Cloth vs Disposable Nappies

[Angel]

Hi Canniel & Joy,

I'm not sure if it's in the BellyBelly Directory yet, but it does come up occasionally as a banner ad at the tops of the pages - Bubba Earth. It's a fantastic Australian site where you can buy nappy making products, including PUL. Definitely worth checking out!!

HTH.

[Amity]

Canniel, can you email me the details of the pattern? I'm very interested in having a look at making them!

We've used cloth nappies with cloth "fluffies" for Alex when we're at home, and disposables when out or at daycare. I think the cloth is much more environmentally friendly (especially when you do the vinegar/bicarb soda rinse instead of the detergent wash).

[kirbay831]

The Babaearth link has lots of great products, and it also has a link to a website about making them.. patterns and instructions.. with pictures... i found it looked really helpful..

I also worked out a couple of months ago that it costs over $3000 to have a child in disposables for 2.5 years... and thats without liners or wipes or bags etc...

K

ps. not there yet, but im hoping to cloth diaper.. also make a bunch of fitted diapers.. im looking forward to sewing them.. lol

[Candice]

Hey divvy..

I will email you everything I have. atm I am at work, so tonight I will scan and copy, photo everything and send it through to you.

[Fi]

Hi,

Just thought I would update as my little girl is nearly 2 weeks old.

The cloth system I have going is a breeze - I much prefer putting her in these than the disposables - especially when there are 3 nappy changes in 30 mins - I dont feel like I'm wasting my money on disposables.

I'm doing alternate days with cloth and disposables, which is working pretty well. I just dry pail - it doesn't stink yet, and then scrub the nappies in the laundry sink - and chuck them in the washer.

When she gets to about 4-5kg, I have enough cloth to go full time, including some fuzzibuns and snazzipants from NZ, and I have heaps of prefolds and PUL covers. The PUL covers are great - they dont leak at all, and are great at holding in all the runny poo she has at the moment. I am using proraps newborn size, and I have bummis for when she moves upa size.

Go the cloth - I hate finding little gel crystals on my little girls botty from the disposables, and there is no difference I think in time. But each to their own - there is no right or wrong.

As for PUL fabric - there is no heaps for sale by the metre on Ebay - its worth having a look on there too.

Fi

[Candice]

there is also a little gadget I came across that is called a "lil squirt" It attaches to your toilet, on the pipe where the fresh water comes in, I believe it comes with all the attachments, and it is a little spray nozzle thingy that you use to just spray off the dirty nappies straight into the toilet, and it comes with a little hook to hang it up on and has a safety catch, I haven't bought one yet but definately will be, it seems like a great idea.

[Gemma]

I had pretty much decided on disposables until reading this thread. I might go with 1/2 of each for convenience. It does seem a waste changing them often using disposables.

I know hospitals use cloth, can you bring in disposables if you want? I was thinking they may have a policy to reduce waste which is why they use cloth. My ante-natel classes start in a couple of weeks so I will ask them then. Being a clueless 1st time mum I thought I would ask BB too....

[{sarah}]

Hey Gemma, my hospital used disposables only. They put a bunch in the tray underneath the cot & you just had to ask for more if you needed them. When we left they told us to take the leftovers with us, cos they couldn't use them for any other babies.

[jgal]

Thanks for the suggestion but ebay is no good for PUL fabric - it seems to only be available in America. That is where I got my last lot from but postage is expensive so I am trying to find it here in Australia somewhere to save on postage.

[Fi]

I have definitly seen PUL on ebay - its sold with the cloth nappies. I think it is often sold as a kit, or by the metre.
There might not be any on at the moment, but its worth keeping an eye on as I have seen it there at least half a dozen times over the last few weeks. And as someone said - there are a few companies in Australia that sell the PUL too. Do a search on google for cloth nappies and you will come up with heaps of links to check out. It saves a little money getting them from USA, but for convenience, my money is on the australian suppliers.

Gemma - if your hospital provides cloth, I strongly recommend you use them! We had them at Geelong, and cause the nappies were not that wet , and not that pooey, cloth worked wonderfully. You dont need safety pins, just a little tie up cover worth about 50c. Note - your tying technique will need improving once your milk comes in!!

There were still some people who brought in disposables. Not sure why when the hossy is doing the washing for you?? Save the money, and just use what they provide. Just my humble opinion though!!

Fi

[Gemma]

Thanks everyone - not sure where I got the cloth idea from...will ask the hospital.

[ragged_blossom]

I have had no trouble at all with cloth nappies. So soft on my babie's skin and no stinky nappies filling up the rubbish bin as all solids are chucked down the toilet, and I rinse each nappy as well. Plus the variety of colours and styles is so much better than sposies.

If I could manage to use cloth in Cambodia with no running water (and of course no washing machine), and in Malaysia with a 30 year old double barrel washer -- then it should be a breeze for people surrounded in modern technology.

The brands of nappies I have used were snazzipants, cuddlybunz, fuzzibunz, weewuns and happy heinys. The best have been the weewuns and fuzzibunz. I am going to buy some one wet pants (trainers) by noonee wilga soon, as my son is almost fully toilet trained. So you see it may be true that cloth kids are toilet training earlier too.

Jeanette

[Deejoy17]

I`m using cloth, Mark and I weren`t happy with the ones we brought from department stores so we ended up buying 1 dozen over the net and they look so much better and are thicker then the 2 dozen we brought at the shops.

MIL brought us some disposable nappies for when we first come home and I`ll be using them when we go out but otherwise it`ll be fulltime cloth.

Gemma - Our hospital supplies disposables as well, not sure if too many have cloth nowdays.

Take Care

Deeanne

[Angel]

Our hospital supplies cloth nappies. If we wanted to use disposables we'd have to bring our own, but we're just going to use their nappies as we'll be using cloth at home anyway.

Shannon, with fitted nappies I think it depends on the brand. Apparantly a lot of the cheapies you get at places like Kmart etc are shocking. There are a wider range of good fitted nappies around these days. With Kynan we're going to mainly be using flat terries with PUL and wool or fleece covers, but we also have some fitted tots bots as backups. PUL fabric is used to make covers to go over nappies. It's breathable and is much better than those old plastic things. It helps the wetness evaporate and won't leave bubs all hot and sweaty like the plastic pants do.

[katanya]

If I could manage to use cloth in Cambodia with no running water (and of course no washing machine), and in Malaysia with a 30 year old double barrel washer -- then it should be a breeze for people surrounded in modern technology.

Jeanette that is amazing, you are truely a clothie warrior doing it those circumstances

I am also a clothie fan, though started at 3 months into it.. I have written in the posts mentioned above.

I have tots bots, Bubba J's, wonderoos, Erica's, nature's babies, greens nappies etc..


DO NOT BUY THOSE C$@P Fitted cloth nappies from Big W and other places, they are USELESS!! I had heaps and they leak and leak..all they are is a bit of sewn terry or flannel with a sponge 8-[ I think they were put on the market by the disposable companies to make you think cloth is useless!

I use fold cloth too, it'sall in the fold and liner, I use micro fleece cut in rectangles myself..then a PUL or lanolise wool cover..PERFECT system!

Do research it, the old style our mothers used is NOT the way to go, no need for napisan and other fabric destroying systems.

It is cheaper, funkier, healthier and much better for the enronment of course

GO cloth!!

[lozelijah]

We have a cloth bum here too.. I wanted to use cloth but DH didnt and we had heaps of disposables given to us as presents so i thought well we will empty those then switch by that time we were having heaps of problems breastfeeding so I had to choose my battle with not being about to do much besides feed, sleep and pump and so we used disposables for about 6 months until i finally convinced DH to try cloth and fitteds at that, i did have flats but couldnt convince him of those. So our nappy stash began and we havent looked back since, Elijah is now 17months old and has been in disposables for a few days here and there in that time due to me having a knee op or plain laziness when we moved houses.
There are so many WAHM's making fantastic cloth nappies and they are so easy to make yourself too. Honestly I do a load every 2-3days of nappies and rarely need to use the drier unless i have been lazy and didnt do a load soon enough. I will say though in winter AIO I wouldnt recommend simply because they take longer to dry as they have more layers.
If anyone is interested in coops for fabrics I have a few resources that I have got fabrics from that are in the states but arent too expensive once you work it out per nappy please dont hestitate to email me laura_johnson@bigpond.com..
Good Luck to those wanting to make a cloth disposable chioce it is a hard one and every body has their own opinions, I didnt have any hassles with cloth except those early BM poos that leaked everywhere but you could get that in cloth too but the thing that switched me was the cost

[Deejoy17]

What is the best way to wash dirty cloth nappies? I was going to do it the old fashioned way of soaking in napisan but perhaps thats not the way to go about it nowdays? Any suggestions would be great

Take Care

Deeanne

[katanya]

Here are some recomendations from a fitted Nappy site : Bubba J's nappies

Dry Pailing We recommend dry pailing for the easiest management of your cloth nappying system. This means that nappies are placed straight in the nappy bucket (after disposing of any solid matter in an appropriate manner) without the addition of any bleaches or sanitising agents. Use of these agents may affect the longevity of the elastic in your Bubba J products, and can be harmful to sensitive skins. When your nappy bucket is full simply place the contents in your washing machine and wash as per your usual method. We choose to run a prewash cycle, and only use a third of the recommended detergent amount. We also add vinegar during the final rinse cycle which acts as a natural fabric softener, and recommend line drying whenever possible as the sun will aid in naturally bleaching and sanitising your nappies. (Please note wool covers should not be hung in direct sunlight).

I use the same method for folded nappies and micro fleece liners, also PUL covers..only lanolised wool covers take a bit more work

The nappies can be put in the drier, but never put any pocket nappies or PUL covers in the drier it will destroy them..they dry in such a short time anyhow..machine drying your nappy's will also santitise them.

The vinegar trick is the best part of the Dry pailing! I have NO stains on my nappies and Felix is 11 mths old (been using them for 8 mths)