if you get some that you don't like, you can sell them for almost what you paid.

I found that bf poo stained the nappies orange. They were clean, but orange. Sometimes I ignored it (no one sees it, and they are clean). Or the other thing that really works is sunshine - if you can be bothered to hang them on a line / spread them on a windowsill for a few hours. Although I wasn't using fleece liners so they may help.

Oh, and Ps: what am I saying! I could loan you a load of nappies, including a Tots-Bot, show you how to fold terries for minimal leakage, and wraps to try. But that might be a bit of an over-whelming offer. Anyway, it's there if you want to try.

Generally agree with the posters below - I started off with bambino mio and found that all ds's poo squshed outside the nappy area and dirtied the covers - I had to wash the cover too much so I stopped using their nappies but still get their lining paper and wash addative -

motherease are great though - I dry pale and have never had stains even when he's eaten realy stainey foods (red peppers sauce/currey) 60deg wash with fairey and a sppon of the bambino mio soaking powder and they're fresh as a daisie. Got stacinator covers from twinkle-on-the-web which have soft fleece cuffs and so don't leave a mark ds's skin

Go for it, and good luck

has anyone said yet that it might be worthwhile trying to find a nappy seller in your area with a box of different types of nappies for you to try out before buying. I admit I foudn the whole idea disgusting before I actually started on cloth nappies but it does give you the chance to see them in action (or even just get an idea of what they all look/fold like if you want to try them out before baby arrives)
we're totsbots and fleece liner people btw

Nature Babies is extremely local to us. Their wraps get rave reviews, but their nappy is basically a prefold rather than easier-to-use shaped nappy. The Eco-house in Leicester used to have a display of different nappy types, one could go see. There's a very active lot of Real Nappy users who meet up near Leicester on a regular basis; good opportunity to see a lot of different types of Naps. You could ask around on the UKP nappy forum or I will dredge up an email address for you. Pretty sure that the "Stuffables" wrap is also made in Leicshire, and the lady who makes them (?Ruth) often comes to the local cloth nappy meets.

Poor Bekki, probably feeling all pressured now!

just to add my two pennies worth in!!! just be prepared for a lot of trial and error and don't be put off if you don't find the right combination for you and your babe straight away, as we had a month ot twos worth of twoing and friong, buying and selling/leaking and non leaking until we found our perfect nappy (fuzzi bunz... all in ones... a dream to clean, slim fitting, incredibley fast to dry and very quick to put on!!!)....

like others have said... go to seek advice from the nappy lady! and she'll recommend you what she thinks might suit you best!

also if you do buy and then come to the conclusion that they aren't right for you... there is a bustling trade on UKP Cloth Nappy buying and selling forum for nappies that are no longer needed... similarly you could go on there yourself and try lots of different ones at a fraction of the cost if they were brand new (hope mumsnet don't mind me mentioning UKP)... we went through Organic Under The Nile, Tots Bots, Ellas House, Kissaluvs and various wraps until we settled on Fuzzis (as already mentioned!)... but i must add that i loved Kissaluvs and ellas house Hemp Naps... but just wasn't keen on the two part system... whatever... good luck and keep posting to tell us how you got on and tons of advice is always here!...

Good luck!

p.s. Dry Pail!

BTW: dry pailing is when you chuck the dirties in a nappy net in the bucket rather than soaking. Then you just chuck the whole net in the washing machine rather than handling soggy smelly nappies much nicer.

Liners are great because yes BF poo does stain - but it also goes through the liners. However my stains are fading now at 3 months so don't despair. I like fleece liners because they come out almost dry. You can buy them cheaply or make your own.

There are loads of different systems. I was convinced the stuffable system would work best for us (fuzzis, anture babies, little chicks etc) but soon got fed up stuffing. I heard that all-in-ones (wrap and nappy combined) tended to leak with small babies and took ages to dry so I went for seperate wraps and nappies. Tiddlybums are my fav nappies although I also use terries and my old kooshies. My fav wraps have been wacky wraps. She's not selling at the mo but you can get them second hand (sometimes) - very funky, or wraptors. I'm also just getting into wool.

Like others have said - experiment. whatever you think you might change your mind and all babies are different anyway. I got lots of different ones in the first size and soon figured out what worked for me so am now getting all those for the next size.... opops dinner ready got to dash. Could go on for hours!

On stains--drying the nappies in the sun has fantastic bleaching properties. Not very useful at this time of year I admit, but good to know for later.

We used Bambino Mio wraps with terries folded inside them for dd1. (We haven't used prefolds, because don't have tumble dryer.) Now next child is nearly here and we have to decide which way to go. The Bambino Mio wraps have done two children (dd1 and my newphew before her) and some of them are getting a bit tired, so we are thinking of buying a few Motherease popper wraps which seem the best bet from the Nappy Lady's site.

Wow I didn't know I was joining a club. I think I'm going to try tot bots for starters. Ds2 is about 15lbs I don't know what size I should buy. He has very sensitive skin so if needed I could always buy some fleece liners. My dh is not convinced he's picturing this bucket of dirty nappies hanging around just waiting for ds1 to jump into. Where do you keep your buckets of dirty nappies?

Vanish soap has been a neccesity since ds2's arrival. Nothing else gets it out. I'll try the vanish spray with the nappies.

The hemp nappies look much slimmer fitting so I'm tempted to try those as well.

Zebra, If you don't mind I'd love some advice on terries (I'm willing to be convinced) and trying that totbot would be a great help. They have clubs for people who use reusable nappies?! Let me know if the offers still open.

Thanks everyone.

Hi Bekki,

Use the fleece liners - they're fab. I

t might be worth trying to get some nappies secondhand to try as well - UKParents have a good buy and sell.

I love tots and they're great for night, I also like stuffie nappies which are absorbant and have fllece already in but are slimmer. I also like kissaluvs - really soft and a little slimmer. At the moment, though, I use stuffable pockets in the day - Fuzzibunz, bear behinds, angelbabes, pitterpatters, .... (all WAHM - work at home mum nappies) they're just like using disposables (so good for dp and nursery), very fast drying and look smart! Looking good isn't everything, but when you get into it it's great to try different things out. Oh yes and these ones are all already lined with fleece -

I like to have a variety and I find at different times dd has fitted different ones better

Good luck and enjoy the conversion

Bekki, another vote here for the Nappy Lady, her advice is excellent (although I must admit I only bought my trial order from them as they do not take on-line payments). We use Tots Bots size 2 with Motherease wraps and they have been fantastic. We also use Minkis , and Bear Behinds at night, these are stuffable fleece nappies that come in loads of gorgeous designs. The fleece liners are brilliant, I initially bought a couple from the Nappy Lady then cut out my own from some fleece that I bought at a fraction of the price. We dry pail and haven't noticed any major stains (although DS2 was 8 months when we switched to fleece so not sure about what it would be like with a fully breastfed baby), agree that sunshine is the best thing to get the stains out.

Welcome to the world of cloth!

HI Bekki just phone me 01509-556838. You're welcome to come round Monday am or Thurs pm or I can go to yours (anything different to do on these rainy days!).

Hi Bekki - yes, bf babies do stain the nappies, but it looks alot worse when they come out of the washing machine than when they've dried, and when he's on to solids, dirty nappies are no bother. We use Totsbots size 2, and they never leak. (Leaking is about the absorbancy of the nappy, not the wrap - the wrap's not tight enough to hold in the wetness if it's absolutely soaked.)

While we're on the subject, I wonder if I could ask advice about washing. I wash on 60 with Fairy tablets, but the nappies seem to go smelly very quickly once they're on ds. I've recently started wet pailing after dry pailing, but it only seems to have made a very slight improvement, and the wet pailing is a bit of a faff, and not great for my back. Any advice Mumsnetters?

I got 2 nice colourful Mothercare nappy buckets with ducks and fish on them which match all their other baby ranges. (I needed 2 when we were still using Krappy Kooshies and I had to have an extra bucket for all the stained clothes from the leaks )

The buckets were about £7 and I keep them in the corner of our bathroom next to the loo. You can get plainer, cheaper buckets from plenty of other places just make sure they have a tight fitting lid.

A nappy mesh/net is also a must have. You use it like a bin liner in the bucket so you don't have to touch the nappies themselves - just throw the whole net in the machine.

Rosy - do a biological wash with all your nappies and then wash again in non bio. That might be the extra zap they need?

Rosy, believe it or not your problem might be too much detergent...it can build up a residue in the nappies. Try doing a cold wash without detergent followed by a wash at your normal temp with only half the amount of detergent that you usually use. Add a tablespoon of white vinegar in the final rinse to release any clinging detergent. It won't smell, honest!