A few weeks ago we took some time to chat to two dads, Carlo and Richard, about their experiences of using reusable nappies. They had some fantastic tips on using them. Watch the video or read below to find out more!
Carlo – Hi my name’s Carlo, I have two boys, a two and a half year old and a six month old, I live with my wife in Waltham Forest.
Richard – Hi my name’s Richard I’m a father of Two and I live in Sydenham.
Carlo – so my wife and my sister-in-law got into them and they were introduced to us, we watched our nieces and nephews grow up with them so we were very familiar and I’d changed a nappy already before we had kids I believe. It was just an easy thing to pick up. The best part about them is their flexibility, they’re both quite tall, quite large boys. The best thing about the nappies is the ability for them to grow with your child and the level of sizing customisability.
Richard – my wife and I, we decided we wanted to reduce our waste, we knew one or two people that were using reusable nappies and we wanted to give it a try. I don’t like throwing away disposables in the bin so to avoid having to do that multiple times a day is really nice.
Carlo – Little Lovebum (popper and pocket) are probably my favorite, the simplicity of the design, the ability to just easily fold them in and transport them I think is great. I think they’re also really versatile, you can use them in the night if you just layer on extra bits on top. The other good thing about the Little Lovebums is the bamboo is really really super absorbent so they last ages.
Richard – so we use the Baba and Boo set of (pocket) nappies and we’ve actually never had much experience of nappy rash with either of our kids, I don’t know if that’s down to the nappies’ natural fibers. I don’t know much about the science, but that could have helped.
Carlo – really simple, really easy to prepare and use, once they were soiled we would just drop them in a bucket, you definitely want one with a lid, a few days later we wash it and that was it.
Richard – the nappy bucket lives by the washing machine, we aim to wash these every two or three days, we tend to fill a bucket in that time and you don’t really want to leave it longer than that, to be honest it’s become my job to do that, that’s my role as through pregnancy with our second child Becky suffered with hyperemesis, was very sensitive to smells and stimulus like that, it became my role I stuck to that I don’t mind it. We tend to put in the nappies last thing before we go to bed so the washing machine is running overnight, it can be a bit cheaper to do that and then hang them up to dry if we have time in the morning.
Carlo – living in Waltham Forest we can make use of the voucher. We definitely need some nice new night nappies for our youngest, so really looking forward to be able to use that for him.
Richard – through a bit of trial and error, we did originally have some cute prints which didn’t have the best retainment, but eventually we found some nappies that worked really well for us, they are very good at retainment, and I think also in the long run save us a bit of money. We don’t have to buy new bags of nappies all the time. It would have been great to borrow a nappy or two from a nappy library or a friend, just to try and see what works for you because we ended up buying a set of one which didn’t work out so well and then we bought some others but try before you buy would be ideal.
Carlo – if you’re a first time user of them probably to just size up a little bit on your clothing because they’re material so they take up a lot more room, they don’t compress like a disposable nappy would, whether that means slightly comfier or roomier bottoms or shorts, I would recommend that. The other thing I’d say is that I think they are actually very economical both because of price, but also because the way they support reducing our overall carbon emissions and protecting the environment overall, they’re brilliant for that.
Richard – we use these reusable wipes which are great particularly great if maybe you didn’t get round to doing the change straight away and it’s a bit dried on. Basically you can get these wipes as wet as you like and they really help so I find them much better to use than the disposable wipes.