Re-usable Nappy Challenge

Last September I wrote a ranty type post about my rubbish and the lack of weekly refuse collections. Asides from all the smelly general household waste that gathers over two weeks, one of my main complaints is all the used nappies I have to store each fortnight which back then was for my baby and my toddler (the latter of which is now potty trained so thats one lot of used nappies I no longer need to worry about). Its staggering to discover that on average one baby will use 5,000 disposable nappies during their nappy wearing time! This actually adds up to a bottom boggling 8 million nappies per day, which equates to 3 billion disposable nappies in the UK alone!

As a result of the above mentioned post, a few people commented and asked if I had ever considered using REAL nappies as this might help to eliminate some of my household rubbish, as on average only 48 re-usable nappies are used during a baby's nappy wearing years. Indeed 4% of ALL household waste within the UK is disposable nappies which can be as much as 50% for a 1 baby family!

I have to be honest that I had never really contemplated using real nappies. While I was pregnant with Burton it did cross my mind once about whether I was going to use real or disposable nappies, and because the latter are so easy to use and well disposable, I didn't give real nappies another thought. I guess I just weighed up all the washing I would have to do, which would include costs of

washing powder

washing machine and tumble dryer use

the nappy inserts

AND the time all that takes on top of the time a new baby takes up anyway V's the cost of a nappy which after use you throw away! So that was my last thought on the matter................

..........That is until the comments I received on that post, which actually got me thinking and I had a look on the internet and realised that real nappies had come along way since the days when I was a baby and my mum had to use safety pins to keep them on me and they had to be boiled washed or something like that (from what my has Mum told me!). So I took the plunge and sent a tweet out asking if any real nappy companies would like to let me review any of their products on my blog, and the lovely people from Bambino Mio replied and here I am about to start my journey as a first time user of real nappies!

my welcome nappy pack

Starting tomorrow, Monday 16th January, I along with 9 other bloggers will be taking part in a 5 day challenge to test and review the new Miosolo nappy. To be able to participate in this nappy trial I was sent a welcome pack which was beautifully presented and has already opened my eyes to how much more different real nappies are than what I had imagined!

The Bambino Miosolo nappy bonbon collection is available in 6 delectable colours

and has some great features including

• 1 size fits all
• can be used from birth
• contains a stay dry inner layer which prevents moisture escaping back onto baby
• contains a super absorbent core, which draws moisture away from baby and into the nappy

Obviously, apart from the fact that these nappies look great, parents who use real nappies do so because they are re-usable and are a 'greener' and possibly a more cost effective nappy choice. I must admit that I was fairly naive to the facts about these verses disposable ones.

According to the information I was sent from Bambino Mio, did you know that:

• Re-usable nappies could save you up to £700 for your first child
• Some UK councils offer cash back incentives of up to £70 to encourage people to use real nappies - in fact if just 10% more parents adopted re-usabe nappies for their children, a whopping £10 million would be saved by councils
• Re-usable nappies can be 40% more suitable for the environment than disposable ones according to the 2008 Environment Agency's revision of their Lifecycle Analysis Report on nappies

BUT

All the facts in the world added with some gorgeous looking products are not really going to determine how good re-usable nappies are until I actually trial them on my son. So as of tomorrow morning (probably around 6am!) I will be using re-usable nappies for the 1st time ever and I am curious to see not only how Jenson gets on with them but how I will cope having used disposable ones for the last 2 1/2 years!

Jenson 9 1/2 months old and raring to go!

I will be posting each day until Friday with my daily challenges and please feel free to come back each day to see how we are managing.

Wish me luck :)

DAY 1 - THE STAY AT HOME CHALLENGE 

So as explained in my introduction post above, today was my first day of using re-usable nappies and my challenge was:

Well staying at home was not a problem today as Jenson is poorly, so I was really able to test out the Miosolo nappy with out any external distractions. 

My first nappy change this morning occurred without any problems and actually it wasn't really any different to using the disposable ones. Obviously I needed to add a liner to the inside of the Miosolo, which is something you don't need to do with a disposable, but that was the only noticeable difference; a difference which is hardly a problem. The front cross over velcro style tabs are easy to seal the nappy shut around Jenson and as he is a wriggler during nappy changes, it wasn't any harder to do up compared to a disposable. These innovative velcro tabs have plenty of room for a wider baby and could easily be wrapped over more to accommodate a smaller one - - indeed the Miosolo is designed to be a one size fits all nappy.

When it comes to changing the Miosolo nappy the only waste you get are the wipes you have used (which you could replace with a flannel, baby bathwash/soap and warm water) and the liners (which are flushable) which is really good from an environmental and household waste view point. The nappy is then ready to be put into a hot (60oC) wash and you go on to the next clean one. 

Due to being ill Jenson has slept a lot more than usual, and this did mean that on his second change of the day, I did notice a little wet patch on the bottom right hand side of his vest. However, I do not see this as too much of a negative issue with the Miosolo for two reasons:

• it does state on the nappy packaging that the nappies should be changed every 2-4 hours and by the time Jenson awoke from his (extra!) long nap we had gone past the 4 hour mark
• disposable nappies do also leak 

Day 1 Challenge - My Thoughts

• I have found my first day of using real nappies relatively easy and straight forward and Jenson hasn't complained about wearing them either! 
• I guess you need to be more away of how wet the nappy might get with the 2-4 hour longevity in between changes. Its not that I ever let a child of mine wear a sipping wet nappy but certainly at Jenson's age I wouldn't have worried going up to 4 hours without a change and would have been confident that a disposable would stay leak free for that amount of time.
• Re-usable nappies are a lot less bulky than I would have imagined and I don't think you can really tell the difference looking at Jenson's bottom as to whether he was wearing a real or disposable nappy
• Washing and drying the Miosolo is easy enough and certainly they are quick to dry (more about this later in the week)

So far I have been pleasantly surprised and I wonder how I will feel as the week progresses

Bring on the next challenge!

DAY 2 - LETTING DADDY HAVE A GO WITH THE MIOSOLO

So with Jenson being too ill to take out today (which was meant to be the actual day 2 challenge!) I am going to do a challenge originally planed for later in the week instead.

But before I move on to the ins and outs of today's challenge, I wanted to clear something up.

 Yesterday I wrote about how the Miosolo had leaked a little during one of Jenson's (extra) long naps, and although it didn't put me off too much, after all even disposables leak from time to time, it did make me wary of having to monitor re-usable nappes more for 'water' content than I may have done with disposable for the same period of time (2-4 hours). However, it turns out that the 'wee-gate' incident may actually have been user error on MY part and not a problem caused by the Miosolo! I had forgotten that in order to make the nappy fit Jenson better and to be a more snug and less likely to leak fit, I needed to adjust the poppers on the front of the nappy! Doh!

Practice makes perfect!!

Let me show you. Here is

yesterday's nappy attempt

Jenson wearing the Miosolo yesterday

Notice how the nappy is quite long and you can see two exposed poppers?

Ok, well let me show you what I learnt today which enables a much better fitting nappy and so far NO leakage!

Note the shorter length and the neater finish? Yes, me too!

Anyway, back to today's challenge, which is:

I asked Jensons daddy to take up the challenge, and he has never handled a re-usable nappy either. He has changed disposable ones (not soften as me of course!), so he does at least have an idea of how to change a nappy! I briefly talked him through it and away he went.

He completed the challenge and had no problems whatsoever  in using the Miosolo. Even big brother Burton tried to get in on the act!

So if my son's daddy took to the challenge and passed then I think any daddy could do the same :)


DAY 3 - WASHING & DRYING THE MIOSOLO

So its Day 3 and today's challenge is

Now as you will know from my introductory post, I have never used anything but disposable nappies so some of the questions presented to me onto days challenge card were a bit redundant. So I can only give you my opinion as a first time user as I have nothing to compare these all in one nappies against.

Here are the washing facts:

Available from Bambino Mio

• It is recommended that the nappies are given a pre wash before first wear
• The Miosolo nappy must be machine washed at 60oC . 
• You could choose to soak the used nappies instead I hasten to add, but as I have a washing machine its just as easy to add a load at the end of the day for me personally. 
• You do need to add a scoop of miofresh sanitiser to your washing powder draw and then you wash as normal with your washing detergent. 
• It is important not to use fabric softener as this will lessen the nappy's absorbency.
• Oh and don't forget to pull out the liner before washing as this will help ensure that all soiled areas and any stray poo is removed! (see diagram below)

Drying the Miosolo is VERY easy and quick - obviously if you had a washing line, which I don't, you would line dry them in the right weather conditions. However, this time of year a washing line is not a reliable method for drying nappies. I placed mine on my heated towel rail and they dry within 1-2 hours

The Miosolo can be tumble dried on cold too.

Washing and drying the Miosolo is actually very easy and the turn around time is pretty fast, especially the drying time. One of the nappies I washed had a 'stain' on it and after washing it had completely gone. So I would see the maintaining the re-usable nappy as a positive experience and one that could sway me towards going more real and less disposable nappy in the future.

It is worth noting that it has been calculated by Go Real that the total cost of washing nappies (including electricity, washing powder and water at 60°C) over a 2.5 year period is just £102.19. 

Finally, I was given some tips on looking after re-useable nappies by some lovely bloggers who commented on my introductory post and I thought I would share them with you, because I think any advice is good advice from people who have experience when I don't!

 "wash at 60, with half the amount of washing powder, no softener and if you can let them dry with some sunlight hitting them (even through a window) this will help get stains out.

I put the inserts from my stuffable nappies on the radiators directly, and then lay the nappy shells on top of them, they don't get stuff and the PUL lining isn't damaged by the direct heat! Don't use a tumble dryer for the shells unless you really have to for the same reason, and it's not good for the elastic" Steph 

"I usually recommend 3 prewashes and avoid putting on towel rail directly as will reduce their life and make them hard to the touch. By or above the rail on a hanger would be good" Rose

DAY 4 - THE OVERNIGHT CHALLENGE

So last for the last 2 nights I have carried out challenge 4 which is

I was a little nervous about letting Jenson wear the Miosolo all night if I am honest, as I know that it is recommended that the nappy be changed every 2-4 hours during the day.

BUT to ensure a more absorbant nappy during the night you can add a MioBoost which is an extra cloth 'pad' which can be tucked inside the super absorbent core which should prevent any leakages during the night.

I didn't add the mioboost Tuesday night, because Jenson's disosable nappies never get very wet during the night since he stopped breast feeding, so I hoped that the Miosolo would not leak as a result of my decision!

Make sure that nappy is securely on - it could be on for a few hours!

As I have mentioned previously, Jenson has been ill this week and has not been sleeping through the night. The night before last, my first night of trialling the reusable nappy at night, he woke up at some unearthly hour and was not happy at all!!! Try as I might, I wasn't able to soothe or settle him, so I ended up checking his nappy to see if maybe it was wet and was proving to be uncomfortable for him. I need not have worried, although a little wet, the Miosolo had not leaked and had performed well. However, having removed the nappy I replaced it with a disposable (sorry!) because the other real ones were not completely dry from having been washed last thing before I went to bed.

BUT last night I did add the mioboost in the hopes that

1). Jenson might sleep through the night

2). If he achieved the above I didn't want the nappy to be wet and maybe leak ( he had swallowed a fair bit of bath water as he insisted in trying to crawl in the bath, and in doing so took in some water!)

Believe it or not ( I myself am still in shock after more than a week of getting up in the middle of the night for quite some time) Jenson slept until 5am!! So I changed his nappy and it hadn't leaked at all and to be fair it wasn't that wet either.

Phew!! Success and challenge 4 completed :)

Is there no stopping this Miosolo nappy? We will see.............one more challenge to undertake !

WOW!

In conjunction with the miosolo challenge week Bambino Mio are offering 25% off all miosolo purchases from their online shop with free p&p!

They are even throwing in a free 100g of miofresh (nappy sanitiser) too! http://www.bambinomioshop.co.uk/miosolo-new-32-c.asp

All you need to do to take advantage of this brilliant offer is enter discount code challenge at the checkout.

Bambino Mio sent me re-usable nappy products for the purpose of this week long challenge. all opinions are my own as is the gorgeous baby modelling the items. I will only test products on my children which i feel are suitable and appropriate

WOW!

In conjunction with the miosolo challenge week Bambino Mio are offering 25% off all miosolo purchases from their online shop with free p&p!

They are even throwing in a free 100g of miofresh (nappy sanitiser) too! http://www.bambinomioshop.co.uk/miosolo-new-32-c.asp

All you need to do to take advantage of this brilliant offer is enter discount code challenge at the checkout.

Bambino Mio sent me re-usable nappy products for the purpose of this week long challenge. all opinions are my own as is the gorgeous baby modelling the items. I will only test products on my children which i feel are suitable and appropriate.




THE COSTS OF USING REAL NAPPIES VS DISPOSABLES

So you may recall that I took part in the REAL nappy challenge back in January.

My three main reasons for wanting to give cloth nappies a go were:

• to reduce my household waste
• to find out if they were as easy to use nowadays as I had been told v's the hard work they were when my mum used them on me
• to see if there were big differences in costs between them and disposables

It is the latter of those, the costs, that I have been investigating over the last couple of weeks as a few readers of my blog were keen to know if they would actually save money by switching from disposable to re-usable.

During my week long nappy challenge I was amazed by how many people I tweet with and whose blogs I follow, who actually use real nappies themselves for their children and they passed on some brilliant tips and words of advice to me (thank you if it was you!). I discovered a real nappy group on twitter called #nappuvinno and thanks to them and some other helpful real nappy using mums I was able to establish how many I would need to use (and buy) for Jenson. I was also tweeted by the natural nursery who was very lovely and emailed me a load of information on the costs of real v's disposable nappies as she had carried out a similar investigation last year. 

So bearing in mind that my baby is now 10 months old (if you were starting out with cloth nappies from newborn the costs would be a little higher as you would need more cloth nappies - it as suggested that 20 was a good starting point) it appeared that the average total I would need by the suggestions that I was given on twitter was 10 which would allow me about 2 days worth of wear. As it happens I have 8 as I figured that I may still use a disposable at bedtime which may change as I get used to using reusables but for now this is my plan.

Therefore, based on the Miosolo all-in-one nappies which I trialled which cost £14.95 each (and I will base this on the 10 nappies that were suggested to me that I buy), that totals £149.50

Add to this the liners which cost £4.95 (for 160)

The nappy cleanser powder which costs £4.60 (for 50 washes)

Pack of bio boosters (for extra absorbency) which cost £6.79 (for 3)

So the total so far is £165.84 

I haven't bothered buying a nappy bucket and a nappy bag for days out, as if I am at home I will use a large tupperware box that I have and if I am out and about I will use a linen shopping bag or something similar. 

Now lets compare this start up cost with disposable nappies. I am going to base this comparison on a well know brand of nappies - obviously if you buy supermarket own nappies you are saving more money, but for the purpose of this I need an average price. I have to be honest when I have shopped for disposables I always buy whatever are on offer with the branded nappies as usually they have an offer of some sort one. 

Anyway, lets say the average size 4 branded nappy costs 20p each (bearing in mind that supermarket own brands are less again) and I would say that on an average day I get through about 6 which is £1.20 per day which equates to £8.40 per week which is £436.80 a year. At 10 months old, based on him being toilet trained at the same time as his brother who was 28 months (which isn't an accurate guide as he may be completely different and take much longer, but I need an average length of nappy wearing time) this means he still has another 18 months of nappy wearing 

So the total is £655.20 

(based on 20p per nappy over 18 more months from now)

I will probably continue to use disposable wipes for now at least, although I am going to try and use flannels when I am at home so I am not going to bother adding or removing wipe costs because if you wanted to work this our for yourself then again most wipes start from about £1 a pack (either supermarket own or brands when on offer). 

*Did you know, you can wash disposable wipes in your washing machine? a mum on twitter does this and says you can get several uses out of them?*

So at the moment the re-usable nappies cost a LOT less than the disposables at this point in the proceedings - a difference of £489.36 in fact. Although of course the disposable costs are spread over those 18 months whereas the real nappies have to be bought and paid for in one go.

Of course with re-usable nappies comes the fact that you have to wash them at 60oC which includes electricity, washing powder and water. Thanks to the  natural nursery I have some costs I can include here which are based on findings taken in 2011

I am thinking that I will be washing my re-usable nappies every 2 days so on average that is an extra 3-4 washes per week so i will say 4 to round things up. So over the next 18 months that adds up to 312 washes. Again I am basing the wishing powder costs on a well know brand of washing detergent - other asking powders will cost you less of course - but 50 washes (4kg box) costs £12.00 which averages at 24p per wash. BUT according to real nappy manufacturers you only need to use half the amount of recommended powder per wash which equates to 12p a wash.

So total washing powder cost is approx £37.44

(for 18 months)

Meaning I would also need 312 washes worth of nappy cleanser so extra cost for 6 more tubs = £27.60

The average 'B' rated washing machine uses 1.15 kw of electricity per load at 60oC** , at an average cost of 12p kw/h which is 13.8p per load 

So total cost of electricity is £43.01 

(for 18 months)

* So in conclusion *

Disposable nappies (not including wipes or nappy bags) for 18 months =

£655.20

Re-usable nappies + washing powder + nappy cleanser + electricity + liners + boosters for 18 months = £375.24 

Which makes using re-usable nappies quite appealing from a money saving point of view doesn't it?

I have decided to use real nappies although I will still keep disposables to hand for emergencies!

If you are contemplating using real nappies would these savings help you to think more seriously about using them instead of disposables? I would be interested in reading what you have to say.

SOURCES

Prices for consumer products based on online prices at supermarkets and BambinoMio January 2012

 The prices for the energy providers, January 2011

**http://www.appliancesonline.co.uk/blog/post/2010/08/06/How-to-calculate-your-washing-machine-running-costs.aspx

Thank you also to the natural nursery for their help and cost information

this is not a sponsored post and I was not asked to write this post by anyone, it was something I wanted to find out for myself . Other brands of real nappies are of course available.