Forum - 27 weeks > Birth - Worried about the birth? Wondering about pain relief? Share your worries and expectations here on the final 3 months of your magical journey. This thread is called '
I am intending on using disposables for hospital and the first few weeks (for the scary meconium nappies!) and then hopefully am going to go on to reusables (I have bought a couple of Totsbots nappies). My friend is really positive about using reusables. However, some people I have met thinking using them is crazy due to the time involved and money. So I am trying to look at the positives and negatives of both:
Positives:
Disposables - easy to use and can throw away without much mess. Easier to carry around.
Reusables - once you have paid for them (initially expensive), you can save money, especially if you are intending on having more than one child. They are really cute, lots of different colours and patterns. Better for the environment in some ways (you are not tipping heaps of nappies into landfill sites - nappies take hundreds of years to break down).
Negatives:
Disposables - not as environmentally friendly and expensive.
Reusables - in some ways not good for the environment as you use a lot of energy washing them and (possibly) tumble drying them. Initially expensive, about 100 pounds for starter pack. Can be messy as well as you have to wash them. Difficult to take about with you when you are out and about and because babies then have bigger bottoms when they wear reusables, some clothes don't fit them.
Decisions, decisions...what are you girls going to do?
Someone suggested to me to use the newborn diapers for the first few weeks until the baby grows into the next size. Because here most of the washable diapers come in 2 sizes and the newborn set doesn't last long, but the next size apparently will last through alot of different sizes.
i'm planning on using disposables in hospital and when we go out etc, but reusables the rest of the time. dont really like the idea of bein out and katie doin a poop and having to carry around a dirty nappy lol!! OHs said he's gona do all the washing of them!!
we came up with the same kinda of pros and cons as you really. We decided to go with disposables, where possible we're gonna use the nature care ones which are more bio degradable as long as they're okay to use in practise.
We are going to do eco-disposables for the first couple weeks and then try the reusables. I have friends who found it just as easy as disposables. Also, it is very unlikely that you would have to carry around a pooey nappy because usually you use a biodegradable liner and tip the poop off into the toilet. Then you put the dirty nappy into a 'wet bag' until you get home. I think the whole thing depends on your lifestyle and what works best for each family, but since there are some fairly good eco-disposables out there too, it's quite good, there are lots of options.
The other thing is to get into EC training early...where you read babies cues for when they need to go and get them out of using nappies sooner. That is probably the most eco friendly way to go about things.
We're probably going to use biodegradable disposables for the early weeks simply to make things a bit easier on us, first baby and all that. Then we will be using reusables. My environmental conscience struggles even with the biodegradable disposables so there's not way I could use normal disposables. I just hope that when it comes to childcare we'll be able to find someone happy to use reusables too.
I'll be using disposables for the first few weeks until she grows into the next size like Ryder said. If I have a big baby shes probably only going to use them for a few weeks, and then i have 36 newborn diapers that I can't use. I'll be using reusable once she hits 15lbs. I'm going to keep a pack of disposables on hand though for going out. If I know I'm going out for the day I'll use them.
