I’d been half interested in trying reusable cloth nappies with my first baby, but we lived on a boat at the time and (for me at least!) it would have been impossible. No washing machine, no space for drying, loads of boat admin to do…
Fast forward to baby 2. We now live in a house and I felt much more up for it. I’d heard about The Nappy Shed – which is Oxford’s local cloth nappy shop. It’s run by Rosie from her home in Marston, and as well as selling a wide range of (mostly UK made) nappies, Rosie does demonstrations of the many different kinds of nappies and lends out nappy trial kits.
I was really keen to borrow a kit as I knew nothing about reusable nappies and they are quite a big upfront investment (although work out cheaper over time than disposable nappies). I wanted to see first of all if I liked using them enough to fork out, and, if I did, to know more about what type of nappies we’d want.
I got in touch with Rosie to request a kit and a few weeks later, once she had a kit available for me to try, I went to her house to collect it. It’s a small white plastic bin and inside are all the nappies and a mesh bag (we’ll come to that later). It costs £5 to borrow the kit for a month which goes towards Rosie’s running costs.
Rosie gave me a full demo of each nappy and talked through the washing instructions. I was worried about leaks, but she explained how to do up the nappies to make them secure (they sit lower at the back than disposable nappies and you have to make sure the leg elastic is snugly round the top of the leg).
Her enthusiasm is infectious so I was feeling pretty excited about the whole thing when I got home… but then life took over and it sat there in the corner for the next two weeks burning a hole. I imagine this is quite a standard story for the nappy kits – we’re all so busy juggling so many plates and it’s quite daunting to think about learning how to use and wash all the nappies.
But once I started, as with most things, it was fine! So if you do trial kit I urge you to dive straight in! The kit comes with a list of the nappies with instructions and I worked my way through it in order as I was quite worried about mixing up the different bits of nappies.
There were eight different types of nappies in my kit including two terry’s nappies (remember those white square ones which are folded into nappy shape?). The other nappies are all nappy-shaped and I felt much more comfortable with those.
They all fasten round the baby with poppers or Velcro, and some have additional poppers so you can make the nappies shallower to fit smaller babies. I was surprised to learn that those nappies last from birth to potty – I’d assumed you’d have to buy different ones as they grew. So it really is a good investment when you think how many wears you’d get out of them.
The nappies all have inserts – white pads which are either permanently attached/part of the nappy, popper on, or are just placed in the nappy loose (either in a pocket or on top). When the nappy is dirty you remove the insert, if it’s next to the baby’s skin. Or if it’s in a pocket or an all in one nappy, you change the whole nappy. You can buy extra inserts for most of the nappies, I think, for extra absorbency.
All the nappies have an outer layer which is either fluffy or shiny or waterproof-type material. Some of these are part of the nappy, and some are called ‘wraps’ – like gym knickers – which are separate and go over the top of the cloth part of the nappy. Some very very cool designs on these!
Cloth nappies are made of different materials too, and there’s a pay off with the various choices over absorbency, washability and softness. To be honest, this was too much for sleep-deprived brain to cope with and I didn’t really get my head round all the pros and cons, but I know I loved the feel of the soft fleecy microfibre. It made me wish I could buy pants made of fleece…
Washing! You rinse off what you can of poo-ey nappies and place dirty nappies in the mesh bag in the white plastic bin that the kit comes with. I was worried about the smell but it was completely contained within the bin, not one whiff escaped apart from when I lifted the lid to put another nappy in. The mesh bag is great as it means you don’t have to touch the nappies again, you just stick the whole thing in the washing machine.
I put the bag in the washing machine with my normal washing rather than separate loads. One idea is to do a rinse cycle first with just the nappies, and then add the rest of your washing and do a normal cycle. My washing machine is the work of the devil so I couldn’t do this, and my baby’s poo isn’t too offensive yet as he’s only 3 months.
But I think I’d definitely want to do a separate cycle once solids come into the equation. You can also buy disposable degradable liners to go in the nappy which I’ll look into, to avoid having to deal quite so much with a poo-ey nappy.
I didn’t really notice my washing load increase, but I didn’t use the cloth nappies 24 hours a day. I probably used 3 a day max. I couldn’t face doing it overnight as the thought of getting any less sleep makes me want to cry. I started just using them when we were at home in the day, and then worked up to him wearing them when we went out.
Cloth nappies are a bit more work than disposables, with the washing. I also found it harder to know when they needed changing as they don’t bulge like disposables, so I probably ended up doing it more regularly than I would for disposables.
But it was definitely manageable and I think well worth it given the benefits. I also REALLY liked the way they looked and felt on my baby – so soft and cute!
So I was converted to cloth nappies and bought 6 ‘pre-loved’ nappies from Rosie when I returned the kit a month later. That’s my starter pack, and my plan for now is to also continue using disposables at night or for longer outings (because they are bulkier to carry around)… and then maybe work up over time.
I went for the ones which are all in one (meaning the inserts are part of the nappy) as I found these really convenient and easy to use. We are a messy house and I could see separate inserts disappearing!.
I really recommend The Nappy Shed and doing a trial kit. It’s such a bargain and a great way to see if cloth nappies are for you! The sort of nappy I thought I’d like, I didn’t at all, and I wouldn’t have expected liking the all-in-one ones, so it goes to show how useful it is to try before you buy!
The Nappy Shed’s website is here.
Rosie is so passionate about cloth nappies and very generous with her knowledge and time. We’re really lucky to have someone like her running something like this in Oxford. So to finish, I thought it would be nice to hear from her, and asked her these questions:
What’s your favourite cloth nappy?
I don’t think I have a favourite nappy as I feel they all have their pros and cons. I like pocket nappies for their washability and dryability and I suspect that all brands are pretty similar (though I do like the folded insert in Wonderoos). For bedtime I like LittleLambs bamboo two-part nappies because they work, they’re cheap, they’re made by a UK company and they’re made of oekotex bamboo. If people have plenty of space for drying I think these are great nappies to use all the time. I’m quite keen on old-fashioned terry squares – cheap, easy to wash and quick to dry, indestructable, and make great floor cloths when you no longer need nappies. They’re fine when teamed with a good wrap – rather under-rated nappies IMO. My least favourite nappies are all-in-ones (difficult to wash effectively and slow to dry) and I don’t like microfibre nappies (not very absorbent, go smelly and grey with age, not a natural fabric).
What advice would you give to someone thinking about using cloth nappies?
Well, I can write reams on that! Either do a nappy trial (if you can) or buy a selection of different types of nappies to try – don’t rush out and buy a whole load of one sort. Don’t bother with newborn nappies unless you can hire them or borrow them off a friend – they will only fit for a few weeks – use disposables until you’ve got used to your baby and got feeding established – by then your baby will fit in “birth-to-potty” nappies. Be careful buying second-hand nappies – though there are some bargains to be had occasionally, they’re often not the bargain they seem! There’s a few pages of nappy choosing advise on The Nappy Shed website.
October 2018
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