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Hello...one confused mum-to-be here!:confused: Need some info, help, advice, recommendations on cloth vs dispsable nappies. Which is more absorbant? Fitted, prefold, squares?! Any help will be most appreciated as currently - my head is spinning - :eek: i never thought there was so much to a nappy! What happened to squares that you fold, pop a pin in and chuck a cover on?!:help:
OK, there are a lot of others with much more knowledge here than me, but I'll try to help....
As for which one to use, I've used both & have now switched to cloth full time. I have found it to be cheaper & much easier than I thought.
My fav is a 'pocket' style, where you pop an insert into the cover & it dries super fast. But like I said, the other ladies on here are the experts.
Come & check out the cloth nappy chatter thread for lots of advice. :)
I'm going cloth - a combination of flats and fitteds to start with. For us it was mainly environmental concerns plus cost. One of the stickies at the start of the forum list has lots of info re types of nappies, accessories etc plus websites to check out. I went back through the posts to glean info about what things people liked about particular types, cleaning (both nappies and bottoms!) and so on. Took a bit of time but worth it.
I got my first fitted in the mail today...so cute!! The general advice with fitteds was to try a number of different brands/styles to see what fits your baby best before buying lots of the one type. Any that don't work for you can then be sold on ebay or to other mums here on BB.
I use disposables mainly but plain old flat terry nappies on William during the day when the weather is good. I have not used prefolds but have thought about it in the past.
The only advice I give people is that you need to look at your own situation and decide whether cloth is going to work for you (preferably before you outlay a lot of money on them). Climate, drying space/method, time ... these are all factors to consider. I felt that if the dryer is going to be running constantly I might as well use disposables because it seemed a bit pointless as a cost saving measure.
As the other girls said, check out the cloth nappy thread. Also if cost is your main concern, Choice magazine has a nappy calculator so that you can compare the costs of using disposables as opposed to laundering your own nappies. The only issue I have with their calculator is that it doesn't factor time into the equation and I think that is just as valid as money if you know what I mean.
I know I said only one piece of advice but here is another =) ... if you decide to get some old fashioned terry cloth nappies, make sure you get at least 24 and that they are nice, soft, fluffy ones. They will wear better that way and they have many uses outside of being a nappy.
Best of luck with your decision.
I use cloth - mainly hemp prefolds - and find them really good. DD sometimes gets a bit of nappy rash, and if she has any it's almost always if she's in disposables (which unfortunately she has to be one day per week at child care). But, you do need a bit of time for them to wash and dry. We used a nappy service for the first couple of months, a present from my ILs, and it really made life easier while we were getting used to it all.
Thanks ladies - I have started to read previous threads and am finding out new things every day. Still leaning towards cloth during the day and disposable at night - haven't decided on what type of cloth! Checked out some prices on the internet last night and was a bit shocked by the expense! Anyway, thanks again.
I find the most economical are the flat nappies that you fold... depending on the way you fold them they will last from birth to age 2 (and beyond if you have a small child). With the fitted ones they grow out of them PLUS they are more expensive per nappy.
I agree: a combination of cloth during the day and an Aldi disposable at night is the best in terms of economy IMO. And remember if you use a good qulaity laundry powder like Drive or OMO sensitive then you wont need NapiSan.
It's true Rach, some of the cloth nappies can seem really expensive, but then again, you only have to buy them once!
There is so much to take into consideration, for example, if you were planning on having a few kids, then you'd get more wear out of a fitted than if it were just for one.
Although, having said that, cloth nappies have a fairly decent resale value.
Something I've been looking at as well are one-size nappies, which are adjustable to fit from birth (or a month or so after, depending on how big they are and the nappy) til toddler.
Keep asking questions! :)