Reusable or Disposable

[georgie1991]

I know its cheaper to use reusable and better for the baby so ive heard
but its also easier to use disposable
but from mums that have used either or both what do u think personally is best, coz i dnt know which option to use

georgie
xxxxx

 

[MissThing]

100% Disposables for me! But then again I am a lazy thing

 

[kalia]

We only tried disposables once but never again! She pood and they leaked I see this happen to friends regularly and I don't understand why they put up with it rather than getting better nappies. Disposables are smelly and chemically and yuck the 2nd they are wet (IMO) - I can always tell from across the room when one of my friends babies' are wet and have to hold me tongue. Reusables look cute, are extremely reliable (we use fluffles with motherease airflow wraps) and in the grand scheme of all the washing that needs done, 3 loads a week is not much and they don't need sorting just straight out of the nappy bin and in to the washing machine.

While pregnant I wore a disposable on one arm and a reusable on the other for a while. The disposable was itchy and uncomfortable so I decided I was not putting my tiny soft newborn into something like that. I hate wearing sanitary towels so I imagine if baby could say they would hate wearing nappies. In fact, I believe that people have asked their toddlers and been told that reusables are far more comfortable (DD is only 9 months so I don't have 1st hand experience of this ) They are good for protecting the bum when they start walking

We were at the supermarket and picked up nappies for friends with a new born and were shocked at the price! I'd hate to have to lug around big bags of disposables.

If you are not sure you could always buy some real nappies and try them out alongside using disposables until you decide which you prefer. TKMaxx had the Tots Bots day packs in not long ago so they may have some left - they were selling them for £25 for 5 nappies and a wrap! I recommend ones which fasten with a nappy nippa because you can get an exact fit but I guess it could be slightly easier to use velcro (aplix) if you prefer.

 

[purplepants]

I have been wondering the same thing recently "reusable or disposable" for my other 4 children i have used disposable but they are expensive and if you buy cheaper disposables they are rubbish
What i have decided is, i will buy a trial/small amount of reusables and give them a go while in the house and see if i get along with them, but i will probably use disposables when im out and about so i dont have to carry wet or poopy nappys around town with me

 

[Ibuellie]

Hi ladies, great thead!
You've put my mind at ease about getting reusables. I was a bit worried they might be more likely to cause nappy rash.

There look to be some fantastic options for shaped reusables, though the price is a little bit of a shock. Might send a note to friends and relatives saying 'please don't buy my a 10 quid synthetic bear. I'd rather have a Totbots'.

 

[daftscotslass]

I'd recommend going and buying a few different types to try before you shell out on a birth to potty pack of reusables. If you go for Tots Bots have a look on their website - you can get seconds Bamboozles that are practically perfect for half the normal retail cost. We're going to be using them when we go back to cloth when the weather is a bit better.

I definitely agree with the smell of regular disposables - we got given a pack of pampers and also some huggies and I kept thinking she'd pooed when she hadn't. They also swell up horribly which makes me wonder about the chemicals in them - at least the Nature babycare ones don't do this. We're using eco disposables at the moment because I have nowhere to dry reusables in this horrible weather and Becky hasn't been well.

 

[georgie1991]

Thank you for all your help
I was worried bout the initial cost of getting enough reusable nappies to kit the baby but at the end of the day ill be spending loads on disposable ones anyway.
Ive never thought bout the chemical content of them either, and its quite worrying putting a new born into something with soo many chemicals.
If i get on with them ill more thn likely use thm at home n going out, but going into town and places like that ill always carry some disposables for convience.

Best of luck to you all

xx

 

[Kittykins]

I'm planning to buy a month's supply of eco-friendly biodegradable disposables for the first month (no chlorine/other nasty chemicals), and a trial pack of 4 different types of cloth nappies from this site: http://www.twinkleontheweb.co.uk/ (they'll give you advice over the phone too).

That means I don't have to worry about spending a load on a set of cloth nappies only to find out after two weeks they just don't fit/work for our baby and it'll give me time to fully test the different brands without having to panic that we're running out of nappies. Then at the end of the first month or so, I'll order the real nappies that work best.

We're intending to use reusables for every day, but we're not going to be rigid about it - if we go away for a weekend to stay with our parents, for example, I'll take the eco-friendly disposables. I wouldn't want 2 days' worth of dirty nappies sitting in a bag in our car...

I definitely won't be using the non eco-friendly/biodegradable disposables. I would never use sanitary products containing chlorine/chemicals, as they really irritate my skin (I use Natracare unbleached organic cotton products - they do maternity towels too, if anyone's interested...) and I wouldn't dream of inflicting that kind of irritation on my baby, knowing how sensitive my own skin is.

 

[beanie]

Hi ladies, great thead!
You've put my mind at ease about getting reusables. I was a bit worried they might be more likely to cause nappy rash.

There look to be some fantastic options for shaped reusables, though the price is a little bit of a shock. Might send a note to friends and relatives saying 'please don't buy my a 10 quid synthetic bear. I'd rather have a Totbots'.

Re nappy rash - early research found there was no significant difference between incidences of nappy rash in reusables or disposables but there has been some new research which suggets that nappy rash is actually less likely with reusable nappies.

Also look around for nappies, amazon recently were selling tots bots off relatively cheap (I got 5 nappies plus delivary for £20) and totsbots are discontinuing bamboozles according to my friend who is a seller of nappies, so there will be bargains around soon. I like the idea of the note though


I prefer use reusables for a number of reasons:
- they look miles cuter - big fluffy bums, plus there are some fab patterns out there
- they feel nicer, Seren once asked for a cloth nappy when she was in a disposable when we were on holiday
- they smell nicer on my children
- I like the idea of only cotton/bamboo etc being next to their bum
- the health implications, disposables are meant to raise temperature and the effects of this still aren't fully known
- I have fortnightly bin collections and the thought of having a bin fuill of poo makes me feel sick, with reusables I know poo is flushed down the loo where it is meant to be
- they do work out cheaper, esp with subsequent children (even if you are a cloth addict)

yes there are some cons such as having to put them, in a washing machine (which then does all the hard work), but the pros outweigh this by miles.

 

[Minxy]

There look to be some fantastic options for shaped reusables, though the price is a little bit of a shock. Might send a note to friends and relatives saying 'please don't buy my a 10 quid synthetic bear. I'd rather have a Totbots'.

Fab idea! We asked people to buy Stanley a nappy for his first Christmas and got a few that way. It's a good way to try different types too. We used exclusively cloth nappies until about 18 months when we switched to disposables. I think we'll do the same with this baby.

Great news is, I have all the small nappies I need and don't need to spend any money this time

 

[kalia]

On some nappy sites you can make a list and people can send money towards them or else you can get gift vouchers. www.softbots.co.uk do gift vouchers and I have found their service to be great (plus no delivery charge )

We don't have a tumble drier and that is why we chose fluffles - they dry very quickly on a clothes horse. I hate velcro so we use nippas. Think carefully about what you want in a nappy and look for ones that match your situation. We filled out the tailored advice form on the Nappy lady's website and it was brilliant - a real person who knew about all the options looked at what we had said and recommended the best for our situation. She even suggested ways to spend as little as possible which I thought was rather sweet as they were helping us rather than trying to get the sale. www.thenappylady.co.uk We bought bimbles, which are tiny, for when DD was new. We did the maths and as long as she wore them for a month they were cheaper than disposables. She wore them for 2 or 3 months. On average, disposable nappies cost 15p each. So if you but a £10 nappy it would have to be worn 68 times to be cheaper than a disposable. Assuming that the nappy is worn every other day within 4 and a half months that very expensive real nappy has proven less expensive than a disposable. We always looked out for deals and generally have been about £5-£6 per nappy. So from now (9 months old) to when she is potty trained, nappies are essentially free as we would have spent as much on disposables to now as we have on real nappies. And all future children have free nappies from birth. And as if that wasn't cheap enough, we can then sell them on once we are done having babies!

 

[hennaly]

Disposables here, i have used reusable in the past but not anymore i prefer pampers

 

[widowwadman]

We've used disposables until the cord stump fell off and have only used re-usables (Bumgenius v3 and Wonderoos) since. I still hbave some disposables left in the nappy bag for emergencies but I really can't stand the thought of using them.
I don't have a tumble dryer but both types of nappy I have dry over night.