Before we had Little Miss Greener we had decided we would look into reusable nappies. We were mainly driven by the waste impact of disposable nappies. By the time a child is potty trained they could have churned through 4000-6000 nappies. And those nappies, all sent to landfill, will take 500 years to break down. We just couldn’t cope with the image of a mountain of nappies that was going to outlive us!
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There was a second incentive. Using reusable nappies can save you money! On average you can save £1475 by using reusable nappies. Pretty good right? On top of that we were able to get money back from a local scheme encouraging you to use reusable nappies. You can find out if your area has a Real Nappy Council Incentive Scheme here. Just make sure you get an itemised receipt!
What are they like to use?
Little Miss Greener is our first, so we don’t really have a reference point for using disposable nappies, but, after nearly two years of using the same nappies – I can’t see how it could be any easier!
Many reusable nappies will go from newborn to potty training which use poppers at the front to adjust the size of the nappy, but there are options just for premature babies and newborns. If you buy the newborn to potty trained instead of buying 6000 nappies you buy 20-30. That is a huge reduction in the amount of waste you send to landfill! We ended up with 22 which seemed to give us a good amount to cycle through using, washing and drying.
There are also a few different approaches to how the nappies are designed and how you would work with them.
We talked to a friend at Naturally Baby who talked us through the options and helped us figure out what would be the best for you. Seeing them, and having a got with them was definitely helpful! Reusable nappies pretty much break down into three types:
- Cover with detachable insert – these have a waterproof cover and an absorbent liner insert that you can just change the insert rather than the whole thing
- All-in-one – have the waterproof cover and absorbent liner all stitched together as one unit
- Cover with Pocket insert – these have a pocket in the waterproof cover for absorbent inserts
Now, an All-in-one nappy, would just use that as you would a disposable nappy. They make a mess you change the whole thing. A pocket insert, if it’s just wet you just have to swap out the insert. The cover with detachable lining gives you the option to do either.
We went for the Close version of a cover with detachable insert from Naturally Baby. It gave us the most options in terms of adding absorbency and just changing the liner if we needed to. After two years we have mostly just changed the whole thing though!
How do you wash reusable nappies?
Every evening we do a nappy load, which tends to include the cloths we’ve used, and any clothes she’s trashed through the day.
Now she is older and poops are more solid, there is the job of cleaning as much off into the toilet as you can. After the first few nappy changes you get pretty used to poop pretty quick. (You too guys, she pushed a human out, nappies are the LEAST you can do!).
They have a rinse cycle and then a wash at 60°C with a non-bio washing powder. That does add to the carbon footprint of them if you’re not using energy from renewable sources. We air dry them where we can, but have invested in a heat pump tumble dryer with a high energy rating that will dry them more efficiently when we just can’t get them dry before we need them again.
Concessions
We have had to make one concession and switch our reusable nappies for disposables at night. As Little Miss Greener has started getting through the night more, the nappies, even with all the inserts we could add, just weren’t holding up to the amount of pee. So, to save on changing bedding every night, we started using Kit & Kin biodegradeable nappies which just seem to hold up more over night!
Where can you get them from?
As with anything, the greenest option is to get them second hand. Check out ebay, Preloved UK or even local see if there are any local nappy libraries where you can loan or get a demo.
If you just can’t hack second hand nappies, you can take a look at the ranges available here:
Are reusable nappies the right choice?
For me, definitely. Aside from washing and drying, they are just as easy as disposables, if not easier because you don’t run out! They work just as well under most conditions and in the long run, after the initial outlay, save you money.
And if we decide to have another kid, we already have them! We won’t have that cost again so we compound our savings, and the positive environmental impact we have had.
Have you used reusable nappies? Share your experiences in the comments below!
GREAT POST! its interesting to see another dads experience on reusables!
We have also used reusables from the beginning. To start with we did use the trick of folding muslin cloths and ‘Nappi Nippas’ when H was a tiny new born (which is always hard to believe now)
We also came to the idea of reusable nappies from an environmental perspective initially (working for a sustainable transport charity I felt I couldn’t use disposables really) There’s a huge amount of options out there as you summarise very well! We ended up getting a few of each type second hand through a variety of faceballs groups etc. to work out which worked best. The cost saving is a superb bonus!
We eventually settled on Baba and Boo for day time use – Pocket design with bamboo inserts, these have some amazing patterns on them that have a near cult like following…We really haven’t had to buy many brand new at all other than the occasional cool design… I really like the ‘Northern lights’ and ‘camping’ patterns.
Overnight we use the Tots Bots Bamboozle with additional boosters which have done us well so far and last through from 7:30pm to 6:30/7:00 am the following day with minimal leaking situations that I can think of!
We also have used bamboo wipes (we have the cheeky wipes brand but I think there may be better out there?) These have lasted us nearly 20 months so far and still going strong.
We have enough of each to wash every other night and haven’t been too bothered about pre-wash cleaning – but then we have been picking up after our dog for a few years and it’s no worse than that!
We wash at 40 for the most part then do a ‘strip wash’ at 60 every now and then. We have persevered with air drying as the brands we have don’t take very well to tumble drying without shortening the life span and waterproofing.
Again we don’t have any experience of disposables to compare to but can’t fault the experience we have had!