Anybody use washable nappies?

[susi513]

Just wondered if they'd improved much since I tried to use them with dd (she's now 13). When she was small I found they leaked a lot and I needed to change far more often than with disposables. And they took ages to dry.

I know some childminders provide washable nappies, not sure if I could handle all the washing and drying, but I think that would be cheaper than buying another bin off the council - mines always overflowing. I need to slim my bin!

Does anybody work with parents who provide washable nappies? What do you think of them?

Does anybody here use their own nappies? How did you fund it, did you raise your fees or did you give parents an option and charge a "going green" joining fee? Or something else?

[deeb66]

One of the little girls I look after used to wear them.

I was happy to change them but there is no way I would be willing to provide them myself or to wash them.

I did have to change her more often than the children using disposibles but I got used to that very quickly.

They used flushable/degradable liners so I would tip the contents down the toilet and put the nappy in a carrier bag and leave outside the door for them to take home when they collected.

The only time I used to find them a pian was when I was going out for the day and would end up carrying dirty nappies around with me which is not much fun in the heat.

So I talked to the parents and they agreed that on days when we was out for the day (i.e. Farms, zoo's etc) that I could use disposible nappies for her.

[aly]

If anyone wants any let me know - i have a box upstairs, I tried with Poppy but it just didnt work for us.

[Alibali]

One of my little mindees is in real nappies, he does need changed alot more often than others and leaks through quite a bit, therefore more washing of c****ats and prams etc. He has a reaction to liners, so it is just the nappy but he very rarely has a nappy rash, only very occasionally when teething. As there are no liners, the whole contents of the nappy go home with him. After risk assessing I decided that I should not clean or even empty contents. They do smell a bit and I have bought a lidded bin to keep used ones in. I double bag them too, so not sure how environmentally friendly they will be in the long run!!

Alison :)

[flora]

I don't use them for minding, but I do use them on my little girl, who's nearly two.

We use terry squares and wraps. Never had any probs, only gets nappy rash when teething badly.

Going out and about we have a wash bag/ toilet drawsting bag and we just pop the nappies in there to bring home, never had a prob with the smell.

You can buy nature baby cornstarch nappy bags which are 100% bio degradable so if you are double bagging use these and they can go on the parents compost heap or bin. Nature baby also do eco disposable for all the green parents out there. Sort of a compromise for days out. They are better than any other nappies I have ever tried with any of my other "kids" and I've tried alot :D

For heavy wetters you can buy allsort of liners made from allsorts of fabric, so maybe just that the mums look into these if the little chap is leaking alot.

If I had mindees that used them I think I would just bag them up and leave for the parents to take home. There are lots of extras I do for parents but I think that is a step too far :D I have used one of mine for a parent when lo ran out of nappies and I did have that back and wash it :thumbsup:

[wendywu]

No way:eek:

[miffy]

Probably not the environmentally friendly answer but I insist on disposables

I tried cloth nappies when my eldest was born (he's now 23) and they were hopeless he had thrush and sore bottom and they leaked. I know they've probably improved a lot but I don't fancy them. I wouldn't be prepared to wash them either

miffy xx

[Tatia]

I used cloth with my children but I had a nappy service. It was fantastic. You just tossed dirty nappies into bin and they collected them, leaving me with a new stack of freshly laundered ones.

I've never been asked to use them on a mindee but I'd be happy to do so. Wouldn't wash them, though, considering I didn't even wash my own!

[Pudding Girl]

:thumbsup: I'd be really happy to accomodate anyone wanting to use cloth nappies :) I'll beusing them myself if I ever get ****** pregnant!!

I loathe disposeables, the smell they have, that jelly stuff ew, and also think that considering they banned something they have in disposaeables from sanitary towels years ago, it's not something I'd want next to my babies skin tbh.

Cloth nappies have improved in leaps and bounds, not all suit all babies, there are so many types out there, and so many liners too, not just paper ones, fleece and everything - it's a case of trial and error, much like the huggies v pampers debate ;) so would encourage anyone whose mindee is leaking badly to give the parents the details of nappylady.com and get themselves some good advice from a local advisor :) and hopefully limit the trial and error part of it, as they can usually provide hire kits to try out before you buy :D

[tulip0803]

Cloth nappies have improved in leaps and bounds, not all suit all babies, there are so many types out there, and so many liners too, not just paper ones, fleece and everything - it's a case of trial and error, much like the huggies v pampers debate ;) so would encourage anyone whose mindee is leaking badly to give the parents the details of nappylady.com and get themselves some good advice from a local advisor :) and hopefully limit the trial and error part of it, as they can usually provide hire kits to try out before you buy :D

I agree with Lou different nappies suit different babies. I used prefolds with DD2 which were great never leaked. First I tried Kooshies cos they look like disposables and DH thought that he could use them but didn't find them as good. I did use disposables if we went out for the day and I can remember sitting her on the floor (she had been sitting at home for a few weeks) and she just fell to the side as her bottom wasn't as wide as normal :laughing:

[John]

started used them about 25 years ago when i use to do a lot of baby sitting, but since i became a childminder i've never used them. But the only the other week i was thinking of asking a parent about using them on her child. Wahing is no problem as now adays you can get items to make the job easy. Here is a website thats will show you differnt types of nappy folds.

http://www.ecobean.co.uk/folds.html

This might come in handy for you if your thinkoing of using them or are using the cloth type.

John.

[Trouble]

one of mindees has the baboo nappies,
they are quite easy and straight forward
not sure about washing thou

[sarah707]

Ewww!

Bringing back memories of when I tried them for my dd, now 14... it was a dreadful experience for all concerned and since then I haven't (thankfully) been asked to use them :(

[Schnakes]

Yup - my new baby wears washables. I found them pretty easy to use. The mum told me that the liners are flushable,but they are so thick, I just pop them in a nappy sack and put them in the bin.

Sx

[jackie__1981]

I used cloth for my son, and i loved them. I used little lamb nappies, the bamboo ones and they are sooooo soft.

They never leaked as they were so absorbant, even when my lo was sleeping 12 hours a night.

You don't need nappy soak anymore. I used to use Boots flushable liners as they are really soft (some are like paper!) so could flush any contents away. Put the nappy in an airtight nappy bin. I would do one extra wash every two days. They dried pretty quick in on the line or you can tumble them if you need to.

Like someone else mentioned, if out for the day it can be a pain carrying them round so I would generally buy a few disposable nappies if I was going for a full day out.

I never had any probs with them. I think I paid about £170 for the full kit but got £85 when I sold them on Ebay!

[berkschick]

The twins I look after use them.

So far they have just been wet!

[susi513]

Thanks for your comments everyone. I've been toying with the idea of offering parents the option of buying into a "green scheme" where they could pay either a one-off joining fee (or an annual fee) and I would then provide all the nappies & wipes. The idea being that over time my initial purchase of nappies would be reimbursed by their joining fees and after that time the fees would start to offset the washing costs.

I thought parents might be tempted by the thought of not having to bring any more nappies to me, and I would end up with a slimmer bin. It does concern how long the nappies from my bin alone will be around in landfill and I think its good for any business to be seen to be green.

DH, for some reason, decided to put an extra washing line in the garden, so in good weather I've plenty of drying room. But I'm worried about how long they'll take to dry indoors in poor weather (no tumble dryer). Not sure I want all the extra washing loads - my machine gets plenty of work already! So maybe I'll just think about it a bit longer.

[Pauline]

This is an interesting thread! My daughter in law who is pregnant at the moment, was asking me about 'real' nappies.

She is very environmentally conscious and does not want to use disposable ones and had heard about some real ones that are specially shaped, not like the square terry towelling ones I used with my kids, these have a specially designed backing which is waterproof and washed with the nappy, has anyone used them or heard of them?

Or any suggestions other than the square terry ones?

Thanks

x

[deeb66]

I think that might be sensible Susi.

If you were only looking after 1 child it wouldn't be so bad but what if you had several......you would spend all your free time trying to get the things washed and dryed.

I really think you could be giving yourself an awful lot of problems etc if you decided to do this.

If you really want the parents to use washable nappies then the way forward might be to try and convert them over to using them. They could then buy their own and you could send them home at the end of the day.

You could always download some information and get leaflets etc to encourage the parents.

[tulip0803]

This is an interesting thread! My daughter in law who is pregnant at the moment, was asking me about 'real' nappies.

She is very environmentally conscious and does not want to use disposable ones and had heard about some real ones that are specially shaped, not like the square terry towelling ones I used with my kids, these have a specially designed backing which is waterproof and washed with the nappy, has anyone used them or heard of them?

Or any suggestions other than the square terry ones?

Thanks

x

Sounds like Kushies/kooshies. This was where I got mine but I didn't like them as much as pre-folds.

http://www.thebabycatalogue.com/prodinfo.asp?number=BN1000KS

http://www.thebabycatalogue.com/prodinfo.asp?number=BN1006K+WHITE

There are many many different types.

Some councils offer free trial packs which was where I got my first pre-folds from. Most nappy laundry services offer a selection so you can see which suits you best and you don't have to wash them. I live outside the area covered unfortunately.

[deeb66]

This is an interesting thread! My daughter in law who is pregnant at the moment, was asking me about 'real' nappies.

She is very environmentally conscious and does not want to use disposable ones and had heard about some real ones that are specially shaped, not like the square terry towelling ones I used with my kids, these have a specially designed backing which is waterproof and washed with the nappy, has anyone used them or heard of them?

Or any suggestions other than the square terry ones?

Thanks

x

The little girl that I looked after had some of them Pauline.

I would imagine they were really good when they were new but I found that the older they got the more they leaked.

After a while the backing wears away and is bitty iyswim.......I found those ones a real pain and asked the parents to stop sending them as they were a waste ot time!

[Pudding Girl]

Anyone needing more info please check out http://www.thenappylady.co.uk/

it'll tell you all you need to know, there are types of nappies suitable for tumbling, and some that are fast drying etc

You won't find a better site for cloth nappies.

[Lincsminder]

Just two points really i wanted to mention,

1. All nappies should be emptied in to the loo, human waste should not be dissposed of in house hold rubbish. So you should be doing the same with disposable as someone would with cloth nappies.

2. The washing isnt an issue its not like you have to boil and scrub the nappies. I do one extra wash every 3rd day of nappies then they are dried on the line or radiator. The time it takes to load and unload the washer is about 2 min so not really a big deal.

[Mollymop]

I tried cloth nappies on Tim for a few months and it was a nightmare for me! I was forever washing, worrying if I had enough clean nappies, soaking them in buckets, scrapping poo off the cloth and Tim always had bad nappy rash while wearing them. He also got chaffed around the legs.
I would never use cloth again.
It is debatable when it comes to looking after the environment which type of nappy is worse as you use so much energy washing and drying cloth nappies (which usually need a 90 wash at least every other day)

XX

[flora]

I tried cloth nappies on Tim for a few months and it was a nightmare for me! I was forever washing, worrying if I had enough clean nappies, soaking them in buckets, scrapping poo off the cloth and Tim always had bad nappy rash while wearing them. He also got chaffed around the legs.
I would never use cloth again.
It is debatable when it comes to looking after the environment which type of nappy is worse as you use so much energy washing and drying cloth nappies (which usually need a 90 wash at least every other day)

XX

Sadly for Tim it seems he was the exception rather than the rule. If you talk to cloth nappy users, no nappy rash is the one thing most people mention.

I don't wash mine at 90. I wash them at 40 with soap nuts, they are clean, don't smell, etc etc. Every now and again I put them thru a 60 wash, but then they say do that with towels and bedding any ways.

Why is it everyone is so anti terry squares???? :( I have 20yr old ones, still white, still fluffy and still doing their job, folding is a doddle, even Harry can do it :thumbsup:

[miffy]

It doesn't sound to me that everyone is anti terry squares - I'd say from reading through this thread the opposite is true

Just for me when my children were small they didn't work very well - I accept that they have probably improved a great deal since then just like disposables have

At the end of the day it just comes down to everyone's personal preference

miffy xx

[Pudding Girl]

Nobody needs to boil wash nappies, 40c wash will do just fine :) and todays nappies are very quick drying too, and there are ones that are especially recommended for non tumble drying which are super fast.

please don't think nappies today are like ones 30 yrs ago, as they aren't :) and even then terries did a damn good job for most of OUR bums didn't they?!

[flora]

It doesn't sound to me that everyone is anti terry squares - I'd say from reading through this thread the opposite is true

Just for me when my children were small they didn't work very well - I accept that they have probably improved a great deal since then just like disposables have

At the end of the day it just comes down to everyone's personal preference

miffy xx

It just seems that terries do get overlooked as a fab alternative to diposables :D . Everyone ( not just here :D ) seems to think that shaped and prefolds are better/ superior etc and terries are fiddly/ not as good etc.

In their favour terries are cheaper and more versatile and I have found last longer( always a good thing if you are on a budget)

Like you say tho, everyone has to decide what works for them and more imortantly their babies bum :laughing:

[Mollymop]

Sadly for Tim it seems he was the exception rather than the rule. If you talk to cloth nappy users, no nappy rash is the one thing most people mention.

I don't wash mine at 90. I wash them at 40 with soap nuts, they are clean, don't smell, etc etc. Every now and again I put them thru a 60 wash, but then they say do that with towels and bedding any ways.

Why is it everyone is so anti terry squares???? :( I have 20yr old ones, still white, still fluffy and still doing their job, folding is a doddle, even Harry can do it :thumbsup:

Hi ya Flora Lovey, Sorry I don't mean to put other people off I just didn't like using them at the time. My mum used terry towels for both me and my sister who is 8 years older than me, so she was a fan. It's just they just didn't suit me and my son. x

[flora]

Hi ya Flora Lovey, Sorry I don't mean to put other people off I just didn't like using them at the time. My mum used terry towels for both me and my sister who is 8 years older than me, so she was a fan. It's just they just didn't suit me and my son. x

Probably oversensitive Sandra :blush: :laughing: I always get such funny comments when I mention that I use terrys. Don't know why.

I have got on soooo well with them for both my bubbas I just feel I should return the favour by getting as many people to use them instead of disposables as possible....... :clapping: :jump for joy:

Do you ever get the impression I have far too much time to think of these mad scenarios??????

At the end of the day we all use what suits us best and our lifestyles. Don't care if you choose to use unreal nappies, just as long as you did consider the alternative even for only a second !:thumbsup:

[Mollymop]

All of mine are out of nappies now - so hey ho! Maybe in a other life...or with the grandkids, once I get them of course!