The Cloth Nappy Blog

But wait, there’s more – MCN costs part II

Deb — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:12:51 +0000

Let’s play around with some of the assumptions on cloth nappy costs.

To recap, we discovered that 24 MCN at $30 each, washed every two days for two years, was equivalent to disposables at 27c each, or $9.72 for a 36 pack.

Say that you only wash every 3 days, that’s like 25c per disposable nappy, or $9 for 36.
Say that you have an efficient washing machine, that’s like 24c per disposable nappy or $8.64 for 36.
Say that your child is in nappies until 3, that’s like 20c per disposable nappy or $7.20 for 36.
Say that you use the same nappies on a second child for 2 years, but buy a dozen more, that’s like 21c per nappy or $7.56 for 36.

Hey – what if you wash every 3 days with an efficient washing machine and reuse some of the nappies on a second child? They’re practically free

Of course you can go the other way, too, and make it more expensive.

If you have lots of nappies (although then you wash less often).
If you wash every day (but then you only need a few nappies).
If you fully deck out your child in custom embroidered minkee (but they’re really, really, really cute).

But given the price of sposies, you’ve got a lot to play with before MCN end up costing anywhere near as much as disposables!

Hemp

Deb — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 07:14:48 +0000

Hemp is a common absorbent material used in fitted nappies and inserts. It is usually hemp French terry, which is a knitted (stretchy) fabric with small loops on one side, or sometimes a fleece. This is made from the terry with the loops brushed out to make the fleece so there is no difference in absorbency. It is far more expensive than cotton, but also far more absorbent and it wicks well, so it moves the moisture around and you use the whole of the nappy.

This is important if you want your nappies to last or have a big wee-er, if you are changing every wee it may not be as important. It has some anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties but does tend to absorb the wee smell. There are several ways to deal with this, such as rinsing as soon as you take the nappy off or adding tea-tree or eucalyptus oil to the wash. Vinegar can help too.

Hemp needs to have at least 3 hot washes before it becomes absorbent and it increases in absorbency for about 8-10 washes. It should have been washed at least once during manufacture to stop it from shrinking, but when you receive your nappies you usually need to wash them a few times. As clean nappies you can run them through with any other loads you are doing.

Unfortunately hemp becomes hard and crunchy when it is working the best. This is why it is great inside pockets or as a hidden layer, but not as good against the baby’s skin. An advantage, though, is that it is extremely durable – I have some that has been used for 4 years and is still going strong. So it is a good choice for a one-size nappy that will be used for a long time. It is environmentally friendly.

Sewing ProCare and hidden layers

Deb — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 06:14:00 +0000

When I was selling nappies I used ProCare as a water-resistant layer and I’ve been asked how I sewed it, so I thought I’d share it here.

ProCare is a very durable coated fabric made by Wazoodle, a Canadian company. In my opinion it is far superior to PUL because it is much longer wearing but still soft, but it’s quite hard to get hold of in Australia. One thing to note – my ProCare did not last the advertised 1000 home launderings, possibly because of UV exposure, but it did last longer than PUL. One side has a knitted polyester, the other side is rubbery. You can use either as the right side, my rule of thumb was to have the fabric side towards where people would be touching, so the inside of a cover or pocket. I only used white because it was always a hidden layer, but it is available in plain blue, pink and green as well.

Most of my ProCare was sewn with an overlocker (serger). The dilemma here is that the rubbery side is quite ’sticky’ and you can’t pull things through an overlocker or you can break the needles and needle-plate. To get around this I kept the ProCare on the top, where it moved through easier and I could keep an eye on it. On a sewing machine I found the opposite worked better – having the ProCare on the bottom near the feed dogs. It takes a bit of trial and error to see what works with different machines.

I used a relatively heavy duty needle, size 90, but just a normal sharp – I’ve heard others suggest ball point needles for coated fabrics but personally didn’t find it made a difference. If you are using pins, it’s very important to pin inside the seam allowance, otherwise you end up with holes in your water-resistant layer! Bull dog clips are a good alternative to pins that won’t leave marks. I’ve also heard of people gluing fabrics with special fabric glues, this would be good to ‘baste’ a hidden layer and the fashion layer.

The difficulty with making pocket nappies with a hidden layer and outer fashion layer is stopping the outer layer coming in contact with the pocket itself. If it does, it can wick the moisture out and you end up with a wet nappy. I know of several solutions:

The simplest way to avoid it is to use an outer that is 100% polyester, like minkee. Gorgeous and non-wicking, what more could you ask for? Even better is if you top-stitch around the elastic, this makes it lie flat rather than rolling.
Use fold-over elastic to sew your layers together. This is definitely the simplest sewing solution, no turning, no separate elastic, just put your three layers together and sew. However I’ve only done it myself with non-wicking outers or on covers. For a cover I’ve found it works best when the crotch is very wide so there is a gap between the nappy and the leg of the cover, I suspect a pocket nappy with a cotton outer would wick if done this way.
Make an overlocked (serged) frill. Sew the elastic between the ProCare and the inner, then put the fashion fabric on top and overlock the three together. You end up with an overlocked frill around the nappy.
Make the pocket separate. Much the same as the overlocked frill, but turned. Sew the elastic between ProCare and inner, then put the right side of the fashion fabric to the inner and overlock. Turn right way out, you get a line of the inner around the edes of the legs. It must have enough absorbent materials in the pocket or it will wick because there’s nowhere else for the water to go.
Make a partially hidden layer. I haven’t tried this myself, but I’ve seen a couple of brands that say the outer layer is separate from the pocket because some of the ProCare is visible.

Pocket Nappies

Deb — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 11:59:51 +0000

Pocket nappies have an outer water-resistant layer attached to an inner wicking layer to make a hollow pocket in between. You then stuff the pocket with absorbent materials that are taken out and washed separately. Most people who sell pocket nappies also sell inserts but just about anything will do, including prefolds and flats, microfibre cleaning cloths, flannels, towels, whatever you have. This means they can be a cheaper option than fitted nappies or all-in-ones.

Pocket nappies are my favourites. I love the fact that I can fill them while putting them away then they are set to go. There is only one piece to worry about like a disposable, not flaps to line up and covers to put on. This is very important if you have carers or other people changing your child’s nappies, or if you have a wriggler. And the adjustability has been very important for me – one of my girls was a fairly light wetter, then other could wee in the Olympics. But they could use the same nappies, I just had to put more stuffing in for the little one.

Pocket Nappy

On the other hand, a pocket nappy can never really be as trim as a super trim AIO through the crotch. It has to be wide enough for you to get the stuffing in, even then husbands often have (legitimate!) trouble putting them together because their hands are too big.

Pros:

Good fitting once you’ve found ones that suit.
Goes on like a disposable.
Good containment.
Can be re-used or onsold.
Usually pretty.
Water-resistant.
Extremely adjustable – you decide how much absorbent material you use.
Usually very reliable if you have a nappy that suits your baby’s shape.
Relatively cheap without inserts.
Very quick drying, only two layers that are non-absorbent.
Once the inserts are in there is just one piece to put on the baby.

Cons:

Can be expensive with inserts.
Can look very baggy, depending on the style.
You have to put the inserts in (although my daughter thinks doing the nappies is the best game ever).
Can be difficult for people with large hands if it has a trim crotch.

Hook and Loop

Deb — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 13:36:46 +0000

This is what we all know and love as Velcro, but they should be of a better quality such as Velcro 2000 or Touch Tape. Hook and loop is a generic, non-brand-name label for all the different sorts.

This is a very popular closure as they are very adjustable and easy to use. They work exactly the same as disposables with hook tabs on the arms catching the loop on the front of the nappy, which makes them popular with grandparents and day care because they know how to do them up! The adjustability is because the loop usually covers the entire front of the nappy and they can be done up anywhere on it, so you can get it in exactly the right position.

They are great for DIYers just starting out, because it can be sewn onto a nappy without anything special needed.

A minor problem is that the hooks can fill with lint during washing, but most nappies come with laundry tabs. These are little sections of loop fabric on the inside of the nappy or cover, you fold the hook over and attach to the tabs when washing. The idea is that the hooks are covered and shouldn’t catch on anything else. (It took me ages to work out what on earth the extra pieces of loop were for.)

A larger problem is that they are irresistible to older babies and toddlers who rip them open and take the nappy off, although I have seen claims that Velcro 2000 is too strong for little fingers. They seem to make a fantastic noise and both sides can be ripped at the same time, meaning they are left behind as bubba runs off.

Also a baby with very large thighs can be scratched by the corners quite badly. When I say large, my girls couldn’t wear hook and loop because of this problem and they had 34cm thighs, so they were well above average in this area. Because they only pull around only the thighs or waist can be fitted, whichever is bigger. This is fine if your baby is nicely proportioned, but can be a problem if they have a comparatively skinny waist or thighs.

So they are easy to put on and great for little babies or skinny ones, but not so good for chubby babies or older adventurous bubbas.

MCN are so expensive! How can they be cheaper?

Deb — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 02:13:57 +0000

Modern Cloth Nappies and diapers are a long term investment rather than short term, but you can still do cloth cheaply if you aren’t certain how you’ll go. A pack of cotton flats from a chain store costs around $28 for 8-12, so a couple of these plus some decent covers means you can do cloth for less than $100 total. This is not theoretical – I used flats only for about 7 months with my first daughter and they are still a major part of my stash. And they aren’t wasted if you upgrade to MCN, there are a lot of other uses for flats! So start with flats, then buy MCN slowly when you can afford them.

Prices of MCN vary a great deal, so I’ll use $30 as an average. I want to show that they are very economical even if you think they are a lot individually.

A basic stash is around 24 nappies. Again, you can have lots more, but 24 nappies will get you through. So

24 x $30 = $720

Add a bit extra for wipes, liners, snappis, covers, etc, and say $800.

Washing is actually extremely cheap. The Australian Taxation Office uses an allowance of 50c per load to allow for wear and tear on the machine, detergent, water, and electricity. If you have a water saving machine and use less detergent it can be much cheaper, down to 10c per load, but let’s see how expensive it can be. Most people wash every 2 or 3 days, so for one year you are looking at

$0.50 x 180 = $90

Yep, $90 to wash all those nappies for a whole year.

So for a child who is in MCN for 2 years, you are looking at

$800 + $90 + $90 = $980

That sounds like a lot, but look at the other side if you were using disposables. How many nappies will be used in 2 years? Using an average of 5 changes a day, that is

5 nappies x 2 years x 365 = 3650 nappies

$980 / 3650 nappies = ~27c per nappy.

Do your disposables cost 27c per nappy?

Cotton

Deb — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 13:00:48 +0000

Most natural materials are absorbent, and most absorbent materials are natural! It’s to do with the plant fibres – their job is to transport things like water around, whereas synthetics are long chains of molecules, not tubes.

Some of the absorbent materials used in modern cloth nappies (MCNs) -

Cotton –
This isn’t really ‘modern,’ it’s the old faithful. Cheap, but not as absorbent as other fabrics. It is generally used for cheap flats available from chain stores such as K-mart and older nappies as a terry (with loops) or flannelette. Some newborn nappies use it because on a newborn you are generally changing frequently and flannelette is thin so makes trim nappies, and it’s not economical to make expensive nappies that will only fit for a few weeks! It is also common in mass produced nappies.

Cotton is reasonably absorbent and easy to care for, but it tends to go hard after a few washes. It can be softened fairly easily by using vinegar in the wash, drying it in the shade or using a dryer, and cotton terry flats can be worked extremely hard. I have some that are 4 years old and still going – I don’t care what they look like because I only use them at home.

Depending on where it is grown cotton can be a very environmentally unfriendly crop. It requires a lot of water, which is fine in monsoonal countries such as India and China, but not in Australia. There are a lot of insects that eat the cotton bolls or fibres so it often uses a lot of pesticides, although there is an increasing amount of organic cotton becoming available. For agricultural products including fabrics look for SKAL certification to check it is organic, this is for the EU but many international producers have it. There is some ethically produced cotton from places like India where community businesses are growing it, but for other cotton there may be a trade-off between environmental friendliness, work conditions, and local production.

Overall I have used a lot of cotton in my nappying, but only with flats around the house. With the variety of MCN that are available I would go for something more absorbent or durable when I want reliability.

Fitted Nappies

Deb — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:29:10 +0000

Fitted Nappies are highly recommended for newborn babies, as night nappies and for rashy babies because they are not water-resistant at all. This means they can be used with a cover to give you two sets of elastic to contain newborn poo, or boosted up as much as you need for night, or in hot weather they can be used without a cover to give more breathability. Because the whole nappy is made of absorbent materials they will usually hold more than a water-resistant nappy of the same size.

Mandy-Mac OSFM fitted nappy from Brindabella Baby

Unlike flats and prefolds they are shaped, with elastic around the legs and usually somewhere on the waist as well. They come in a wide range of materials and shapes to suit different babies. They usually have 3 or 4 layers in the wet zone plus boosters that are either attached or just lain in the nappy before you do it up to adjust the absorbency. They often have a fashion outer fabric and some type of wicking fabric on the inside to draw moisture through to the absorbent layers and keep baby dryer.

Layers are good for absorbency but bad for drying time. This is why most nappies have separate boosters, so you can wash and dry them separately and more quickly. It is a tradeoff between time and fiddliness.

Some are sized, some are one-sized. The sized ones are usually trimmer, but you have to buy more. One-size are more economical and useful if you have more than one in nappies, but can be bulky on a small baby. The nappy above is a one-size fits most on a newborn. It has a snappi closure, but fitted nappies can also have velcro or snap closures.

Pros:

Good fitting.
Elastic legs gives good containment.
Very absorbent because the whole nappy will absorb, not just partial layers.
Can be re-used or onsold. There is a good market for second-hand nappies.
Usually very pretty.
Not as bulky as flats or prefolds, especially hemp or bamboo versions.
Make good night nappies because they can be boosted as much as needed.

Cons:

Can be expensive (can also be fairly cheap, depending on brand).
Not water resistant.
Can be slow to dry depending on the number of layers.
Can be complicated if there are several layers to put on plus a cover.

Anatomy of a Nappy

Deb — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 13:51:19 +0000

Old style nappies just had something to catch the wee and something to do them up with. Then there was the invention of lovely plastic pilchers that kept clothes at least a little bit dry. Now we are a bit fussy, and Modern Cloth Nappies have all sorts of options including super-absorbent, anti-microbial absorbency, water resistance and stay-dry linings.

Absorbency

Absorbent materials are the workhorse of the nappy!

For a little baby, how much you need depends on how long you want the nappy to last. To last longer, add more. Or if you change frequently you don’t need much absorbency. As they get older the way babies wee changes – instead of many small wees they start saving them up and doing fewer, bigger ones. Some toddlers may remain fine with relatively light nappies but others may need a lot of boosting, because while their nappy is dry for hours, when it rains it really pours.

You might need to consider two types of absorbency – total amount, and distribution. Total amount is pretty easy to understand, people generally talk about the number of layers. But consider a fitted nappy, which is absorbent all over, compared to a pocket nappy which just has a strip through the crotch. Obviously the fitted nappy will need less layers for the same absorbency, or will be more absorbent for the same number of layers. This is where wicking becomes important – the ability of the fabric to move wee around and how fast. If your fitted nappy is made of something that wicks really well, it will use all that extra material at the sides and back. If it doesn’t wick well, you will end up with a big wet patch that may leak through on the crotch while the rest of the nappy is dry. And that’s really annoying.

Because different absorbent materials have different strengths and weaknesses, I like having a combination in my nappies. So for example all my pocket inserts have some microfibre, because it’s quick, and some hemp or bamboo, because it’s reliable.

Water resistance

Not water proofing! The problem is that if something is water proof it is also air proof, which is not good for little bums. Obviously water resistance needs to be on the outside, but it can be a separate cover or an integral part of the nappy. There are advantages both ways, it depends what you are after.

Separate covers can be used with a folded pad inside them, or they can be extra boosted by adding more absorbent layers inside or outside the nappy itself. Some can be re-used without washing, and there are some called things like longies, flongies, shorties, florties or soakers that can replace pants or trousers, especially as pyjamas. And if you put them over a fitted nappy they are an extra line of defense against leaks because there are two sets of elastic seals.

Nappies like pockets or AIOs with integral water resistance tend to be trimmer and easier to put on, because there is only one thing to worry about.

Linings

There is a lot of talk about ’stay-dry liners.’ All this means is that the lining is some form of polyester, it could be a velour, fleece, suedecloth or anything else soft. Synthetic fabrics are generally non-absorbent, so wee goes through them into the absorbent fabric below. It won’t keep babies completely dry, but they aren’t sitting right up against wet fabric. I feel a difference when my baby’s been wearing a pocket, which has a stay-dry liner, or a terry flat without one. And from talking to adults who use nappies it does make a difference in the comfort.

The other main type of liner is all natural for babies who react to synthetics. There are many nappies with cotton or bamboo velour liners for their softness, and really rashy babies may need raw silk. This is the material least likely for there to be a reaction but it isn’t in general stock – you may need to get some from a fabric store and hem it yourself. Natural liners are not stay-dry, and may wick moisture onto the outside of some nappies as well.

Snappis

Deb — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 03:58:00 +0000

So how do you keep your nappies on?

In the old days it was pins, and you can still buy nappy pins with the safety closure. I find they’re great for putting elastic or cord through casings! If you are using muslin or flannelette flat nappies or some prefolds, pins are still the best way to go. Or as an alternative you can use a well fitting cover and fold the nappy as a pad inside it. Some newborn covers are called ’snibs’ and are actually tied on to make them easier. I’ve used snibs provided by my hospital in the early days and they’re quick and simple.

Snappis

: Snappis

These are the modern alternative to nappy pins. They work by hooking on to loops on the material, not the weave itself, so they only work on terries, usually cotton or bamboo. Many people start out with snappis because they work so well on flat nappies or diapers, and there are many basic fitted nappies that have terry outers and can be used with snappis. They are fantastic for DIY’ers because you don’t have to buy velcro or snaps, just cut up a terry flat. I’ve seen people claim they use a snappi on fleece, but personally I wouldn’t. If you are hooking sharp things into the body of the fabric it is going to damage it.

The biggest advantage of snappis is that they give a fantastic fit because they pull in two directions, around the waist and at the front of the rise, and because they are pulling they look trim not baggy. Because they have so much adjustability they will give a good fit on “odd-shaped” babies who are very skinny or have chubby thighs etc.

: Nappy with Snappi closure

However, they can be fiddly. If you have one of those babies who stand up or wriggle around at nappy changes they are probably not for you, but we have been blessed with babies who lies quietly and they are the best fasteners for us. My husband actually thinks they are the easiest – obviously a case of what you are used to. In fact think about it – over the time your baby is in nappies, you are going to do well over 3000 nappy changes. Do you think you are going to have problems with it for long? Or do you think you’ll be a pro after a couple of weeks (70+ changes!).

I have never had a problem, but they can work loose and the sharp hooks could scratch a baby. I have heard of one being snapped because of the stretch in the arms, but I don’t think this is common.

They are almost impossible for a baby to take off on their own, it takes too much co-ordination. This is great for the incredible escaping baby, but not so good when toilet training. Of course my kids just go nude then!