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I am using cloth nappies. all in ones.  once they come off i shake the poop into the toilet and pop them in a empty bucket and once a day they go in the wash. no extra care. then onto the line if its sunny or they dry in the drier in 1 hour. cheap cheap cheap and good for the environment. you can buy them second hand which is what i did, i just cleaned them before use. also i have ones that are one size fits all and they have press studs which adjust to fit from a new born to potty training time. i do suggest using disposables for the first couple of weeks while their bowels settle and you get into a routine with feeding and resting. i take a disposable with me everywhere just incase but so far i haven't used anything but cloth.

Hiya Clare Ive been doing a fair amount of research and have heard wonderful things about wonderoos, check them out, they come on mothercare online and have there own website. They are a birth to potty nappy with poppers to change the sizes. I am going to try these for the new baby, you can get starter trial packs online at mothercare, so you can try them out before deciding whether or not to go the whole hog and get a full set. They are also very cute in nice colours, and Im informed you can just throw them all in a wash and they dry quickly. I have to admit I didnt use cloth first time round cos we lived in a tiny flat with no washing machine! The saving is a big bonus for me too, if they work cloth seem to be so much cheaper.. also they seem to have a high resale value from what Ive seen. Good luck choosing, hope your pregnancy is going well, Em xx

Hi Clare! I have just thought of some more things since putting a reply on the Cloth Bums Group!

DD2 is in Fleece Pockets, which are a recent invention. They last just as long as Pampers (in fact, they leak less), and are so easy to use that I actually had to use up some Size 4 Pampers this weekend because we hadnt used a disposible for 2+months. With DD1 I used fitted AIOs and they didnt last so long as disposibles. We also used a wet bucket to soak them, and did a separate wash at 60deg. With DD2 I just chuck the nappies in a dry lidded bucket, and add them to all the other kids clothes at 40deg. The sunshine (when it's out) gets rid of most stains, or the fleece pockets tumble on low in about 40 mins. I used paper liners with DD1 to "catch the solids" which I didnt like much, but I now have fleece which is pretty non-stick and wicks moisture away from baby just like a disposible does.

To add to Libby's Pros and Cons - yup, your bin will be almost empty, you can never run out at 2am (or at least, you could launder and dry one in an hour if you had to - better than a trip to Tescos!). Also, the fleece have the BEST patterns - white disposibles are SO very boring after blue cows, pink sheep, pink flowers, tartan, camoflage etc! Be warned, they're quite addictive (I know, I'm sad, but Im not the only cloth addict on Minti!). Yes, good for the environment, and if they ever tax or downsize your wheelie bin, you'll be laughing! Cons: well, I dont bleach them, I dont soak them, in fact, as I use wash balls I rarely use detergent either! Wash time - well with 2 kids I do at least 1 load of clothes a day so I dont notice a few nappies to be honest. And the fleecepocket dries in the tumble drier in under an hour, while the stuffing takes a day in the sun or on the radiator, but I have plenty. Yes, scraping poo off isnt fun, so when she is on antibiotics I reach for the disposibles, but most poos roll off and into the loo quite easily, especially once they're on solids. Big initial outlay I agree, but if baby wears them every other day for a year, it wont feel like much. And second hand makes them about half price (and second hand often means worn about 5 x in my experience!). The only other disadvantage I can think of is that they're bulky - they take up room in my house, in my changing bag and on my DD2 (need to move her up a clothes size slightly earlier). But I love them so I forgive them for being big!

IMO, give them a try! For under £10 you can buy one, try it out, and know that's one fewer disposible you need to throw away that day. Nobody says you cant use both disposible and washable on your baby.

Incidentally, re the eczema, DD1 has it but never had nappy rash in washables. DD2 doesnt have eczema but from time to time has nappy rash. Doesnt make sense to me, but it certainly doesnt follow that using washables will lead to nappy rash if your child has sensitive skin.

I used cloth first time round and had no trouble with them. I was home all the time and didn't actually mind the cleaning and soaking etc. It just became a habit, we didn't have a problem with rashes either even though my son had ezcema, he just had more nappy free time in the hotter months. Second time round though I went straight to disposable because it was easier, we weren't home all the time and I had less time for the fiddling.

Amanda xxx

Hello there, I used Mothereeze  http://www.softbots.co.uk/page.php?36 for Ruth untill she was about 14months then her shape and size altered so much that I could not find a nappy of any sort except Tesco disposables to fit her. I found them easy peasy to look after and they washed up and tumble dried in no time. I was actually given Bambino http://www.bambinomio.com/v06/prd/prd.cgi as a gift for Caty, which sadly did not work out long term either because Caty was similar to Ruth in shape but bigger, so again we had to give up, but while we used them we found them easy to use and dry.

My friend used a laundry service for her nappies as she was working and had four other kids to run after, she loved it and it still was less per year than disposables, however that was Southampton. I think this is the link for the Sussex region http://www.nappies.org/nappylaundry.htm if that is any help at all. Good luck and best wishes with whatever you go for, at the end of the day it is what actually works.

Luv Winnie.xxxx

Thank you for sharing your experiences I think I am now leaning towards disposables although I am going to carrying on investigating will let you know which way we end up going.

Many thanks

Clare x

This is from my experience.Bub number 1 was in cloth- I hated cleaning them. gross.cleaning poo after being up all night was just not on.She had bad nappy rash quite often as well. I used the square ones, so it meant time to fold them as well. Generally they sucked and I wish i had never bothered.

Bub2 was in disposibles- hardly any nappy rash. another thing with cloth is that they tended to leak more. not so with disposibles. no carrying stinky nappies when I went out either. All up much much better.

Bub3- again disposibles with no problems, no rash and ease of use.

Bub 4 and 5- two times the scrubbing poo. no way!! disposibles all the way lol

Like Liz, I went the disposable option.  Main reason was ease.  We looked in to Cloth nappies and it was very expensive to first buy them and have enough etc...  Also I couldn't be bothered with all the time soaking and washing nappies. In the end I suppose you would be saving some money. Then again you have to buy all the washing stuff.

Some cloth nappies don't keep baby dry for long thus having to change them more often.  As Liz said get the fitted ones not the square one.

There are companies out there that with come and pick your nappies up and then wash them for you.  A good pressy for someone to give you is a gift voucher for one of these companies.  I googled for you click here to check it out.  This way you can try b4 you buy.

Good luck and let us know which way you go.

hiya Clare.

i personally went disposables for the ease. these days you can buy a bin by tommy tippi for the used nappies so no smell.

but if you really want to go for cloth from what i have read go for the fitted ones. not the square fabric ones. there are a few ppl on minti who make them too. you can buy them on ebay too. http://baby.search.ebay.com/nappies_Baby_W0QQcatrefZC12QQfromZR40QQfsooZ2QQfsopZ32QQsacatZ2984

this is the australian one, but they would have more on the uk site. my suggestion would be to search the world wide ebay as i have bought stuff cheaper from america and really good postage.

Oh pro's and Cons....

Pros..... not adding to land fil

always there

Cons.....have to clean your self

have to bleach and buy and the cleaners

dry time

good luck sweety.