Why cloth?

I was just wondering what the benefits are of using cloth nappies instead of disposables? I have HEAPS of cloth nappies but I haven't used them because all the things I thought were benefits aparently don't exist. I hear that they're no less expensive because of all the cleaning product you have to use, and that they're no better for the environment for the same reason. Also, I hear that disposables are better for curing nappy-rash, which was an issue with my daughter a little while ago. After hearing all this, its seems easier to just use disposables; if nothing else, they use less water!

So is what I've been told true? What are the benefits of using cloth nappies?

Thanks
:)

Not true.

The study that claims cloth is no better washes the nappies at 90 using bleach and softener - as you know, you wash at 60 with NO bleach or softener as these are bad for the nappies. You also don't iron nappies, as the study was doing!

Each disposable takes 8l (or 6l, can't recall) of water to make, so if you wash 20 nappies at a time that's about the same amount of water. 25 nappies at a time and you're saving water. Disposables also use a LOT more oil, a resource that ATM is running out very quickly..

DS gets nappy rash with disposables and hates the feel of them, he likes his cloth.

Disposables MAY cause infertility and other problems - the temperature is higher than a cloth nappy so boys may have spermatogenesis problems in later life (the testes are still developing in a baby and we know that those boys need to be kept cool!) and the chemicals can affect girls (even talc affects girls' bits).

Cloth babies require less washing as they are aware of being wet so are toilet trained earlier.

HTH!

edit: babysocks, I love your sig! such a nice poem.

Interesting post...
I don't think i have the energy for / patience to use cloth.
Should i at least be considering giving it a try?

I find them easier than disposables- I know I would forget to buy in sposies! When DS is in them we are always running out and we have to do cloth at night - but now he is sleeping better we will be doing that anyway. And you don't have to take the bins out so often.

Yes, there is quite a bit of washing but tbh it's not hard to stay on top of. I don't really see any diffrence in time taken, only that with cloth you have to do up two things, the nappy and the cover. But DS loves taking newly-on nappies off, so at least I know velcro is re-stickable!

And his cloth-bum stops his trousers falling down, another time-saver!

Baby socks, I use MCN rather than terry flats. You use a tiny bit of detergent only in the wash. With two in nappies they are heaps cheaper. I bought nearly $800 worth of MCN to get started (and have only spent $20 since), and I had made my money back in 3 months (compared to sposies). They are better for the environment (like Ryn said), and also the sposies in landfill take some huge number of years to break down. Most MCN are natural fabrics which are better for nappy rash than sposies. I agree with the earlier TT too, if I put DS1 in sposies he won't use the toilet at all - in MCN he will use the toilet way more often. Also they look much nicer on their butts! I am sure I have left heaps of reasons out, but I was a late converter and really wish I'd switched to cloth earlier.

I'm another late converter, and love my cloth.

To get enough nappies for my baby, let's work it out. They recommend about 15 MCN nappies for an older baby. Each nappy costs about $20-25, which is the same cost as a pack of Huggies etc. So after 15 weeks, I'm not buying any more huggies - except for the "emergency" ones.

Sure, I have to empty the poo down the loo. But you have to do that with the disposables anyhows - it's an offence in most areas to put poo in the bin! I have to wash every day or 2 - but I'm doing that anyhows. So in $$$ its cheaper, it looks better and I get a warm fuzzy when I see my nappies on the line.

I love these people who do these studies without actually researching properly.

Water your gardern with the water used to wash your nappies..then there is NO WASTAGE!!!!!!!

Im also interested to know what kind of cloth nappies you have Baby socks? Modern cloth nappies have come so far in the last year its not funny.

As for the bleaches...OMG *Maz freaking out* - just that B word alone scares me to death. You actually dry pail nappies with no water nothing. You wash them every 2nd to 3rd day when you have a decent amount to wash, not just one or 2.

As for the nappy rash - I think it goes part and parcel no matter what nappy you use. I just make sure that Vyolett has a fleecie cover over the top of a baby beehind nappy so her little bum can breath.

i am so looking forard to having this baby next month..Ive got a stack of prefold nappies ive made waiting to be used and there is nothing better knowing that the sunlight and wether have cleaned and sterilized the nappies im putting on my babies bums.

Good luck on your quest mate...and I do agree with rosehip - your poem in your signature is fantastic!

Reason we use cloth - saving HEAPS of money, better for the environment, better for my kids bums (less chemicals).

We have been using cloth nappies full time for more than two year and will continue to do so. For each baby that I use cloth, we are saving even more money and having less of an impact on the environment.

With the water thing - I think they also take into account how much water is used to grow cotton used in traditional nappies. They do not take into account if you use cotton nappies across multiple babies or if you use other natural fibres that generally use less water and chemicals (ie. hemp or bamboo).

I love love love my cloth nappies (home-made pockets) and when we went overseas and we used disgustables, I stood in the aisle at the supermarket and felt kinda ill at the money I was about to fork out and how much plastic I was going to waste/throw out.

I must say, it is easier if you find the right cloth nappy for you.....

I'm a recent convert to MCNs. I hadn't ever seen them before so thought the choice was disposables or the old fashioned cotton squares. I chose disposables because of ease and because I didn't want to be doing washing every second day. I STILL washed every second day and because I don't like mixing DD's clothes with ours, there's plenty of room to just throw the MCNs in too. Also, like Manta Ray said, disposables are so expensive - I was using almost $100 worth per month so my MCNs pay for themselves within 4 months. With a second baby coming along, I really objected to the thought of paying out $200 per month just to throw the nappy away after one wear. I also haven't noticed any difference in DD re nappy rash etc, and I prefer the thought of natural fibres against her skin rather than chemicals.

Besides (and I'll deny this if my DH ever finds out) they look so gorgeous, especially when DD is wearing one under a little dress!!

Thanks for the replies everyone!

rosehip; I heard that there's mounting evidence that talc causes cervical cancer in girls, so I use cornflour for Aurelia (only when she needs it though).

Well after reading all this, I think i'll give my cloth nappies a go! The ones I have are square-shaped towelling fabric. I have them in all sorts of bright funky colours too - bright red, orange, blue, purple, they're gorgeous. I don't really know much about the different kinds of cloth nappies though. Are the ones I have all-in-ones? And do you need to use liners with cloth?

edit: Do people really use bleach on nappies?!My goodness, wouldn't that burn young bottoms?! I never even use fabric softener on Aurelias' clothes because of the chance of skin irritation.

And thanks about the poem <333 That's only part of it, the rest I couldn't fit into my sig. Here's the complete poem;


Mother, Baby, Lover.
by Elizabeth Garratt

When in darkness
Behind closed lids I perceive
The blind, furled first
And the questing
Mouth, a hungry kiss
For the place where she alone exists -
I think with infinite compassion
Of all the breast -
Starved lovers of our world undressing
You to drink at this
Soft inverted cup of maternal bliss
In gratitude, and less
Than ignorance of what they miss.

Aww that's lovely Baby Socks. :)

Me...I made my cloth nappy choice for money reasons - we hope to be blessed with at least 3 young'uns, so that's a LOT to spend on throwaway nappies - I've done an inventory for the next bub, and I'll hardly have to buy anything (okay, I don't HAVE to buy anything, there's a few nappies I WANT to buy to make things a bit more convenient). I was actually quite disappointed, there are so many lovely nappies out there, I was hoping to have to try out a few more! :p

Anyone who knows me well, will tell you I can be on the lazy side when it comes to my house (:redface:) but I don't find cloth nappies any trouble at all!
I take one off (empty any poop into the loo, as law requires with any nappy) and for extra lazy days I use flushable liners,
I pop the nappy in the bucket (no soaking, washing machines are better than in our parent's days, my nappies haven't suffered from lack of soaking),
clean his butt with a cloth wipe (money saved there too!) which also goes into the bucket,
grab a new nappy from the drawer and chuck it on!
Washing is a small load every 2 days (I suspect with 2 kids it might be daily, or a big load), with a TINY amount of detergent, no fabric softener (can affect absorbency, so you don't use it with towels/tea towels either) and then on the line or clotheshorse.
Too easy.

The bit I find that makes it the hardest, is if I haven't sorted the nappies - it does require a bit more organisation. I just need to take a few mins per load of dried nappies to sort them, so that they're ready to go in the drawer - cloth nappies only seem hard if I have half a cloth nappy and I'm digging through a washing basket looking for the other half. If you could see my washing at the moment, you would understand that it takes a special talent to be as disorganised as me though.

When you have a drawer/cupboard/basket full of nappies 'ready to go', it's as easy as sposies, cheaper, better for the environment, cuter, can be better for their bott (depending on the reason for their nappy rash). Oh, and I find sposies fill our bin way too fast, and make the nursery STINK!!!

As for nappy rash, it's usually caused (here at least) by the chemical reaction caused by poo and wee - happens in a sposie OR cloth for us, if a poo goes undetected. I suspect the other reason for rash here is dh not wiping properly at times and leaving poo traces behind.
Or teething, or a toxic poo from spicy/acidic food - which will cause rash no matter what nappy. It can differ from child to child though, some kids react to the chemicals in sposies, some react to ANY dampness on their skin at all - but really, until recently, generation upon generation have been in cloth mostly successfully! :)

Right, so after all that ramble - why use cloth? For me, mostly it's because it's cheaper by FAR!!!
And just as easy to use as sposies - because to be honest, if it was harder than sposies, I'd walk away.

So I started using cloth nappies today! My stepdad showed me how to do a kite fold so i've been using that one. My goodness you go through them a lot quicker than disposables! I think DD needs a change right now, judging by how long its been, but she's asleep and I don't want to wake her. I think i'll have to though so she doesn't get nappy rash. I haven't made my mind up about this yet, the money saving would be a huge plus. I might still use disposables at night though, I don't want to have to keep waking her to change her. If i'm gonna keep doing this, i'm gonna have to buy more nappies!

Baby socks, they don't wee while asleep, only when they wake up, so there should be no need to wake her up for a change. Terry flats are probably not a good option for overnight - you can get boosters, but you might want to think about getting some MCN night nappies, or of course you could use sposies at night if you prefer.

BabySocks - if you are using terry flats (or flats!) what I do is I've nipped down to the local safeway/woolies, and in the 'car care" section there are packs of 3 microfibre cloths for $5 (approx). I fold one of those into 3 and pop that under a layer of the flat nappy - the microfibre absorbs HEAPS of liquid. So you extend the nappy on butt time out a bit :D

there are also better folds as well , the kite fold didnt work for nixon because it was too wide in the crotch .... if you google cloth nappy folds there are heaps out there ....

we use cloth here all the time ... and only recently bought disguastables because i was too lazy to make up night nappies .. but once the 1st tri ends i may have more energy ...
but really cloth are true performeres in the leak department ... even in my terry squares i didnt get poo leaks .. but they are not as absorbent as hemp or bamboo !! lets us know how you go

Hi Babysocks - great to hear that you are on your way in using cloth. I second what everyone else hear has said at environmental costs and a double second what Maz said about people doing studies without having a clue about what they are actually researching! don't even get me started on some of those "research papers" - funded by the company who makes huggies (hmmm I wonder where there bias lies....)

We started off with cloth squares also and slowly moved into modern cloth. There is some info on a site called modern cloth dot org and also at nappycino about what types of nappies are available in MCN world. there is also a page on my site in my sig about what the difference is between AIO and pockets etc as it can be so confusing at first.

Kazbah had a great sugggestion about using the microfibre cloths to help boost up your nappy as terry squares don't really stack up to disposables in the absorbancy stakes. MCN are a lot more absorbable than terry's.

Would love to hear how you are going and feel free to post any questions as there are so many knowledgable ladies here, esp the ones in the cloth nappy general discussion forum - if you can keep up with them.

Yep, I second what everyone else has said. I've used MCN since birth (too unco for flats!) and have only used disposables a couple of times. (OK, so it's only been 8 weeks, so I'm still learning). The MCN are WAY more absorbent than sposies, and heaps better at preventing poo leakage too. And super cute too - we live in Nth Qld and our little guy is in nappies and little else - the MCN are much nicer looking than sposies! If you are using flats there are some great covers you can get that are gorgeous.

Some people say that the extra washing of nappies is compensated for by not having to wash sheets/clothes, etc after leaky nappies at night. There are some amazing night nappies out there!

Good luck and hope to see you in the cloth nappy thread!

Suse - that is so true! It is so nice not to have to change a whole outfit everytime she poos not to mention those leaks when they are feeding and on their side. Our disposables always leaked when I was breastfeeding them - straight through the tabs.

Another good reason for cloth over disposables is not having those crystals on their skin! I used to hate that

Cloth wipes are also heaps better than sposie ones. If one side is flannel adn the other is sherpa (for example) it grips poo heaps better than a smooth disposable wipe and is heaps easier. Just chuck them under a tap when needed. You can make your own. Some people use chamomile tea or other nice herbal teas instead of tap water (you'd make up a litre each day sort of thing) for a nicer smelling bub, plus tea has nice healing properties. A lot nicer than those smelly, overpowering sposie wipes!

It's nice to know that bamboo is the fastest growing plant on the earth (it can grow up to a metre a day!), requires very little water, is great for the soil and doesn't need pesticides. It's also the most absorbant nappy material out there :)

Cloth is great! I did use flats very breifly but Claire has skinny little chicken legs and I could never find a good method of folding that wasnt too big in the crotch and they all seem to gape around her thighs then she'd leak through the cover/pilcher.

We now use MCN's during the day and occasionally I will buy a box of sposies for night time. I am definately saving money. Claire is a champion wee'er and can fill a sposie pretty quickly. I also love seeing a pretty nappy out of the bottom of a cute little dress. Sposies are ugly for that, lol! She often just crawls around in a nappy and a cute little tshirt, or sometimes just a nappy. Sposies are so plasicky and I dont like the idea of them being in the ground for so long. I read once that they take around 200 years to break down! When I get sposies, I get the ones that are meant to be more environmentally freidnly.

We havent found that she gets more bum rash from cloth. She barely gets bum rash at all anyway, but I havent noticed an increase since she's been in cloth. She used to get bum rash all the time as a newborn in sposies but that might have just been those newborn poos!

I should also add that I'm rather unco and lazy too and I dont find them too much effort at all. I use pockets and I make them all up when they come off the line so I dont have to fiddle with putting it together while I am changing her. I get the ones with snaps as she knows how to open velcro!

I'm not even pregnant yet, but love reading about cloth nappies. It's great to hear all these positive reports. I've already ordered a Pea Pod (wanted 3 but they'd run out during a big 50% off sale) and some biodegradable liners (not to be used all the time). I'm thinking of trying a few different MCNs to see what works before buying the required number.

It's such a shame MCNs aren't in all the shops alongside the sposies and flats. I think there's only one shop here in Adelaide which sells them....please do correct me if I'm wrong :)

I think there's two or even three shops in SA. Natures cradle (Nature's Cradle, 425 Brighton Road,
Brighton, AND Nature's Cradle, Shop 5/69 Gawler St, Mt Barker,) and...hm, someone else will have to answer for the others!

Also - bamboo and hemp both have anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties so are actually good to have against a red bott.

hi all, an interesting read about everyones different experiences and opinions regarding cloth nappies. At first the thought of using the 'old fashioned' nappies never entered my mind, until i did some research. All in one nappies have impressed me the most! and they look absolutely gorgeous, and not to mention to the happy covers out there!!:p

I'm after some all in one brands that anyone has used, and can recommend??

Do all in one's come with snap fasteners so i can use them as little one grows??

Any reccomendations regarding any AIO or any other cloth nappy would be greatly appreciated!!!

Can anyone tell me how i can put up pics?? i have no clue! :wall:

to be honest, I spent about $300 on MCN's but dont use them, I think disposables are much easier and use them instead, the only ime I use cloth is if I run out then is only for a day and is back in sposies.

I just washed two huge loads of nappies the other day and hung them on the line to snap in the sun. So bright white and fresh. Heh. Hormones must be really doing my head in, cause I can hardly wait for Rabbit to get here so I can put them on her.

I'm just really pleased and surprised that cloth nappies are having a bit of a renaissance, I thought before I was pg that I'd use them but that it'd be hard to find them/ know what the fat I was doing. But not so. When I'm at the grocery I stroll down the baby isle and just the cost of sposies is enough to make me happy to do a few extra loads of wash a week. Then there's the thought of throwing them away... No, I don't think I mind doing the washing at all.

Bugalug, pop into the cloth nappy chatter thread. You'll find a group of very enthusiastic nappy users who will be happy to answer any of your questions! Just stick your head in and say hi, and ask away! We love newbies :)

https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...85#post1133385

Really Mel? I find cloth just as easy, but it does take some getting used to I guess - I hate emptying the bins too - ours fills up fast enough without using sposies! :p

What kind of nappies are you using Steph? Flats? They do look rather nice swaying in the breeze. :)

Welcome Bugalug! There's also Help for New Users! where you can see questions other newbies have asked! Janie's going to pop in there any day now to join us in answering questions! :p

How old's your bub? For a younger bub, you want to find an AIO that's really really snug around the legs, to stop that explodey poo! For a bub that's started solids, there are stacks of good AIO's! Magicalls, BerryPlush, Itti Bittis, Honeyboys, Monkey Doodlez all work well for us. That's only the tip of the iceberg though!

AIO's come with snaps or velcro - but velcro allows for varying sizes too. If that's what you meant.

Recommendations? Argh! Depends on so many things - how often you want to wash, how old your baby is, what style you prefer to use, drying time...decide what you want the nappy to do for you, and then we can be more specific perhaps? I've found our One Size Fits Most nappies get a lot of use though, for example, Riv's been using his BumGenius Pocket nappies since birth!

As for pics, try asking in the in a FAQ section? I don't know if you need to have a certain number or posts of anything...