Warm boot recommendations please

[becks]

i looked into them a while ago but decided they were a bit too "green" for me! I do try my best to be environmentally friendly but some things are beyond me! We started off using cloth nappies with our daughter but didn't last long as the washing was endless. I also really wonder whether all the extra washing and tumbling drying actually makes them environmentally friendly. Its unbelieveable that is this day and age they can't make completely biodegradable nappies isn't it!

[The Dogmother]

That's interesting about nappies Becks - I thought about this when I had Rosie, and I read at the time exactly that - that the washing and drying is more damaging to the environment than the disposable nappies.

[Guest]

I used re-usable nappies, after speaking to the health visitor, and carefully investigating, and it is much more environmentally friendly to use, and wash terry nappies - remember they rarely needed tumbled dried - a washing line does the job just as well.

[Mrs Frugal]

We tried terry nappies and I loved them - they dried beautifully on the line. We had to stop though because we couldn't get plastic pants to put over the top of them to stop leaks. I was gutted to have to go back to nasty disposable nappies after my lovely fluffy white terries but they come in very useful around the house for mopping up spills now .

[Guest]

 

Everywhere seems to sell the pastic pants nowadays, and they come in funky colours and patterns - when I had them they were just boring plastic!

[Cookie]

I used washable nappies with my second child and my only regret was that I didn't use them with my first!

 

I used all-in-ones - ie fastened with velcro and you didn't have to put plastic wraps or pants over the top. I absolutely loved them, and even O's Nursery, after an initial raised eyebrow, loved them too. No nappy rash or leaks unlike with my DS who was in disposables.

 

Our local council now gives you a £50 grant to buy washable nappies and many other councils around the country do so as well.

 

Re the tumble drying, in the winter I used to tumble a full load of about 12 nappies on half heat for 15 minutes and then line dry. In the summer I just dried on the line with no problems.

 

I think they're fab and I loved DD's big, fat pattable bottom in washable nappies!!

 

Love,

Cookie. xx

[Popcorn]

We're going down the cotton reusable nappie route, but we've also looked at the pro's and con's of both.

 

The constant washing of the nappies is wasted enery, but it does seem far better than having millions of disposables being thrown in a land fill - and of course they don't contain all the chemicals. There are around 8 million disposable nappies thrown away everyday and they can take between 200-500 years to decompse.

 

You can get bio-degradable disposalbes, but they cost a blummin fortune

 

It's a little bit of hobsons choice, so you have to make the right one for you and how you view your contributions to a more environmentally life-style having looked at all the options.

 

Cookie - what make were they? We've bought bambino mio...give them a try.

 

 

[melcotton]

We used reusables and haven't looked back..

Still be glad when the last ones out of nappies though!!

 

Melx

[becks]

I would definitley give it another go if I ever manage to get pregnant again! I used terry squares which were good but I think if I tried them again i'd use all in ones. A friend of mine went to the baby show when she was pregnant and spent £450 on clothies and her baby is only about 5 weeks old and she's selling them on e bay alraady! Alot of them she hasn't even taken out of the packet!

[Guest]

 

Whe Owen was born, his legs were so loooooooong, none of his brand new, newborn size, sleepsuits fitted him, so I had to go round the ward handing them out to all the other mothers - I was GUTTED!

[PurpleHen]

Gina - do let us know how you get on. We are going to try for a baby soon and I have been keeping a vague eye on nappies. I think there is a local cleaning company round here who will collect and deliver a weeks worth of nappies for you each week, thereby getting rid of the drying problem.

 

Nearer the time I think I will have to investigate this better with costs etc - but I know the local NCT magazine highly recommends this service.

[Happymama]

i looked into them a while ago but decided they were a bit too "green" for me! I do try my best to be environmentally friendly but some things are beyond me! We started off using cloth nappies with our daughter but didn't last long as the washing was endless. I also really wonder whether all the extra washing and tumbling drying actually makes them environmentally friendly. Its unbelieveable that is this day and age they can't make completely biodegradable nappies isn't it!

 

I've got twins and I use them!

 

But I don't tumble dry them. I have 40 (probably 30 would have done) and just hang them on the washing line, or if it's sop wet for days like this week, they just go on a washing line over the bath. I might tumble them for 10 mins warm, 10 mins on cold just to drive the last dampness out of them and soften them, if I remember to take them down in time.

 

I use Motherease, they're pre-shaped and use press-studs, and are adjustable from newborn to age 3+ (DS was turned 3 when he came out of them). Just Google Motherease nappies (you need wraps - four per child technically but we had 8 (that's over the three years, each).

 

I will have saved well over £3k in cash all accounted for by the time the twins are out of them. That's a family car, or one hell of a family holiday. With us, it was an economy, rather than a saving, as we never had the money to start with.

 

I don't use them on holiday, and if I go into town for any length of time, I don't, as I don't fancy carrying TWO wet soggy dirty nappies around if they need changing. I used to with DS, as that was just one. I am human, after all.

 

They're brilliant, and of course I'll be able to sell half of them on after. The first half I had with DS are looking a bit fragged round the edges now, it's the tape, and they're a bit thin. But they're in their 6th year, now!

 

Two nappy buckets = one wash every two days. How hard is that?

 

BTW, you can get OKO nappies, these are disposable fully and that means rottable, not the horrible things masquerading as disposable. Boots used to sell them but I don't know if they do now - maybe big branches - but again, Google for a supplier.

[red]

 

Whe Owen was born, his legs were so loooooooong, none of his brand new, newborn size, sleepsuits fitted him, so I had to go round the ward handing them out to all the other mothers - I was GUTTED!

I'd have sniped off the feet and bought him long socks!!

[red]

I really shouldn't get so interested in these posts because I'm neither a mother nor an expectant mother but i am getting married at the end of the year and hopes of a family are just around the corner. If all my dreams come true and we are lucky enough to have a family we will do the washable nappy thing too - if I think about my mother and everything she did, it really can't be that difficult - after all, I have a state of the art washing machine to make my life easier. The Landfill stats are very scary and all things balanced I agree with Gina that the energy used washing isn't as bad as the legacy of landfill that we are leaving to our future generations.

[Cookie]

Cookie - what make were they? We've bought bambino mio...give them a try.

 

I used Kooshies Ultras - all in one nappies that didn't need the wrap or plastic pants. They basically look like disposables but are washable. I used fleece liners that I made myself, that were brilliant.

 

I tried the Kooshies Classics too, that need a wrap. They were fine, but the Ultras were just so easy-peasy that they won the day.

 

I felt like I had to sell the idea of washable nappies to Nursery and the OH , so was keen to make the whole things as straightforward as possible!

 

I bought mine from the PHP Baby Catalogue: http://www.thebabycatalogue.com/departments.asp?dept=7

 

I've heard good things of the Bambino Mio - let us know how you get on

 

Love,

Cookie. xx

[Happymama]

Cookie - what make were they? We've bought bambino mio...give them a try.

 

I used Kooshies Ultras - all in one nappies that didn't need the wrap or plastic pants. They basically look like disposables but are washable. I used fleece liners that I made myself, that were brilliant.

 

I tried the Kooshies Classics too, that need a wrap. They were fine, but the Ultras were just so easy-peasy that they won the day.

 

I felt like I had to sell the idea of washable nappies to Nursery and the OH , so was keen to make the whole things as straightforward as possible!

 

I bought mine from the PHP Baby Catalogue: http://www.thebabycatalogue.com/departments.asp?dept=7

 

I've heard good things of the Bambino Mio - let us know how you get on

 

Love,

Cookie. xx

'S funny, but horses for courses. I didn't like the Ultras precisely because of the waterproof outer fixed to them. They take longer to dry (bearing in mind I don't use the tumble dryer to dry them). I got my Motherease from PHP too.

 

And I've got a Moltex OKO sample coming my way. Will let you know if it's any good.

[red]

The Bambino Mio website is very good - I've already put it in my "favourites" in case we get lucky and have a family

[Trish]

http://www.greenbabyco.com/acatalog/Green_Baby_Green_Baby_washable_nappies_25.html

 

We used these 16 years ago and they were brilliant then. I didn't use the liner things they had, I had a load of ordinary terry nappies that we cut in half then folded to fit. We also added a bidegradable flushaway liner and hey presto washable nappies that were mainly clean as the messy stuff stayed in the liner and went down the loo. It was nice to have the covers serperate as they dried much quicker and in most cases only needed washing after a days use as they rarely got damp even

[Popcorn]

Oh, some fab ideas and suggested products on here.

 

I will definatly use reusables, and will let you know how I get on with the bambino ones. I got a whole load from Ebay including all the extras, buckets, laundry nets, washing powder, liners etc etc for £50. I have got some organic disposable ones just for the first couple of days while I am getting my head around stuff, and I guess they will come in hndy if I am out and about. I'm hoping I won't need them though, and will start as I mean to go on.

 

The motherease sound great too, as do the kooshies.

 

Will bookmark the links.

 

Good luck Jackie - you'll have loads of fun trying!

[Mrs Blue Sky]

I used motherease for my three, same ones each time, and have now passed them on to a friend, and she will pass them on again! I certainly didn't boil wash the ones that were only wet, in fact just a rinse through and a hand wring is perfectly adequate if you're pushed. The pooey ones got put in a lidded bucket with a few drops of tea tree oil, and washed when it was full - after a while the wet ones are more numerous than the pooey ones so I didn't run out of nappies; the tea tree oil kept the smell down and I would hot wash them every three days or so. I had three dozen in the various sizes, and outer wraps too. They dried fine on the line, or on an airer over the bath. You're not supposed to use fabric conditioner as this affects the absorbency.

 

If I was going out or away for a few days I would use disposables - life's too short to use terries away from home!

 

An unlooked-for advantage with terries is that you HAVE to change them sooner than you might a disposable, so you know your baby's bottom is always fresh and not pressed up against a wee-sodden nappy. Apparently the water-retaining granules in disposables can, if left on too long, travel up a girl's urethra and cause all manner of problems.

 

I don;t know how biodegradable these biodegradable nappies actually are - they must still take hundreds of years to degrade, unless they're just made of cotton wadding or something, in which case I would be inclined to put them on the compost and have done with it!

 

When we started potty training I had some terry knickers/pants with a waterproof outer layer, so the children could pull them up and down themselves - I made sure potty training happened over summer holidays so that "accident" ones were just rinsed under the tap and they dried on the line easy-peasy.

 

Go for it Gina! You'll be fine. (and the moral high ground is a fine place to be )

[Mrs Blue Sky]

Oh I forgot - the surveys that find that all the washing/drying etc makes terries worse environmentally than disposables are commissioned by...... Unilever! who make disposable nappies

[Trish]

There's a surprise

[Popcorn]

Thanks Heather!

 

Will do my very best anyway Like the teatree tip too - good idea, and I had no idea about fabric softener taking the absorbancy away either. I am a bit heavy handed with that usually

 

The Bambino nappies are to be used with a liner, but I have no idea how abosrbant they are, or whether baby will still feel a bit wet or pooey.

[ali-s]

I used disposables with Jack.

When Natalie came along I bought Kooshies.

The Kooshies worked very well and were easy to wash and dry. The only drawback I found was that baby tights or trousers are not generous enough in the bottom area for the washable nappy (obviously designed to be used with a slimmer disposable nappy) . This meant I often had to buy clothes a size larger to get her little fat botty in

[Diana1]

I've spent ages on the web researching this topic. www.nappymania.com and www.twinkleontheweb.co.uk are very good websites. I have bought a newborn starter kit with a selection of different designs. When the baby comes and I get some hands on experience I will buy a few more of the design i like best.

 

Like Gina I have bought a few bio degradable disposables for the hospital and early days and days out