Explain to me Terry Flats

[peanutter]

PumpkinZulu's Qs:

What do I need?

we started with 24 white, 16 coloured and 10 MCNs. But we have never come close to running out! And the terry flats get used for everything - perking rags, a cover on the change mat, etc. Oh, and 9 snappies (3 packs of 3) and 9 pilchers (plastic pants ... many say they are the devil, I know...)

I need those snappi things, where can I get them?

Kmart

Also covers, what are they like? Are they plastic backed or anything like that to help with leaks, or do they just look pretty?

lots of different types - wool ones, microfiber, etc ... lots of handmade ones with water resistant things, etc. Or pilchers, which are just plastic (PVC?) pants, which are waterproof (and under $2 for a pack of 3).

Best places to get them from?

we got all of the terry flat stuff from Kmart, bar some nicer coloured ones from Baby Bunting.

How often do I need to change, every two hours or so?

we found mostly that every 4 hours was fine. DS came out of the womb on a 4 hour clock - he'd feed, sleep, and poo once every four hours ... but some days we'd find he was wet early, and so (obviously) we'd change him an extra time. So he mostly went through 6-8 nappies a day, until quite recently he's gone down to 5-6.

Dry pailing and a little squirt type thing, is that all I need washing wise?

we have two buckets for dry pailing, but we don't have a little squirt (though they are a good idea!).

What do you wash them in, do you soak in nappy san or what?

we have a "soak" function on our washing machine, and we use it. Then the powder, we use normal powder, plus napisan. If he's got the trots or thrush, we also add some detol in there.

do I need a liner or something or is just the flat enough?

we started with liners (we got flushable biodegradable ones online) but we found they did basically nothing ... initially when we were exclusively bf all poos for liquid and went straight through the liners, and now that he's on solids - so are his poos! So it's easier and cheaper to just pick it up with a tissue and flush.

Forshelby's Qs:


Are the liners disposable?

all of them can be binned (though that would get pretty smelly...) but you can get flushable ones, too.

if you're any good with a sewing machine though, it's easiest to buy some flannel or similar, run a hem around it, and use that (and then toss them in the wash with the nappies) if you want to use liners.

And in comparasin to using sposies, how much extra time will this take?

good question ... it's not really any extra time to do the change itself, but overall, less than 30 mins every other day. 2 minutes to put a load of washing on, 10 minutes to hang them up, 10 minutes to unpeg and fold and put away.

and actually, less time than that, if you subtract the time you otherwise would be needing to spend to take the nappy out to the bin each time, and the extra shopping time to go to buy the disposables!