Can I Use Cloth Nappies in Hospital with a Newborn?

Like many new parents who decide they use cloth nappies before the baby has arrived, I was keen to get my new buys on babies bum as soon as she arrived. I therefore went to the hospital with my brand new cloth nappies packed ready in my hospital bag. However, I had a little niggle in my mind. What if I wasn’t allowed to use them in hospital? I was nervous to ask my midwife in case she hadn’t seen them before and said no. Of course once there was a naked baby ready to be change and I said the words “I have cloth nappies is that okay?” My midwife smiled and said. “She’s your baby, you can do as you wish.” I immediately laughed at my own silliness.

Ultimately, yes you are allowed to use cloth nappies in hospitals as well as birthing centers. Most midwives will be familiar with cloth nappies, at the very least having seen them before. It’s worth mentioning to your midwife or nurse in case they come to change your baby for you.

Keep a few things in mind, like respecting hospital hygiene and having your partner prepared with how to use them too. It’s highly likely you won’t be doing all the bottom changes, which is good, but you don’t want others to be looking confused when trying to fasten them.

Things to bear in mind when using cloth nappies in HOSPITAL.

1. Be prepared with wet bags.

As mentioned above it’s a good idea to be mindful of hospital hygiene, they won’t want dirty nappies hanging around and you don’t want any midwives or other worker who may not be familiar with cloth nappies to get funny about them. Have an idea about how you’ll go about using them before you go to hospital, having wet bags ready to put all dirties in and if your in for a longer period of time a partner willing to take your dirties home when they leave for the day.

I only went in with one wet bag, luckily I didn’t have to stay for more than the day so this wasn’t a problem but if you do have to stay a night or two having three would be a better so you partner can take them home.

2. involve your midwife/partner/mum/dad.

Everyone is there to help you and will more than likely be intrigued and supportive of your decision to use cloth with you baby. Tell them of your decision, show them your nappies, so if anyone else changes baby they will know where they are and what to do.

3. Start with an easy cloth nappy.

It’s true that slightly more (dare a say it) “complicated” nappy systems such a muslins or terry nappies folded with a wrap to cover them are great options for newborns. They are cheap, quick drying, and easy to get a good fit on skinny little legs. But I advise while in hospital as a new parent to go with something easy. I did and even then it took a couple of go’s to make sure I had it on right. Actually this is probably every new parent even if their easy disposables. Even if you’ve practiced on teddies and feel confident I would advise going the All in One route. Even if you only buy a few to use on that first day,

My favourite newborn nappy are the Baba and Boo newborn. View them here. Really simple, soft of newborn bottoms and most importantly incredibly cute looking for those first photos. Because your gonna take hundreds in their first cloth bum.

4. be prepaped for meconium.

What is meconium? In a nutshell meconium is your babies first bowel movements. It comes out as sticky tar like greenish black poo. Sounds pretty gross right? Well it’s not so bad, helped by the fact it’s nearly odorless. Many parents don’t want to use cloth nappies until meconium has passed over fear it will stain there nappies and be a nightmare to clean, but it’s nothing to worry about. Make sure your ready with a good wash routine in place. You can find my step by step guide here. Use a liner if your really worried, but if the worst happens and you do have stains pop them out in the sun for a few hours, I promise you’ll never know anything was there in the first place.

5. It’s okay to take some disposable nappies too. Just in case.

I did and yes I did use them. I’m going to be honest here, I wasn’t always so informed in the cloth nappy world. I brought a set of Close Parent Newborn nappies which I just couldn’t get on with. She wore them as her first and second nappy, but they left red marks on her perfect newborn skin. Maybe I wasn’t putting them on right but they aren’t the softest of elastics. The doctor saw the “sock marks” left by the nappy, she said they wouldn’t hurt her and it was up to me but I just didn’t like it. So I put her in a disposable.

Over the next few days I went back and forth trying them again and not liking it. I was pretty upset, but it was okay, I ordered some others and slowly built up a little stash until she was big enough to fit into her Birth to Potty nappies at about 5 weeks.

So yes, I did use disposables in that first month half the time, and yes I would do things differently now, but hey that okay, it’s all a learning curve that will be different for all of us. Do what you need to do until you feel comfortable to try out your pretty cloth nappies.

6.Make sure your partner is onboard.

Whether it’s while your in hospital or resting up with baby in bed one of the big ways your partner can help is buy washing those nappies. Actually my partner enjoyed doing it. Sound weird? Well the thing is they can often feel a little useless. Mum is curled up with a newborn especially if your breastfeeding or resting after a traumatic birth/c-section. Mat likes to feel like he’s doing stuff to help. Feeding me, keeping on top of the house, putting the nappy wash on were all his way of keeping busy and helping during those early, hazy newborn days… Actually he still does most of those things anyway but you get my drift.

Most of all remember not to be hard on yourself. Giving birth can through any number of things at us new Mums. Should you try to cloth nappy from birth though, I wish you all the luck and joy this journey will bring you.

Hannah xx

Dive into my Getting started with cloth nappies series to help you with everthing you need to know.