I am six weeks into using the washable nappies we were given for our new baby. I do love using them as they give me a really high sense of satisfaction –especially when reloading the wicker basket with a pleasing pile of freshly laundered OneLife nappies and fluffy pink washable fleece bottom wipes. I don’t find the extra laundry a problem. I hardly notice it as I always have a number of white things needing washing most days anyway as the baby is a fairly sicky one.
If for some reason I do get through the 16 or so shaped nappies without getting them washed and dried I do have a number of ‘emergency nappies’ready to go as well as my trusty OneLife nappies –these consist of a pile of terry squares (small but I wish I’d bought the larger size) and a whole load of all-in-one nappies which are a fine fit for the baby but harder to launder/dry with all their layers of padding and creases where yucky stuff can stay unoticed by the washing machine.
The only trouble is that I’m not so sure about how one gets through the night without a sodden baby by morning time without having to wake up and change them halfway through the night…I do add a booster but this seems to make very little difference. If my tiny bladdered baby is always soaking by morning time how on earth do green parents of bigger babies manage?
As it is much nicer snuggling up to a dry baby than a wet one in the morning I’ve recently started experimented with putting the babe in a little disposable nappy as I dress her for bed from the packet we bought to take to hospital when she was born.. The morning wetness with the washable nappies doesn’t seem to bother her but as she is in my bed lying on my sheets it does bother me!
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We use totsbots reusable nappies when we’re in the house,and disposables when out and about. I go out most days with Rowan,so we get through 1-2 disposables during the day,depending on how long I’m out for and if we get an ill-timed poo! This is because while I’m happy to carry a wet nappy around when it’s changed,the one time I went out with a reusable on he did a huge poo and it was a nightmare dealing with it in the asda nappy changing room.
We tried putting Rowan in reusables overnight with both a terry and a fleece booster,but he would still want changing in the middle of the night,so we’ve gone back to one disposable which lasts through the night. Overall we’re on about 5 reusable nappies and 2 or 3 disposables in a day. This feels like a good compromise between conscience and convenience for us
Now that my progeny is finally sleeping through the night,I wouldn’t risk anything jeopardising that. He’s in a disposable at night (allegedly environmentally friendly one although I haven’t worked out what that means) and reusables throughout the day. Our house is on the chilly side so that wee-soaked nappy can get a bit chilly.
Lovely website! Lots to explore and good for you at getting message out. What a lovely life you have too!
Hi Cathie
Congratulations on your new arrival .
I asked you a while ago about the practicalities of downsizing a while ago(thank you for your e mail)
My hubby has since been notified of redundancy,rather than see this as a bad thing we have decided to purue our dream of living “the good life”we are selling up and off to live in north yorkshire,the area around castle howard,we are going to rent a cottage(£400 month cheaper than our mortgage) we will have to get little jobs to keep some money in but are planning for the equity in our house to work hard supporting us for a change!!!
Any advice greatly apperecited
thanks fora great read
Sharron
This comment is probably a bit late (only just discovered you!) I’m not sure where you live and I’m sure you have investigated this already but in many areas there are real nappy incentive schemes where you can get a refund (eg in Wiltshire if you spend over £30 you get £15 and if over £60 then £30).
For Herefordshire and Worcestershire
http://www.wastemissionimpossible.org.uk/nappies/nappy_show_2008.html
[...] we were fortunate enough to be given LOADS of second hand washable nappies I am really enjoying not having to use disposable nappies –not only do they cost a fortune (about [...]