Oh gosh I haven't had any in nappies for 12 months lol....ummmm whenever it starts to leak? And Lansioh is in a purple tube at places like Big W and chemists
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Oh gosh I haven't had any in nappies for 12 months lol....ummmm whenever it starts to leak? And Lansioh is in a purple tube at places like Big W and chemists
Wow, are there really 202 threads on cloth nappies? I haven't gone back to read any, so forgive me if these questions have been discussed!
Newby here. Bubs is 8 weeks. Doing MCN part time, our stash isn't quite big enough yet for full time. Have mostly groVia, tried bambooty, too.
Still trying to find the rhythm in it. When do you ladies wash? Do you soak overnight? Do you use flushable liners, or just rince straight away? Where do you keep the nappy bucket... Near the change table or in the laundry? It can sometimes seem like too much effort to walk to the laundry when bubs is crying, and need two hands for nappy bucket, so it ends up sitting on the bedroom floor until "later."
Any tips welcomed!
Hi Turtledove! Do you like MCNs? I'm a bit in love with them 😳
I do keep my nappy bin in the Laundry but it is easy to access in my house. Keep yours wherever works for you. Just make sure little ones can't access it / tip it over etc but your LO might not be up to that quite yet.
I try to wash every second day but my stash is quite big so often forget and wash later again. If you have a small stash I'd be doing it every second day especially if the bin is in the room and making things a bit stinky. ;) it is better for the cloth actually to wash more often.
Do you use a MCN friendly detergent? Used at half the recommended amount? This will prolong the life of the nappy. Basically a gentle detergent ideally without optical brighteners. Also traditional fabric softeners are no good as they build up on the cloth over time and hinder absorbency.
I do soak mine overnight. I do one or two rinse cycles beforehand then soak, then wash cycle in the morn. Also saves time so I don't have to try to get the nappies in the machine and organised in the morn when things are usually hectic with a tiny babe.
And I do use flushable liners. Saves me a heap of time as I hate scraping poo off etc.
I have GroVias too- love them! And flushable/washable liners.
I kept my bucket in the bedroom by the change table.no water or anything in it. Wet nappies go straight in. Pooey ones get placed on top til bub is cleaned up and I could put him down somewhere. Once bub is sorted, carry the nucket with pooey nappy on top to the loo, drop flushable liner in, use the sprayer to rinse any other poo off, then straight into the bum and carry the bin back to the bedroom, then wash hands.
Washing every second day is a minimum, really, especially if you have a small stash.
I didnt soak, just chucked the bucketful in the machine with ecoballs, on a cycle with a pre-rinse. Hang on a peg hanger and carry it out to the line.
The peg hanger means you can grab all the nappies off the line and bring them inside or under shelter quickly if it's raining.
Oh the peg hanger is a great idea! Might do that myself!
It's so much easier, ladylove. I also have hanger things that slip over a door, and they sit over my laundry cupboard doors, to hook my peg thing on to. So I can unload the washer, pop the basket up on the counter and them all up without moving my feet. Same for taking them off again- but I have a little hook over DS's change table, so they can come straight off the peg, I pull them straight and pop them straight into the drawer they live in.
I haven't had any in cloth for a while now, but;
Bucket, no lid in the laundry. When there was potential for an explorer it lived either on the bench or in the tub, but when it was no longer interesting, just on the floor. The lid traps the ammonia and not only stinks and makes your eyes water but ruins your nappies quicker.
I'd rinse poo off if it needed but otherwise just chuck straight in
Washed most days in cold with Eco washing powder. Just whenever it was full really.
I live in a by of a unique climate so it's rare I can't hang mine out in the shade and get them off within a few hours.
I folded/snapped/stuffed straight off the line as if I didn't I could never be bothered later.
I tried a million different storage solutions over 6 years and 3 kids in mcn and finally just used a washing basket on the floor lol.
I did try liners a couple of times but found they were just extra hassle for me.
My changetable is actually in the laundry, so have the bucket in there too, we also have a toilet off our laundry, which i have the little squirt attached too, so all i need is within like 2m of everything.
I drypail, so no soaking just nappies straight in the bucket, normally wash every 2nd day, but can stretch it another day if needs be. When i first started i had one of those peg things was great. I dont have a real clothes line (well i do byt its far out the back inside our pool yard so cant actually use it with the kids around. That and because of my dog i use clothes hoists on my front porch, so really easy to hang nappies on (impossible for sheets tho...)
I use liners, only because Spock had an insane nappy rash (had to go to pead dermatologist blah blah) so part of my trying to fix it was to use liners, and she wears disposable over night (dont know the cause of her sores but this helped)
Did i answer everything? Ill be back, im being sumoned anyway =p
Peg hanger? I'm picturing a pink spindly thing hanging in a shower, drying granny undies :)
Jokes aside, where can I get one?
Ladylove - yep, I do like MCNs, much cuter than disposable! My mother-in-law was very against it when she heard I wanted to go cloth, said in her day she had no choice, I didn't know how much work it was, how tired I would be, etc. She bought us 2 months of disposables, which did make the early days and extended hospital stay easier. Coming to the end of them now though, I figure if we are going to spend money it might as well be on something that lasts. Anything that saves money is always a little bit more work, like cooking dinner at home rather than getting take away.
Pholi - which grovia liners do you have? I have the organic cotton, and find they take FOREVER to dry, even outside in a 40deg day. Considering snipping the stay stitching at one side, to make them more single-layer.
How many is considered a good stash? We have 6 shells, 12 liners, which little boy will get through in a day. I feel like even if we had double, I would still have to wash every day.
I got mine from reject shop...really cheap, every few months i would need a new one cause pegs broke (but they were out in the weather) but were only a few bucks
I bought peg hangers at Ikea, with 16 pegs, they look a bit like an octopus with 8 legs.
I have cotton and stay dry inserts. I peg them from the middle of the top layer and pull the PUL lined part away from the peg and also pull it straight width-ways. That way the layers are separated as much as possible and they dried pretty quickly, at least in summer. Stay dry (hemp) dried even faster.
I also started with 12 inserts and 6 shells. I ended up getting another set of 12 and 6 as soon as I was sure the cut of the nappy worked for him, and A bit later (probably the next winter, when they weren't always drying in time) I bought another 8 or so inserts.
I've had a few casualties- one shell at least has gone missing, god knows where, and one looks like a cat attacked it, so I did buy a few more shells later in again.
And when we started needing to boost every nappy during the day, I sewed about 15 extra boosters from hemp fleece I bought online, each with 4 layers of fabric, and an oval just like the cotton boosters and top layer, but about 5cm shorter so they're easy to tuck inside the inserts. The homemade hemp boosters are really trim and absorbent, and dry fast too.
Don't split them. My son started to wet through both layers in 3-4 hours by the time he was about 1yo, and we started adding a booster every time.
DD1 was a very heavy wetter right up until we started toilet training and we mega boosted everything just to get 2-2.5 or so hours out of a nappy. DD2 much less so, so I hardly use the extra boosters.
We use an actual bin as our nappy bin with a swing / revolving lid. Keeps smellies in but aerates the nappies.
I just sold my stash.....of 50+ nappies :redface:
Seriously though, workout how many nappies you'd use for 3 - 4 days depending on where you live and whether drying time is a factor.
Ladylove - yes, using earthchoice liquid in a small amount. I bought my nappies from Booty Crawl (Modern Cloth Nappies | Green Nappies | Booty Crawl) so I have been able to ask Amanda lots of questions in person.
Pholi - I spilt a couple, just at the front end. Still stitched at the back. We've had a couple of leaks, too. They are still quite big on him.
Kim - I can see how 50+ nappies would be quite plausible! This little guy gets through 12 a day. 4 days = 48. It would save on water & power not having to wash every day.
With pooey nappies, after rinsing etc, do you leave them 2-3 days, or wash that night? I only had about 3 nappies in the bucket yesterday, but soaked overnight & washed this morning anyway. I was worried that the stains wouldn't come out.
What does everyone use for wet wipes?
cheap facecloths from kmart. I just carried a bottle of water to wet them when out.
I never soaked. doesn't do great things to elastic in the long run. depends how pooey they were and how stinky. Generally a rinse and they were ok. I had very few stains ever.
Water bottle, as in a drink bottle? Did you do the same thing at home, too, or just use the tap?
I just doba rinse cycle then waah cycle. They ofyen get an extra rinse because im slack and i dont get back to them so if they have been sitting in the machine for too long wet ill put them through another cycle (doesnt just happen with nappies but with most clothes) then hang in sun. The sun bleaches any stains ive had out
Yep just a little one, but we didn't drink out of it lol. And yes, tap water at home. Cold even ( well commercial wipes are cold anyway :dunno:).:
There's a million different solution you can make and buy to do it, but it just seemed a bit of a waste to me. If it was really sticky, a bit of baby moisturiser on the wipe (which is rougher and tougher than a bought one anyway) seemed to do the trick.
TT - that's not lazy, it's just being a mum! Is Spock toilet trained, or do you have two in nappies?
Kim - I've seen instructions for solution, seemed like too much work. I buy the "simply water" wipes anyway, to avoid the chemicals, but at $5 a packet, and 3 packets a week, its somewhere I can save. If it's really bad, there's always the bath!
How do you all handles pooey nappy when you're out? Find a bathroom to flush & rinse, or just bring the whole thing home?
just bring the whole thing home.:
Depends where we are. If I'm at a public toilet I will flush the poo there (easy when on a liner) then little squirt when I get home if need be. If I'm not at a toilet I'll just take it home and do it then.
We are currently trying to TT Spock. She is in nappies about 25% of the time atm.. Unfortuantly this is where having funky nappies has been a pain. She likes wearing bright colours on her bum, and if certain ones are in sight she HAS to wear them, even if she is fully capable of wearing undies that time... So I'm hiding some and saying the are in the wash so she isn't tempted to choose a nappy instead of undies.
Ps sorry for all the typos in my last post...
I just take home the dirty nappies without flushing. Can't quite master flushing, rinsing etc in a change room or public toilet with a baby in my arm.
I use Grovia cloth wipes as my bum wipes. So very soft on tiny bums and a small enough size that it doesn't feel bulky wiping. Yet large enough to use properly. I put a few damp ones in a wet bag before heading out, put any used ones in with the used nappy (another wet bag or just a plastic bag).
At home I use coconut oil to clean/wipe with the wipes.
ok, so no more soaking! I found a cycle on the machine that should be good. Prewash/rinse, and I can set the delay timer to finish about 7am. It is a 30deg cycle, which in this weather is pretty much room temp anyway. I was told not to use hot?
Has anyone had experience with prefolds? I bought a pack thinking they would be trimmer and quicker to dry than inserts, but they are so much bigger than expected! They are the grovia infant long. I'm wondering if they will be better folded like inserts, or origami like old school nappies, with a snappi...
Yay for the timer pre-rinse cycle! Sounds perfect.
I made prefolds that were too long for a newborn too. I used them as back-up nappies with a snappi, as well as as boosters. I realised with the fairly close fitted Grovia shells, I didn't actually need to use the snappi. I also used them as spew rags, under bubs head on the change table and bouncinette and playmat (cos he chucked up all the time), and as the emergency stash at mum and dad's and in the car. :)
Ok ladies, need some advice. Hubby has given me the go-ahead to work out how much we need to spend to go cloth full time. MIL originally bought us 2 months supply of disposables (she doesn't believe in cloth) but we are coming to the end. Rather than put more money into disposables, it makes more sense to get something that will last. Being economical is a big reason I want to do cloth. As well as avoiding chemicals on bubby boy's bottom.
We currently have:
6 grovia shells
12 grovia inserts - organic cotton/bamboo
3 grovia prefolds
1 bambooty easy dry AIO
We have had some poo leaks with the grovias. Not with the bambooty.
Should I stick with the same brand, or experiment with others?
Are the inserts interchangeable?
I love the ease and non-leakage of the AIO, but it is sized, and isn't organic/natural fibres.
What brands/styles, combinations and quantities do you recommend?
I found when choosing nappies I go on style rather than brand.. Eg, mine are OSFM. I prefer them than sized ones. I also prefer the OSFM style of being able to adjust the waist seperate to legs, rather than changing the size of the nappy then only fitting the waist. Does that make sense? I. Have BBH OSFM and they are the style I don't really like. I also have dragonfly magic OSFM and they are the style I love. Once you know what style suits you and bub best, it is easier to pick 'brands'
Sorry TT, I don't quite follow. Most nappies adjust the size/rise first, and then fit to the waist, and these change size separately/independently. I know peapods have adjustable leg elastic.
Went to the dragonfly magic website, but looks like everything is sold out, so no help there. I need pictures to help visualise.
Yep, so the ones you described arevlike bbh, which i dont like as much. Ones i like are aka side snaps. Basically there is 2 rows of snaps, one to fit the waist and one the legs. I just find i get a better fit with them
Check out Bubblebubs AIO if you want a natural fibre inner. There's a few others that do as well - Cherub's Kiss springs to mind. I had a few customs with bamboo velour inner, Made With Luff was one of the brands. Ironically, my kids didn't do that well on the natural fibres, so we usually had a synthetic liner in anyway, I just liked the fit of those brands.
Bonnibuns is another I loved, but I know they're not for everyone. If you want a OSFM fitted that is natural, try the Bubblebubs Bamboo Delight. They have fit both of our kids from newborn through to almost 3 years old.
Luna moth - thanks for that. Bubblebubs look quite good. Their AI2 - is the insert waterproof, or do you chsnge the shell each change? Same for the bamboo delight, does the PUL cover get wet and need changing each time? Meaning I would need a cover for each nappy. Works out quite expensive that wÃ*y.
Our nappy lady gave us a test kit of a few samples. Tried the grovia AIO, they are side snapping. Even done up quite tight, we still got poo outside the nappy (and we do change him straight away, it is very obvious when he goes!)
Hubby thinks the OSFM are too bulky, and wants to know why they can't be as thin as disposables, just washable. I might look into sized nappies, even though I was hoping to use them all the way thru.
OSFM are prob more economical as you don't have to but a new round of nappies as bub outgrows the last ones. Itti Bitti do a great OSFM that does not have heaps of bulk. But aside from the poo leaks (which tend to happen with tiny babies anyway) if you love whet you've got I'd grab a few more...Are your bambooty'so the sized or OSFM? They make both... Though experimenting with new brands is oddly rewarding!
Discussion with hubby about what constitutes a leak. Is it normal to get poo on the shell, or should it all be contained in the insert?
Normal. To me a leak is poo or wee that gets out of the nappy altogether such as around the leg or up the back.
If it only gets as far as the shell and doesn't need a change of clothes, you're winning as far as I'm concerned. Some kids wee with so much force (boys often) that it bounces straight off the insert. A good waterproof shell will contain it until the insert can soak it up.
IRT the Bubblebubs nappies;
The AI2 - the insert is not waterproof. It's bamboo from memory. They are a seriously bulky nappy.
The bamboo delights are pretty good, and generally I had about 3 covers on rotation.
With the prefolds, I used to just fold them in thirds and lay in a cover. No snappis.
I know many people go of the natural fibres, but I actually found they left baby's skin too wet.
Poo inside the shell means the nappy is doing it's job!
Afaik, I expect (with my Grovia inserts and shells) to swap between 2 shells each time he wees, and to bucket the shell each time he poos. A poo that stays only on the insert and leaves the shell re-usable was a rare and lovely thing!
Thanks ladies :)
We are now full time cloth! Bought a mixture of things, but what we love most is the grovia no prep inserts. They soak up a bunch, rinse & wash well, and are soft on his little bottom. The organic cotton started to go hard :(
Where can I get one of those high pressure squirter hoses that connects to the toilet inlet valve? At the moment I'm rinsing them out under the bathroom tap, hard to get the pressure high enough to do a good job.
Those things are called little squirts. Few online nappy shops have them. Or you can do what we did and get the bits from bunnings and diy, cost a third of the pricr
Thanks TT. I'm interested in the DIY. Where can I find the instructions for that? Or will they know if I ask at Bunnings?
I'm sure we read on the net somewhere... DHs cousin works in the plumbing section of Bunnings, so he helped us a fair bit. If you want I can take a photo of ours so you have an idea of where to start
Ps. I have another mate who is a plumber who said they are actually illegal because in Australia we use the same water in our toilets as our water pipes (drinking bathing etc) so your not meant to have them as they risk dirty poo water back flowing into the main system
Would love to see pics!
That doesn't make sense... How does it disk dirty poo water getting into the water mains? How is it any different from rinsing under a tap, or even flushing a toilet?