Choosing nappies: washable vs disposable How to choose the best nappy

Nappies make up 4% of  household waste

Choosing between reusable and disposable nappies can be a tricky decision. Here we outline a few of the issues you might want to consider.

Environmentally friendly nappies

Making an environmentally friendly decision isn't quite as simple as choosing between 'easy but polluting' disposable nappies and 'inconvenient but worthy' washable nappies. 

See our environmental impact page to find out how to minimise your energy use and household waste whatever type of nappy you choose to use for your baby.

Speak to other parents

Talk to fellow parents about their experiences before committing to either disposable or washable nappies, or ask your midwife for advice. Popular forums such as Mumsnet and Netmums are good online resources to help gauge opinion from other mums and dads already using different types of nappies.

Storing and soaking reusable nappies

There's no need to soak modern reusable nappies - in fact, the Go Real nappy information service says doing so can damage velcro and other modern fabrics - but you may wish to do so in the case of traditional terry nappies. Either way, you'll need to put aside an area where you can store and / or soak your nappies in a nappy bucket.

Try before you buy

Some reusable nappy brands offer free trials, so you can find out whether they might suit you. Similarly, baby and parenting clubs often have nappy freebies and money-off vouchers available.

Best of both worlds

There is no reason you can't use both types of nappy for different situations. Some parents end up using both reusable nappies and disposable nappies so they gain some of the advantages of both – perhaps using disposable nappies when going out for the day or on holiday, and washable nappies at other times.