[Closed] Nappies, disposable or reusable?

We line dry baby clothes as much as possible. We haven't been able to since last autumn. I have no idea where you live but it must be much dryer and warmer than Yorkshire.

How about radiators and clothes airers inside? Hope that helps!

And just found this which backs up what I originally said - there are sound reasons to argue for either system - so just use what is best for you.

[url= http://www.kca.com.au/environment/disposableorcloth.htm ]Linky[/url]

Of course, feel free to find contradictory research as I am sure there will be lots of it.

As and when I get my hands on the research my FIL has read, I will post it up.

As I think you mentioned, a disposable liner makes life dead easy - just tip the solids/liner straight down the loo, then nappy in bucket. When the bucket's full just bung 'em in the washer - what could be simpler?

Never got into a routine with re-usables, despite wanting to do our bit for the environment. Tried and failed

And I did say ages ago on a thread just before our two were born that I wanted to use re-usables as well but my wife argued the case that we would have enough on our plates as it is and it would be daft to put even more pressure on us and on our washing machine (which is on more than the telly these days). And I have to admit to thinking she was right - every night I come home from work to chaos - as it is when we have put the girls to bed that we get a chance to wash up food bowls/bottles/clothes/bedding etc and generally we don't sit down till past 9pm. To give ourselves another task to do just increases pressure on us when we really don't need it.

Our washing line about 12 hours after the girls were born (second line now fitted)...
[img] [/img]

mastiles - put the nappy inside the babygro - then you don't have to change both! 😀

There is a third option - use reusables with a laundry service - the collect the dirty ones and return clean ones

For example http://www.cottontails.co.uk/

mastiles - put the nappy inside the babygro - then you don't have to change both!

Tinbred - you are doing it way wrong. Don't blame the car if you don't know how to drive!

Does it matter what side of the fence you s(h)it?

Well the theory is that yes, it does. Hence the fuss.

And I think MF is insane washing that much. We do about two extra loads a week and yes I know we only have one kid, but I still don't understand why you have to do so much flippin laundry?! It makes no sense to me.

You might be able to make your life very much easier by streamlining your processes!

BTW, last time I checked energy cost of re-usables is only similar to disposables if you boil-wash everything and tumble-dry. We dry them on an airer on our (very small) landing upstairs where it's warm. We wash on 40 and we have no problems with smell or rash.

And as for putting a tea tree soaked towel over the bin - why not try a bin with a good fitting lid? A lot easier, and works perfectly in our house.

The link above appears to reference the original 2005 version of the UK study, which was shown to have some significant flaws (e.g. assuming that reusables are washed at 90 degrees and tumble dried, etc). The report was updated in 2008, and the new version suggested that re-usables do have the edge:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaper

We use a combination of re-usable and disposable. I think you can argue either way on the overall environmental impact for manufacture and use, but I think there is a real problem with the sheer volume of landfill that is generated by disposables. Five minutes on Google will show you that the people responsible for providing landfill services clearly think this is a problem.

For example:
http://www.nonwoven.co.uk/reports/PIRA%202006.html

Philip Ward, Director of the UK Government's Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP), was concerned to respond to the EU Landfill directive and divert solids from the landfill route. The points he made were:
...Disposable nappies, at 300-400,000 tonnes (2-3% of domestic waste) are a problem and he is working to persuade consumers to move back to reusables.
This he saw as a battle between convenience and sustainability, and he felt that in the interests of the planet, everyone should be prepared to sacrifice a little convenience. He was hoping to reduce the 90-94% of diaper changes in the UK which now go to disposables...

Of course, feel free to find contradictory research as I am sure there will be lots of it.

but I still don't understand why you have to do so much flippin laundry?! It makes no sense to me.

You might be able to make your life very much easier by streamlining your processes!

And this statement in the revised report shows what a pointless exercise it was and how impossible it is to gauge realistic comparisons between the two...
[i]Washing the nappies in fuller loads or line-drying them outdoors all the time [b](ignoring UK climatic conditions for the purposes of illustration)[/b][/i]
So - if you don't have to tumble dry at all then you use significantly less power? It is like saying you can improve your fuel consumption by not driving your car. Pointless and inconclusive research.

Mother to 3 under age of 2 years - got first one out of nappies before the twins arrived and used terry squares for the first 6 months mostly, then nearly dying of exhaustion and, quite thick indeed, by this stage, realised that if I bought them and just ran up the credit card bill a bit more, it was a bit easier - then I started to do a few shifts at work to earn the money to pay off the credit card and oh joy! it was blissful to get out of the house. 8)

We use the machine as much as is needed

How do you explain the fact that you seem to do 10 times more laundry than we do? I'm saying you could maybe be more efficient with your clothes changing that's all 🙂

And this statement in the revised report shows what a pointless exercise it was and how impossible it is to gauge realistic comparisons between the two...

I've never tumble dried a load of nappies in my life. Still unreasonable?

How do you explain the fact that you seem to do 10 times more laundry than we do? I'm saying you could maybe be more efficient with your clothes changing that's all

I've never tumble dried a load of nappies in my life. Still unreasonable?

I'm a trained children's nurse, and spent 13 years working on paediatric wards. I'd estimate that over 95% od babies were in disposable nappies before admission, very, very few used reusable nappies.

I'd suggest buying shares in the company that produce Sudocrem, basic nappy rash can occur faster with re-usable nappies than disposables, and using a barrier like sudocrem is the best way to avoid the problem, and treat it if it occurs.

I'd suggest if a D&V type illness occurs then use disposables, you'll be stressed enough with an ill child without having to wash shitty terry towelling all the time.

I have no idea what your lifestyle is like nor you ours. To try to tell each other that what we do is the *right* way is, well, rather pointless.

I'm saying you could probably make improvements. Of course, if you like doing all that washing then go ahead 🙂

As for climate, we live in Cardiff which is one of the wettest cities in the UK. As I've been trying to stress previously WE DRY THE NAPPIES INSIDE. Inside my house, rain is not an issue.

We had lots of nappy rash using Motherease nappies, but not with Tots bots. We have had a bit of redness with reusables when she's in them for say 10 hours or so, so we're now (10 months) using a disposable overnight which helps.

For Tinbred's benefit, here's what we do with washables:

Grab baby
Put baby on floor or mat if you are feeling organised
Grab potty
Grab nappy, outer, booster and liner - all in the same pile
Remove baby's legwear
Undo nappy, put liner in potty
Scrape poo off baby's arse with wipes
Put wipes in potty
Put new nappy, booster, liner under bum
Do up velcro
Put outer under bum
Do up velcro
Put original clothes back on unless pooey
Put old nappy in bucket (with lid)
Take potty into toilet, flush liner away
Put wipes in bin

With disposables:

Grab baby
Put baby on floor or mat if you are feeling organised
Grab potty
Grab nappy
Remove baby's legwear
Undo nappy
Scrape poo off baby's arse with wipes
Put wipes in potty
Put nappy in potty
Put new nappy under bum
Do up velcro
Put original clothes back on unless pooey
Take potty into toilet
Put old nappy in bin
Put wipes in bin

Not too much different.

Washing goes like this:

Open washing machine door
Empty bucket in
Put in powder
Select 4
Press start

Drying:

Take nappes out of machine
Take upstairs
Hang on airer

😉

Seriously, if you get your technique down it's no bother. By far and away the biggest pain in the arse is putting her bloody clothes back on. And tbh washing her clothes is more annoying too because nappies don't need clothes pegs, you just use their own velcro 🙂

WE DRY THE NAPPIES INSIDE. Inside my house, rain is not an issue.

GAWD!

Does it really matter? Surely the main thing is to stay sane, so you can look after your lovely babies?

House is nice and warm, gas bill is £20-30/mo. Still nice and warm with nappies out, thermostat unchanged. We choose the warmest place in the house which is either the upstairs landing or the airing cupboard, whichever's empty.

You know, there's a slim chance here that we've actually figured out how to do stuff easily and efficiently without much work.. give us some credit 🙂

Good for you then - glad it works for you.

Our system works for us.

mastiles_fanylion - Member

WE DRY THE NAPPIES INSIDE. Inside my house, rain is not an issue.

And what do you do to dry nappies inside the house? Have the heating on. Or keep the heating at the previous level and have a colder house. And a damp one. Which isn't good for a baby's health.

GAWD!

Rubbish - just drivel MF

Classsic new much wanted baby = everything as perfect and protected as possible = loosing sight of reality completely. Teh babygro pic tells it all - thats a babygrow per child every couple of hours.

We tried reusables in the early days, but after a spate of less than solid solids that ended up my daughter's back and down her legs, we reverted to disposables.

In hindsight, once my daughter's metabolism had settled down we could have tried again, but the convenience and 'reliability' of disposables meant we stuck with them.

It's only the last few decades disposable nappies have existed, every other generation prior to the last few has seemed to manage it without too much difficulty..

& before that we used leaves & animal skins, why not do that?

😀

Wild stab in the dark here, but i'd say Tandem Jeremy isn't a parent...

thats a babygrow per child every couple of hours.

You are correct about the 'every couple of hour's bit though - that was how often we had to feed them their 5ml feeds.
[img] [/img]
Actually. 😉

Our system works for us.

Works for you, screw the environment eh MF?*

* This is a deliberate troll 😉

Oh and btw when they have super runny poo it leaks out of disposables too, just as much ime.

Works for you, screw the environment eh MF

Oh and btw when they have super runny poo it leaks out of disposables too, just as much ime

but not just as much ime...

I'm not saying our disposable didn't occasionally leak, but it was the odd one, rather than twice a day, every day...

How do you explain the fact that you seem to do 10 times more laundry than we do? I'm saying you could maybe be more efficient with your clothes changing that's all

My baby - he's a greedy boy with a strong stomach, what goes in stays in. probably 1 extra load per week, 2 max.

My Sister' baby - Delicate little girl with a weak stomach - I reckon 3/4 of what goes in comes out again. Multiple changes of clothes for baby, mum, sister and sometimes dog as well.
1 or 2 extra loads A DAY in the early months (my sister objects to smelling of baby sick)

Don't assume all babies are like yours.........

But of course, as has already been proved above, the benefits of one system over another is, at best

That's not how I read it.. and there's no proof of any kind up there for that matter.

Don't assume all babies are like yours.........

I'm not.. just wondering what the deal was. I've known people make tons of work for themselves, which could be reduced by changing their practises. But I guess MF feels got-at so he won't want to get in to a chat about parenting tips.. 🙂

Btw it's also worth mentioning to the OP that some brands of re-usables are much much better than others. Hardly had a leg leak from tots bots/little lambs despite plenty of runny poo. I think they're pretty good.

Don't assume all babies are like yours.........

But I guess MF feels got-at

Oh and btw when they have super runny poo it leaks out of disposables too, just as much ime

Interesting read. Disposables for our 20 month old. Luckily he's not really had many in the way of super runny nappies but he did this weekend and I can report that despite him having run all over the place while it was full, there was zero leakage. Pampers active fit FYI.

I think in the 20 months he's had less than 10 nappy leaks (and I reckon mainly down to us fitting them badly in those instances). Maybe we've been lucky?

MF I'm not telling you you're wrong really. Just a) wondering really why you do so much washing and b) trying to correct people who think re-usables necessarily mean tons of work. And also c) pointing out that they are better for the environment.

b) is a fact, c) is pretty convincing and a) is curiosity.

= loosing sight of reality completely. Teh babygro pic tells it all - thats a babygrow per child every couple of hours.

Classic

TJ, are parents who use disponsable nappies all just a bunch of nazis? 😆

A: We do as much washing as necessary for our circumstances (ie, how much the clothes/bedding gets soiled by OUR babies).

B: I don't think that re-usables are tons of work - we simply decided they would be too much work for us given *our* situation. I have already stated that I initially wanted to use them.

C: The link I have provided shows that any benefits of one system over the other is, at best, negligible and the subsequent research was done assumed that it would be possible to dry all the nappies without using a tumble dryer.

Not at all - its just the attitude MF shows is rather extreme and as far as he is concerned his attitude and methods are the only valid ones.

It has come up a few times on threads discussing children. Hence what molgrips is saying.

Disposables / reusables eco argument is not totally obvious and it depends what bits of pollution you consider most important. Reusbale shade it just about

Not at all - its just the attitude MF shows is rather extreme and as far as he is concerned his attitude and methods are the only valid ones.

Is that right?
My original reply...
[b][i]Whatever works best for you - sound arguments for both ( environmental v convenience etc). We use dispoable but only because we have twins and can barely keep up with the washing/drying of clothes as it is.[/i][/b]

We're also having conversations around disposable/non at the moment whilst bump#1 uses its mum as kicking practice...

ISTR some research being done by Procter & Gamble BITD about disposables being about the same environmentally as non-disposables? Something to do with the extra energy of washing machine on hot-ish cycle plus detergents being washed to sea, vs the more "visual" impact of pampers.

<goes and googles>

Oh, turns out the best solution is to use a laundry service.

Ok, my tuppence worth. We have a 5 month old and use Nature babycare “eco biodegradable” disposable nappies AND reusable Motherease washables. When Junior Bakes was small we stuck to disposables due to the washables being too big (‘one size’ doesn’t quite fit all) but since he passed one month old the washables have been used during the day, with disposables (usually only one needed) overnight and when out and about. We feel this is the perfect compromise between ease, cost, environmental benefits and comfort for him.

The disposables are 100% biodegradable and will in theory break down much quicker then ‘other brands’ in landfill. They are however more expensive, but this is offset by also using washables. We’ve declined from putting them in the compost bin as there are still a quite a few used every week but certainly the wheelie bin is not over loaded so far.

The washables were bought second hand (much cheaper and no further costs (environmental or otherwise) of manufacture) and will be passed on in due course. As has been described they’re barely any more trouble than disposables to use when about the house and rather than emptying a lidded bin of them into the wheelie bin periodically, we empty them into the washing machine. I’d guess it results in 2/3 extra loads a week at most and takes no time to hang on the rads/ drier to dry at ambient temperatures.

Personally I’m pretty dubious of the 2005/2008 study that found in favour of disposables which, from memory, was based on boil washes, tumble drying and ignored the issue of disposal to landfill. I’m not saying it was, but bear in mind a lot of this research may be funded by those with a vested interest in one result or another. Those that bring up the waste in water and energy in using washables could start with reducing their usage for cleaning bike & bike kit way before the three extra nappy loads it takes us. However, there are times when a disposable is much more convenient and they are also more absorbent for overnight or long journeys so we’ll use them accordingly.

That’s our experience so far and it may well change when Jnr moves onto solids and we start needing liners etc. However I’d say don’t rule out washables on the grounds of ease and certainly not on environmental grounds.

Personally I’m pretty dubious of the 2005/2008 study that found in favour of disposables

research being done by Procter & Gamble BITD about disposables being about the same environmentally as non-disposables?

Research carried out by a disposable nappy manufacturer shows that there is no additional environmental impact when using disposable nappies over reusable ones?

No surprise there then.

NB. not arguing one way or the other, just suspicious of research carried out by companies/ people with an specific interest in seeing the research turn out a particular way.

ISTR some research being done by Procter & Gamble

That's Procter and Gamble, manufacturer of Pampers? 🙄

Dr Bakes - similar experience to ours except we hated Motherease. They always seemed to leak. Do you not have this problem?

As for solid poo - we've not had a single leakage with solid poo. It seems to be (for us) a lot less mobile, and a lot easier to clean up from the arse, but it really really stinks like.. well.. sh*t. Hhugely less pleaseant than milk poo 🙂

After all, if a carbon footprint is that much of a concern, what are you doing having a baby at all in the first place?

It's all about mitigation innit.

It's all about mitigation innit.

M-F, it's all about compromise I'd say. However if the manufacturers of, among other brands, Huggies, Snugglers and Pull Ups (Kimberley Clark), are putting that report on their website it’s a fair bet that those results lie firmly on their side of the argument’s mean? Disposable nappies contribute 4% of landfill volume which is quite a bit when you think of the size of those responsible! I’m not in your situation but what I’ve outlined above seems the best compromise for us.

Molgrips: The Motherease seem fine for Jnr and the only really serious leakage (top of neck!) we’ve had has actually been from the disposables!

Used reusable including having two kids in nappies at the same time.
Babies on reusables tend to be toilet trained faster than those in disposables.
As for the is it greener I suspect anything reusable is better than anything we use once and then throw away - is the disposable nature of our lifestyles one of the major issues? Use it once and then discard it? Research is mixed on the issues - I agree with that- but they are certainly cheaper assuming you use them for more than one child.
IIRC the energy saving is put at the same as driving 1000 miles less over 2 years for reusable. This assumed a variety of questionable assumptions though including buying a washing machine - as if only people with nappies use one.
I doubt the environmental impact will sway you as it is not massive -