washable nappies

[mimififi]

Hi there one and all:

I know this has probably been discussed a thousand times before, but I am slightly more stupid than the average mum and need some very specific, spoken slowly help in the washable nappy department.

With my other daughter and son, I used traditional terry towelling squares, nappy pins and flushable liners, plastic pants etc. Fine, I hear you say, what's the beef?

Well, frankly that system is a real fag and I started using them with my next daugher, gave up when I was having a terrible pregnancy with 5 of 5 daughter and put 4 of 5 in disposables. 5 of 5 was born at 32 weeks and was quite poorly and spen the whole of last year being poorly as did I so i carried on with the laziness of dispospobles. Now 4 of 5 is taking a million years to get dry at night, and wasn't brilliant when we were potty training last year. i have put her back in terry squares at night (she is dry in the day) with plastic pants over the top. The problem is is that the plastic pants are really irritating her skin and I have looked for larger sizes, but can't find any.

SO: you ladies out there that use different nappy systems, please explain to me the differences between nappy wraps, shaped, prefolds, adjustables etc etc. I want to go back to the washable system for both children, 4 of 5 in the night, and 5 of 5 all the time as she is only 1. What do I need, how do they work and what should I buy? I am looking to aquire them second hand as I shall only need them for a short time and have only 1 child to put through them essentially.

let me have it!

mimififi XX

[spacechimp]

Well done for being so eco-friendly.

[rosyrussell]

seem to remember a friend of mine was a great fan of the velcro washable nappies - she used them with a paper liner to hold the 'solids' and a plastic cover with poppers on - the best thing I can suggest is contact your local branch of the NCT - they quite often have second hand sales of kids stuff, and I am sure that washable nappies would be available there! Check out

www.nct pregnancyandbabycare.com fo rmore details of any sales near your area.

[yummymummy]

Firstly, i found the best place to buy them was Ebay (with the obvious risks you have whenever you shop there). From what I can work out the 2 main types are the all in one sort (Kooshies Ultra etc) which has got the nappy and pants all in one, just need the liners for solids, and do up with velcro. These can be more expensive. You wash the whole thing.

The other option is to buy prefold nappies, and wraps separately and put one in the other (will still need the liner). With these, you just wash the actual nappy (as long as the wrap is still clean of course!). You can also buy booster pads for extra absorbancy. The wraps are usually velcro or poppers.

Have a look on www.cottombottoms.co.uk or www.kooshies.com for ideas/pictures etc, although there are plenty of other companies that make them.

Hope this helps a bit!

[Schlomo78]

I have just bought 12 all in one nappies which apparantly go from newborn through to potty training, they have poppers which you move further along as the child gets bigger and look pretty easy to use (havn't done so yet as got another few months of pregnancy). I bought these in excellent condition from a second hand baby shop for half the cost they would have originally be- around �8 each I think- and the washable wraps were around �4 each. I

f you look on your local council website under the waste management section or ring them up you may find your council do a 'nappy incentive scheme' under which if you spend �45 or more you can download a form,send it off with the receipt and get �30 back, this is what I have done,so have only really spent �15 on them,although I will have to buy more as I have only 12 its better than nothing!

Good luck!

[bex401]

Hi mimififi,I used 'kooshies',with my first baby & found them quite easy to use but the intial outlay was alot.

Well done for all your help for the enviroment not many bother.

[clairelb]

Try this site - www.thenappylady.co.uk There's an option to get your own personalised nappy recommendation based on your own and child's needs. You'll also be given you own nappy adviser who will give you one-to-one help and advice regarding nappies. This service is completely free - they do make recommendations of particular nappies and hope you'll buy direct from them, but there's no obligiation.

The site is quite detailed, so you'll be able to find out a lot of your answers there too.

Good luck

[boyfleming]

Hi. As new father of a 3 and 1 year old (with a green conscience) we had demos of very type of re-usable.

We chose One-size by Motherease which will fit all the way up to 3. These are terry poppered. We bought them 2nd had on eBay in 3 groups in which I got the impression these are reay popular and we thought they were great. They are stocked at Waitrose which is handy.

Don't get them too used or they have lost their terry fluff. You wil need to by nappy covers - maker sure they are breathable type fabric Motherease are. They are not cheaper than disposables by the time you have wahsed them and bought liners (which are haf the cost of a full disposable nappy for an overgrown tissue!) H

ope that helps, Andrew.

[lady_p_gold]

If you ring up your local Council and speak to the recycling department they will probably have information and leaflets they can send you, I know ours does.

[mimififi]

Thank you you guys for posting your help. I knew I could count on you!

It has been very helpful, so I shall just need to decide which type to go with now. I can't carry on using plastic pants and squares because whenever my daughter goes to creche, she comes back with a bizarre attempt at someone trying to do her nappy! Also, the plastic pants are just tooooo tiny for my older daughter, they are causing serious irritation on her legs at night. I will defo go for something softer.

Anyways, thanks again for all your help, I really truly appreciate it.

p.s I'm sorry it took me so long to get back to y'all. My other little girl has been in hospital and so the whole of last week was written off as a 'got nothing done' week! ho-hum.