Cloth Nappies/Diapers

This post has been requested by a friend.  We use cloth nappies (I'm Irish we say "nappies" :) ) on my baby rather than disposable nappies.  My main motivation for this?  Saving money!  I am no expert on cloth nappies, I have many friends who know a whole lot more on it, but over the course of my pregnancy I did extensive research into cloth nappies via the internet and cloth nappy using friends and now I have almost 2 months of cloth nappy using experience under my belt and I feel like I've learned a lot since then.  I will share with you what I know of the pros and cons of using cloth nappies, my own experiences with them along with some of the systems I use to make it work for me.

Cons
I think I'll start with the cons of using cloth nappies, mostly because I think there are so many pros that if I start with them I'll be tired of writing by the time I get to the cons!

• It involves extra laundry
• Slightly more pee and poop may need to be handled
• They can be expensive initially depending on what kind of nappy you use. And there are A LOT to choose from.

Pros

• It gives me such joy to walk though the shops and ignore the highly priced nappy section (and because I also use reusable wipes, I can ignore those too)
• There's something empowering about using cloth nappies (for me I think it's related to saving so much money)
• Using cloth nappies has become so popular recently that there are endless resources available to make the whole process of using them really easy.
• If you have more than one child you can save even more money-cloth nappies can be used over and over and over!
• If your child has any skin sensitivities cloth nappies irritate the skin a lot less than disposables, babies who use them can have less nappy rashes.  Also reusable wipes and water (or your own wipes mix) give you more control over what you're using to clean your baby's little bum.
• If the environment is a concern for you, then cloth nappies are definitely environmentally friendly.
• It saves money even if you have only one child.
• You don't need to shop for disposable nappies (saves a little bit of time-and gives you such joy, as mentioned above)
• You can have a lot of fun with the cute nappy covers and wool soakers.
• It's so much fun! (maybe I feel this way because I'm weird)
• Baby pee and poop ain't that bad.

Types of Cloth Nappies

I use three different types of cloth nappies: prefolds, flat fold and fitted.  There two more more called the "all in one" and pocket diapers.  The "all in one" one tends to be the most expensive.  With my focus primarily on saving money, I gave these ones a skip. I have heard from other mums that these ones are extremely convenient and work really well and even though they're the most expensive, you still save A LOT of money using these.  I may use the pocket diapers in the future when Béibhinn grows out of her present nappy stash.  If you click on each of the nappies it will bring you to a link that describes them. I will write about my experiences with the ones I'm using.

Prefolds
When Béibhinn was newborn I started with prefold diapers.  These were the cheapest nappies that I was aware of at the time.  I bought them at Green Mountain Diapers.  These were recommended to me by a friend for use with a newborn.  Because newborns move less the prefolds work as well as any other nappy.  I found these to be as good as any disposable (I used disposables on and off during the move as laundry facilities were not always available).  The key to the success of the disposables and all of the nappies I've used so far are a good nappy cover.  To keep the prefold fastened, I used snappy fasteners.  Easy peasy, even my brother John was changing nappies after one demonstration.

How to use a prefold:

This one uses an insert and no snappies

This one uses snappies

I like to use snappies with the prefolds because I feel like it secures the nappy a bit better around the baby.  Liners are optional and will be discussed later.

Flat Fold Nappies
I came upon flat fold nappies by chance but I have to say that flat folds have become my favourite kind of nappy to use with Béibhinn, I don't know how well they'll work when she's more active but right now they're very absorbent and not too bulky.  These nappies were bought for me by a friend of ours back in Ireland who had heard that I was planning on using cloth nappies.  She spotted a packet of unopened flat fold nappies in a charity store and bought them for me.  My mum brought them over when she came to visit and Béibhinn was almost a week old.  At this point I was using the prefold nappies.  When I opened the package and saw these square sheets of fabric first thing that came to mind was "terry nappies" and "am I really going to use nappies that I need to fold?!"  It seemed too much.  However, internet and youtube lover that I am, I decided to do some research into folding nappies.  I came across this amazing fold called "the bat fold".

This fold works really well, the centre piece really absorbs all the pee and poop really well and folding the legs inward keeps everything inside.  Again, the liner is optional I think.  And snappies are the greatest invention ever!  What I also love about these flat folds is that they fit for a lot longer than some of the prefold and other kinds of nappies.  While Béibhinn has already grown out of her newborn size prefolds, she is still using the same flatfolds she was wearing at one week, now, at six months.

 

Flat Nappy using the bat fold

Using the snappi fastener

Fitted Cloth Nappy
I chose to buy Mother-ease Sandy's Fitted Diapers.  These were recommended to me by my friend Abby who was my 'go to' girl for all things nappy related.  I bought one size small nappy and the rest were bought as gifts by friends and family.  I started using these when Beibhinn was about 6 weeks.  These are very easy to use as there's no folding or maneuvering of snappy fasteners.  You just snap them on at the sides.  I do recommend nappies with snap fasteners rather than velcro because I think they're more durable.  I have needed to place a trifolded prefold nappy inside these nappies at night because Beibhinn appears to be an epic pee-er.  These nappies work really well and I'm really happy with them.

Covers
All of the above nappies require some kind of waterproof cover. I have used wool soakers and PUL covers as well as some other plastic covers. The wool soakers were perfect when Béibhinn was newborn. The wool soakers were soft for her new little body and it was easy to fold them down to keep things away from her umbilical stump. The best waterproof cover with no exception is a PUL cover. Since Béibhinn was about 6 weeks I have found these to be the most successful for preventing any leaks and I still love these covers. I find the covers with velcro fasteners the best because it's easy to tighten or loosen them to fit various sizes of nappies.

Cloth Wipes

I love using my cloth wipes. Most of my wipes were given as gifts and I bought a few more myself. I am finding though that I really need more wipes than I have especially for those weeks where I fall behind on laundry (and there are many of these weeks!) I hope to buy some flannel in the next few weeks and cut them into wipes-so cheap!

I have a little wipes station set up in Béibhinn's room. I fill a coffee carafe with warm water, soap, lavender oil and tea tree oil. I place a wipe in the bowl then spray it with the water mixture, easy to do with one hand, which is useful when changing a squirmy baby.

Dealing with Poop

Until Béibhinn started on solids at six months, poop was really not an issue. I would just throw the nappy into a dry nappy pail and throw them in the wash, no problems. Now Béibhinn is on solids so it's whole other story. There are a couple of options for dealing with icky poop. One of the favoured methods is the liner. Nappy liners can be bought and placed in the nappy, when the baby poops, the poop is caught in the liner then you just throw the liner in the bin or the toilet (depending on whether or not it's a flushable nappy liner) This can be a very easy way to deal with icky poop except for two small things. Liners cost money and the liners often don't catch all the poop. A lot of liners can be wasted by wet nappies too. A friend of mine passed on a smart tip to me. If you use disposable wipes (and sometimes I do), just throw the wipe into the wash with your nappy and reuse the wipe as a liner later on. I've also actually reused the wipe as a wipe also.

Another way to deal with poop is to attach a specially designed shower head to your toilet, a diaper sprayer. When you change your baby's nappy spray the poop off the nappy into the toilet and then place the nappy into the nappy pail. This can save a lot of stinkiness and the diaper sprayer is pretty easy to install.

I think that's all I have to share at this point with regards to cloth nappies. I'm enjoying the adventure and looking forward to learning more as Béibhinn gets bigger and more active. It's a road I'm glad I took.

Below are a few links to sites that sell diapers and diaper accessories, enjoy.