I am trying to decide between cloth and disposable (as most people do, I'm sure!!) I have been told that cost wise (these days), there is not much difference. But then I also hear that you will save a lot of money using cloth????
If I do go for disposables I would like to put some money away to buy them (we are not finding out the sex), but have no idea how many nappy changes and how long they are in each size!!
Have you thought about trying both. I started off with disposables, DD wasn't in the newborn size for very long and I still have a couple of packets tucked away in the cupboard (she was a big baby though). But how long they are in each size will depend on the size of your bub and the brands you choose.
After a few weeks I started to use cloth, still using disposable for going out and night time. I don't know if it's worked out any cheaper, I just like the look and feel of the cloth nappies and I never had to worry about running out of disposables. And there are so many gorgeous MCN out there to try.
HTH
Hi, it is a hard decision to make however the general concenus is that you will save around $1000 a year using cloth (depnding on the cost ofhe disposables and which type of cloth you choose) There is also a debate on going about the environmental cost of washing vrs the 1500kg of disposables thrown out each year per child, but as a cloth user I can tell you, I don't do that much more washing now as I did with my son is sposies.
Disposables - you will use about 10-12 in the first few weeks and slowly decrease to about 8-10 a day. I bought a packet evertime we went shopping and I would recommend just getting the boys nappies if you aren't finding out or snuglers have unisex. We got 2 boxes of newborn (3-6kg), 5-6 packets of infant (4-8kg) (you can find these in bulk boxes somewhere on the net) and I still have 4 boxes of crawlers (6-11kg) in my cupboard
Cloth - come and have a look at The Nappy Bucket (hehe - see my sig) really though there are so many gorgeous nappies and you can just start out with your ordinary flats or prefolds and slowly get more. I started out with 24 terry squares and now have a whole stash of differnt types of modern cloth which I love. Don't have the poo blowouts that we had with disposables and no nappy rash either which is great.
I used cloth for the first bub and am using disposables for the second. Cost wise I dont think there is much difference (depends how you dry the cloth ones). I have found disposables to be heaps less work. Nappy pins freak me out and the happy snappers I found came off. I have heard there are other cloth nappies that dont need fasteners.
My first son would not of newborn nappies when he was born and my second was only in newborn size for 2 weeks so if you decide on disposable dont buy too many newborn size. Save your money up and wait and see.
For Kimberley and Alexander i used disposables but with Eleanor i used disposables for the first couple of months and then went on to cloth nappies. I do still use disposables but not that oftern.
If i knew when i had Alexander how easy it was to use MCN i would have used them on him as well.
I save heaps from not buying disposables all the time as all three of mine are in nappies and all now use cloth. Kimberley isn't night trained yet and it has helped us save money but using cloth.
I worked out once i was using around 75 nappies a week for all three of mine so if i brought huggies that would have been around $70 a week. Depending on what cloth nappy you buy you could get 3 nappies for that price.
I make my own MCN pocket covers, and paired with 2nd hand terry nappies as inserts, it has been so cheap.
I also agree re:washing - I do about 1-2 extra loads a week of washing, dry them on the line.
We started DS out in disposables and made the transition when I felt ready - for my it was important to have breastfeeding sorted first. But I was happy with the gradual transition. DD only had disposable for a week or so then went into cloth.
Last edited by ~kaos~; July 15th, 2007 at 01:22 PM.
: adding xtra
I had intended to use cloth nappies, but then I had my baby lol He is 12 weeks old and I still don't think I could cope with the extra washing workload just yet, I'm definitely considering them further on down the track, but for now sposies are just much easier.
Good luck with your decision, but either way maybe have some of each on hand? I have 24 terry flats which I use to mop up spew, chuck on my shoulder when burping etc.
Definitely cheaper to go cloth. I reckon we've spent maybe $700 on MCN. These will be good to use for my next bub too... so no more $$ there (altho, I will be tempted to buy some more.. especially if this baby is a girl!). But compared to $1000 per year with sposies (and that's pretty generous with buying bulk & on special) for EACH child.. there's no doubt it's cheaper to go cloth.
Washing powder & washing costs - we've felt no impact at all. In fact because I use so little powder on the nappies.. it's made me cut down on the washing powder in normal clothes washes too LOL. So if anything I use LESS washing powder all round!
As for doing both cloth & sposies - we are actually full time cloth here, and I find it no less hassle whatsoever to use cloth whilst out .. especially if you use pocket nappies - soooo easy. Only difference is you bring the nappy home.. but that's no biggy at all (altho I'd be inclined to bring even sposies home - I wouldn't use other people's bin's for my kids nappies hehe) Also, switching between sposies & cloth makes DS's clothes not fit him properly LOL.
Have fun looking up nappies tho! Be careful - it's addictive. I haven't hung around the cloth nappy thread for a while - it makes me wanna spend money! LOL.
Cloth or Disposable
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks