Nappyneedz

Continuing with our look at cloth nappy terms, today I’m going to talk about one size nappies. There are actually lots of different things that these cloth nappies are called. We’ll take a look at some of the different names for them and see if those different names actually mean that the nappy is different in some way. One size nappies Cloth nappies usually come in two different types; sized nappies, which mean that you will need to buy new sizes as your baby grows and one size nappies, that come in just one size. As a general rule one size nappies tend to have some method to adjust them to fit a range of different sizes of babies, although it is possible that a one size nappy may just come in one size and fit just one size. There is, just to confuse things slightly, a third type of nappy that is sized, but then has adjustments to make it fit a range of sizes within that size range. Birth to potty nappies When I first started using cloth nappies, most of the one size nappie...

There are lots of terms that you might come across when looking at cloth nappies that you might find confusing. I’m going to be looking at some of these terms in a series of blogs, starting this week with workhorse cloth nappies. What are workhorse cloth nappies? Workhorse cloth nappies are simply your day to day, go to nappies that work well but aren’t particularly fancy. If you have a pile of different types of cloth nappies, your workhorse cloth nappies are those which you tend to reach for first, and that are often quite ordinary looking. Most people tend to fill most of their cloth nappy stash with workhorse cloth nappies, something reliable that you can use every day. Most of the nappies that we sell here at Nappyneedz would count as workhorse cloth nappies, our dinky pocket nappy , and ecobots prefolds would certainly fall into this category. A workhorse cloth nappy doesn’t have to be boring or ugly, but as a rule they tend not to have lots of embroidery or pic...

One of the questions that comes up again and again is about cloth nappies and the environment. How much better are they for the environment? Are disposable alternatives really that much worse? Does it matter what kind of nappies you use? There have been many, many studies done on this subject, one in particular suggested that there was little difference between the two types of nappies in terms of environmental impact. So, what is the truth? Are cloth nappies really the better choice? Cloth nappies and the environment Before we look at cloth nappies and the environment in more detail, it is worth mentioning that of course everything we do has an impact on the environment. It’s easy to convince ourselves that going for the ‘green’ option means that there isn’t an environmental impact. Making cloth nappies in the first place, of course uses resources, then there is the washing and drying of them, all of which is going to have an effect. We usually use chemicals, wa...

Something that puts a lot of people off cloth nappies, is the thought of dealing with the poo. There are though, lots of products on the market that can help make the cleaning up of solid waste from nappies a bit more pleasant, and will mean that dealing with the poo shouldn’t be such a big issue. Newborn poo is a little different from toddler poo, and can be washed out in the machine, you don’t really need to worry about removing it first. Before I go into any of the different things that you can use, I should perhaps say that if you really really don’t want to be dealing with the poo, you might want to rethink having a baby. Whether you use cloth nappies or disposables, all babies do poo. The solid waste in disposables should actually by flushed down the toilet, not wrapped in the nappy and discarded. It’s also worth mentioning that cloth nappies keep everything in the nappy much better than disposables do, most parents who use disposables have a least one up t...

Recently we send one of our dinky nappies to the nappy lady here in New Zealand, so that she could do a review and post it on line.  If you’ve never seen us at a baby show or market before, or had one of our free demo’s, then you might want to watch the review and learn more about the nappy. The Nappy Lady The nappy lady works in New Zealand to help spread the word about cloth nappies, and to teach parents about the advantages of using them on their children.  She works very closely with local counsels throughout New Zealand, and going along to one of her evenings is a great way to get into cloth nappies and learn more about them. Dinky nappy review Want to know what the nappy lady thought about our cloth nappy? Then take a look: Available at nappyneedz The dinky nappy is available to buy here at Nappyneedz, for $25 each. Or you can purchase one of our value packs, which can make the cost per nappy as little as $18.  Check out our full range of colours and prices here.   If ...

Christmas can be a very busy, and sometimes quite stressful, time of year.  The last thing that you want is the day to day things, like nappies to make things even more stressful.  Here’s our top tips for coping with cloth nappies over Christmas. Top tips for coping with cloth nappies over Christmas Make sure that you have plenty of clean nappies before the festivities start; no one want’s to wash on Christmas day If you want a few days off, then get in extra nappies so that you don’t have to wash. Rinsing the nappies after use will stop smells building up if you have a few days without washing. When you have a house full of visitors, make the most of them by getting them to help out with hanging clean nappies on the line, and other little jobs. If you’re at someone else’s house make sure you take plenty of changes and somewhere to put dirty nappies with you. If you’re going to be staying over night, then check out the washing facilities first. If you...

Yuck, stinky nappies!  One of the biggest problems that some people have with cloth nappies is dealing with stinky nappies.  In my early days of cloth nappy use I had to deal with the stinky nappies issue.  Usually cloth nappies actually smell better than disposable ones, but every now and again, parents find that their cloth nappies start to really smell.  There are a few reasons why this happens, and usually with a few little changes, smells can be eliminated. Why you get stinky nappies Some parents find that after using cloth nappies with no problems for months, all of a sudden something changes and they’re faced with stinky nappies.  There are a number of things that can cause this eye watering ammonia smell in cloth nappies, I will go through the different ways of dealing with the different causes of the ammonia stink: Washing detergent build up; although you want to use enough to clean you nappies, you need to make sure you don’t use too much. Chemical ammonia build up...