We used washable, cloth nappies on our first son from day three to when he was potty trained at just over two and a half years old, with a crossover of two months with our second son. As you can see from this photo, they are both very happy to pose in the washable nappy system that we use!

We’re often asked for advice on how to make washable nappies work. Here I’ve pulled all the separate suggestions together in one handy place.

PART A – DECIDING WHETHER TO GO FOR WASHABLE NAPPIES

Are washable nappies the right thing for your family?

I’ve deliberately said “right for your family” rather than “right for you” as the most important factor is having your other half as fully committed to using washable nappies as you are. It makes all the difference to have someone to share the load. I can’t lie and say that washable nappies are effortless; they take time and energy, sometimes when you have neither. But you both have to believe that it’s all worth it. Without the active support of your partner, it can be very difficult to keep up your enthusiasm.

Why is it worth it?

A baby goes through on average 5353 nappies in the first two years, and given that children can wear them for up to three years, give or take a few months, that’s potentially more than 8000 nappies per child. So, what are the benefits of using washable nappies?

Reduce waste (particularly important if you have to pay for your waste disposal)

Save money (compared to £800 over two years in the UK and particularly 1,767 CHF over two years in Switzerland, based on 0.50 CHF per nappy). I would estimate that we’ve spent about £500 in total on reusable nappies and accessories, which by the end will be for two children across five years, so a huge saving!

What do you need to make the washable nappy system work?

your own washing machine (and not the one in the apartment basement that you can only use once a week, which is common in Switzerland!)

sufficient space and options to dry your nappies throughout the year. And no, a tumble dryer should not be your primary option (but perhaps could be a last resort on those few occasions when it’s too warm for the heating to be on but too cold and damp to dry the inserts). Aside from the associated environmental and cost impacts, it would degrade the quality of the cover. This means having space for a clothes drying rack to be in use a lot of the time and a heat source that you can use when it’s cold. (There’s more about washing and drying below.)

And, as previously mentioned, time, energy and motivation – for you and your partner.

PART B: WHAT TO BUY

Washable nappies

First of all, a quick vocabulary check. This photo shows the main component parts of the washable nappies, from left to right: a cover, an insert, and a flushable liner.

Today there are so many different types of washable nappies to choose from. When choosing nappies, we looked for the following attributes:

They can be used from birth (3kg/7lbs) to potty training – the covers and inserts can be reduced in size (see poppers on the cover and folds in the photo). There’s no point spending money on another full set of nappies in a year’s time when one set will do the complete job. Plus, while you think they may look huge on a newborn, they actually help to open their hips in a V shape and help avoid hip dysplasia.

Quick drying. Covers that are separate dry a lot faster than the inserts, and so can be re-used more quickly. Inserts will also take less time to dry when they can air on all sides. Some “all in one” nappies, while they are less effort as you don’t have to make them up each time, take a lot longer to dry and don’t allow you to reduce washing by reusing clean covers.

Smaller/compact/not too bulky – Some nappies are fluffy and cuddly but take longer to dry and also it’s more difficult to find clothes, especially trousers, that fit.

Fastened with poppers, not velcro as the strips can stick to each other and pull other materials like wipes in the wash. They can also be a bit scratchy on the baby’s tummy if not placed perfectly.

Based on this analysis, we went for the Flip hybrid diaper/nappy system. While they’re not as cuddly or pretty as some of the all-in-ones, they are more flexible to re-use and there’s a lot less material to wash, therefore saving space and energy. Plus the covers come in lots of gorgeous colours.

We have 12 covers, 24 inserts and 4 thicker cotton inserts for additional use at night-time when the baby is sleeping through the night. This number is perhaps more than some websites would advise you but it allows you to easily avoid having to wash nappies every day (beyond the newborn stage, see note below). More inserts are used as the baby gets older as two inserts are used during the day (see note on leaks below). Plus, as you need to wash the nappies and wipes at least every three days to avoid the build-up of unpleasant odours, the economics and the system only work if you use the nappies full-time: at home and when out and about. It won’t work well in the long run if you try to use washable nappies only part-time, combining them with disposables. You also end up paying for both systems!

Accessories

Liners – We use a thin biodegradeable liner from Tots Bots on top of the nappy insert (see photo above), which you use to lift and flush poo away. Some other types of liner are much thicker and less flexible in the nappy, and I also question how flushable they actually are.

Cheeky wipes, instead of disposable wet wipes. Their system comes with a storage box and little travel bag. After washing the wipes with the nappies, you put them straight from the washer, damp, into the box on top of 1cm of water and 3-4 drops of essential oil (they sell Lavender and Camomile oil which smells great and is also a natural disinfectant). Just tip the box upside-down a few times and they’re ready to go.

Zip lock bags (medium and large) are essential for when out and about, or giving nappies to the crèche. As long as all the liners have been removed from the nappies, it’s then simply a case of pushing the used nappies from the bag directly into the washing machine, and then turning the bag inside out to wash that too. Not messy at all.

Small bin with lid for the used nappies and wipes (no need for it to be air tight as you’ll be washing the contents every 2 to 3 days).

2x mesh bags for the bin – so you can simply lift the used nappies and wipes from the bin directly into the washing machine, minimising the need to actually handle the used nappies.

A small bowl or box where used liners can be put temporarily before putting the nappy in the bin. It’s usually not necessary to flush them right away if there isn’t any poo.

Dedicated mini-clothes drying rack and, nice to have, a few octopus drying hangers (see drying point below).

This photo shows our home changing station in action.

Where to buy from?

Though we live in Switzerland, we bought most of our supplies from the UK (lizziesrealnappies). There are now a couple of companies in Switzerland that supply them, but they’re still much more expensive. For supplies in the Geneva area, there are Mere et terre in Grens and Envie de Fraises in Plainpalais, Geneva. You can buy Cheeky Wipes directly from their own website and we replenish our supply of flushable liners from vallemonte.ch.

PART C: TOP TIPS FOR CARE AND USE

Washing

The key aspect of reusable nappies! We have developed the following routine:

To avoid having the smell of urine build up in the inserts, the secret is to do a pre-wash plus short cotton wash (assuming your machine allows you to programme that cycle).

For very soiled washes, you could add a quarter of your usual washing powder/liquid. However, this really should be limited to every 3 or 4 washes (or, as has been the case for us, even less often) as regular use can create a “build up” of the detergent in the nappies, meaning any liquids will run off the nappy rather than being absorbed. We also started washing the nappies regularly at 60 degrees as we did have a few rashes in the early days that didn’t go away. Admittedly, this increases the overall monetary and environmental cost, so you could alternate.

You can increase the load by also washing all the wipes, the zip-lock bags as well as bibs (it all gets clean so I don’t think there’s an issue of hygiene here). Our machine is often full!

Despite using a biodegradeable liner on top of the nappy for the poo, some poo inevitably does get through to the insert which sometimes leaves a stain. However, drying the nappies in sunlight helps to “bleach” away the stains. (And you can also use bleach in the wash every couple of months if you really want to.)

How often do you need to wash the nappies? Well, that depends on a number of factors including how many nappies you need to change per day (maybe 8-10 a day for a newborn baby, 6-7 for a one year old, nearer 5 a day for a toddler) and how many covers you can “recover” (i.e. if the insert is quite dry the cover is likely to be completely dry and thus can be reused without being washed or with just a quick rinse under the tap) and reuse with a spare insert, plus also how long it takes to dry the covers/inserts. For a newborn, you need to be prepared to wash nearly every day. However, this quickly settles down by two or three months and we settled into a routine of washing nappies every two to three days, which was more than manageable.

Drying

We have a dedicated clothes horse for drying the nappies. We try to put it outside in the sun as often as possible, which speeds up drying and also helps with stains, or near to a radiator or the stove in winter. When hanging them outside, I’d recommend using the octopus drying hangers from Ikea, so you can quickly bring them in if it starts to rain, and hang up in the kitchen or somewhere warm if they haven’t quite dried.

What about leaks?

If the nappies are fitting well, there should be no leaks. Don’t put up with them, they’ll make you miserable having to change the baby’s clothes (and yours!) all of the time. Try these tips:

For younger babies, you can put the fold of the insert at the front end of the cover for a boy (and make sure their willy is pointing down and not out to the side!) and the back end of the cover for a girl.

If there are regular leaks, make sure that you’re not using too much washing powder (see point above).

If your baby is over six months, it could be that more absorbency is needed for greater volumes of wee. In this case, you can easily use two inserts inside the cover. At night-time, again from about the age of six months, we started combining one normal insert with one extra thick cotton insert (a square folded three times).

Finally, if the nappies are more than two years old, it could be that months of washing have reduced the waterproofness of your covers and you need to buy some more. In our case the arrival of a second baby meant we needed to do this anyway, as he was inheriting the nappies and would, of course, be using them for a similar period of time. It’s slightly annoying that, at least for the Flip nappies, the covers seem to have a useful lifetime of about two years, which is a little less than you would need. However, even with buying a new set of covers it still makes financial sense.

Can I use washable nappies when I’m out and about?

Yes, and indeed you should do, otherwise the economics and the washing system won’t work out as well. Once you get into the swing of it, it really isn’t a big deal using washable nappies out of the house. In addition to the usual spare clothes, muslin, bum cream, etc. that you’d take in the baby’s changing bag, you’ll also need:

enough nappies plus 1 spare for the time that you’ll be out

a medium sized zip-lock nappy bag for storing used nappies

a bag of Cheeky wipes

And that’s it!

Is it possible to use the nappies while on holiday?

Yes! With some provisions, of course. The obvious one being access to a washing machine and a means to dry them. When visiting family or friends it’s much easier. When going on holiday with young children, for many reasons it makes sense to stay in an apartment, so make sure it also has a washing machine and clothes horse. It’s also possible to stay a couple of nights in a hotel, re-using the cleaner covers and taking extra inserts, and placing soiled nappies in the zip-lock bags mentioned above.

And for swimming, don’t forget washable swimming nappies too. While they don’t catch all the wee, they do keep poo out of the water (use a liner inside these too to help with cleaning out any poo).

Do crèches/playgroups accept washable nappies?

While it depends on each individual crèche, we have never had a problem with a child-minder or crèche accepting the use of washable nappies. That said, we also didn’t offer an opportunity to say no!

I don’t think a caregiver can complain if you provide a stack of pre-made washable nappies at the start of the day and a large zip-lock bag for storing the dirty nappies. It really isn’t very different for them than changing disposable nappies, i.e. flush or throw away the biodegradeable liner (and poo), place the used nappy inside the zip-lock bag instead of the bin. Based on our experience with the crèche, you may also need to reassure them that they DON’T need to try and wash a dirty nappy in water – it makes it really heavy, and messy for everyone – and that they DON’T need to wrap dirty nappies in plastic bags inside the zip-lock bag. This makes it much harder and potentially messier for you when it comes to putting the bag of used nappies in the washing machine.

In the end it’s about education: you may need to work a little to convince your crèche that they really shouldn’t worry about the nappies, but in the end we’ve found (with two different crèches and two different child-minders) that they appreciated the experience of trying and using the nappies.

And finally….

As you can tell, we believe that reusable nappies are fantastic and that lots of families can make it work for them. I’ve tried to capture as much of our new-found knowledge here as possible but I’m happy to also provide additional advice. Don’t hesitate to get in touch!