Eco Baby

[Upahill]

I'm expecting my first in September and researching the millions of cloth nappy options at the moment. Anyone have any personal experience of a particular brand or know of somewhere to get them second hand (or is that too icky? )

[Ranter]

Not sure why I looked at this thread as I neither have children, nor intend to have children. But, I've looked, so I'll throw-in my twopennyworth:

Our local freecycle group often has (laundered) second-hand nappies available. Might be worth you registering with your local group & see if anything useful is offered.

BTW - best wishes - I'm not anti-children, just don't want any of my own.

[Upahill]

lol ranter, I am sooooo not into children myself! I'm having to ask people at what stage after the birth do their eyes open?
But having got myself and the OH into this fine mess we're determined to do it green!
Thanks for the tip, I'm a member of my local freecycles but they're slow to take off over here - guess we just don't have the population.

[glenniedragon]

We used kooshies for our offspring when they were small, I then sold them on ebay for nearly as much as we paid for them 3 years previously!
They were as easy as disposable nappies as they have velco on the sides and have colourful waterproof outerlayer already- so no plastic pants!

If you use them remember not to put softner in the load as that reduces the absorbancy, and hang them out as often as possible as the sun bleaches them so they dont look so icky. Work on having AT LEAST 15 (5 soaking in bin, 5 drying 5 in use) but more, especially early on, will not go a miss.

I have 3 hints that I give all my pregnant friends......
1) During pregnancy -always wear comfy pants, it doesn't matter what you wear on top- as long as you have comfy pants (you can get under-the-bump pants)
2) During birth - pack a travel alarm clock if you're having a hospital birth as during the night everyone has their curtains drawn and you can't see the ward clock when you're feeding (I was in 3 nights post-caesarean and this was a life saver)
3) At home - sleep when baby sleeps and ignore housework....if people offer help take it!

good luck
kind thoughts
Deb

[Mandyz]

I'm expecting my first in September and researching the millions of cloth nappy options at the moment. Anyone have any personal experience of a particular brand or know of somewhere to get them second hand (or is that too icky? )

Congratulations.
My best recommendation I can make is a fabulous forum called The Earthy Birthy Thought Swap. The women there can answer ANY questions you might come up with! I love it there and I don't even have children yet (although that should change within the year).
The url is http://p081.ezboard.com/btheearthybirthythoughtswap
I am MandyMoondaughter over there.

It is there that I first learned about FBWs and found other women using cloth moonpads and divacups.

[Shirley]

Firstly - Congratulations Upahill!!!! September is a fab month to have a baby...

Secondly... Mandyz - that is a fab forum with lots of advice....

Third... ABSOLUTELY nothing wrong with secondhand cloth bums... and an awful lot of GOOD about it.

We have a cloth nappy bit on our ivillage board - Andy... perhaps we could do something about green parenting on ssish????

Upahill...did you know that you can even get bamboo nappies??!!

One thing I would suggest - contact your local council as most of them offer incentives to encourage people to use cloth nappies.

I totally agree with Deb's recommendations!! Particularly number 3.... !!!

[Chickenlady]

There are so many to buy now, aren't there? I was less enlightened with my babies, sadly, and used disposables!!!!!!

I am making up for it now though!

This is a good site: www.plushpants.co.uk. I buy my reusable sanitary towels from them. The woman who runs it is really nice and the service is good.

[hedgewizard]

We used bambino mio, and I'd recommend buying second hand because the older and more washed they are the softer they get. Don't use one of the soaking additives, they don't work all that well... just put a few drops of tea-tree in, store the bucket somewhere as cool as poss, and throw a tablespoon of bicarb in if it starts to smell of ammonia. Finally if you want them really soft in winter but can't line-dry, give them a tumble for two minutes on high heat when they're *nearly* dry then bring them back inside to finish drying. Oh, and it's worth forking out for the posher nappy covers, they're so much softer than the basic ones.

[Wombat]

lol ranter, I am sooooo not into children myself! .

Neither was I Upahill, neither was I..............people used to tell me it was different when they are your own, but I didn't believe 'em.............bugger me if they weren't right!

Nev

[LSP]

I used Kooshies, but my (only) baby outgrew them much earlier than the 'normal' time making it quite expensive. With hindsight, I would have chosen a 'two-part' nappy system. Enjoy the pregnancy and the baby. They grow up so quickly.

[albert onglebod]

Whatever happened to the terry squares?
We bought 24 for child number 1 and added another 12 when child no 2 turned up 17 months later (number 1 was still in nappies).That was it.No thinking about correct sizes,you just folded them a different way.
There is still the odd nappy knocking around being used for cleaning nearly 18 years later .

[LSP]

Whatever happened to the terry squares?

We used 'Muslin Squares' as well. Hellish expensive to buy as well -- can't think why -- but a good investment indeed. These have since been converted into hankies (which started my journey on selling organic cotton hankies!) and some are still used by son to clean mucky fingers at the table.

Again, had I a choice then, I would have opted for the organic version. Much softer in feel and much less harm to the environment.

[Upahill]

Thanks for all the replies! ( And words of wisdom Wombat, I'll have to wait and see!)
I'm going to scoot round ebay and buy some second hand pre foldy ones ( once I fully understand what combinations I need) and use the terry squares as wipes/spares I think. I can also use them as pads for inside the bra too I'm told be I'm in denial about that bit

I've been very lucky and managed to womble up the car seat, playpen, slings, pushchair and some clothes already as donations so hopefully I can buy everything else second hand too

Now off to the new parenting section to learn more.....

[lotus_eater]

Hello!! and congratulations. It's my first post here, was planning to post an intro first but got distracted by this thread.

I just had my sixth baby in March and we're using disana organic tie on nappies with the woollen wraps. The tie-ons only cost £1.60 each (which is dirt cheap compared to most and they should fit from birth to potty, give and take a booster liner when they are bigger and the woollen wraps can be aired and doesn't need washing, in fact only every 6 weeks if not soiled with poo). If you are feeling up to it, you could always try natural infant hygiene i.e. not using a nappy at all from birth but instead tuning into your baby's cues and behaviour (I pretty much know when my babe is about to poo as she behaves differently). Women in Africa and Asia (some) practise this and my good friend living in Reading does too.


Good luck with your birth, my advise is to have a homebirth (trust me, I'm a midwife :))

love
aida

[Hillbilly]

Hiya


Lots of good avice above - especially the Ebay thing :-)

Also try www.hunnybeez.co.uk - great parenting site and a nappy sale section where you can get brilliant bargains.

Your local council may offer cashback scheme. It depends really on funding. Ours just had theirs withdrawn to go towards paper recycling...still trying to work that one out really...

GET A SLING. Hands free, close, loving parenting - Hunnybeez 'AP' section will explain all or try www.thebabywearer.com Theres also a bit about EC 'Elimination Communication' which is a no-nappy ethos - as someone mentioned above.

PS I'm a nappy advisor so if you have any queries feel free to email or PM me and I'll try to help. I'm a huge fan of TotsBots but thats a personal choice.