When I was pregnant with my second child something made me want to live a greener more ecologically sound life ~ I put this down to pregnancy hormones rushing around the body and wanting to bring my child into a better world knowing you have contributed towards this.
So this is where reusable ... Read review
Advantages: Good for our environment, cost effective in long run Disadvantages: Initial cost, time consuming
...
FLAT NAPPIES Ultimately terry towelling square shaped nappies to be folded and secured with pin.
SHAPED NAPPIES Pre shaped to easily wrap around baby, some can be fastened with Velcro although a pin or nappy nippa is usually used.
ONE SIZE FITS ALL NAPPIES These are suitable from birth and can be fastened with poppers, they have elasticised legs and waist to give a snug fit.
The above nappies all require some kind of ... ...the categories.
With flat terry nappies you will need to buy a few wraps to cover the nappy, I only bought 3 from Sam-I-Am for £3.50 each as well as pins and/or nappy nippas which are quite cheap at £3.85 for three which is more than enough.
My advice when buying nappies is to buy a combination of maybe two types of nappy, i.e.; 15/20 cheaper terry nappies whilst your baby is newborn and really small as the amount of nappies ... more
When I was pregnant with my second child something made me want to live a greener more ecologically sound life ~ I put this down to pregnancy hormones rushing around the body and wanting to bring my child into a better world knowing you have contributed towards this. So this is where reusable nappies come into the equation. I was determined to do it the green way. How hard could it be? Mothers throughout the ages had managed and without a washing machine so this convinced me I could too and worked out I could save over £500 a year for an initial outlay of £100 to actually buy the reusable nappies and accessories. When researching what I needed to buy I was totally confused by the choice and the different nappies you could use; these are some of the reusable brands which I could decide from:
THE NAPPIES
FLAT NAPPIES Ultimately terry towelling square shaped nappies to be folded and secured with pin. SHAPED NAPPIES Pre shaped to easily wrap around baby, some can be fastened with Velcro although a pin or nappy nippa is usually used. ONE SIZE FITS ALL NAPPIES These are suitable from birth and can be fastened with poppers, they have elasticised legs and waist to give a snug fit. The above nappies all require some kind of wrap (the waterproof outer layer)
The next list is the crème de la crème of reusable nappies which look and feel like a disposable would ALL-IN-ONE, ONE PART NAPPIES These are shaped to fit, very easy to put on and take off with Velcro fastening. However they do take longer to dry than others due to the fitted waterproof wrap. QUICK DRY ALL-IN-ONE SYSTEM The drying time is reduced due to the detachable style of the waterproof layer from the absorbent nappy part.
Bear in mind that in each section there are a number of different manufacturer's to choose from with varying prices, i.e.; Kooshies, Sam-I-Am and Hempers are just a few which stock the whole range. Equally Ella's House, Easy Peasy Bimble and Nappy Nation are UK based.
COST & QUANTITY
This is the initially expensive, I won't lie, and it puts a lot of people off buying reusable nappies. Obviously plain old square shaped Terries are cheapest costing from £1.80 to £3 each, depending on size, which escalates up to the most expensive all-in-one quick dry nappies at £11.95 each. In between the two there is a happy medium price wise, with some equally great and effective nappies in all the categories. With flat terry nappies you will need to buy a few wraps to cover the nappy, I only bought 3 from Sam-I-Am for £3.50 each as well as pins and/or nappy nippas which are quite cheap at £3.85 for three which is more than enough.
My advice when buying nappies is to buy a combination of maybe two types of nappy, i.e.; 15/20 cheaper terry nappies whilst your baby is newborn and really small as the amount of nappies you use in the first week from hospital alone is tremendous. I found my outlay of £40 for 20 Terries, 2 wraps and pins started to save me money after 6/8 weeks. When he was 6/8 months I combined terries for night time usage with Nappy Nation's one size fits all nappies which cost £7.50 each, I bought 5 costing £37.50 and a further 2 wraps in a bigger size costing £7 for two. The fitted Nappy Nation nappy which I used in the day time was great and very easy to pop on even when I was out and about, as well as the hook and loop fastening which worked fine I would sometimes clip a nappy nippa on for extra security. So up until my child was 11 month old I had spend around £85 on reusable nappies, much less than the suggested cost most websites calculate. My son is now nearly three and out of nappies but from ages one to three I bought the all-in-one pull up style from Nature Babies costing £9 each, again I bought 5. This may not seem a lot of nappies and some people would want to have more for holidays or day's out but for me I found this was fine and always managed to get them washed and dried in time for the next use.
So to confirm my total spend on reusable nappies was (all figures are rounded up to nearest pound) 20 terries = £40.00 2 wraps = £ 7.00 pins and nappy nippas = £ 4.00 5 Nappy Nation one size fits all nappies = £38.00 2 wraps = £ 7.00 5 All-in-one Nature Babies pull ups = £45.00 TOTAL =£134.00
In comparison I calculated if I bought 1 pack of disposable nappies per week at £5 each for three years I would have spend £780.00.
HOW EFFECTIVE ARE THEY?
Very effective in my opinion, at first I regarded the plain old terry nappies to be a bit of cloth that couldn't possibly be effective in containing the contents it is required for, but I was surprised at how well they kept babies skin free from nappy rash and irritation. Initially I happily changed my baby to my hearts content as I knew I wouldn't be using another disposable which cost money and even if the nappy was left longer than I intended i.e.; nighttimes, I still found no irritation.
CARING FOR YOUR REUSABLE NAPPIES
When you first buy your nappies it is recommended you wash them first a few times to improve the absorbency. Equally when washing in the washing machine use non-bio washing powder and no fabric conditioner as this makes the fabric less absorbent. Wash nappies at 60 degrees and ideally dry on the washing line as amazingly this makes them whiter if the sun hits them. Obviously a tumble dryer is great during winter months if you need to get a fast turnaround in clean nappies.
My system was to remove the soiled nappy flush the liner down the toilet (biodegradable liner) them pop nappies into a plastic bucket (the one's with the locking lid) filled with water and put a few drops of Tea Tree oil into the water, it gives the nappies a nice smell and indeed the bucket, and has antiseptic qualities also. A lot of people don't bother with soaking before washing, I preferred to do this as other washing might be in progress and it was more hygienic than being left to dry out.
To conclude the experience of using terry nappies I would say it has been a positive encounter and somewhat cheaper in the long run. At first it was rather daunting especially learning to fold a square nappy into something that resembled a shape that would actually fit on a baby, but I got the hang of it. Lots of older people were highly amused at my first attempts including the health visitor but she gave me a few handy tips and fancy folds to practice. All I can say is give it a try, even if you buy a starter pack with a few different styles to see what works for you.
My favourite website for nappy shopping and advice was Twinkle on the web which has an extensive range of all the various brands.
Advantages: Make you feel very environmentally friendly Disadvantages: They leak if not changed regularly
...I writing a review on Terry Towelling Nappies, when I no longer have a child, let alone a baby?? Absolutely no idea, but I really am getting depressed by the amount of rubbish in our environment and disposable nappies are one of the main culprits.
Tales from the 1980's
Back in the days of yore, or atleast when I was a very young mum, struggling to make ends meet and walking miles with a pram for a bargain, the very idea of a disposable nappy was ... ...high days and holidays.
Terry Towelling nappies were the best way to cushion your babies bot. In the initial weeks, when baby is very tiny it may have been preferred to use a muslin nappy as they would fold smaller and not distort the hips too much. But, I was taught a sure fire way of folding my nappies using the 'Oriental fold' in which a triangle was very small, and it had extra layers down the centre to really soak up the wee.
My reasoning:
...
orlando 12.05.2005 (19.05.2005)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Terry Nappies
Advantages: Cheap, Quick Drying Disadvantages: Cheap ones not very absorbent
...have recently been trying out terry nappies on my toddler - who was previously potty trained but has now, for some reason known only to herself, regressed back to nappies full time - so I have reached the conclusion that come November I may potentially have 2 children in nappies, and my 20 Motherease Onesize will probably not stretch to 2 kids at once unless I do a wash every bloomin' night, which I don't really fancy to be quite honest...
So with ... ...decided to try out some terry nappies, (seeing as these are the cheapest option available), and get practising now so that when baby number 2 arrives I will be a pro terry nappy fitter. I looked at quite a few different types online but I kind of assumed that a terry nappy was a terry nappy and went for the cheapest I could find - Junior Joy - and I managed to get 18 60x60cm squares, 2 tiny newborn wraps and 3 nappi nippas (the modern equivalent ...
Keelar 22.08.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Terry Nappies
Advantages: Fast drying, cheap, easy to get hold of Disadvantages: Hard to fold as baby gets older
...I never ever even considered terry squares. In my mind, you only choose terry squares if you really couldn't afford any other alternative. I thought they meant *ages* spent folding and pinning and that they weren't worth even trying.
So - what made me decide to try them? I'd tried out a few shaped nappies and had decided which one's to buy in bulk, but couldn't really afford to get them all in one go so decided to get some terry squares in Boots ... ...where you just fold the terry into a pad shape and put it straight inside the wrap - no need to fasten or anything. I've found this a great success as the folding meant that it's super absorbant.
When the nappy is wet, I just take it off and put it straight into my nappy bucket (bucket with a net in, and some drops of tea tree oil in the bottom to make it smell a bit nicer!), if it is soiled, I flush the solids down the loo with a couple of sloshes ...
LauraBr 26.09.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Terry Nappies
Advantages: Once you have bought them you have them for as long as they last, you are also helping the environment Disadvantages: make more work and need changing more often
...and I bought 3 dozen terry squares. I used these most of the time at first and only used disposables for going out. The only nappies which were a good fit on him were Peaudouce T shape ( bet nobody remembers those!).
I used to soak the wet ones in one bucket and the soiled ones in another, flushing away the disposable liners. I then washed them when I had a full load, drying them on the line and finishing them off with 10 minutes in the tumble dryer ... ...so he almost entirely wore terry nappies. When he was older he could go 4 days in Asda VIPs which I thought were excellent but could not wear pampers or huggies. I found that he wouldn't fit into the right size trousers for his age as manufacturers had started to make them smaller for disposable covered botties.
My daughter wore half and half as we were moving house when she was 4 months old and then was ill in hospital for a while. My youngest ...
di-buzz 25.07.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Terry Nappies
Advantages: Cheap, environmentally friendly, Disadvantages: less convinient
...of nappy.
I will definately use terry nappys for my children, and would recommend them to anyone. It make take a bit of practice to get the nack of folding them and putting them on, but you get so much practice, you'll be a pro in no time at all!! ...
Faitho 04.10.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Terry Nappies
How leak proof are they?
Absorption
Do they stay up?
Fit around legs
Value for Money
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