Cloth and Disposable Round Up

A lot of great feedback was left on my two posts last week from my readers about the use of disposable and cloth nappies.

If you've had a baby its something you would have spent a fair bit of time thinking about, in those early days, easily changing 10 nappies a day, maybe thinking to yourself "is there something better out there?" Whatever way you chose to go, after my posts last week I thought I would summarise and also publish your suggestions and tips on the blog!

CLOTH

Since posting last week I have increased my use of modern cloth nappies. I am finding they are a lot more absorbant than I first thought. Its really amazing what they can hold but I still haven't used them over night.

Storage - Make them accessible - Have your cloth nappies at your changing station. I have a little basket in our lounge with everything I need to change the Baby. In it is disposables, reusables, baby flannels, wet wipes & baby powder. It hides behind the couch so its out of sight. Seeing the reusables when you go to get your supplies will remind you to use them.

Have a plan to wash them - At this rate I do one load of washing a day, I alternate between whites and darks everyday. So far I have been washing my nappies in the white load. I toss the nappies in a rubbish bin with a closeable lid in the laundry until a white load day. So far I have not needed to do any extra washing. If I was using the cloth nappies around the clock it may add an extra wash during the week but that would be the extent of it.

Washing - Keep powders to a minimum, you don't want to get power stuck inside and clog up the microfibre fabric. If you do, you can strip them. I think you do this with hot water but I'm not entirely sure :) Don't soak them.

Poop - Any poo in the nappies I 'knock' into the toilet and flush away. If things are a bit squished I rinse them under the tap then chuck them into the rubbish bin in my laundry. There are such things as nappy liners - you put them inside and then can lift them out with the poop attached. You can get them from the supermarket but I don't know what they are made out of so I haven't looked into them.

Smell - Things can get a bit stinky in that rubbish bin. Miriam suggested sticking on the inside of the lid a panty liner that has a few drops of smellies on it. I used lavender oil and it works a treat! I have also heard baking soda in the bottom of the bucket to soak up the smells but I tried that and didn't find it worked.

Stains - If you find you have any stains after washing hang them out to dry in the direct sunshine. If you didn't know this already, the sun will get most stains out of your clothing. I only learnt that last year and it has REVOLOUTIONISED our laundry. Its now my mission to tell everyone this. The sun is your laundry friend!

Folding - If you're using insert nappies like I am (and love them!) put your inserts in when you're folding your washing. It only takes a few extra seconds then and there so they are ready to go later (making them accessible, remember?)


DISPOSABLES:

If you're buying nappies before your baby is born you need to know that you buy them by the weight of your baby. Each brand has their own weight measurements so it can get a bit confusing. Before our baby I bought 6 packs of newborn nappies (around 4kgs) and 3 packs of the next size up (generally called 'infants' (6 or 7kgs ish). With a new born you're changing nappies pretty regularly. Some days I was using up to 12 nappies a day in those first few weeks. That chugged me through a pack in a matter of days. I was worried I'd have too many new born nappies left over but I didn't have a big baby so she fitted them for a while. 


Huggies seems to be a very good nappy choice for those babies with sensitive skin. I have heard of many cases of babies coming out in rashes when in other nappies and not in Huggies.


Widge also suggested Cherish, a Pams brand that supplies sizes over 6months old.


If you're worried about the environment but still need to use disposables like Max you could look into 'enviro-comp': For a fee they pick up your nappies and compost them. Otherwise disposables sit in land fills for years while their contents rotts and chemicals leak... You get the point. Composting is goooood.


If you're not composting and just chucking them in the bin (argh, a part of me feels so irresponsible talking about this, but I do it, so i'll talk about it) keep some bags handy. I use that huggies wet wipes container (the travel flat one with the lift up lid) to keep my bags in because I feel its much safer than just having them float around the lounge or my baby bag. Some times I buy bags. You can buy nappy bags from the supermarket or a $2 shop, or often I use our left over plastic fruit and vege bags from the weekly groceries or bread bags. They are pretty perfect sizes.


When I had a new born I had a clear plastic zip up bag that stayed under our change table and I put the dirty nappies straight in there after changing the baby. I also put a few drops of lavender oil in there because when you get a few dirty nappies in the bag it can start to stink. Once a day I would empty the bag and it would mean you weren't always going to the rubbish bin after every change, especially during the night! 


I hope some of that information helped, it certainly helped me and I loved receiving all of your feedback! Do you have anything else you'd like to share? Leave a comment and I'll edit the post to keep it up to date :)


READ MORE:

• My favourite disposable nappy and a review of the rest
• My initial thoughts on cloth nappies