cloth in hospital?

Would love some input as we didn't get DD into cloth until she was a few months old (was in SCBU for a month after birth and we had far more pressing worries than nappies!)

I have started putting my hospital bag together and am starting to think about nappies, as we have to supply our own. I'm wondering if it mightn't be better to get a pack of disposables to use in hospital and switch to cloth when we bring the young master home. I am going to be having a caesarean, and have no idea on how this is going to impact on my ability to care for him in hospital (DD was whisked away from me after my emergency C section so I only had to concentrate on myself no looking after/feeding/changing a baby) and I don't know if I am guaranteed a private room.

Tell me about your experiences of using cloth in hospital, especially C Section mamas, and how it worked out if you were on a ward with other mums!

Our hospital won't allow you to use cloth because of hygiene. There's no where for them to keep the dirty ones.
So probably worth asking your mat ward first

The hospital is cloth-friendly - one of the midwives is a cloth user, and they are in partnership with WAW to promote cloth, so I don't think being allowed will be a problem, I just don't know how practical it will be! They won't launder so would have to send washing home with DH. Not sure how long we will be in, I am hoping a minimal amount of time!

The hospital is cloth-friendly - one of the midwives is a cloth user, and they are in partnership with WAW to promote cloth, so I don't think being allowed will be a problem, I just don't know how practical it will be! They won't launder so would have to send washing home with DH. Not sure how long we will be in, I am hoping a minimal amount of time!

Wow, I need to move where you are before Number 2 then! I asked about sending the cloth home to be washed and they said no
I'd say it'd be no different to doing it at home really. Just have to trust your DH to do the nappy wash when he gets home with them

I vaguely remember with DS that we were told no cloth in hospital, but at the same time they wouldn't let us use wipes.

I plan on taking some disps and some muslins & wraps so that I'm not too stressed if the cloth thing is too difficult while I'm in there then I've got a backup. My theory is that they never showed us how to change a nappy with DS, and were never near us at nappy change time, so they probably won't even realise if the little 'un is in cloth.

I plan on just taking DS's old nappy bag which used to fit about 8x size 2 bamboozles in it so should fit a days worth of newborn stuff easily, and keep the dirty ones in there and keep it in my hosp bag. Will obviously require DH to take home to wash so they don't stink too much.

Hopefully won't be in there for long, but was in for a week with DS as he was sent to SCBU, but cloth wouldn't have been an option there I don't think anyway.

I did think about phoning ahead to check with hosp, but decided I can be blissful in my ignorance if I haven't asked and go about things how I want to.

I've just noticed you're only 27 weeks.. you are so organised getting your bag ready!

DH has been nagging me to do mine, and here I am at nearly 36 weeks and haven't even started yet.

My DD was born at 35 weeks and I was NOT packed and ready - I ended up having to wash my knickers with shampoo in the en suite sink and dry them on the radiator because I only had 2 pairs and DH kept forgetting to bring more in.

This time, there will be muchos knickers.

lol! muchos knickers

we took muslins and wraps in, and i packed 2 of those 'sample' disposables you send away for. (single nappy in a packet)
we were told whilst changing him that they didnt like parents using washables for hygiene reasons.. but he was already in them and i was going home that afternoon so i told them to hurry up and discharge me if they didnt like it

best thing about muslins and wraps is the ur dh cant really bugger them up, u can wash at 90 which gets the black stuff off, they dry in no time at all.

i have loads of cotton bottom newborn wraps you can have ffp if u like.. they were only worn for the first 2 days in so they really look brand new

Personally I don't understand how hospitals can justify their 'hygiene reasons' the disposible nappy bin was only emptied once whilst I was in with Poppy and I had to spend a (they were emptied after I'd been in for five days) week with them practically at the foot of my bed. Yuck! My babies dirty nappies were taken home everynight and stored in a sealed wetbag.

I didn't have a CS but as I said I was in for almost a week (6 days) after giving birth because Poppy was being a little pixie. I used cloth from the beginning and she's never worn anything other than cloth. I didn't ask their permission because I didn't see how it was anything to do with them. Mike took the dirty nappies home every evening and bought them back clean every morning. I did show him how to do nappy washes before I went in though so he didn't use to much powder..

I didn't have a private room either so was on a four bed ward the whole time, we got along just fine. I'd imagine you'd be pretty sore after your birth but most midwifes can cope just fine with cloth so if that's what you want to do then go ahead and do it.