Q. Does anyone use cloth at childcare?

[Pobblebonk]

Hi! How are you?

My DS goes to childcare while I'm at work, and when uni starts back, he'll be in childcare for 3 days.

I've spoken to my group leader, and she is fully supportive of me using cloth nappies on DS at childcare.

Does anyone else send their child to daycare in cloth?

[Sheer Bliss]

I have only just started using cloth recently so my poor sad stash only has 7 nappies in it - but yes i send them to daycare. It's only been for the last week & only every other day. I usually only work 3 days, so i was using them on the days i was at home. But since working full-time for a few weeks i have sent them to daycare too. The director of the centre was great, and the girls in Charli's room have used them no probs so far. Some were really interested, others not so. But so far it has been a pretty good experience.

[MCNmummyof2]

I was looking at putting Soph in daycare. I called about 6 different places and they all said that cloth nappies are unhygenic :confused::confused::eek: so they wont use them in any circumstance

[Spewiesmum]

We did for the whole month DS was in care. We were the only ones in the centre who used cloth. Despite clear instructions I was not happy with how the nappies were cleaned (if soiled) and they'd often come home saturated but still covered in poo.

The staff weren't too interested - I think because they were young they were grossed out...yet part of their nappy changing policy was that they wore gloves and the room did have a Little Squirt attached to the toilet.

We provided wetbags, wipes etc.

However, if DS does return to care in the future I would want the centre to continue using cloth on him.

[Pobblebonk]

Well I really like PeaPods, and I plan on having them mainly in my stash (I may change my mind, as I only just got them today!). I like how they have a wetbag for each individual nappy, so I hope that the centre will store the used clothies in them. Is that what they're for? I dunno. I'm new.

Well the group leader in DS's room was very supportive so that's good, and she told me that she had another baby at another centre who used cloth.

[ks23]

Hi I am new to cloth and am nearly ready to start using at Daycare. I spoke to the centre director before sewing and investing in more and she was OK. The main obsticle for them is if they start to smell. They said they would need to look at strategies to contain this so I have material to make wet bags and am happy to use nappy sacks for soiled ones and clean them when they come home(I was told they cannot clean them due to health and hygene policies) So am happy with this set up. Hopefully it will work out.

[Spewiesmum]

I'd check about "health and hygiene" policies. If you're child vomits or gets covered in poo (ie the nappy leaks), there is a reasonable expectation that the centre staff clean the clothing and child. Gloves are part of most hygiene procedures so I really don't understand the hesitation.

[bluey]

Yup we used them, no problems, we were one of only 2 families to use cloth at daycare.

We chose to use AIO's and we provided large wet bag, and a nappy bucket. They had no problem with them at all. I never lost one, and they came home fine, they rinsed them when dirty, and all was good.

The other family had a nappy service, because she was a foster child, so they were just terry flats, and they were happy to use them as well.

[ikis84]

I will be in a few weeks... I didn't ask the centre, I told them! They said not a problem - I am happy for them to put the nappy as is in the wetbag and I will clean them at home. Too easy.

[CurlyG]

Yeah, we use them and haven't had any problems! The girls are really supportive and have been quite interested in them, so it's been really positive.

We are the only cloth nappy family at daycare :eek:

[cwsmum]

I didn't for DS, but when DD starts (hopefully next year) she will be in cloth :) She reacts to disposables so the centre wont have much choice. I will probably put disposable liners in the nappies and provide nappy sacks so that they can just put the liner, and any wipes they use, in the bin with all the sposies if she happens to poo while she is there...either that or I'll get flushable liner and wipes for while she is at daycare and make it even easier for the staff :)

I have worked in lots of different centres and the only time I saw cloth nappies being used was when one of the centres used a nappy service...that stopped tho when the centre was sold :(

[waawa]

The centre we used when our son was in cloth provided a terry nappy service, we just provided covers and a coming-home nappy.

Even with the nappies available way back in the 1990s, some pretty high quality (crossover designed) research showed that there was no difference in childcare environmental bacterial counts whether the childcare was using AIOs or disposables.

They did, however, find that bacterial counts were highest in a centre with minimum-wage, high-turnover staffing, regardless of nappy type. So I find it massively hypocritical that certain corporate childcare chains tend to be the ones going on about this particular nappy myth.

Lara

[Pobblebonk]

Update: Sent my DS to childcare today in new PeaPods. 2 spares in his bag. There for 6 hours total.

While his group leader (the one with the cloth experience) was on lunch, they put my DS to bed in a disposable, which he promptly ripped off after he'd done a poo and smeared it everywhere! :laughing:

Well, if they were going to be squeamish about cleaning poo off the cloth nappy... :laughing:

Apparently he didn't take his PeaPods off once! :thumbsup: Yip Yip!

[Spewiesmum]

That's awesome! Remind them he has a cloth bottom and he obviously was demonstrating his objection to their nappy choice.

[aardvark]

The centre we used when our son was in cloth provided a terry nappy service, we just provided covers and a coming-home nappy.


My Ds is starting childcare soon, and they are ordering nappy wash for him. I won't have him in disposables, and was willing to bring my own, but the centre director said she's organising nappy service for him when I asked about it yesterday.

When this centre opened a few years ago, Nappy wash was the norm, and you had to bring disposables if you wanted to use them. Unfortunately most people wanted disposables, so they made the nappy service an available option instead.

[MonkeyMum05]

I used to send cloth to kindy... but I had problems, with people not putting them on properly and my boy ending up smelling of wee or with his nappy half falling off etc.
In the end I gave up and send him disposables.

[MichP]

Just for reference:

There is no regulatory restrictions on using cloth. You can find links to each states licencing regs on the NCAC website under "State Licencing links". The licensing requirements do not preclude or discourage cloth nappy use and require that nappy changing and laundry facilities be available.

Also all centres are required to take part in Accrediation, included in the principles is that there is continuity between home and the centre.

You can see the accrediation documents on the NCAC website (National Childcare Accreditation Council) - There is nothing in the accreditation documentation that precludes or discourages the use of cloth nappies, in fact it promotes continuity of care between home and the centre and respect for parenting choices.

In the Accreditation documents under Partnerships with Families it says: ...to work in partnership with families to promote consistency and continuity in the care and education or the child between family and home

There is a document called "Staying healthy in Childcare" it is a guideline document. You can find it on the NHMRC website (National Health & Medical Research Council) in the publications section. While is isnt exactly anti cloth there is a bias toward disposable and centres could interpret it as best practice to use disposables. This not a regulatory document.

[Sheer Bliss]

They did, however, find that bacterial counts were highest in a centre with minimum-wage, high-turnover staffing, regardless of nappy type. So I find it massively hypocritical that certain corporate childcare chains tend to be the ones going on about this particular nappy myth.

Lara

Charli goes to one of those big corporate childcare chains, and the director has been great from day one about using cloth. I also found out that one of the carers is preggas and planning on using cloth herself - so i showed her my MCN (she used terry flats with her first) and she was stoked! I think she was going to try some peapods.

[Seekrit]

we use 'sposies at daycare but cloth at grandma care. And Grandma likes to use terry flats :)

[jessgray]

my ds1 went to two daycares 1 supplied sposies he wentto this one 2 days a week and the other provided cloth but was happy to use sposies if you provided them. he went there 1 day a week.

[skijump]

Hi there. I work in a childcare centre which provides cloth nappies. We feel this is healthier for both child and the environment. Our nappies are supplied by a nappy service which services throughout the Brisbane area. No splashy on-site sluicing and soap-free fresh nappies to the door! For obvious reasons their client base has diminished during the past 15 years that we have used them. Perhaps parents could contact a nappy service to find out which childcare centres use cloth nappies in their area. The people we use are called Brisbane Nappy Service.:smiliedance:

[~Kimba~]

My bub will be going to family daycare and when I was interviewing the potential carer I asked how she felt about using cloth and she said 'whatever you like!'

So yes I'll be sending him to daycare in cloth - I'll be sending him with his Happy Heiny and GK Anytimes pockets and plenty of inserts. And a nice big wetbag! :yes:

[Mor]

Matthew has been in one day of child care each week for the past 2 or 3 weeks. The centre says they will use cloth or disposable nappies - they will provide them, but parents need to provide 'plastic pilchers and pins' - I promptly educated them when I went in that there's no plastic pilchers and no pins anymore! ;) So they love Matthew's green, yellow, red and blue Greenkids, pre boosted - so easy for them. I also put flushable liners in, so if they do have a poo incident they can flush it themselves if they choose to, or send the whole lot home, and they seem to do the latter.

I would highly encourage anyone considering putting their child in care to insist on the centre respecting and accommodate their parenting choices, whether it be bottle or breast, cloth or disposable, meat or no meat, etc. As Michelle posted earlier, they have a duty to consider parenting choices in caring for your child in the requirement to provide continuity of care between home and care.

LOL about the poo smeared from the disposable ;)