We are having the great nappy debate at the moment. Since we announced our pregnancy, we have got all our baby gear out of storage to see what we actually need (as opposed to want), and the discussion began.
When we were pregnant with Little Legs, I decided we would use cloth nappies. We went and bought a set which should have lasted from birth to when she was potty trained. It wasnt cheap. Cost us about £250 if I remember correctly. I washed them all, got all prepped up to use them …. then had a change of heart, and sold the lot on eBay. I changed my mind because we were living in an apartment with very little outside space and no tumble drier. Phil was living in Scotland, I was on the south coast and I decided it was another hassle I just did not need. Rightly or wrongly, I didn’t look back. We have had no problems with disposables.
Fast forward three years, and now we’re having the exact same discussion. Only this time, Phil says nope, we tried that, it didn’t happen. My argument is this time things are different. Sure we’re in an apartment but this time we have a tumble drier and Phil’s home.
Based on DEFRA report I have been reading, the environment argument seems to cancel its self out. I will be using a tumble drier to dry most – if not all – the nappies, and I wont be passing these on to siblings to use. This bump will be our last baby. (You can read more about the data here, which explains it a lot better than I do!). The data suggests that with all the washing and tumble drying the emissions are the same. I am not sure that the data is really inclusive though. In fact, I would go and say that it is slightly misleading, because it doesn’t start with the cotton fields, forests, and the oil wells. Do feel free to correct me though – the more I read, the more the arguments confuse me.
Financially, cloth nappies seem to be the way to go. Again, I am getting two lots of data – some saying I will save over £1000, some saying more like £500. I don’t know which is right, but either which way, savings are savings, and that sounds like a winner to me.
I hear one of the problems with cloth nappies are problems with leakage. Although I think this was possibly a problem with older nappies. What I do know is that I never experienced problems with Little Legs and leakage, not once. This is probably my biggest concern.
My unanswered questions are as follows:
- if you’re out for the day, what do you do with all the used nappies?
- when you’re at festivals or camping, do you just go disposable for a few days? The thought of smelly nappies in my tent does not appeal, not one bit.
- I would imagine washing a load of nappies every two to three days. Is that realistic? Does that mean I need a nappy bin to keep them in?
- SomE say you need to wash at 60 degrees, others say 40. What do you do? I don’t want stainage!
- Which brands are you loving and hating?
- How many nappies do you need?
- What are the best liners?
I could go on, but will stop there … I need to convince Phil this is the way forward. And if I am totally honest, convince myself too – because I am sure I am getting a little bit distracted by the fabulous nappy covers available. Thoughts please.
> if you’re out for the day, what do you do with all the used nappies?
Pop them in a nappy wet bag.
> when you’re at festivals or camping, do you just go disposable for a few days? The thought of smelly nappies in my tent does not appeal, not one bit.
Not done camping as such since having kids but we’ve been on a few caravan holidays, and just take the nappy bucket with us and wash at home. Any mega stinkers are rinsed before going in the bucket so we’re not sat with the smell all the way home, but if you’re not bothered about plastic you could wrap them in nappy sacks.
> I would imagine washing a load of nappies every two to three days. Is that realistic? Does that mean I need a nappy bin to keep them in?
Yes, yes. (Although in the first couple of weeks you’d likely need to be washing more. The more nappies you have, the longer you can go without washing.)
> SomE say you need to wash at 60 degrees, others say 40. What do you do? I don’t want stainage!
If there’s lots of poo nappies in the bucket I’ll do a 60, otherwise it’s generally 40. Stains are sorted by hanging them outside to dry (or in the window in the winter) – suns rays help ‘bleach’ them.
> Which brands are you loving and hating?
We use 90% bumGenius, several TotsBots easy fits and terries for desperate days when I’ve got my wash cycle messed up and have none of the others clean.
> How many nappies do you need?
If you’re using cloth exclusively, around 15-20 is a good number I think.
> What are the best liners?
Don’t use liners, so can’t help there.
We started using cloth with our daughter when she was 6 months old, having calculated that we’d already spent around £500 on disposables and packets got smaller as the contents got larger which meant we’d be spending around £1500 to continue to potty training (on the assumption she’d do so around 2). This was enough to convince us to go cloth and so we did.
We bought a mix of some new, some second/third hand bumGenius and Fuzzibunz as well as a few misc others. The BGs were most used, and so these are now in use on #2 with a few new ones added to the stash as the older used ones have naff elastic now. We could re-do them but I’m not overly crafty with a sewing machine!
Anyway, I think (given that #2 is now 8 months old and has been exclusively cloth bummed) we’ve probably saved £1000 AT LEAST. Obviously this is not going to be the same for you since you’ve said you’re not having another, but if you’re careful where you get your nappies from and don’t spend a fortune on customs, you can still save IMO.
Hope that helps
We have a utility room so I literally had a bucket in that sink we put the dirty nappies in until we did a load. We used almost exclusively Bambino Mio prefolds with some AIO/Pockets mixed in later on. The Bambino Mio liners are great b/c they are flushable so you can flush away poo. We had wet bags to put the dirty nappies in when we were out and about. Using cloth definitely means a fuller nappy bag but other than that it wasn’t a big hassle out about about. I’ve never been to a festival but when we flew transatlantically we went disposable as it just made more sense. I’m sure I’m forgetting stuff so just ask me!
I too tried cloth nappies for Marky, I spent a fortune with the best intentions. However, in reality I hated them, the bulkiness, the leaks, the effort of washing….Then I found gNappies. They are a hybrid nappy where you can choose to either have cloth inserts or disposable biodigradable inserts which abosrb the wee. I use the disposable ones at the moment, but plan to change to the cloth ones soon as the baby poo settles down. You don’t get leaks as the insert is enclosed in a pouch, which is fab. You can replace just the insert and keep the outer to use again, means sod all washing.Oh and they are very cute….and are not any bulkier than a disposable! wooo!
@BumpWearClaire Ash & I have been having same debate. I really want to try but know very little. Worried I would use for a week.
@innocentcharmer @bumpwearclaire we used them when he was little
@Melaina25 @bumpwearclaire worth it ??? Alot of extra work ? Did you use just cloth or a mix ?
@innocentcharmer @BumpWearClaire We used disposables at night but otherwise just cloth. Not that much extra work with flushable liners
@Melaina25 @bumpwearclaire see this is what I was thinking. Plus when with someone else. Which brand did you use ? I am complete novice.
@innocentcharmer @Melaina25 the ones i brought and didnt use were the BMs. but I am liking the sound of the hybrid ones like gnappies…
@BumpWearClaire @innocentcharmer if I had any idea where I’d put the BumGenius ones and other pockets I’d loan them to you x
I have no direct experience however I know a lot of mums mix and match with cloth and disposable. I had a guest post from Juliet at the washable nappy company who is super nice and I am sure would answer any questions.
http://www.more4mums.co.uk/blog/2012/11/washable-nappies-should-you/
I use reuseables when at home and disposables when out and about and during that periods where the teething nappies were rather horrendous!
I got some of the discontinued mothercare smart nappy which I thought was great to use and they dried quickly. We did use them for a few months however without a washing machine, it was quite a chore and costing an extra £3.50 a week.
We used disposable nappies at night to stop the baby getting up.
Hello,
My blog re reusables is above!
I use a wet bag when out and about (we got a cheap karimoor one not a branded nappy one!)
Not been camping yet, prob would use disposables,we use a disposable at night at the mo, When L was little he cried as soon as his nappy was wet so we stopped, that being said he doesn’t seem to care now!
We have about 25 nappies we wash every other day but could go three but the bin gets full! You need a bin/bucket with a lid and a net bag inside it.
Pooey nappies 60 otherwise 40
We love tots bots, we have not loved bum genius, I k ow others have said different its good if you can find a local nappy library/lady so you can try them on, we skated till L was about 6 weeks before we got them, meant we got ones that fitted, and we have next to no leaks as the style fits him s well!
We use a mix of fleece liners, and paper ones called ultra liners!
Good luck if you buy a few then I recommend e bay as like you lots are just washed and not really used!
Thank you for all your comments on my reusable / cloth nappies post. Food for thought indeed! http://t.co/PEkJOceZ
@BumpWearClaire this is a great post, really useful as I’m having the same debate. I’m going to a cloth nappy shop for a play/chat/advice!
We love cloth although if we go away on holiday or overnight we use disposables, we also use them over night. I love them and we only wash them every 3 days or so. I store them in a dry bucket by the washing machine and just tip them in when we are running low – hardly any effort!
In terms of brand I would recomment Tots Bots easyfits if you want no effort and man friendly or baba and boo are fantastic pocket nappies. We use fleece liners now D is older and his deposits are solid and just tip them down the loo – much nicer than having a bin full of poo! I have disposable liners ready for the beginning with baby squish though as the whole thing can be flushed and done with that way!
When we are out they go in a ‘wet bag’ until I get home and tip them in the bucket. It is a bit more bulky than disposables as you have to carry them around still but if it is a really long day then we sometimes use disposables too. A balance works well for us.
Good luck if you decide to go for them!
Wow, I could talk nappies all day (though I should really get on with actually blogging about them). I assembled a few bits and pieces on http://www.yogimama.net but it needs updating. I have actually had MANY more leaks with disposables than with cloth nappies and as long as you get a good outer wrap they pretty much last forever for those hectic days when you’re more slummy mummy than yummy mummy…I live in a small flat in central London and don’t tumbledry anything. My heart leaps for joy on a sunny day so I can dry on the balcony but I also bought a towel heater for £30 which speeds up drying and uses as much electricity as a lightbulb.
My unanswered questions are as follows:
if you’re out for the day, what do you do with all the used nappies?
There aren’t that many. I put them in a waterproof nappy bag and always have a spare plastic bag with me.
when you’re at festivals or camping, do you just go disposable for a few days?
I go for a mix – disposables most of the time but real nappies at night to prevent leaking.
I would imagine washing a load of nappies every two to three days. Is that realistic? Does that mean I need a nappy bin to keep them in?
I have a bucket with a lid, and wash less often than every 2-3 days as my nappy collection is pretty substantial. I know other people put them straight in the machine and some wash with other clothing too…I sometimes do that with AIO nappies which are just damp.
SomE say you need to wash at 60 degrees, others say 40. What do you do? I don’t want stainage!
I wash at 40, with a soop of napisan or similar. I sometimes soak in napisan for a few hours beforehand, or even fill the bucket with it as I fill it up with nappies. Hanging them in the sunlight is also a great natural bleach.
Which brands are you loving and hating?
LOVE – disana organic flat knitted nappies – soft, vintage look, little bit more fiddly but dry v fast in my flat. Their wool pants are adorable, natural, breathable, warm…use them when Im at home/daily use.
Mother ease – great outer wraps, absorbent but large nappies, amazing for nightime, never leak. My mum used these too and I can’t fault them
Tots Bots AIO nappies – need changing more often than the others I use but my partner loves how easy they are and great prints/designs on them!
Tried prefolds, didnt rate them. Not a fan of stuffing nappies either.
How many nappies do you need? No idea of minimum as I’ve always had a large selection. I have 25 disana & 2 wool pants, 1 wool wrap, about 10 motherease + 4 wraps, 4 tots bots AIO that I use regularly then a load of back-up nappies and I never run out. Wash about once a week.
What are the best liners? Bambino Mio flushable ones. I dont always use them though. The fleecy/minky insides of nappies like the tots bots dont hold stains and I tend to use inserts now he’s older so just scrub them well. Im not averse to using a scrubbing brush to clean nappies too, and do that for the ‘explosion’ ones.
Hope this helps. Also check out local grants to help buying re-useables, or nappy hire schemes where all the laundry is done for you!
Anna x