Nappy Liners

[thesunflowergal]

Hi Everyone

I am going to start using re useables, and I am very very new to this. My friend is going to give us the nappies, and I think she said and the covers (???). She could not remember the name of them though.
But I was wondering what sort of liners are the best to use please? Also which nappy soak is best? Other than a nappy bin, and some form of messy bag (for when we are out) is there anything else that I will need please.

Thanks Nikki xx

[barefootlinzi]

Hi,

I can help with your questions as I am a nappy advisor!

There are 2 types of liners; flushable and washable. Flushable liners are designed to be flushed away and washable ones are washed with the nappies. Washable liners are made of fleece and are best for younger babies who are still in the runny poo stage, as they soak up the poo and help prevent stains on your nappies. They are good for keeping baby dry, as the wetness goes through the liner but not back so baby stays dry. Once you reach weaning, and baby begins to poo more solid, it can be dfficult and messy to remove the poo from the liner before washing. While baby still has runny poo your washing machine can cope with this and it washes away no problem. However, solid poo should not go in the washing machine and needs to go in the loo! This is when flushable liners come in handy. Flushable liners come on a roll and are like thick toilet paper/kitchen roll. When baby does a poo, you simply put the liner plus poo in the loo and flush it away. These liners do not keep baby as dry as fleece liners, but that can be an advantage at potty training when you want your child to know it is wet.

As for nappy soak, you do not need to soak your nappies (unless you want to). Most people dry pail, so store the dirty nappies in a lidded bucket until it is full enough to do a load of washing. If you use a nappy mesh (like a large holed laundry bag that lines the bucket) then you do not need to touch dirty nappies, just lift out the mesh with the nappies inside and put it all in the machine. I do not like the mess of draining off dirty water from soaked nappies before putting them onto wash! You can add some tea tree or lavendar oil to the dry bucket if you are worried about smells.

If you do not soak nappies with a nappy soak, then it is a good idea to add some nappy sanitiser to your detergent. As i work for Lollipop, I use and reccommend Lollipop nappy sanitiser! It is called Clean and Fresh and you can get it on the website www.teamlollipop.co.uk or by your local advisor, who is a lovely lady called Vanessa. You can also buy liners on the net or through Vanessa. You just add one tablespoon of snaitiser to the wash and you can wash on 30 or 40 and you nappies will be sanitised.

So, if you want to know what is useful to have then i suggest a lidded nappy bucket, flushable or washable liners, sanitiser, a wet nappy bag and have you thought about washable wipes? If you use washable wipes instead of disposable baby wipes you can save up to £250! You can buy them specially or just get a load of cheap flannels and they do the job just fine. If you are washing nappies anyway it is no extra bother to wash wipes too, plus you eliminate the chemicals that are in baby wipes.

Phew, this turned into a long post! Once I start on about nappies I can't stop! Hope you found ths helpful

linzi

[thesunflowergal]

Linzi

Thank you very much that was very helpful.
I did not know about dry pailing, that sounds like a much better idea. To be honest I would have been a bit worried about someone knocking the bucket over, with all that yucky water etc in. I like the idea of the nappy mesh too, thank you. Wipes seem like the next logical step, so i will have a think about those too.

Can you use these sort of nappies over night? My friend said that you can't, but that seems to defeat the object really She also seems to think that the nappys only last about 3 hours, is that normal? I guess that is a bit dependant on brand.

Thanks again Hun.

Nikki xx

[Annpan]

Yes, there is a bit of a knack to getting used to frequent changes with re-usable ( I found once I was in the routine it was OK)

I used reusable liners, which was actually a cheap fleece blanket cut into small bits (around 4"x7")

I used a 'dry pail' but I didn't find a nappy bucket big enough - I got a white plastic bin from IKEA - it has a close fitting hinged top on it, they do different sizes I think we got the biggest. When that was full we just put the lot of it in the washing machine at 60oC - no mesh bag (which I think would effect the agitation in the washing machine) and no sanitiser - If LO had a tummy bug I washed the nappies at 90 to kill everything.

Good luck - I found it a difficult transition, and gave up at various times along the way. Don't push yourself too hard, it might just take a whilt to figure out

[thesunflowergal]

Ann pan

Thanks for that. The bin idea might be better for us, as come October/November ish we will have two in them. Liked your idea for liners too.

What do you do at night time? I don't fancy loads of extra washing due to leaky nappys

Thanks Nikki

[Annpan]

I used disposables at night - still do, though we use re-usables for nap time (E is toilet trained, but just during the day, and she still has a 3 hour nap ) I also used disposables for day trips.

When we finish the current bag of disposable (nature baby-care) we will use re-usables at night, my plan is to take her to the loo after her night time routine, and take her to the toilet again first thing.

If she was in nappies all the time I would change her nappy 5-10 mins after her last feed and at every feed during the night, then again before first feed in the morning. But I am sure some-one will be along in a minute who does reusable during the night.

[barefootlinzi]

I have a confession - I am a nappy advisor who uses disposables at night
This is because since my lo was 9 months old he has slept on his front with his knees under and his bum in the air and in a cloth nappy the wee would just run up out the top of the nappy
But, it is possible to use cloth at night and I did until 9 months. If you wish to not change at night you need a more absorbant nappy, but as I dont know the brand you are using i cannot say how absorbant they are. It also depends on how much your baby wees during the night. It is possible to boost the nappy using boosters or folded muslins/terry nappies to add extra absorbancy.

As for more frequent changes, you may well find that this is the case. But again it is hard to say because it depends on the nappy and how much the child wees. Also age makes a dfference - a child of 5/6 months who is not yet weaned will wee a lot because the diet is the largest amount of liqiud the child will take in daily before they slow down at weaning.

I dont have a problem with the mesh bag affecting agitation because if you leave the bag open the nappies soon tumble out. Most of the time the mesh bag is empty when i unload the washing machine.

[Urban Ayisha]

with regards to re-usable wipes, i have been using the idea from the 'selfsufficientish bible' which is fleece cut up into squares approximately 3" x 3" (no need to hem as fleece doesnt fray) soaked in chamomile tea with a dollop of honey. i keep them in a lunch box and they work brilliantly! you can just chuck 'em into the nappy pail to be washed with the nappies after use.

i use re-usable nappies at night and have never experienced any problems with leaking.

with regards to the sloppy poo/hard poo/fleece/disposable nappy liner conundrum, i find when the poo is hard it literally rolls off the fleece into the loo so no need for sluicing (a messy yucky business!). i would, in every scenario, choose fleece over the disposable paper liners for many reasons: its cheaper in the long run, they dont stain, they are softer against babies skin, are more absorbent, dry quickly after washing and are less fiddly (not all nappy liners are the same size and i found i had to fold them etc to make them fit). After seven months of using the disposable liners, i had a sudden brainwave when i discovered loads of fleece off-cuts in my sewing box and now wish i had discovered them a lot earlier, they are brilliant! I think the best and cheapest option would be to buy a couple of metres of fleece from a fabric shop or online or whatever, and make up a load of liners and bum wipes yourself. you could even choose funky bright colours and patterns!
with all this said, i have three rolls of disposable nappy liners i am no longer going to use to give away if anyone wants to try them...

i've also been soaking in nappy sanitizer for 7 months then having to drain off the smelly liquid of doom, reading this thread i might stop soaking and just putting the sanitizer in the washing machine. d'oh!

[missy]

my daughter is 10 weeks old and we dry pail. i just put a bit of the bio d nappy soak in the wash. i have some flushable liners but don't think much of them, though that may change when she goes from breast to solids

[grubbysoles]

(Sorry this is so long....)

My 2 year old had cloth nappies (Tots Bots 'Fluffles') - I switched to dry pailing as I found I could only get about 5 nappies in the wash when they had been soaked as they got so heavy! For odour control I used to dampen a muslin, drop a couple of drops of lavender oil on it, and drape it over the top of the nappy bucket before putting the lid on. That way I was washing a load of nappies about once every 3 days. They were in a mesh bag and always tumbled out of the bag during the wash. I used flushable liners - I used a brand called Popli as I found them to be really soft, and if they have just wee on them and no poo they will go through the wash quite happily. I can wash them and re-use them several times before they start to fall apart.

I used the Fluffles at nighttime - they came with fleecey liners and I would just stuff a couple of extras in for night time. It makes for a bulky nappy but young Scarlett didn't seem too bothered by this, and we didn't have any major problems with leaks. Anyway, leaks aren't the end of the world. I'd still rather have to stick the babygro in the wash in the morning rather than chuck disposables in landfill to not rot for a squillion years.

I usually washed them at 40c with some sanitiser, but would give them a blast at 60c every now and then to refresh them, and once every few months would use some fabric softener on them (although you can't do this very often as it affects absorbency).

We had no major issues with nappy rash (despite all my friends telling me how awful it would be - funny how people who have never used cloth are so quick to tell you all it's drawbacks...), no major problems with leaks, and thanks to my sister buying the nappies for us as a present we saved an absolute fortune! Also, I think nothing looks quite as cute as a baby crawling around in a big fluffy nappy With the covers, I hardly ever put them in the machine - just rinsed them under the tap and used a bit of bog standard hand soap to freshen them up.

The only thing I would say is that, since Scarlett mastered the potty, I have been putting her in eco-disposables at night time. The skin on her bum has got used to being non-nappied and she started getting rashy when she just had the Fluffles on at night. When she was in them all the time it wasn't a problem. Looking forward to using them again for the new baby. You DO have to be quite regular with the changes when using cloth, but in my book there's nothing wrong with a bit of bum hygiene, and once you get in a routine it's no big deal.

Having said that my boyfriend has just told me to add that he found cloth nappies to be a pain in the a*** and prefers disposables. Don't listen to him...



PS - One last benefit of cloth nappies - when your baby is learning to walk and keeps falling down on its bum, it has a nice soft landing!! I'm serious!! That extra padding really comes in handy!

[growingthings]

PS - One last benefit of cloth nappies - when your baby is learning to walk and keeps falling down on its bum, it has a nice soft landing!! I'm serious!! That extra padding really comes in handy!

Absolutely, it's surprising how much of a bump they can absorb.

I won't add anything in regards to the nappies themselves, but as far as wipes go, if you are handy with a machine, I have found that my old pyjamas (no I don't throw ANYTHING away!) made fantastic wipes, I have even made some with fleece on the opposite side, so when I am out I use a spray bottle loaded with water, essential oils etc, and once I have used the cotton side to clean, the fleecy side is great for getting the last of it off!

Also if you do cut your own liners from fleece, I have made mine not an even rectangle, but wider at the bm end if you see what I mean so that it can catch the bits that were leaking off the edges.

Lorna x

[MrsD'ville mkII]

Hi. Also won't add anything to nappy advice as you have plenty to be going on with, but I will add to liners and sanitiser: I've never used sanitiser, have no need for it at all and don't have smelly machine, naps or baby! I use home-made fleece liners, an old blanket my mother found with a very funky pattern, and spent a while last night cutting up an old sweatshirt for nappy wipes - this was a child's sweatshirt and it made absolutely LOADS of wipes. This time I'm just using water, but with DD I used cold chamomile tea with a slug of olive oil in it - Maxim's bum seems to be coping without such fragrant treatment!

We use disps at night as I don't want anything at all disrupting Maxim's sleep, and his nappy is usually very heavy and wet by the morning (I don't change him overnight). Also often use disps if we're out as I find I can't cram trousers over his cloth rump. We've been given all his clothes, can't afford to buy more, so that's just how it has to be for now. At home he's nappy off when not feeding or napping and I don't bother putting trousers on him usually when at home. All saves on the washing! If he is in a nappy I change every 2 hours.

Have fun! As others have said, give yourself a chance with it and maybe don't expect everything to go perfectly first time. There's always the chance the naps you're being given might not suit your LO, it does happen that shape of nappy and shape of baby don't always work together, just worth being aware of that. It doesn't mean cloth per se isn't right for you.

[Bev_B]

Sorry a bit of a late response here, I've used cloth for all three of my girls and all the advise here is great (I didn't use any sanitiser either). If the nappies don't suit from birth keep them to try again later, I found folded muslins were ideal for my last baby when tiny as they were slim, dried quick and were really cheap .
Don't get stressed about anything, with #3 I found everything just fell into place and it was so much easier than when #2 was little.

[thesunflowergal]

Thanks for all your responces ladies, I have learnt heaps and you have come up with some fab ideas.

My friend hasn't sorted them out yet, so I am still waiting. But on mentioning this to hubby, he has said that he will leave if I start to use them , as he is not a Victorian and he does not want piles of used nappies hanging around. I think I will give them a go as soon as he gets a job . Sometimes he is a little odd!!

[Annpan]

A Victorian!!! Disposable nappies only became widley available in the 80s, so hardley Victorian to use terries

Is Hubby out of work then? When we changed to reusables we saved £7 - 8 a week on nappies, that is around £500 pounds a year. Maybe that will interest him? and you don't have dirty nappies lying all over the house, you have one bin/ bucket in the bathroom.