Ok, I am going to give a confesion. For over 17 years, we used disposables. For 11 of those, we used pampers. With the birth last year of DD, now 1, we put her staright into Pampers. She stayed in Pampers until aged 11 months, when we came across a VERY disturbing report on independant laboratory ... Read review
Advantages: Reusable, all in one nappy not requiring pins or wraps Disadvantages: take a long time to dry, flannel not as absorbent as terry
Ok, I am going to give a confesion. For over 17 years, we used disposables. For 11 of those, we used pampers. With the birth last year of DD, now 1, we put her staright into Pampers. She stayed in Pampers until aged 11 months, when we came across a VERY disturbing report on independant laboratory tests ran on major makes of disposable nappies. When we read that they found known toxins in these nappies, and that the companies were notified and came ... ...said "not on our baby!" and did some more research. Reading the other environmental impacts such as one country alone cutting down 2.4 million trees annually to make disposable nappies and that 500 years from now, our darling's nappies will still be decomposing, we accepted a "green" challenge from some clothie friends of ours.
They sent us some Kooshie Ultras that their kids had outgrown, and we popped our DD into ... more
Ok, I am going to give a confesion. For over 17 years, we used disposables. For 11 of those, we used pampers. With the birth last year of DD, now 1, we put her staright into Pampers. She stayed in Pampers until aged 11 months, when we came across a VERY disturbing report on independant laboratory tests ran on major makes of disposable nappies. When we read that they found known toxins in these nappies, and that the companies were notified and came out with, "it is so small it won't hurt", we said "not on our baby!" and did some more research. Reading the other environmental impacts such as one country alone cutting down 2.4 million trees annually to make disposable nappies and that 500 years from now, our darling's nappies will still be decomposing, we accepted a "green" challenge from some clothie friends of ours.
They sent us some Kooshie Ultras that their kids had outgrown, and we popped our DD into them. At the time of the start of this trial, we were battling a VERY resistant nappy thrush infection which had her bottom bleeding. Three days into cloth and it was almost completely gone.That was point number two in their favour, point number one being environmental.
Point number three for them was their ease of use. They are not your old fashioned terry square pinned with gaps everywhere and stuffed into rubber pants! These are cotton nappies sewn into the shape similiar to a disposable, with a soaker pad pocket where you can stick an extra little pad to add even more absorbency as needed. The outer cover is highly water resistant but air breatheable, so baby's bottom gets fresh air on it, preventing many types of nappy rash. This is also important because it means the skin is kept cooler, and in baby boys this means that sperm count is not affected, as studies now show a possible link between plastic nappies and pants and later male fertility. For even more ease, the nappy is fastened with sturdy but soft velcro tabs, and the fastening strip goes all the way across in two bands so you can really customise the fit.
The customisable fit was really point number 4 in their favour, as DD is a rather bonny baby with a podgy belly and chunky thighs. We have fastened them up to fit her perfectly, and she has had no yucky poo explosions up the back nor wee down the legs.
Adding to the ease of use is the fact that you can flush the poo down the toilet. You can purchase for a couple quid a large pack of flushable liners (various manufacturers) that you place inside this nappy. The liner lets the wet through to the soaker but not the poo. When you go to change baby, you simply grab one corner and flush it down the loo where it belongs. the liners are biodegradable so they get broken down with the rest of the waste at the water treatment works. This also means you have no poo smelling up the house until bin man day, which is a definate bonus!
The only problem we have ecountered so far is that DD is an extremely heaver wetter at night, as she takes a full bottle of water to bed with her and drinks it all the way down before sleeping, and even with two extra soakers they do not quite cut the mustard. We now use a Hempster nappy in a fleece wrap for at night, as hemp is even more absorbent than cotton, and fleece is very watertight as well as air breatheable.
Not so much a problem , as an annoyance, is the fact that since the nappy is all in one, that is, nappy, soaker pad, and cover all sewn together, it takes a long time to dry. However, if you keep enough nappies, this is not a real issue. We have 15 and I can do a load every other day while line drying no problem.
I just wish we had tried these earlier as I now feel guilty for all the nappies i have now left for 5 generations to deal with as well as horror at the thoughts of known nerve toxins in ANY quantity touching my precious children's skin, especially since nappy rashes often leave the skin open :(
Advantages: Do save money in the long run Disadvantages: A bit bulkier than disposables
...disposable nappies and invest in kooshies reusable nappies. Although this is more environmentally friendly, this is not my reason for using these nappies. Because my daughter is now potty trained in the house day and night I don`t need any nappies for use at home. She is not however quite ready for journeys outside the house without a nappy. Twice a day we have to travel to the school and back with my other two children so she needs to wear a nappy ... ...This is why I thought Kooshies would be a more viable option.
Now I must admit these aren`t the cheapest of nappies, and I got the shakes when handing over my £9.50 for just one in Tescos, but in the long run this will save me money as she`ll most probably need to use it for short trips for at least a couple of months and maybe a bit longer for all day outings.
The Kooshies Ultra which is the one I bought is only available in two sizes but this ...
sue26 21.06.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Kooshies Nappies
Advantages: Save Money, help avoid nappy rash, environmentally good, padding helps baby to sit up!!!! Disadvantages: Increase washing and no birth to potty system, very padded, big intial investment
We were looking to cut household bills when I was pregnant and Kushies looked like a good solution. Having battled through the minefield of so many reusable nappies on the market.
We initially bought Kushies Ultra, the idea is that they are "just like a disposable". They are certainly very easy to use, there is no wrapper, the whole thing is one unit which has velcro fixers like a normal disposable nappy. The outer part is waterproof and the inner ... ...This makes them very soft, but very bulky. Which is actually quite handy when Baby starts to try sitting up!
You can buy disposable liners to put in the nappies the idea is that they stop the poos going through to the nappy, we tried a few of these and no matter how "soft" the manufacturers say they are, they all seemed a bit scratchy so now we just use the nappies without. They do stain a little but that is nothing that a good soak in tea tree ...
srushsa 29.07.2005 (30.07.2005)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Kooshies Nappies
Advantages: a good range of fit, easy to use, reusable Disadvantages: the outer covers wear out, made from intensively farmed, bleached cotton
...My friend bought me 15 Kooshies Ultra, which worked out at about £5 each, as they are so much cheaper in Canada. Why she decided to lug them home on the aeroplane, along with, by then, a newborn baby and all her luggage is beyond me!
My first impression was that they felt so soft and luxurious. The texture inside was almost like cotton wool. I immediately felt guilty for ever having put my newborn baby into a hard, disposable nappy, and put one ... ...I did not expect the Kooshies to last long, as the manufacturers explicitly state that they are likely to wear out if used for a second child. I was also aware that there were many other more popular and environmentally friendly nappies on the market now, some which used less intensively farmed crops than cotton. I have to admit, as somebody who used to enjoy a different property of the plant, I was very attracted to the idea of a 'hemp' nappy! I ...
wilfredcat 24.01.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Kooshies Nappies
Advantages: Environmentally friendly, cheaper Disadvantages: Leaky, bicarbonate of soda required in large quantities for cleaning
...first born before she arrived. Kooshies Basics were the only ones I could track down in my area, so I went for those. I figured the environmental benefits and long term cost saving over disposable nappies were worthwhile. I bought the 5-pack for £20 from Tesco Direct (compared to Mothercare's £37 for the same product), plus the required pack of liners and some waterproof wraps. I decided to test one 5-pack before I bought the recommended amount (4 ... ...easy to put on with velcro fastenings, and came in a handy plastic carrying pouch. The first problem came when I read the washing instructions. The nappies needed to be soaked in a bicarbonate of soda solution after use and before washing in the machine. I couldn't get the required quantities of 'bicarb' anywhere - at half a cup per bucketful (to soak 5 nappies) I was going to need a large amount! Eventually a friendly chemist ordered some in for ...
Domini 10.06.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Kooshies Nappies
Advantages: All in one reusable and washable nappy for ease of changing Disadvantages: Can be leaky, take a while to dry
I bought my first Kooshies Ultra all-in-one nappy about 3 years ago when I found one reduced to about £4 in Sainsburys. It was white with multicoloured swirls on it suitable for a boy or girl in size 22-45lbs. The style is similar to a disposable - just velcro it up and away you go (although not quite as slim fitting). We rejected the idea of using that nappy anymore after our son pooed in it - it was very messy to clean up. We put it to the back ... ...I have since used this Kooshies Ultra nappy on many occasions along with a variety of other washable types; terry nappies, prefolds, and nappies with separate wraps. I would say in comparison that the Kooshies Ultra does not hold as much fluid as the terrys as they are 100% cotton on the inside and the cotton does not soak up as well. You can buy boosters to go in them to make them more absorbant but these are 100%cotton as well.
The advantage with ...
bigpinkfish 01.08.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Kooshies Nappies
How leak proof are they?
Absorption
Do they stay up?
Fit around legs
Value for Money
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Advantages: dry quickly, cheaper than shaped or all in one nappies, other uses after nappy time Disadvantages: bulkier than other types, needs a wrap
I have already written an op on my Kooshiesnappies, and there explained the saga of our switch to cloth. One day though, I was moaning to a clothie friend about how all my cloth Kooshies were damp still as I have no drier and bimbo me had neglected to bring them in before a torrential downpour. Cue DD deciding to have one of those days where she was wet all day as well, and guess what, I ran out of nappies! LOL. She came to my rescue with some terries.
These are the traditional terry rectangles, but you no longer have to do fancy folds and pins if you do not wish to. You can simply fold into thirds, pop into a water resistant air bratheable wrap, pop in a liner and velcro onto baby! Woohoo!
Terry is a very soft and absorbent material, but you already know this as you yourselves no doubt use terry towels upon exiting the bath ...
Shroud 13.08.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Terry Nappies
a bit tired now. We've got some others which close with the same poppers which are still as new, although the adjustment is a bit more crude. Even if you are using disposable nappies, then its worth putting one of the waterproof wraps on as it stops them from ending up around your child's ankles if they wriggle too much.
We use paper liners (from Kooshies) inside the nappy so that if there is any poo, then we can throw the whole lot into the toilet. The liners are biodegradable (not all of them are, which means you can't flush them, which is the whole point). If they only have wee on them, then we leave them with the nappies and reuse them once they have been through the washing machine.
We only get leaks from these nappies when we put them on incorrectly. We get just as many leaks when we use disposables. ...
Advantages: Friendly to baby, environment, budget, and mum Disadvantages: not very absorbant
I have started to use reusable nappies with Bambino Mio and Kooshies - which are largely advertised. I discovered Sam-I-Am via the 'buy-and-sell-nappies' forum at ukparents.co.uk, and bought three of them, second-hand (a good and cheap way to try different kinds of cloth nappies).
Having had troubles of runny poo leakages with small bambino mio (see my comment!), I was delighted to use the Sam-I-Am: quite slim (not bulky), nice shape, good elastic at the thighs, and nice printing with little bunnies! Very good for young, slim babies.
They are also very quick to dry - even a little better than the prefold!
They are not much absorbant though, but you can add an absorbant liner if you put the nappy for the night.
Good to use with velcro-fastened wraps (rikki), but also with wraps with poppers.
In terms of baby rash: no ...
One of the only disposable swimming diapers on the market, doesn't swell up, attractive design, leak guard design, tear Away Sides, absorbent layer, super stretchy, disposable, unisex
Can be expensive if you use them every day, won't prevent all leaks (*)
