Why did you pick to use disposable/cloth nappies?

I am not starting this thread to start a slinging match..so please take your boxing gloves of at the fornt door
After reading and rereading a thread recently its got me thinking...

What made you decided to use dispoable/cloth nappies?

Did you research before hand or did you use jump in cause you thought it was what everyone else was doing?

I have been on both sides of the ball. I used terry squares until my eldest 2 were 3 months old and to big for them to funciton (in my brain) correctly for us..so we used sposies (until my second eldest was 4 1/2)

before I had Vyolett I decided to do some research to see what was out there and it wasnt until i had had her and my besty introduced me to MCN that I knew it was the road we would take. I decided on the enviromental factor mainly...I didnt want to leave my footprints behind or endanger the world any further.

Im also very thankful now that i have choosen this path and its helped Mateauz medically. He has cerbal Palsey and his hip placement isnt so good...I remember at his 3 month check up the Nuro surgeon and Ped down at the Royal Childrens saying it was the best thing I could have done due to the support cloth gives to the area rather then the flexibility or disposables....and now we have seen a difference in his hips too.


So please....I want this to be a thread were we can bounce of each other and help others in making the right choices for themselves in the regards of disposables / cloth nappies without making them feel terrible for the path they are going down.

i've made the choice to use cloth when Gremlin arrives partially from reading a lot on BB about the advantages, partly from a financial perspective (i HATE throwing stuff away when it's only been used once - i am a recycler all the way - and you can't do that with sposies!), from an environmental perspective - and, cos i'm a slack ass that seems to forget things when i go shopping and the nearest place to get sposies is a 40k round trip, not open 24/7, and i know it would be just my luck i'd run out in the middle of the night!

my mum used to do FDC and i hated the waste from the sposies - it reeked!

plus, sposies are ugly and boring - MCN's are so purddy! and DH is supporting me in using cloth, i've converted mum from a "if gremlin is here, she'll use sposies" stance to a "i can see why you'll use cloth, i'll just get you to make sure we have the same powder so i can wash them for you" stance, in a matter of months just by sharing info on the benefits of cloth vs disposables (and by showing her our nappy stash - or some of!)


i'm not saying i'll never use disposables - there may be times where we have no choice - but i'm doing my best to have a stash and all the associated bits and bobs so that this isn't necessary. i know in myself that if things seem too hard that i'll fold and go the convenience option so we've got more nappies than we ultimately "need" but it means if i'm home alone and having a bad day, i don't HAVE to wash that day - i can take a day off and still be able to get everything washed and dried without running out...

I used the old terry flats years ago with my first two kids... less nappy rash, cheaper, and better for the enviro were my reasons then...

But as #3 and #4 came, I really couldn't be stuffed... :redface: Too tired and busy for soaking and washing....

Then had a looksee into the MCN world from seeing them around here on BB... and fell in love with cloth all over again!!!

Easy, healthy, cheaper, soooo much cuter, much better for eviro... I couldn't see a down side, I LOVE washing my nappies and putting them on the line... and all my kids have a passion for them too now.. ;)

The more I researched, the more my mind was made up, how could I not delve in..;)
I have just converted 2 cousins about to have babies, they are all in love too... :dance:

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What made you decided to use dispoable/cloth nappies?

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With DS, I planned to use cloth, but I never really had enough to give it a go full time, so figured that I would do it part time. In my case this was a bad idea, as I never had enough to do a full load, and DH freaked at the idea of putting the nappie in with any of the other washing. This combined with a very tumultuous breastfeeding experience led to me stopping using them, I couldnt get it together to wash our clothes let alone loads of nappies as well.
But i think if it had been full time, I could have figured it out as a load a day is easier than trying to figure out how the heck to wash 2-3 nappies.

I admit i was also worried about it affecting his sleeping, but in hindsight, he was sleeping 5 hours at a stretch form week 1, and i didnt have any proper night weight nappies.

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Did you research before hand or did you use jump in cause you thought it was what everyone else was doing?

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I did research, and was really disappointed that I couldnt make cloth work the first time around.
I found disposables convenient but the expense was just incredible, we would go through a box a week most weeks, as DS was not one of those bf bubs who poos once a week..more like twice a day. And the fact that the only ones that didnt leak were the most expensiove brand did not help much either.

Typing one handed with an unhappy boy in my lap so I may have to finish this later.

We use sposies and planned to do so, at least in the first few months.

We used to live in a two storey house where doing the washing involved trudging downstairs to put a load om, coming back upstairs to wait for it to finish, then going back down to hang it out... I'd often hang the washing on airers inside or sinply chuck it in the dryer because being in pain was so exhausting I often couldn't get it hung out.

I have bad arthritis and often the stairs just get too much. We planned to use sposies at the start to reduce some of the washing load that I'd face with a new baby - at least until we'd figured out how the arthritis was going to go after birth.

It became WAY worse than I ever could have imagined it getting.

We've moved now, and I don't have the stairs, but I'm still generally too exhausted to keep on top of the washing enough to make sure we all have clean clothes. Things are improving slowly with new medication, but I'm still a long way off being able to contemplate switching to cloth.

I'd love to be able to switch to MCN... but my health makes it impossible for us for now.

BW

We use disposables,and for pretty much the same reason as everyone esle who does- convenience.

Before Bub was born I had wanted to use cloth,but I read quite a few articles that said studies on environmental impact hadnt found either better than the other, to farm cotton for cloth nappies and the amount of energy and water used has a huge impact on the environment and then plus the water and energy to wash them after every use...
then you have the amount of landfill with disposables, so they both affect the environment but in different ways.

I use both - Sposies for FDC and going out. I do this as FDC insists on sposies, and I find it easier to go out with sposies.

I use Cloth for weekends. I make my own prefolds, pockets and fitteds, based on info I have picked up along the way. I prefer prefolds and covers, and I bought good covers for the prefolds (and fitteds). I like them as they dry quite quickly and working full time it gets hard to wash.

I wish I had the money to buy more professional ones... but I have just as much fun picking fabrics for the pockets.

There was finallya small study done on MCN v's sposies on the enviro.. all previous studies were done on terry flats, cottons, chemicals and water and didn't take into account the "new" way of cloth, no chemicals, renewable bamboo plantations, less water... I'll see if I can dig it up.... But it did finally show that a mcn was much better than sposie's these days for the evironment...it still takes a massive amount of water and chemicals to make 1 sposie, and then its thrown away, whereas a little water, no chemicals and sunshine keeps a mcn for years and years... I'm not very good at links and such so bear with me here.....

I am not starting a fight on the enviro points of nappies please, just stating studies ladies.... ;)

MCN's are just so darn cute!!!

I wanted to avoid the expense of disposables, and I am fairly environmentally conscious, so I have chosen mostly mcn's, but will use sposies at first.

Also, I just love the fact that I won't run out of nappies... I will just need to do washing.

Found it....



Media Release
For immediate release

British report reveals reusable nappies offer substantial enviro benefits.

The Environment Agency, UK, has revealed that using reusable nappies, as opposed to disposable ones, can save families, carers and the environment 40% in carbon emissions.

The 'Updated Lifecycle Assessment Study for Disposable and Reusable Nappies', published on Friday in the UK, was the largest and most comprehensive study of its type ever to be undertaken examining the environmental impacts of the two nappy systems.

Lucy Westerman, Director of the Australian Nappy Network is delighted with the findings, saying that, "This report represents a dramatic step forward in propelling community education, amongst parents and carers, and confirms exactly what we have known for many years - that reusable nappies really are much better for the environment than disposables."

The quantity of disposable nappies currently being sent to landfill, in Australia alone, is reaching dramatic proportions. Recent research shows that Australians are throwing away one billion disposable nappies every single year, with each of these taking up to 300 years to fully decomposei.

"The environmental impact of disposable nappies in Australia is immense," explains Ms Westerman. "Coupled with the landfill issue you also have to consider the impact of the materials, chemicals and resources that go into the manufacturing and packaging of disposables."

"The Report demonstrates that by simply washing reusable nappies in full loads, using an energy efficient washing machine, set under 60? Celsius, line-drying them and reusing them on other children provides over 40% reduction in carbon emissions, compared to the use of disposables."

"In Australia, obviously we have to be very conscious of using our water efficiently but we have the significant benefit of the climate, which enables most Australians to air-dry throughout the year," she continued.

Today's reusable nappies bridge the gap between the cloth of by gone eras and disposables. Reusables are increasingly produced with minimal impact from highly absorbent sustainable eco-friendly fabrics such as organic cotton, bamboo and hemp. Such fabrics are incredibly effective and soft for your baby to wear with the added convenience of being quick-drying, fitted like disposables or flat, with velcro, snappis or press-stud fasteners and no longer requiring soaking.

"Typically a baby will get through between 4000 and 6000 nappy changes before it is toilet trained, so when you consider the impact of this on the environment and the cost effectiveness of using reusables, it's a win-win situation, not only for the environment but for your pocket too."
"If you then go on to reuse these nappies on another child you create even greater savings and by adopting reusable nappies means that parents and carers are in control of the impact they have on the environment," concludes Ms Westerman.

I hate our disposable, wasteful culture and I try very hard, in all aspects of my life, to make better environmental choices. It is absolute madness to suggest that there is no environmental difference between MCN and sposies, just CRAZY! We also dry pail, wash in cold water, dry in the sun, swap and buy second hand nappies.

I find MCN easy, peasy and more reliable than sposies in terms of leak protection (less leaks, less washing).

They are so wonderfully fun, colourful and gorgeous!

They are cheaper.

I don't want to pick those sposie gel crystal (that often escape out of the nappy) off my babies bum.

I don't ever illegally put poo in the bin. It goes in the toilet where it's meant to.

I had an issue with FDC when we first started. I just insisted that they HAD to use cloth because that was the choice we had made for our family. I was prepared to leave FDC over this issue, I really meant it, DH was going to organise to work PT. In the end they couldn't come up with a valid reason why they couldn't allow me to use cloth and we've been very happily using cloth at FDC ever since.

Best of all, I get to strut around in all my glorious self-righteous grandeur and think I'm better than everyone else (that's a joke girls, sorry if it's not funny, but I'm laughing :rofl: you'll have to imagine me looking like a chicken strutting away)

We originally wanted to use cloth so used terry flats from the time DS came home from hospital.. Didn't last long for me. I was hopeless at folding them, found it hard to keep up with the washing, found it hard to get them on a wriggly baby etc. So I started using disposable. DH really persisted with the cloth. He liked the idea of using it - and had the knack for folding them! Whenever I put a disposable on DS, he would mention cloth. At this stage I didn't even know MCN exsisted, until one day I saw a girl at a mums and bubs movie session changing her baby. Got home and jumped straight on BB!
We then graduated to part time cloth - cloth at home and disposables for nighttime and going out. I think I initally wasn't confident in leaving the house in cloth - not sure why. We also pretty much stuck to the one brand also. Then I was given a recommendation for a brand of nappies (Itti's) from a girl in my Baby Buddies group, and once I tried them I was hooked!
DH is pretty supportive of me buying cloth (I don't think he actually realises how much I have!) so we have tried a few different brands and built up a good stash. We mainly only use a disposable at night - haven't gotten into night nappies yet ;).

If we have a second bub, I would love to do full time cloth and try out more brands. I am kind of at the end of my MCN buying for DS (although I did buy another Itti in the sale last night, thanks to a 'quick get on Itti' text from a friend.. CrystalBoo looking at you!) because he has so many.

I like the idea of using cloth - I wash at night and hang them out in the morning, so not alot of extra work. I LOVE not having to go outside to the bin so many times a day. I love having either a line full of cloth, or lovely fresh folded cloth waiting to be used. And I love getting fluffy mail! DS also doesn't seem to get nappy rash anymore,and at one stage we had problems with thrush so I think the cloth has really helped in both aspects. I don't really have an issues with using disposables, they are so convient for many people. I think my cloth journey has been made so much easier by having a supportive DH - who was just explaining to a friend of his the other night all about cloth. So cute :)

When I had my first I was a terry flat girl all the way, but then I only had 1 child and there was no drought, so washing them wasn't an issue. Then by the time #2 was coming along, we were in a drought and being on tank water only, it made it hard to justify the extra water needed to wash them all. Mind you, MCN's weren't like they are now and what was available really didn't appeal to me so I switched to sposies fulltime (previously only used them when going out or travelling). 7 years later we are still in drought, I have only about half a tank of water left (we are really hoping it rains in the next week or so or otherwise we will have to cart water) and I don't care what anyone says about the benefits of dry pailing, it is still an extra load of washing to do when I already do more than enough and heck, life is too short to spend nearly half a day each day washing bloody clothes, linen and nappies. For us both ways are damning to the environment (cost of producing the fabrics and physically making the nappies and water used to wash them and the cost to the environment from firstly producing and then disposing of the nappy) but we had to consider the cost of transporting in extra water and all of the environmental implications of that so sposies won the battle. So yeah, I'm going to rape the environment for a little while longer till I no longer need to use them ;)

I'm using cloth... there was never any question for me really, primarily because my sister uses MCN nappies on my niece and I have seen how easy they are to use. I like the environmental benefits, mainly the reduction in my rubbish.

I live in an area where the council has a three-bin system - green for garden waste, yellow for recyclables and dark green for everything else. The dark green bin is TINY (much smaller than the other two) and only emptied fortnightly. I couldn't stand the thought of 2 weeks' work of disposables building up in there... ewww.

The other reason is that a good friend of mine runs a MCN business and would have excommunicated me if I used sposies... :lol:

Having said that, DD was in terry flats at hossy for the first day or so (their policy, so they can more accurately monitor urine output), then she was in sposies until we came home.

Since then has been in MCN.

For the first 20ish months of being a parent I was uneducated about cloth. I had only seen the studies done by disposable manufacturers and knew nothing about MCN. Then I went to the PB&C expo in Adelaide and got to actually see and touch MCN, and saw some more studies and the washing instructions for MCN. I realised that they weren't as much work as I had first thought, and I spoke to DH about how much money we were wasting having 2 kids in sposies. To begin with we would buy 1 MCN on the week that we didn't need a box of sposies, and each time that nappy got used we saved the cost of one sposie. Then my tax return came in so I bought most of our stash in one go. That has now becaome about half our stash because occasionally I can still get one new nappy. I have only had 3 MCN damaged, one had poor quality waterproofing, and 2 had poor quality elastic. I still have the first MCN we bought and it is still in good condition at 12 months old. The only times I have used sposies since are when Em has gotten hold of some dairy, which gives her NR, so that I can use some of the harsher NR creams, and when we moved house.

What made you decided to use dispoable/cloth nappies?

hmmm well 10yrs ago i used terry flats for my eldest. but had probs with her getting bad NR..soooo went down the sposie path..also went down the sposie path with DS#2.
fast foward 9yrs....
DS#3 on the way...and i somehow stumbled onto baby beehinds....via a friend i think..and thought YEP i am using cloth for this bubba...started buying before Jack was born..slowly building ym stash up with different nappies and also sewing flanny flats to use..(although i only used them twice!!!)
they are soo much better than sposies are making their money back for me...are better for the environment and they are sooo cute!!!! and they make bubs butt look super cute :)
did i research..you betcha i did....trawling MCN sites....spending lots of money...
Best thing of all...my husbands supports it..and i have now gotten my MIL using them when she minds Jack..as she was adament..she was going to use sposies when she minded him...only until i kept sending cloth and told her if she wanted him in sposies she had to pay for them :D

What made you decided to use dispoable/cloth nappies?

I always remember when my mum used cloth on us... My youngest sister was the only one who had sposies used on her (me, sister, brother, sister). I have very fond memories of mum and her using cloth. When I found out I was pregnant - it just felt natural to use cloth - and boy oh boy hadn't cloth changed since my sister was a bub (she is 21 this year). I suppose for me one of the things I think is not the nicest about babies is their poo... cloth makes it a bit more fun (in my mind) as I get to use all pretty covers and not just winnie the pooh prints on sposies which most of them seem to be (well I know that the sposies my friends and family use all have winnie the pooh on them).

Did you research before hand or did you use jump in cause you thought it was what everyone else was doing?
I did research - scouting through BB, google searches... plus DP is a sub-contractor so the money I spent throughout the pregnancy on cloth nappies will be money that I have available for other things when bubs is here (sometimes $$ can be short with his work). Another thing for me is we aren't finding out the sex - so I feel I can't buy a lot of clothes for bubs as it seems to be all gender specific whereas cloth nappies can be gender specific but they seem to be more gender neutral than clothing... so my reasoning is that if I spend on nappies now then those $$ I don't need to spend on sposies can be spent on clothes. It may not be strong reasoning lol but it works in my head.

Many of my family and friends think I am crazy for wanting to use cloth... and I am stubborn so that will drive me to want to succeed - even though it is seen as the tougher option. I am not saying I will never use a sposie but I will try my hardest to use cloth from bubs arrival

DS was in cloth til he was 3 or 4 months old and the local pharmacy had peapods in store so I bought 2 to try and havent looked back. I love washing and folding cloth so it doesnt bother me and Im saving money (always a plus ;))

The main reason I switched to cloth with DD2 was the nasty chemicals found in sposies.
I didn't want anything next to my bubs skin which has been linked to toxic shock syndrome, possible infertility and many other horrible things.
Once I educated myself about what was actually in them there was no way in good conscious I could use them.
I just wouldn't take that risk, no matter how small, when there is a valid alternative.

I had alot of issues with DD1 and sposies, almost constant nappy rash which would bleed and break her skin. I am kicking myself now that I didn't educate myself sooner, I could have saved her alot of pain. I have not had one serious bout of nappy rash with DD2, except some redness when she must have pooped over night and I didn't notice.

As an added bonus they are cheaper and better for the environment, but they were not my main incentives. '

Well, honestly at 18 when DD1 was born, I just couldn't be bothered with Cloth. Mum said I should get terry's for JIC moments, nappy free time, spew rags, etc, etc. I was young & niave & decided I'd be fine.

I did use terry's when the girls were born, coz the hossy provided them. But that was it with mine. Used on others kids baby sitting plenty of times.

I never considered them full time coz I thought that once I bought all that washing powder, plus nappy san, plus the power etc it was pointless. I thought the price all up wouldn't be much different.
I knew sposies weren't good for the environment & babies bot, but I thought they'd gotten better over the years & they weren't the plastic crap they used to be.

But then I found BB. I discovered the whole new world of MCN's. I never even knew there was an alternitive to terry's!
I was always curious, but only dreamt of them & their fluffiness! Then Ruddy handed out some money. That was the perfect opportunity. Ordered some MCN's & bought a pack of terry's. Haven't used a sposie since.
Money was really tight & I was so over wasting & 20 a week on nappies. So I stopped. He has not had a sposie on his butt since the day I bought the terry's & now even DD2 is using an MCN for bed.
Its not as time consuming or dificult as I thought. No soaking, cold water, sunlight. Even the sensitive skin powder we need is only $6 a box & since I only use it for nappies that one box will last at least a month or 2!
I'm washing every day atm, til I get more, but its still been easy so far! Even in the rain, lol (only coz I have a dryer!)

Oh & the extra paddedness on his cutsie little bot....Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm to die for!!!

I decided early in my pregnancy that I wanted to use cloth. I had no friends who did but my SIL had years earlier with her three.

I discussed it with another SIL and she pretty much poopooed the idea. She told me that the electricity, detergent and water used for laundering made cloth just as bad as sposies. She can be very dominating in conversation and I started to doubt my decision. (later I decided she was just alleviating her own concience having used them on one child and about to do it for her second). So she changed my mind and I was going to do disposables.

Then I had a think and did a lot of research online because I was sure they would be better and I really wanted to do the best thing for my bub, my purse and the environment. I found some amazing nappy sites and researched, researched, researched. I was re-converted back to cloth and I bought a dozen BBH hemp onesize and a few BG onesize pockets. I was so excited about them when they arrived! My DH thought I was crazy spending so much time reading about nappies! I was obsessed.

ETA: I was also buying gender neutral clothing but did venture into buying ONE pink nappy. My little extragance. I figured I could put it under clothes for a boy!

The clinchers for me was when I saw the studies that showed the harm of the chemicals in disposables on babies. Also the study that claimed the same quantity of water and electricity goes into producing ONE single-use nappy as washing a cloth 200 times!!!

I did use disposables till DD was 4weeks as I had bought one box and been given a few packets as presents. I was glad to though as I had a C sect. and hanging out the washing was dificult inthe first weeks. Also, she was just too small for the cloth I had, even terry squares were so bulky she couldnt lie down nicely. But after the first 4weeks the only sposies she has had were on a 5day holiday. Even staying at my parents recently for 5days I just used the washer twice. Easy peasy and no nasty rubbish bin for them. :)

I just love my cloth even though we dont have anything too fancy. I have 20 terry flats, a dozen BBH, a few pockets for out and about and my new FAVE: night nappies. No way would she ever wake up dripping with them. I just hated all the leaking we had with dispos. in the early weeks. Practically every breastfeed I would have to change my clothes or hers at least. Never had to again once in cloth!!! I love her chunky bum and showing off her cute covers with her little summer dresses. I ENJOY washing, hanging and folding them. Call me crazy :rolleyes: and a full 13months of use with washing every day to start with and now every second day, they are all in almost new condition still! Dont think the sposies would be LOL.

I picked cloth.

Because I just didn't like the thought of handing over all that money to Pampers and various other throwaway nappy people! And the nappies in the landfill...

And we were short of cash. That was the angle I fed DH because that was his major concern.

Oh yes, I remember when I went from "I want to try cloth" to "cloth all the way!" and that was when my mum insisted on buying a huge pack of disposables and telling me I was stupid for wanting cloth. I didn't want terries, I wanted funky modern cloth that I'd been doing a bit of research on!

Nursery use sposies and I don't mind that, although DS does NOT get nappy rash with cloth and does occasionally with sposies. His toilet training is about 99% ready (DS knows EXACTLY what to do and how to do it, has done it of his own accord, just doesn't want to again until he's 100%) and I put that down to cloth.

I'm also lazy and didn't want to have to remember to buy nappies every week. Same reason I breastfed - if I can forget food for ME then I'm willing to bet I'd forget formula at least once!

Being 20 and my 1st baby having older mothers influence i started using flats... But i didnt like the plastic pants they all said were just fab and the smell when i took them off... Blerk... So i went to sposies and also cos of people mainly telling me it was easier etc etc.

With DD i didnt think bout it and went straight back to flats as i had so many leakage issues with sposies. plus i decided was more environmentally friendly and also DD has sensitive skin and gets alot of ezcema. Once i started looking round for alternatives i didnt realise what a wide world of cloth there was...Still learning all there is to know from all the BB ladies... Get a bit lost with their abbreviations and their clothie lingo but were making progress and i just love how i'm not wasteing money. I have tried to switch my friends to no avail yet... Next bubs will be 100% cloth. I have brought few MCN's and so excited and cant wait to recieve my Maz-a-licious night Nap that i was so lucky to score.

BB has taught me so much and has made me a better mum for it. Just wish i had of known bout all the new cloth stuff sooner.

We wanted to use cloth before Pip was born, DH was looking into a cloth nappy service for terry flats.

Somehow we never managed to do that, and the hospital put us in sposies so we used them to around 6 months, but I didn't like the smell of the bin or the cost or the environmental impact.

We moved to bamboo sposies etc but they are very expensive ... then we wanted to go swimming. I had heard of "swim nappies" and saw that Kimbaz had a special on "swim nappies" in her signature. Contacted her and bought 1 swim nappy, and then also 2 monkey doodlez.

Well, that was the start of an obsession! My DH is not supportive of my MCN fetish, but he just rolls his eyes now. I won't buy sposies for him to use on Pip but I will buy disposable wipes to use. I shudder to think how many MCN I actually have!

Before I got into MCN, I used to toss everything into the bin - poo & all. Now DH will put poo in the loo so our bin does smell better ... I find it interesting that hospitals & MCHN services don't push the "put poo in the loo cause its illegal to bin it" information. It's only written in small print on the packs of nappies!

I like that I have gorgeous cloth bum to pat, and he looks funky, I've always hated the sight of a kid running around in a sposie, but MCN are more like designer clothing!
I have people in CC, mothers' group and work converted to MCN now - I have my little MCN keyring which encourages a lot of conversation which is brilliant!

With DS we started on Terry Flats and used sposies at night till he was 8 weeks, then just stuck with flats. I then got onto MCN's and now have a real mixed bag of pea pods, BBH, Green Kids, Mico's and a stack I have made myself. This new bub will be in the ones I have made.

Disposable user here.

When I was pregnant with DD1 I did look into MCN, but was not sure and knew I would have a bit of trouble convincing DH. We bought disposables and signed up to a nappy recycling service. Yes, extra money, but at least the nappies were not going into landfill.

Probably when DD1 was about 6 months I decided to go across to MCN. I bought a lot of different makes, to see what would work with DD. I got right into the whole fluffy mail thing. Anyway, it just did not work out. A number of the nappies I bought were not great, yes I did do my research, but there was only positive stuff out there. Not sure what it is like now, but back then anyone who said anything bad was shot down. I understand that the WAHM puts a lot of effort and care into making the nappies, but if they don't work, then I should be allowed to say that without someone coming onto BB and creating havoc. So all that put a real sour taste in my mouth, along with some of the cloth using attitude towards disposable users. Even though I was using MCN, I really did not care what other people used and I did not think they needed bad thing said about them (was not on this forum, but another). MCN was just not working for me, it did my head in worrying about the elastic, how much powder etc The novelty of the colours, prints etc wore off really quickly. DD1 was getting rashes and ended up with a really bad one, which I later worked out was connected to the commercial wipes solution I was using. (both girls also are prone to rashes when I do not use a cream) I also had concerns about how environmental it all was, all that patterned flannie bought from Spotlight and posted around Aus a few times could not be that wonderful. I still kick myself that I just did not do what I first thought of which was just buying a fulltime set of BBH and not concerning myself with other brands.

With DD2 I am using disposables, have toyed with pulling out the cloth again, but like Trillian I am on tank water and have had to truck in water twice since coming here (the gutters are stuffed and we had a long period without rain). I lent the BBH's to another mum for awhile, so they have had some use. Waiting to find a local mum who would appreciate them.

We use sposies here. I didnt want to use cloth. Its full on enough trying to keep up with everything when u have poo to wash off nappies, wash them, dry them etc etc. I didnt want to focus on that, i wanted to give my girl all my attention. Even at 5.5 months i couldnt imagine using cloth and i think my water bill is high enough without them.
My sisters used cloth, which i guess in a way turned me off them even more. I would go an visit and all they were doing was washing, drying and folding. Day in and day out.
So yes.. that is why i chose sposies.

Btw... i have 20 flats here... great for spew cloths. lol

holly do you realise just how much water it takes to make just one sposie????? that and crude oil!!!

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holly do you realise just how much water it takes to make just one sposie????? that and crude oil!!!

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I thought this thread was about the reasons for people's choices, not to challenge their reasons.

I want to thank everyone for being so open about their choices....sposies or cloth...its doesn't matter does it.

It make's me humble to see that we all have the biggest thing in common

Doing what is best for our situation and our children.:)

not challenging just asking!! :lol:

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I thought this thread was about the reasons for people's choices, not to challenge their reasons.

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It is hon...I wanted people to be able to post their reasons to help others understand why others have done what they have, without being questioned.

I dont want to make this a nappy war.....its about showing that even though we have different roads in our mothering journey's we all have the same motivation behind our choices and decissions.

Hollye- I completly understand why u prefer sposies. When u have a chucker there is already so much washing.

Everyone asks me that i noticed... OMG all that washing... I dont see it as "all that washing" (JMO) I dont find it any more washing then normal ... I just wash the terry flats like towels minus the softner and extra washing powder. Its not hard for me but i can see it is for others. I should mention that i use sposies at night (well until i get my Maz nite nap... (need a 2nd... Hint Hint... LOL) i have been trying to pick up other MCN's but it seems lots of u MCN users are very quick and have a quick click... LOL. Need more fluff...

To be honest, I think nappy wars start because of mis- truths and wording of posts!!!

Sposies do use more water to make just one, than washing a mcn for its life span... so the water thing just is not true.. (except for those ones having to buy tank fulls... thats awlful! I couldn't even imagine not just having water all the time, I def wouldn't be using mcn in that case!...)

They are made with crude oil and chemicals and are hideously bad for the enviro..

But they are easy!!! I used them myself for years.... :p

Sposie users can be proud and just say "its easy," rather than slander mcn users for wasting water or not spending enough time with their babies because of washing, neither of which is true. And mcn users dont need to slander sposie users for killing the enviro, we all do in our own way... (I'm not saying it has been refered to like that here, just whats out there in general!)

This thread has gone well, when so many like it dont!!! ;)

well, i'm still in the planning process but i'm planning to use cloth. i've bought 3 cushie tushies so far & 6 small itti bittis (i keep taking the tiny itti bittis out of the cupboard to look at them - they're so teeny & cute! :redface:).

What made you decide to use dispoable/cloth nappies?
my mum has always been a big supporter of cloth so i guess i grew up with that. i will admit to being hesitant to use terry flats because they seemed a little complicated/time consuming but then i started doing research & found out about mcn. so i guess i could see the combination of convenience of a sposie balanced with the cost efficient & enviromentally friendly aspects of cloth.

Did you research before hand or did you use jump in cause you thought it was what everyone else was doing?
i did a bit of research - some of it was about the environment & chemicals used in sposies but i guess, selfishly, the bulk of my research was around the time involved with using cloth. i was always keen on the idea of cloth but wanted to make sure that it wasn't something i'd stop using because it became 'too hard' :redface: i may end up using sposies for the first couple of weeks but i'm not going to beat myself up if i need/choose to do that.

Not getting involved in the discussion about the pro's and con's so just sticking my reasons in here...

What made you decided to use disposable/cloth nappies?

I used disposable until DS was around 14 months - just cos I was under the impression that it was too freakin hard using cloth - all the extra washing, soaking - god just the thought of it did my head in. Then one day I noticed how bad I felt when I chucked a sposie in the bin - I felt awful for what I was doing (and I wasn't aware that it was illegal to put poo in the bin too) so then I hunted around the cloth threads for a bit, and decided to google what a bumgenius was. OMG. A new love was born. I realised it looked just like a disposable, and nothing at all what I had in mind. From then on - it was cloth all the way and I didn't feel guilty for using them anymore. I was worried about the extra time it would take, since I was back at work and pregnant with DD, but really, it takes hardly any extra time to chuck a load in the washing machine, walk away, and then hang it out. I get DH to help me stuff the pockets too at night, so that gives us time to sit and chat about stuff, and do this at the same time (yup, teaching a MALE how to multi-task!!) so we get our "couple" time and do housework at the same time. Perhaps thats why it doesn't feel like a big deal even though we have two in cloth full time? Dunno.

Did you research before hand or did you use jump in cause you thought it was what everyone else was doing?

I researched, researched, researched. I researched the pros and cons. I researched how much work went into it. I found that my initial "nah too hard" issues were wrong. I researched how easy it was, and how beautiful they are!!!!

So yup - cloth user all the way.

I don't care that people use sposies - cos I did it! I don't particularly like some reasons that are given to not using cloth when their reasons are uneducated and misguided - much like my own were!! But I didn't turn to cloth because someone told me to - or told me it was better - I probably would have turned a colourful phrase back at them if they did. Nobody likes to be told that their way is wrong after all ;)

Each to their own - stand up and be proud - cloth OR sposie users!!! (oh and the EC girls as well - take my hat off to you for that one!!!)

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ETA - thought I should come back and mention that when I said about about the reasons for not using cloth being uneducated and misguided - I am not directing that towards anyone on here in particular - more so my sister who thinks I am TOTALLY STUPID for using cloth nappies because she thinks I am soaking, scrubbing and damn well polishing the nappies before the next use :p

I have found this thread very informative - it is interesting to see how people came to their decision re what to use.

Also, I have been wondering this for a while... but what is EC?

This thread is so great: everyone having their say without getting all Upity about their reasons :)


EC is elimination communication. It's a system of recognising the cues a baby gives when they need to wee or poo and then holding them over a container/toilet/bit of dirt for them so they dont have to soil a nappy. Very popular in some cultures. Most westerners are too wrapped up in everything else in thier day to notice the cues so it isnt used much here. Growing slowly in popularity though with special clothing available now to make it easier. I havent been brave enough to try it although DD is always very proud if I ask her if she is doing a poo.

Lets keep up the open, accepting attitude here people! So nice to see everyone can be accepting.

Thanks Sazz... to be honest I have never heard of it before :redface: must be because I spend most of my time under a rock he he he

^ Lol I'm trying EC with DD at the moment (probably to no avail because if I get her toilet-trained, she will probably regress in a few weeks when bub arrives so I'm not pushing it too hard, more doing it just for kicks, iykwim?), but it doesn't seem to be working... she will tell me 'pee! pee!!' and then sit on her potty for a while without doing anything... then she toddles off and pees on the floor ten minutes later!

Anyway, there was no doubt in my mind that I would use disposables with DD. I have no shame in admitting that I'm lazy and will cut as many corners as humanly possible when it comes to housework etc, so the mere thought of all the soaking, washing, hanging, folding, changing etc terrified me. I don't know anybody IRL who uses cloth nappies (by that I mean people around my age, my parents used cloth with my brother and I but sposies in those days were pretty poor, kwim?) but that wasn't really a factor in my decision, I don't care much for what other people think of my methods.
DH and I noticed that most baby clothes these days are built to cover sposies, not bulky cloth nappies, and we confirmed that when my mum would try putting DD in cloth - she'd have to stay half-naked because nothing would fit over her bum!

My mum insisted that we use cloth, because she 'did it the hard way, so can you' (I should add that she also didn't want us to find out the sex at our 20-week scans because 'I never got to, why should you?'), and went out and bought us the bucket, Napisan and two dozen cloth nappies, but we just never used them. If I left DD with mum for a few hours, I would come home to find her in a cloth nappy, with terrible nappy rash (which she doesn't get with sposies, I guess because the sposies draw the moisture away), and mum's laundry is downstairs, with a tiny washing machine, meaning one decent load of nappies would end up being two or three loads because it just doesn't accommodate a decent amoutn of laundry. (I admit, it would be easier for us now because we're in our own house, with the laundry inside, and the washing machine is gigantic, but meh.)
So, it just seemed far too time-consuming and too much effort for me, especially in those early weeks when I was getting zero sleep and DD refused to be left on her own for two minutes (I couldn't even pee in peace for ages! She would just cry and cry and cry if I left her). I also found that (and here's that laziness coming into play again!) that with sposies I could change her less often - she could pee a couple of times before her nappy would be 'full' and so I would just leave it until it got wet, whereas with the cloth nappies, the tiniest dribble of urine meant a nappy change was needed to stop her getting a rash.

I have a lot of admiration for the dedicated ladies who use cloth and don't give the extra work a second thought - hats off to you!! It just wasn't a sacrifice I was willing to make, and DD doesn't seem negatively impacted by it at all, so I'm happy to use sposies.