[JennyB]

Has anybody tried the Kushies nappies that are available at Bumps to Babes (or any other brands if available in Hong Kong) and if so any comments?

[mon]

It can save money and environmental friendly, better to use it in winter. But think about to clean and wash, trouble!!!

[loupou]

I bought terry-cloth nappies at Mothercare and also bought plainer ones at Chinese Department stores like Yue Wah and CRC.

I also used nappy covers. My favorites were the "nikki" brand, I think it was Japanese and Iwe bought them at Uny or maybe Wing On.

You can also buy plastic pants at MotherCare, but I hated to put them on my kids, so that was $ wasted (for me).

I found that the best cleaner was Napisan, which you can get at Watsons, Mannings, and many super markets nowadays.

[rani]

Jenny,

I was determined to give cloth diapering a go. I had a pack of velcro diapers and the plain Chinese ones, two diaper pails, (a wet and a dry) and a bottle of Napisan.

I think we did it for 2 weeks and gave up. Dhruv was pooping after every feed, which was every 1-2 hrs. The diaper pails were overflowing and we just couldn't keep up

Rani

[LLL_Sarah]

When my second baby, Jacob, was just a few weeks old he had a sore bottom. My mother looked at it and told me to change the washing power I was using to a pure soap one. Well – I was using disposable nappies!

After talking with my husband, who is a keen environmentalist, we decided to use cloth nappies. I bought terry-toweling nappies from Mothercare and then cut them in half. I asked a tailor in the street to overlock the cut side so that it didn’t fray. I also bought what I call nappy wraps from Wing On. These nappy wraps are the same shape as a disposable nappy but made out of waterproof material and do together with Velcro. They are not plastic but material.

I folded the toweling nappies to make a pad inside the wraps. I usually used a single nappy during the day and a double one at night. I also bought an extra bucket with a lid to keep the dirty nappies in. I didn’t use anything special to soak the nappies in. If they were only wet they went straight into the bucket and if they were dirty I knocked off the mess into the toilet and sometimes washed it out in the toilet too – if required

So long as the lid was on the smell was contained and I would do a nappy wash once every two days. I washed them on the 95°C cycle. Because the nappies were cut in two each one could hang from a normal coat hanger to dry. I found that just hanging overnight was enough to dry them, even in the springtime – no need for tumble driers or dehumidifiers.

When Jacob was wearing nappies it was possible to buy pure soap in the supermarket and this is what I used but by the time Rachel was born I couldn’t find any. So for Rachel I just used the normal detergent I washed the other clothes in and all was well.

I only used disposable nappies when we went away on holiday. When I went out and about in Hong Kong I took extra plastic bags to carry the nappies in. It really is possible if you want to do it. But you will be in a minority. Rachel’s doctor told me that she was one of only three of his patients that used cloth nappies.

One thing is much easier if you are using cloth nappies and that is toilet training. The babies seem to very quickly understand about wet and dry. So even if you use disposable most of the time think about changing for toilet training.

I may be mad but I actually enjoyed having a pile of clean white nappies. Some days the only thing I managed to do was clean the nappies (just throw them into the washing machine and then hang them out again) but it always made me feel as though I’d managed something important during the day.

[JennyB]

Thanks Sarah.

By the way everybody, I've been doing some internet research in forums where various types of cloth nappies have been reviewed. One thing I've found is that every brand of nappy gets a totally mixed reception: some people give a particular brand rave reviews, but others find they leak terribly. A lot must depend on the shape of your baby (chubby/skinny legs, for instance) and how explosive their poo is or how heavy wetters they are, plus your own expectations. So it is probably worth trying samples of a few different types to see what suits your baby, rather than buying a full set before the baby is born.

All-in-one nappies such as Kushies do not seem to get very good reviews. One brand which seems to get generally good reviews is Motherease one-size, which is a two-piece shaped nappy, and they also have quite reasonable postage costs for shipment to Hong Kong from Canada. Check out motherease.com.

[rani]

Jenny,

Thanks for sharing.

"Explosive Poos" I completely forgot we went through this with Dhruv. I couldn't find a disposable diaper that could hold it all. Switched brands and sizes. In the end resorted to staying at home in the mornings until he'd done his big poo of the day. I know...it sounds crazy. ;-)

[ozmaofoz]

When I did cloth diapering, I had a lot of luck with pocket diapers - they are all-in-one style diapers with inserts - makes them easier to dry and the PUL (laminate) lasts longer since you can easily airdry the outer PUL and fleece layer.

Fuzzibuns (in the states) are the most popular pocket diapers by far.