Major bummer

I totally love reusable nappies.


Unfortunately, our bumgenius 3.0 ones (the most recent design when we bought them in 2009) didn't fit around my daughter's dimensions so well by about 18 months (think it was the thighs and tummy that did it). She was getting rubbed on her legs because they were too tight, and would leak out of the top when she laid down to sleep, as doing them around the sticky-out tummy would leave a chance for them to slip down, under her tum, and be too loose to hold the wet stuff in. It meant that by about 3am, we'd be woken up by Abigail crying and soaked in wee. We'd have to do a full change and she'd wake up wet again too.


I think the new bumgeniuses go up one more size bigger than the 3.0s (see Bumgenius 4.0), which would most likely help, but after buying the nappies once, it's not really practical or affordable to buy a whole new set again.

So, sadly, we've been using disposables since. We do use Sainsbury's eco nappies (they seem to be the cheapest eco ones out there), which aren't so bad*, although they aren't biodegradable, but it is strange paying out for nappies so often and it really fills up the wheelie bin - which is a horrible sight to see when we never used to churn out so much waste. It's an uncomfortable feeling after doing so well with the reusables for so long. We're really noticing it now, as Abbie is more sensitive to having a wet nappy, and we are changing more often than before (in the process of beginning potty training, it's advisable to change nappies regularly, as soon as they've done a wee, so they can recognise the feeling of being dry and how much more pleasant it is).

But we've managed to reuse the bumgenius 3.0s from 3 months to 20 months old. Based on disposable nappies costing about £5/week, roughly 72 weeks of use is saving of about £100 after the initial outlay. There's also the absence of over 2000 disposable nappies on the local landfill site, so it's not a complete disaster.

So anyway, we miss the bumgeniuses and are sad to be using the disposables. We've got them stored away ready for next time though, when we won't have to throw our money and nappies away daily.

* = Why eco disposable nappies?

"If you cut open an ordinary disposable nappy and you will see white granules inside. These granules are acrylic acid polymer salts, which turn to gel in water. These chemical granules are used to increase absorbency, but the gel they form can end up on your baby's skin.

Eco-friendly nappies have no bleaching agents to pollute the environment during manufacture or decomposition. Gel-free disposable nappies are made of a cotton blend and are perfume, dye and latex-free." Source: babycentre

Stop press: See new blog for washing instructions [June 2012].