Cloth Nappies...

In my infinite wisdom I have decided to have a go at using cloth nappies on the boys. I had thought about using them before with Chaos but we didn't have a way of drying them in the old house and it was winter so we decided to leave it a while. Now seems like as good a time as any so here we go!

I must first say I am really lucky to have a wonderful cousin who has done the entire cloth nappy thing with her 2yr old and is my oracle when it comes to all things nappy related. On her last visit she donated all her cloth nappy kit to us as her little man has grown out of it all, like I said, wonderful woman! I am eternally grateful as these things cost a bomb initially but the money saving makes it all worth it! No, I haven't worked out exactly how much (there are websites for that) but we are skint and any way of saving money is gratefully received.

I will show you some of our new kit n kaboodle.....

Chaos was a very good model for this picture and didn't move once!

We have two types of nappies. The shaped ones which are great for wrigglers (like Chaos), have a jersey lining and are therefore softer on their delicate bottoms. They are also slightly less absorbent and take longer to dry due to the padding. 

The pads are a bit more complicated as they are a rectangle shape so require a bit of folding and quick application to get them in the right place. They are more absorbent than the pre-shaped nappies, due to the number of folds. 

Both types of nappy are used with liners. We have bio liners which disintegrate fairly quickly and we have soft fabric liners which can be washed and reused. I'm using the fabric ones at the moment.

We have a selection of plastic pants that go over the nappy. I love the animal ones best but they are in the wash. 

We have some EVIL nappy nippers. These are the T shaped spiky things that rip at your fingers if you don't look what you're doing.

We are now the proud owners of a lidded bucket and some posh Australian Organic Tee Tree Oil to use while the nappies are waiting for a wash. It smells fab and you only need a few drops! 

 I have decided to use cloth nappies in the house as there is too much kit to lug about for both boys. I'm going to use disposables at night and when we go out. I started yesterday with some success. I put both boys in a nappy when they got up and they didn't seem to notice any difference. Squish still managed to get about with his bulky bum and Chaos was just as chaotic as usual. I changed them before their nap and crossed my fingers that neither nappy would leak. They were fine when they got up so a great result! 

We had to nip out after lunch so I changed Squish as he had a dirty nappy. I put him in a disposable and off we went. On our return about 2 hours later I suddenly remembered Chaos was wearing a cloth nappy! I quickly changed him and the poor lad was soaked. 

Note to self: Check nappies more often and change before leaving home!! 

I used disposables for the rest of the day and overnight. Today Chaos is wearing a cloth nappy but Squish isn't as he didn't need changing before his nap. 

I realise I am taking rather a relaxed attitude towards cloth nappies but I think with everything else that is going on I am not going to get stressed about it all. I am merely trying to save money where ever possible so the more cloth nappies I use the better. It's quite funny as I look at nappy changing a bit differently. Now if I change a cloth nappy I think "Ha, that's another disposable nappy saved!"

We currently get through a box a month for each of the boys (£20 a month on nappies!) so if I can make that last for two months that would be great! I'll let you know how we get on at the end of the month...