Which fabric would you prefer?

How quick to dry? (without a tumble dryer)

Cotton Terry is the traditional nappy fabric. It is soft and very absorbent but will harden if laundered in hard water. Cotton is reasonably slow. They really need finishing off in a tumble dryer to stay soft as new and speed up the drying process.

This saves lots of nappies hanging around the house and means you can buy less nappies. The quickest drying cotton nappy is the nappy nation ‘No fold Terry’ nappy. The Bumble or Babeco nappy, whilst being cotton, have the entire inside covered with a stay dry fleece liner which will stay soft next to the baby’s skin even if laundered in hard water.

Synthetic Microfibre Terry. Nappies made out of this fabric (two part fluffles and pocket style nappies) are gorgeously soft and lighter and more absorbent than their cotton equivalents. They stay as soft as new even if laundered in hard water and dry very quickly without the use of a tumble dryer. These fibres are synthetic but still 100% breathable, so kind to baby’s skin.

Bamboo the new eco nappy fabric. More slimline and more absorbent than cotton but slower to dry and like cotton hardens if laundered in hard water areas.

Eco friendliness

Organic cotton is extra gentle on the environment compared to standard cotton. Organic cotton is GM free and grown and processed without the use of harmful chemicals. Organic cotton farming promotes clean air, water and soil. GM free cotton is better than non GM free standard cotton but is still farmed using standard amounts of pesticides and fertilizers.

Bamboo is a highly eco-friendly material which thrives naturally without the need for chemical pesticidesor fertilisers. It has a very short growth cycle, is easily cultivated and is highly biodegradable. It is organic and more eco friendly than organic cotton. Bamboo towelling is also naturally antibacterial. It is commercially farmed so no panda territory is affected.

Synthetic Microfibre Terry is the least environmentally friendly fabric but as they dry quicker than cotton or bamboo nappies you need less and if you are tumble drying they need less energy.

How much do you want to pay?

The cheapest nappy we sell is the flat pad system which will cost you about £120 from birth to potty training.
Shaped and fitted nappies cost £300 to £380 from birth to potty training. The one size type is cheapest where one size fits from birth to potty training (average cost £230)

When you look at the details for each product you will see we have calculated the average birth to potty cost so you can compare the nappies and work out what your total outlay will be. We also give a guideline as to how many you need to ensure you don’t overbuy and waste money.

Are you bothered about wetness next to your baby’s skin?

A washable will never be as dry next to the baby’s skin as a mainstream disposable. A disposable contains chemical gels which suck up any moisture, drying out the baby’s skin in the process. However, some washables have inbuilt stay dry liners which are made of lovely soft fleece. This fleece acts as a one way barrier to moisture and naturally locks a large percentage of the wetness away from the baby’s bottom.

Some stay dry liners cover the entire inside of the nappy such as the bumble one size, Motherease one size, Totsbots Fluffle, Fuzzibunz or Babeco nappies. Other nappies such as the Totsbots original have a stay dry liner that covers part of the nappy.

Where there is no inbuilt liner, we sell separate fleece liners so you can add stay dry protection to any washable nappy.

There is no need to worry about wetness sitting next to your baby’s skin. The wetness will not irritate your baby and contrary to what we are led to believe by disposable adverts, the wetness will not cause nappy rash. Rash is caused due to other factors such as not changing quickly enough after your baby soiling or a change in urine acidity due to teething – for more info see frequently asked questions

How often are you happy to change?

A newborn baby has very thin, sensitive skin and needs to be changed frequently. You will not end up changing more if you use washables rather than disposables.

When a baby gets older they need changing less. If using a one part nappy you will probably end up changing more often than you would a disposable. A two part shaped nappy will give you the same flexibility as a disposable and you can also easily boost a two part nappy to make it last longer.

At night, a two part shaped nappy generally gives the best performance and will give you night after night of leak free performance.