Why?

New to the whole nappy debate and just wanted to get some opinions from mum's.
I never even knew how popular cloth nappies are and have never even considered using them. Have done a little bit of reading about them and looked at some online and in a shop.

I just wanted to know the main reasons for why you are using cloth vs disposable. Also be interessted to hear who prefers using disbosables and why.

So far I've come up with the following pros and cons

Cloth
+ cheaper in the long run
+ apparently better for nature
+ better for baby but why?
- more prone to leakage
- baby needs changing more often
- more washing, scrubing, drying, folding, storage
- much less convinient
- most people still use disposable as well
- where do you keep smelly nappies till you wash them?

Disposable
+ less nappy changes needed
+ convinient
- bad for babies skin, I'm not really sure why

I went MCN this time after trying to go cloth with my first daughter, the Flats got the better of me & I used them on about a 30% basis til she was 1ish?

Mine was purely cost factor. I think I've bought about 3 packets of nappies in 14 months? I've stopped my bin & are just using council rubbish bags.

I don't know how disposables are more convenient?

I just changed my son, tipped the poo down the loo & instead of putting the nappy in the rubbish I put it in the nappy bucket. Will be washed tomorrow. So the only difference is bucket vs bin, cause I do washing every day or every couple of days one load is neither here or there. If you didn't know, like I didn't you are supposed to empty disposables as well.

I'd say less changes in disposables is probably why they are not good for babies skin?

If you get a good fitting Nappy, & there a hire kits so you can see what you like, then you won't have leakage. For night use I can't go past the Bitti Boo with a thirsties cover. I have a super weer as well. Way trimmer than the packed pocket I did use.

There is the down fall of the initial cost outlay, but March & Sept are great for discounts if you do the Nappy hunts. But if you add up what you save in the long run.................way cheaper

I also look after a little girl as well, she is in the same nappies as my boy but her Mum uses disposables over night. She does this mainly cause she hasn't got night nappies & the baby does a poo in the morning so she prefers that it goes in there not in her nappies so she doesn't have to clean them. Me I just scrape off what I can & the washing machine does the rest

On the leak front I think they are about equal really. In sposies poo is way easier to escape in my experience. But it can take a few attempts to make sure you have the fit right with cloth.

As for changing more often, again not true. It really depends on the type of nappy you use. Pockets for example you can put more in them so they last longer.

I used cloth on Daniel until I got morning sickness with Jared now we use sposies, with toilet training I find sposie pull ups easier than cloth, we don't go through much at all so the cost doesn't bother me so much but when they are going through a few naps a day the cost of sposies really sucks and adds up fast

I never used sposies but after having a neighbour who used to put their rubbish bags out early so the cat/dog could spread the dirty nappies all over the front lawn i was completely put off!!

apart from that biggest pluses with cloth for me were:
* cost
* cute-factor
* natural fibres next to babies skin - i try to avoid using anything with any chemicals in food/skin care for him, so why would i then turn around and wrap his bits in something plastic???
* landfill
* no extra loads of washing for me cause i wash his mcn's together with his clothes every couple of days. I'll probably do two separate loads when new baby arrives, but don't think it'll make that much difference!

I would have to say with the days I have used sposies when they have leaked I found that I do about the same amount of washing because I have to wash ALL of E's clothes and possibly all her bedding too. Her cloth nappies just fit way better.
I don't do an extra load of just nappies just chuck them in the machine at night on a rinse cycle then add more waking on top. I keep my nappies in a dry bucket in the laundry and find that the sposies we use at night smell more than the cloth plus that smell gets dealt to every few days while sposies sit all week.
They are much better for her because sposies are full of chemicals so we get less nappy rash and she has ezcema so is prone to rashes anyway.
You can always do cloth part time too. We use sposies at night and cloth during the day. I generally use sposies if we are out and about all day but sometimes take cloth as well.
My biggest positive would have to be that cloth is sooo much cuter than sposies!

i dont know about this idea that disposables need to be changed less. that is just laziness. they still get peed in as much as cloth and need to be changed as often. Nothing worse than an overfilled nappy sliding down a babies arse!

i do it for the environment, money saving, cuteness. i also hate the smell of plastic nappies, especially full ones.

I love my cloth. We didnt go cloth until DD was about 8 weeks maybe 10 can't remember. We did it because she had incredibly bad nappy rash were on one income after my PPL finished. So for the cost of about 8boxes of nappies we got 12 nappies 10wipes and a wet bag.

They are so cute, DD loves playing with them lol she sits looking at her nappy and pulling at it cracks me up.

They smell alot nicer and are easy to wash and hang up. I put them on a clothes airer on the back deck and bring them inside when I need to normally.

The only down side is my brain haha I forget to wash them and then look and think crap I only have 2nappies (I don't normally count whats in the nappy bag) I have recently bought some eco-flushable wipes for when we're out so everything can be flushed if needed bonus!

Now we're on solid poops its easy as they come off easy and then just rinse under the tap.

I'm looking at getting somemore as we still use a disposable at night but am looking at getting some night nappies YAY and DP agrees hehe, plus some more for day hehehehe

Cloth full time here as well. Had a couple of packets of sposies that we used sparingly along with cloth until Jude was about 10weeks old and he grew out of them (we didn't end up using them all). We didn't find any difference in changing frequency between the two.

TBH I don't find cloth to be any more of a hassle than sposies. They are super easy nowadays, nothing like the flat nappies of old. Not sure why some people use cloth at home and sposies when out and about - they aren't any more or less easier than cloth nappies. Bit confused about that one

You will find that you do more loads of washing anyway with a new baby who can go through phases of spilling through clothes and bed clothes or being a super wetter and wetting through nappies (sposies and cloth), clothes and bed.

I HATE the smell of disposable nappies - they smell much much worse than cloth.

Seeing as Jude was not in sposies for very long, I can't comment too much on the difference between the two. I think that people (in general, probably not in the OhBaby Cloth Nappy Forum ) have this idea that sposies are SO much more convenient and that cloth is SOOO much more work - but I haven't had that experience at all.

Main reasons why we are in cloth here are money, cuteness (cloth looks so much cooler than plastic sposies) and by default - the environment.

I'd recommend you just buy a few cloth nappies if you aren't sure. Use them in conjunction with your sposies and if they aren't your thing then you can always resell them on TradeMe - no harm done.

Edited by StaceyL

Yep to what everyone said about the benefits of cloth. Aside from the money saved and benefits to baby etc,  Sposies are so bad for the environment and its kind of selfish IMO to use them unless you HAVE to....that might sound harsh but we all live in this world and I think owe it to each other and our children to make as light a step as possible. Obviously none of us are perfect but I truely believe every little bit helps and using cloth is helping a huge bit

I totally agree with everything everyone has said.

With DS we used sposies FT until he was about 2 yrs old. Then I changed him to cloth & I so wish I had done it sooner. The main reason we changed is because I sat down & worked out that over his 2 years of life we had spent around $2500 on disposable nappies! That's insane! I also learnt that disposable nappies take about 80 years to break down...that means my son could be dead before his first nappy decomposes! That is scary.

I always though cloth was too hard-too much washing involved & you had to change them too often. And I liked to use that old excuse "with all the washing powder, water, electricity involved in cloth nappies they really aren't much better for the environment". That's just a crock of bull. I think it's what people tell themselves so they feel less guilty about polluting the earth with their disposable nappies.

I am so glad we switched to cloth, & the next baby will go into cloth almost straight away (we plan on using sposies for the first few weeks though till meconium is gone & we can get into a laundry rhythm). I have to admit that DS is in a sposie at night, but I reckon one sposie a day is something I can live with.

I also have to say that now when I see a baby in a sposie I think how ugly & uncomfortable they look. There is nothing cuter than little cloth bum!