I need some advice. DH and I have just bought a new car on finance and hence are wanting to tighten the belt a bit or a lot....
Anyway for the last few weeks I have been thinking about cloth nappies and trying to figure out whether or not to go there. I was put off by the poo bucket, but most of all by the big outlay to begin with.
So I'm wanting to know from those that have experience.... Are they cheaper in the long run? How do they go with nappy rash (DS can only use Huggies due to sensitive bottom)? and also which is the best brand to give me the least mess and the longest usage times.
Also where is the best place to buy them?? I'm thinking EBay would be cheapest but just let me know if you have found different...
We are planning on having another bambino next year so I would be going for the adjustable size ones, but I would just love some infromation ands advice about where to go from here....
I've also heard alot about the nappies with the bamboo insert thingys can someone please shed light on them and if they are as good as cracked up to be???
Definitely cost effective - especially if you do have more than one bub. I think I have spent $800 - $1000 all up on nappies with the 2 girls but would have saved thousands of dollars on disposables. I still use sposies if we go away and I always balk at how much they cost - they add an extra $30 or so to any holiday!
As PP said - I wouldn't shop on eBay. If you can get to a baby expo or the like you can see them in real life and get an idea. Many of the threads here can help with preferred brands and styles. You can also get one of a couple of different styles or get some second hand ones to try before you buy.
Personally, I like the pocket style with adjustable studs as they are trim, suit my girls body shapes and dry quickly in a cooler, damper climate.
The bucket isn't bad as MCNs dry bucket so no soaking poo and you can get a little squirt to get it off into the loo. Once bubs starts solids most poos just roll off the nappy into the toilet.
They are most definately cost effective! Make sure you buy quality and don't get caught up in the "show off" nappy hype. Though some particular nappies have great resale value!
Bamboo is a great fabric. It's highly absorbant and compared with cotton you need less of it to hold the same volume of fluid so it's less bulky. It is slower drying though. Hemp is a great fabric too and is in the middle of cotton and bamboo for absorbancy.
Be very wary of ebay sellers. I don't think they are all bad but don't buy a whole stack off one seller. Get one or two and see what the sewing quality is like and how they perform. It's worth paying a tad extra in postage so you don't get caught out buying junk.
I'd give the same advice for any nappy though. Read the forums and google search for reviews by all means but seeing as babies come in different shapes don't buy too many of the one type straight up JIC the don't suit your bubba.
Thanks for replying girls... what brands do you use? I've been having a look and so far beehinds and fuzzibunz seem good, but I don't know can you give me some suggestions?
I was lucky a friend lent me some to try to find out if they workded for dd.
But I love my itti bittis and bbh (baby beehinds) magicals for day use. And using bbh bamboo and covers for night, so far working well. I have brought all second hand, check out nappy addict. And for under $500 dollars well end up with 36 nappies, just waiting on some to arrive.
I am fairly new to cloth cause like you was reluctant to spend the money not knowing much.. But here's my answers to your questions.
I still use sposies at night and the smallest pack (I think about 22) can last nearly a fortnight, so it is a huge saving on the weekly grocery bill.
DH will only use the ones where he has to put one nappy (AIO, Pockets, Ai2's), not a nappy and cover. So they don't go onto the shelf until I stuff them. I however will use fitted and covers. I am still deciding what brands I like with them.
As I started when DD was a little more than 12 months, I opted for OSFM so that I got use with 2nd bubs (but I haven't tried on baby yet as he is still cooking, LOL), and so far my fav are Pop ins and Green kids.. I haven't had leaks with either of these brands.
You will save literally thousands of dollars by using cloth, esp with more than one bub. However, in asking for preferred brands, it is really up to the baby and their fit. Like someone said, don't buy 24 of one brand as they may be a poor fit on your bub. For eg lots of people love Green Kids but I don't like their fit at all on DD and am glad I only bought 2. In fact I only have one or two of most brands as I try them out for some time before buying any more. Check out some website for info on the types of nappies you want- fitted, pockets, all in ones, all in twos etc then go from there.
I'm slowly building a small stash.
I've gotten nearly all mine on sale, or clearance. Right now we are pretty broke. DH is finishing up his job this week & has been lucky to do more than a day - 3 a week lately. I'm so glad I went cloth coz we don't have the money for sposies. I get $5 ones (B&G) for DD2 over night & still having trouble coming up with that much extra. I had her in cloth til a severe reaction to one &infected eczema (cheapy off ebay). & I just can't find them big enough.
Bamboo is great. I love it. I can have his nappies on for as long as a sposie & they won't leak, but he is sensitive, so I change more often. Every 2 - 3 hours.
I got a couple off ebay. Don't waste your money unless its a resold well known brand name. One that was bought & not used or something. I did get 2 cheap ones off there. They are ok for desperate times. They only last an hour or so though. No bamboo or hemp in them.
I love them. If your bub reacts to anything in them, its probably the powder used to wash them. I've just started using bi carb soda. Nothing else.
Thanks for replying girls. It's so nice to know that elp and advice is out there when it's needed.
After much researching I think I'm going for Blueberry's to start with but am thinking of having a nappy party so I can browse all the different types!!!
my reccomendation if your after something affordable, large size range and will last is baby beehinds bamboo fitted nappies. You can layby (and Charmalea on here sells too) with them too I think. They are our main workhorse nappy, I have some that are 3 years old and still going
I second these nappies- I think they are one of my favs and one that I always go for first. And their absorbancy is like no other. A great price too. But you do need a cover for them.
I agree, don't buy off ebay unless they are a brand.
Keep an eye out on the used nappy sites. I am due with bub in January, I have been keeping an eye out online and have purchased all up 15 nappies and 6 covers (OSFM, mixture of quality brands) and I have paid no more than $200. They are used but in excellent condition, and if i purchased new (I would if we could afford it) it would have cost over $500 so far. Most of them also came with extra inserts, I even bought nappies that were not used, only washed in preparation and were about a quarter of the new price. I will at times use disposables for a break, but I can not justify paying $35 for a box of nappies, plus we can't afford it!!!
I know it seems daunting when you are looking at $25 + per nappy and it seems like an excessive amount to spend on a nappy but in all honesty it save HEAPS. if you check out the Austrsalian Nappy Network website they have some cost charts there to look at but the basic saving we worked out using huggies was approx $3000 per child saving after speading about $800-$1000 on nappies. Clearly you don't have to spend that much but this was just our calculations
If you use the one size fits all you will probably get 1-2 yrs worth of wear out of each nappy and you can use them on more then one bub at a time so you can grab it and adjust depending on who needs a nappy change. By using sized nappies you will generally get more wear out of them (in that they last longer before they start to loose elastic etc - simply because babies outgrow them you put them away until the next one and use them again rather than continuous wear of the OSFA)
Basically if you look at your childs clothing, you pay what about $30 for a full outfit which will last maybe 3-6 mths before they outgrow it. Your nappies will cost about the same, can double as pants in the summer time, will either grow with bub to toilet training - or if you use sized can be put away for next bub and they actually serve a purpose and save you from having to fork out more money each day on disposables.
As for which brands are best. Wow there are so many available these days! majority of them are all fantastic quality, good workmanship and great customer service from where you get them from. Probably more important then brand is style. Do you want fitteds (cheeper but need a cover over them - essentially a 2 step system) pockets (more expensive generally than fitteds but a one step system, need to be stuffed with insert but most people find this only takes a couple of minutes when folding or putting on) or AIO/Ai2 (generally more expensive than pockets and fitteds but need no extra putting together) You can also look at fabrics (natural vrs synthetic) if bub is having trouble with nappy rash it you might want to experiment with babmboo/hemp inners - bamboo has a natural antibacterial properties or it could be from wetness so try a microfleece inner - it works like a stay dry liner.
The other choice is fastening, side snaps, front snaps or velcro. All work for different people. Some people prefer wide crotch nappies, others narrow. This is the great thing about MCN - you can tailor them exactly to fit your bub!
Ones we have found that are relatively cost effective and long lasting absorbabcy:
Abbygro AIO (microsuede/microfleece inner, front snaps, OSFA), Bumgenius pockets (microsuede inner OSFA) and OSFA AIO (organic cotton inner) Haute pockets (OSFA, microfleece inner) Swaddlebees OSFA Pockets or sized AIO (cotton velour inner) Happy Heiny OSFA pockets (microfleece inner - cna stuff with either hemp or microfibre), Fuzzibunz OSFA (microfleece inner) there are so many I could go on and on but these were our staples. However I had a chubby thighed, fast weight gaining bub who suited mostly wide crotch nappies, snaps over velcro (she would undone velcro) and was a medium to light wetter.
Good luck, hope you find something that works just right for you!
I was very old fashioned with my first baby and only used terry and flannel flats. My mother made the terries and I bought 2 packets of flannel nappies... so had about 40 - 50 nappies in total. Mum also made me terry boosters and sent down washable nylon liners. A friend gave me her stash of Bigg Fluffies covers. I bought pins and Snibs. So I managed to "nappy" my first baby for over 6 months for under a $100. She was over 6 months before she wore a sposie... but even then she only wore them very rarely. She wore flats right to the end. When she was about 2yo she started to wear sposie pullups which were sooooo expensive. I used the same set of flats about 50% of the time with my 2nd child and about 30% with my 3rd child.... roughly speaking. It was mainly in winter when my 2nd and 3rd babies wore sposies because I also hardly ever used our tumble drier.
I feel confident that we have saved several thousand dollars by using flats. Not many people like them but they dry very fast and one size fits all babies from birth to 2yo. I believe it's worth the hassle but I was a SAHM all that time too. A working mum would struggle I think.
I used terry flats for about 16 months with DD so spent about $30 on flats, $10 on snappis and about $50 on PUL covers and that was it for that time. We are now on 'fancy' nappies MCNs which I love and will do new bub so I could say that I have spent way less than ever on cloth nappies and I think their value goes way beyond monetary value as well.
Cloth nappies- really cost effective????
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