Anyone have any experience with cloth nappies and particular brands? We're expecting our first child and don't want to use disposables.
I know about inserts, and problems with barriers creams etc, but understand that different brands can be very different in how effective they are, so hoping for some insider knowledge.
Reuseable cloth nappy recommendations - for new parent
thedriver on 29/01/2022 - 13:34
Comments
I think the white cloth ones are best
We're expecting our first child and don't want to use disposables.
We did that with our first. We used disposable for our second as we received a heap of them if my wife left the private hospital early.
We wondered why we stuffed around with cloth. Disposables are awesome. Offset your environmental impact with something else.
tl;dr - just use disposable
This 100x over.
Yes the environment. But there’s heaps of choice for biodegradables now…
I looked into buying biodegradable nappies and from my research there are currently no biodegradable nappies on the market. There are a few companies that make their nappies from biodegradable materials (such as bamboo - comfy koalas). We have a 15 week old baby and use a mix of designer bum and bare and boho (Aldi) nappies. I prefer the designer bums over the bare and boho as they just fit nicer and come with better inserts. I also don’t find the washing process to difficult.
Ah u know what I always assumed the eco by naty were- but another look on website suggests not.
Even if available, anything biodegradable needs to be exposed to sun to break down. But we wrap it in plastic, put it in a bag with a plastic liner, then send it to the tip where it's buried, with a clay cap put over it every night to seal in the smell. The result is, no gain over normal disposable anything.
Compostable is a different story completely, that has huge environmental advantages, but you can't put human waste in it.
There is no actual definition for biodegradable in Australian manufacturing / advertising.
Everything is degradable, it's just a matter of enough time.
If we assume that bio means by bacteria (or other biological activity), then even petroleum and PET plastic could be considered biodegradable as bacteria exists that can use these products for energy.
But biodegradable is somewhat vague…
I'm sure we'll use some disposables in some situations, but want to minimise waste first. Offsetting is a really just a means to continue pruducing waste, without thinking about it. It's still far more effective not to create that waste in that first place.
Join some cloth nappy groups on Facebook, this will give you a bit of a idea.
Just remember all those synthetic shells, plastic snaps etc on cloth nappies aren’t biodegradable either. The outlay is also quite high, especially until you find the right size and shape for bub, some suit longer, chubbier or skinnier babies more. They also change over time. Mine went from skinny to chubby (14th percentile to 80th percentile) in a matter of months. Now he’s long and skinny again.
Cloth nappies wasn’t for me, both me and my husband were exhausted with our baby, the extra work of cloth nappies (washing, drying, sorting, folding) on top of everything else wasn’t for us. We use reusable swim nappies and that’s it.
Good on you for at least trying cloth nappies.
Just remember all those synthetic shells, plastic snaps etc on cloth nappies aren’t biodegradable either
Yes but these aren’t disposable and are reusable so you can onsell or give them away like we did when we’d finished having babies
Eventually they’re ending up in landfill. The hard plastics in the snaps are going to be around for thousands of years. The number for posts I see about people buying unusable second hand nappies because they are delaminated or misshapen…
I actually do agree that they are more eco than disposables, but if people wanted to be truely eco they’d go back to the plain terry towelling without the synthetic fabric and plastic snaps. I’m not sure if there is a plastic recycling program for modern cloth nappies, but it would be a good idea.
Don't bother with cloth nappies for first child. You don't want to add to your work load dealing with shit and more cleaning, and potential issues with rashes and skin problems, just adds more stress.
We're expecting our first child and don't want to use disposables.
Lol, you won’t think like that for long, trust me…
Haha… I should add we are only having one child.
But I work from home, I grew up in cloth nappies myself and it's an important issue to us.
There will always be a waste component to nappies (and chil raising generally) but if I can minimise that, I like to at least try.
I can't remember where I saw it - possibly here on OzBargain - some councils give a rebate to people who purchase the reusable cloth nappies (the ones with the inserts). Might want to google it and see if your local council is one of those.
That’s a good point actually, I think some have a trial nappy library too
https://www.australiannappyassociation.org.au/cloth-nappy-se…
We did cloth nappies for both our children. Saved lots of money. It's probably line ball with one child but easily better when you get a second.
We used baby beehinds. Good quality but one of the more expensive brands. They were adjustable enough to last most of time, just a little big for newborns.
Most were bought new but we also picked up some 2nd hand. That's a good option to save money and be more enviro friendly.
The main downside is that you'll be dealing with much more poop. Some people just can't do it.
Great that you went thru 2 kids with reusables.
Can I ask if cost was the main reason?I have a 10 month old and currently going thru 4 nappies daily. I calculated nappy cost would be in the range of $400-600 per year, depending on specials and usage.
Maybe less due to first 3-6 months is gifted nappies from families and friends.I can't see the value in using reusables given the time it would take to empty the poos (2-3 times daily) and wash and dry the nappies, ontop of all the other duties.
For me anything that helps with less work is valuable to the family relationship.My twins would use 8 nappies each, each day for the first few months :/
Now they're 2yrs and they're using 5 a day each
- wakeup
- after brekkie (they like to poo after meals)
- after lunch (its been a few hours)
- after nap/rest or before dinner. (Its been a few hours)
- after dinner+shower for sleep.
Happy with ALDI nappies so far. Them being at childcare also saves nappies during the week as it's childcares problem.
ALDI nappies are awesome!
@morse: Aldi ftw. $10 for more nappies than what you get with the other brands. Saves a heap of money. You can use one size up when they're a bit older if you want to last overnight. That worked for us.
I believe aldi nappies are also made in Aus whereas Huggies quality dropped as soon as they started making them in China.Not sure how you're getting $400-600 a year for nappies. Stop buying Huggies or BabyLove and go Aldi to shave that down to a quarter of the price. It's a no brainer.
My wife didn't like the waste of disposable nappies. I was happy with the cost savings!
4 at 10 months seems very optimistic. I expect 6 at a minimum. Even at your rate it would be an easy cost saving.
Maybe I've got the wrong friends and family as gifting nappies isn't a thing I've encountered. It's usually clothing and maybe books or toys.
The extra time with reusable nappies isn't much per day, no more than 30 minutes, and the wife had plenty of extra time.
We did all our three of our kids on reusable nappies. Easy once you get used to it. We bought second hand Baby Beehinds on Gumtree and then on sold them at the end same way. Just be aware some of the classifieds sites like Marketplace remove your ads for nappies that have been “used” because of freaky people but if you search for or list MCNs you should be ok.
Forgot to mention the biggest fringe benefit of cloth nappies for us is since they get wet quickly the kids really start to feel the wet which helps a lot with toilet training as they know when they’ve gone.
The issue with modern disposable nappies is they’re just too good at sucking away all the wee into all those chemicals without the kid getting a rash and hence they don’t feel wet. Makes toilet training extra hard.
all those chemicals
Everything is chemicals - water, air, beetroot juice, vinegar - all chemicals.
without the kid getting a rash
You seriously want your kid to get a rash so they can toilet train faster? Most people just switch to undies or training pants and change them regularly. Not disputing that cloth nappies are better for giving kids feedback that their nappy is wet, but you’re meant to change them before the kid gets a rash, nappy rash is painful!
Where are you based?
My wife bought a tonne of the econaps which are Australian. We have a bunch that are unused. They aren't cheap though.We didn't use clothe exclusively just sometimes. Never overnight because it doesn't absorb much. As a newborn we used disposable (aldi ftw) because you're changing the newborn constantly.
Cloth nappy is a bit more manageable when they're on solids because you can predict their timing a bit better and they don't poo every single nappy change like a newborn. Was prob more a 20% thing especially when we've been wfh the last year or so.Cloth nappies mean more water and electricity as you're always soaking and washing. So there's that impact to take into consideration. They were an alternative but it would be crazy extra work 100% usage, especially a newborn.
@thedriver
We tried about 10 brands and styles and found that by far, Flip nappies (hybrid, shell and insert) are the best:
We have used them for 3 kids. They are (still) rated best overall one size hybrid by baby gear lab:
https://www.babygearlab.com/topics/diapering-potty/best-clot…
You will need about 10 shells and 30 inserts.
Don't listen to the cloth haters who say just go disposable. Cloth is not that hard at all.
Especially when you consider that you are technically still supposed to dispose of "solids" (poo) in the toilet because it is illegal to dump human waste in landfill. Seriously, who is going to use a poop scraper to clean a disposable nappy over the toilet. Who even knows that dumping the poop is illegal?
You will use about 6-8000 disposable nappies per child. That's a lot of land fill for one baby.
To make life as easy as possible get this large pale with tight fitting lid:
https://www.babybunting.com.au/product/infa-super-large-napp…
And this nappy sprayer:
https://www.babybeehinds.com.au/washing/little-squirt-nappy-…
It takes 15 seconds to spray the insert and shell (if necessary) and dump in the pale.
Sure, you'll do more washing, but it's way easier to use green power than offset dumping 8000 nappies with human waste in landfill where they will remain for 500 years. Especially if you have solar. Especially if you line dry. Especially if you plan on having more than one child.
Since you can't use barrier cream with cloth nappies, get this cream instead:
https://www.grovia.com/products/magic-stick
Super easy to apply every time you change a nappy without getting your hands dirty.
You can of course still use disposables for convenience when you go out or at night to get a full night sleep or when your newborn is still super tiny. It's still worth using cloth most of the time.
If your child does get a bad nappy rash and you do need a full on barrier cream, this one works amazingly well:
https://www.ozhairandbeauty.com/products/weleda-calendula-na…
Thanks! N.B. Name checks out, you are a machine!
Recently moved to SA, we're renting at the moment until we can find a home. Already on 100% renewable power, will install solar and water tanks when we buy a home. Agree that it's very hard to offset physical waste.
Much appreciated the highly informative post!!
Whether cloth or disposable, a tip to keep nappy rash at bay - after changing, dry the baby's bottom with a hair-dryer (on low heat and not too close, of course). From our paediatrician. Worked a treat on our three.
Try the Facebook group Cloth Nappy Reviews and Support for some comprehensive answers. Better to find a few nappy brands you are thinking of and ask about them. We had a chunky leg kid and use a mix of Monarch and Designer Bums, and at times, Bare and Boho (need more inserts than they sell at Aldi). Some brands fit better depending on your kid's shape. They also have VIP pages to help with brand fit. Inserts matter - many of the cheaper brands sell poor absorbing microfibre inserts that cause compression leaks.
Don't kill yourself by starting immediately - just functioning in the first few weeks is a challenge. You also don't need to commit to full-time use either as you learn.
Clean Cloth Nappies are an excellent resource for properly cleaning nappies, and well worth the investment in time to learn how to clean nappies properly (you need warm to hot washes - cold wash will not work in the long term).We had twins first up and used cloth Nappies. We actually used a local nappy service. They provided the nappies and a bin. Each week (might have been twice a week) they would pickup the dirty nappies and replace them with nicely cleaned fresh ones. Was a terrific service, was heaps cheaper than single use nappies and add it was a commercial operation of significant scale it seemed to be far more environmentally sustainable. Ultimately having twins first up, this was a huge time saver too.
At the time we lived 45 min out of Melbourne and it was 14 years ago. Not sure if this sorry of thing is still available.
We’ve done cloth with our first, was super easy for the first 4 months as exclusively breastfed so didn’t have to scrape, now he’s 6 months and working through solids…
This was a good starter pack for us to see what style worked for us, yes they’re secondhand but if you’re doing it to be eco, that shouldn’t bother you just strip wash them when you get them. https://nappiesandmore.com.au/collections/bundles-packs/prod…
After using those we found https://rosebugdesigns.com.au/ through Facebook groups (not much stock atm but she’s prepping a March release) and they fit our bub great, and I tend to find the WFHM made ones are better quality than store bought.
In the first couple weeks we did also use disposable for our sanity, but something you can start straight away is we got 4x 12 packs of baby face washers from Kmart and they’re our baby wipes, our change mat is set up by a sink so we just wet them there and then they’re pailed and washed like cloth nappies. There are brands like Cheeky Wipes if you want to get the whole kit/prewet them.
Kudos, this world has enough problems from what if viewed from us as much larger beings with far lower population as we view ants as a problem to be fixed with the equivalent of mass genocide, 30 yrs ago our kids were swaddled in cloth as we were worried then.
Mankind survived using cloth for nappies before disposables came along for how many years and mankind has prevailed. I bet a lot of your bums were in them as well. A bit of 💩 scraping never hurt anybody. Reuse is better for the environment, rather than convincing yourself by improving you environment impact elsewhere, do both.
And how many times have you seen disposables dumped, places like camping spots, words escape me.I am old, so read through this for interest sake. Disposables were around when I had my son, but I was against plastic which doesn't breathe. We only used disposables once when we were on holidays.
So for me, the nappies were just a flat cloth! So you folded them to whatever style suited your baby at the time - males and females requiring different ways as well. So as they grew, your fold changed to suit.
When I came home from hospital, my husband looked after everything while I looked after the baby. I took on things as I could. I found that the nappy issue was no big deal at all. Sometimes the stain does not completely remove, but sun drying does wonders for those. Also a couple of hours on the line sterilised (not technically, but the sun kills anything that might have been there). Yes we had to use the dryer occasionally when the weather was bad.
I did not use barrier creams or any product at all and my son was a summer baby. I cleaned with just soap and water (well actually a product called alpha Keri as the midwife had thought my son would be a sensitive skin boy) and dried with a small towel I had for the purpose (lots of those in my cupboard obviously). No powders or any other product. I did try the Johnsons cream cleanser at one point, but found it quite rough on his skin. I also used that product in the bath. It kept his skin really clear and no dry spots.
Nappy rash was not an issue. Only once did he have a slight rash and my mother-in-law suggest the old fashioned recipe of adding baking soda to the water and it cleared up fast. Never had another problem.
I used a product over the nappy during day that was cloth with Velcro. It did a good job of keeping him drier longer. Yes I did use a disposable liner I purchased from the supermarket. It did save some work.
At night, I used 2 cloth nappies and a wool nappy over the top. By 5 weeks he was sleeping all night. The bed was rarely soaked in the morning thanks to the wool nappy.
My mother in law was my lifesaver. She found the wool nappies and she also found the little towels. They were very soft and like barber towels I think.
We wanted to do this too and it got too difficult, however if you look into ecooriginal nappies they breakdown quickly (and you do have to change them much more quickly than with other nappies so they do breakdown once wet). The amount of washing actually makes a heavier environmental impact than nappies that are biodegradable.
But have a look even if it’s just a backup.Currently using modern cloth nappies for our first. We tried several brands before committing to a brand called Pekpi. Where we thought Pekpi edges out over other brands, and some of these are ultimately personal preferences:
* Design - not too loud, muted colours and patterns - if we had a second baby of different sec, lot of the designs are kinda unisex
* Absorbent inserts - these inserts are so absorbent! They last through the night which is great as when we don't need to worry or change nappies during the night, the nappy lasts 12 hour night sleeps
* Fit - I assume this also helps with the ability for the nappy to last long, but also it's not as bulky as some of the other modern cloth nappies, especially between the legs. The nappies those snap on's that worked for our bub who's gone through couple of different nappy sizesWe use the cloth nappy with reusable nappy liners, which helps if we want to just quickly swap out number 2's instead of changing the whole inserts, I think it also helps with fitting around the contours of the nappies too. Plus we use nappy cream with every change, so having these liners are great.
Also useful accessories:
* couple of wet bags to take when we are out, and also to store used nappies before wash
* lined nappy bin which helps store the soiled nappy inserts until it is time for wash
* small bucket for quickly rinsing out the poo if there are some that are stuck to the insert / linerMake sure if you are using cloth nappies, you have enough to be on rotation, the inserts especially take some time to dry completely. We also always have those eco-disposable nappies and compostable bags to throw them out in for when it is less convenient to lug around soiled cloth nappies (albeit in wet bags), and to be able to wash them - e.g. when going on trips.
And as others mentioned, getting into the routine at first is hard, but if you do get comfortable with it, and it is just becomes routine, it's quite doable. I wouldn't recommend getting into cloth nappy during newborn stage as they are tiny and as a new parent, you've got a million things to deal with, but once past that, try it out with several cloth nappies first and make sure it's for you before committing (and buying a whole lot of cloth nappies). Also, try to avoid getting into cloth nappies when the baby's going through leaps etc - avoid stressful periods to try this, to minimise negative association with the cloth nappy experience :)
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/search/node/Cloth%20nappy