I really want to use cloth nappies when LO arrives because I used to work next door to a landfill and really don't like the idea of disposables!

I feel silly because I have looked all over the place for information but I'm not getting the hang of it lol so I've decided to ask using an example in the attempt to understand cloth nappies better!

So you're out on a day trip with your cloth bummed LO, a zoo for example, and you have to change him/her in the public changing room and they've done a number 2.

What exactly do you do with that poo? Like, do you scrape it out and put it in the toilet or is there a disposable bit or do you just wrap the nappy up for washing lol? I really have no clue.

And then obviously you have to change them so what do you do with the dirty nappy? How do you not make a mess or a smell?

Sorry if I seem rather ignorent- I have tried to look this info up but found it hard to get my head round


Also can I ask, how much more are you spending on washing if you use cloth nappies?

I have one of these wetbag things, got it from http://www.tinynippers.co.uk/

I use an old fleece blanket cut into "liners" to catch the poo, and just rinse the liner off in a sink, or just roll the whole thing up and stuff it in the wetbag and deal with it when i get home! i dont scrape into sink now though since LO is eating more solids and poo is more solid!!

Anyway, thats also where i got nearly all my nappies! I use these all the time, the pocket ones - 1 microfleece liner and 1 bamboo and they last my LO about 5 hours.......i stick 2 bamboo in for overnight and they last 10-12 hours

I does depend how old the baby is and how they're fed. With a breastfed baby who isn't eating solids, the poo is all water soluble so there is no need to rinse the nappy out or scrape poo! At home you'd just put the nappy in the bucket until wash day, so out you just fold up the nappy and put it in a wet bag. You can get some really lovely wet bags, all different sizes and prints (I love Monkey Foot ones) but you could just use a plastic bag if you wanted or a nappy sack, although that makes more work as you'd have to empty it out at home. With a wet bag you'd just open the bag and throw it all in the wash.

If baby is formula fed or on solids, you would probably want to dispose of as much solid matter down the loo as possible before washing. At home, you could use the loo or the sink or the shower, whatever you feel comfortable with. Out and about, you could use the loo (I wouldn't use somebody else's sink as I think a sink needs cleaning after you've done that and I'm not going to start scrubbing a public sink ) or I just fold the nappy up, poo still inside, into a wet bag and deal with it at home. I actually find that makes the poo easier to deal with as the nappy will carry on absorbing any liquid, which kind of dries the poo out a bit and makes it fall off the nappy easier (sorry for the TMI!). You can use disposable liners if you want but I don't really like them or see the point. I often find changing facilities without a toilet in them because they don't want non-parents using the loo if there's a queue and I wouldn't put poo in a nappy bin because I think poo should always go down the loo to be dealt with properly at the sewage works. Landfill is gross and incinceration is unnecessary.

One thing that I find a stark contrast between sposies and cloth is the smell. Disposables reek!!! Most people can't smell it because they're used to it but once you've used cloth you will be able to smell a sposie a mile off, some worse than others. I think it's the chemicals in them that react with the urine especially. I always think a baby in a sposie has done a poo even if they've just weed, and poo in them smells terrible. Cloth on the other hand, doesn't. Baby poo doesn't smell bad until they're eating solids, more vinegary in my experience. But anyway, a good wet bag (go for one with a zip not a drawstring) will contain the smell as well as any mess, just like a nappy sack would contain any smell of a sposie if you couldn't throw that away.

The average spend per wash load is 30p, so probably around £1 a week or £52 a year. That is with line drying. A tumble dryer would increase that considerably. Apparently that figure takes into account detergent (which you need far less of than you'd use for clothes), electricity and wear and tear on the machine.

I'm lucky in that my LO almost never poos when we're out- not sure why! He's been like that since he was about 4 months old.

If he does though, and there is no toilet in the baby changing room I would usually just roll everything up and put it in a wetbag- I have Itti Bitti ones, very cute and they have never once leaked, and bring it home and deal with it there. Even if we go away for the weekend somewhere I put used nappies in wetbags to bring home- it's not as messy or gross as you might think.

I usually use flushable liners so if I am changing LO somewhere with a toilet handy I flush the poo away- very easy.

I do 2-3 extra small loads a week with LO in cloth full time- I haven't noticed an increase in our water bill. I line dry only so so increase in the electricity bill either that I've noticed.

Plenty of people use cloth at home and disposable if they will be out all day though- you'll still be making a difference both to your budget and for the environment!

Basically same as above! Usually now my LO is eating solids her poops just 'plop' into the loo (we use fleece liners)and the liners are practially clean when we get home.. we just chuck everything in the wash.. i do a wash every other night which is 2 days worth of nappies.. we havent been using cloth for long but its definatly cheaper than sposies.. we are saving about 84p a day!-30p ish wash.. 54p ! xx (tbh tho i find cloth very addictive so end up spending plently on new little cloth purchases! )

i've used cloth and disposables and i can vouch for the whole disposables smelling a lot worse thing!

When we're out and there is poo I will put it in the toilet if it's not smushed into the insert. If it is then I just roll the diaper up and then put it in the wetbag and deal with it when I get home.

Thanks for everyone's help. Sounds pretty simple so i'm glad I asked

I was curious about this too. Thanks for the info!

We just went to the zoo but z didn't poo just peed and I have a wet bag to put them in its cute with owls on it but it contains smell and wetness so nobody knows what's in it if he does a poo in public I just knock what solids I can into the toilet and put it in the wet bag just the same then when it's time to wash all goes in the wash including the wet bag