Nappies - disposables vs washables.

[LittlePants]

Could everyone post their ideas or pros and cons of either!

I'll start off with my list!

Disposables

Pros​

Ease of use.
Look neat under clothes​

Cons​

Expense
wheelie bin overflowing
Smelly
Don't like the chemicals they have in them
Can't bear gel filled saggy pants!
Uneco friendly
Hot for baby
Leak and end up with loads of washing anyway!
Sometimes run out (esp with diarrhoea!) and can't get out to the shops
Feel guilty that they go to landfill
Comfort (would you choose to wear paper knickers?)​

Washable

Pros​

Comfier and softer for baby
Cooler for baby
Better for babies hip development
Save loads of money
Cute
Don't leak, so no extra clothes to wash
Council gives money back on them
Wheelie bin doesn't overflow each week
Far less smelly than disposables
Never run out
Love to see then hanging on the line!
More hygienic, 'cos not hanging around for 2 weeks!​

Cons​

Addictive!
Getting them dry in winter can be hard
Initial outlay can be hard (although lots of councils give help with that!)
Finding clothes to fit over them can be hard
​

Please add any others you can think of!

 

[lynnikins]

Sposies
Pros
Easy to use,
small to carry/easy to deal with when out and about
Cons
Smelly
Expensive ( for me 10-15 per day between the boys at 12p each thats upto £12-£13 per week!!)
chemicals
non degradable ( or very slow to degrade )
poo leaks onto clothing


Washables/cloth
Pros
CUTE!!!!
Not as smelly
bum friendly

cons
bit messy with BF poo sometimes
have to remember to wash them lol
less leaks

 

[Eala]

Disposables

Pros:
Easy to use (pretty much foolproof, if you can do one, you can use them all!)
Easy to source a variety of brands
Convenient when out and about
Easy to store in the house
Often special offers on them
Clothes always fit over them!

Cons:
Carbon footprint!
They contribute to landfill
They smell when urine hits them
The chemicals in them
They are expensive, even when on special offer, it adds up!
You end up with smelly nappies sitting in the bin until bin day.
When LO goes up a size, you can end up with a stash of "too small" ones
If they leak, it tends to be very messy
Some brands feel very papery/rough... I wouldn't want to wear pants which feel like that!

Cloth/reusable:

Pros:
Soooooo pretty
Good for the environment
Good for your pocket (well, they *can be* )
They don't smell like sposies do.
They hold in poo smells better
Nice and soft on baby's bum
Easier to change baby in a cloth nappy + baby legs than getting trousers off!
Such a wide choice
Custom nappies are available, so you can have a nappy which no-one else does!
Can re-use them for subsequent children
Can re-sell them if you don't need them anymore.

Cons:
If you forget to do a wash/stick the machine on/take them out, you can run out.
Before the stage of weaned poos, it can be a bit messy to deal with poo.
The initial outlay can be a lot, depending on what you buy and where.
They can be bulky, so getting trousers (especially jeans) to fit over the top can be tricky.
They are seriously addictive, which can be bad for your pocket

 

[Adela Quested]

Another pro for cloth nappies is that they are less absorbent - the reason that this is a pro is that it means babies are ready to be toilet trained earlier as they feel damp and so have a reason to want to get out of nappies. (Sorry if that doesn't make much sense, am a bit sleep-deprived today!) Disposables are so absorbent that kids don't feel wet at all, which means that there is no stimulus to get out of nappies and use the loo!

 

[twiggy56]

Another pro for cloth nappies is that they are less absorbent - the reason that this is a pro is that it means babies are ready to be toilet trained earlier as they feel damp and so have a reason to want to get out of nappies. (Sorry if that doesn't make much sense, am a bit sleep-deprived today!) Disposables are so absorbent that kids don't feel wet at all, which means that there is no stimulus to get out of nappies and use the loo!

Just to follow on from this point- a 'pro' of sposies is that they are super absorbent and so last longer yes?...but this is also a 'con'

a reusable nappy (although abigail's Bumgenius last her 10 hours at night) hold about 4 hours worth of wetness- this is good for the reason that stale pee isnt sitting close to babys skin for long- YES there has to be regular nappy changes with cloth, BUT that is healthier than having a sposie that can go 8 hours with toxins and synthetic harmful polymers mixed with 8 hour old pee next to babys skin

 

[ellie27]

Was just about to post but was wondering about the cost of washables/cloths.

I know moneysavingexpert and some of the cloth nappy sites go on about how much it saves you but they always compare it with the average cost of 16p a disposable nappy which is about 3 times the amount I pay when having vouchers/offers etc

Anyone tell me how much washables/cloths etc costs for the 2.5 (?) years? I guess all the different brands vary in costs

 

[Seity]

Was just about to post but was wondering about the cost of washables/cloths.

I know moneysavingexpert and some of the cloth nappy sites go on about how much it saves you but they always compare it with the average cost of 16p a disposable nappy which is about 3 times the amount I pay when having vouchers/offers etc

Anyone tell me how much washables/cloths etc costs for the 2.5 (?) years? I guess all the different brands vary in costs

Disposable:
Agreed - I spend next to nothing on disposable diapers. Maybe $12 USD a month.
Also, I get mine via amazon subscribe and save (may be a US only thing), so they are delivered directly to my house. Never have to worry about running out as I can have them send my order early if I'm starting to get low.
I take my trash to the dump myself once every 1 or 2 months. The diapers go into a diaper genie and are tied shut when the bag gets full. Then taken to my garage and put in a trash can until it's time to visit the dump.

Cloth diaper con:
No way my husband would touch/change the diaper or ever do the wash if we used cloth and he's the one who's home all day.

 

[Lu28]

Most of my pros and cons are already listed so just for the cost issue. My cloth stash is worth about £220 so if that was used for 2 years, would cost just over £9 a month. Do bear in mind though that my stash is mainly made up of more expensive pretties and if I had just stuck with basic Flips, I could have had my stash for £100. Also, I'll get the majority of that back if and when I come to sell them all on the second hand nappy market so its not money down the drain (or in a landfill site! )

 

[LittlePants]

Was just about to post but was wondering about the cost of washables/cloths.

I know moneysavingexpert and some of the cloth nappy sites go on about how much it saves you but they always compare it with the average cost of 16p a disposable nappy which is about 3 times the amount I pay when having vouchers/offers etc

Anyone tell me how much washables/cloths etc costs for the 2.5 (?) years? I guess all the different brands vary in costs

You can do it for around £150, if you go for traditional squares. Maybe £250, if you go for mocern shaped nappies. Many councils will refund some of this, and you can also sell them on 2nd hand, or re-use themn for anothet baby. Add 30p (including wear & tear on the washing machine) per wash for 2-3 washloads per week, (for probably not much more than 2 years, as children in cloth train so much more quickly than children in disposables!) and even if you only paid 5p per disposable, and changed only 6 times a day, you'd be well out of pocket over the probable 3 years mimimum your child would be in disposables for.

 

[gills8752]

If you are clever you can have a good stash for £80. Thats all I've spent on mine and I've enough for 3 days and 3 nights, nearly all Birth to potty aswell. Much cheaper than £20 a month on sposies.

Pus pro - you can reuse them on next baby and therefore next baby doesnt cost a penny for nappies!

 

[Lynz16]

My whole stash has cost about £105 and are all birth to potty so at the minute thats only £7 a week since Dylan was born and that cost per week will obviously go down the longer we use them (thats on saying that I don't go and buy any more!). Dylan uses around 6-8 nappies a day but I find I do use slightly more when using disposables because after he wee's in them they stink! so needs changed straight away. So...Dylan would use a whole one of they big boxes of nappies a week which in asda are between £7 and £10 a box so in the long run the reusables are going to save me a fortune!