Nappies, wraps, liners - HELP! I remember feeling very fuzzy about the whole thing when I first got started, and it took me a while to get my head around the terminology, so here’s my simple guide to cloth nappy jargon!
CLOTH NAPPY The absorbent part of your washable nappy system. May be described as a washable nappy, cloth nappy, reusable nappy, real nappy - all these are general terms describing the same thing. Cloth nappies come in many shapes and sizes and may be made from a variety of fabrics, but they are all designed for the same purpose.
TERRY NAPPY This term refers quite specifically to terry squares, a square layer of terry towelling fabric that you fold up to form a nappy – this is probably what we wore as infants. Incidentally if you are a terry nappies fan, you may like this: http://www.terrynappies.co.uk
WRAP Also called a nappy cover. This is the waterproof part of your washable nappy system. This goes on the outside, over the nappy, to protect clothing from getting wet. The main types of nappy wrap are polyester, fleece, cotton or wool. Cotton wraps contain some lamination to make them waterproof.
LINER Goes inside the nappy, next to baby’s skin. Flushable or disposable liners offer easy poo disposal, while fleece liners keep baby feeling dry.
NAPPY NIPPA Plastic nappy fastening device, developed as a safe alternative to pins. No more pricked fingers! Only needed if the nappy doesn’t have any fastenings of it’s own (ie velcro/poppers).
APLIX Stronger form of Velcro, commonly used on nappies and wraps.
DRY PAILING This means storing used nappies in a bucket (pail) without soaking them (dry, in other words). Add a couple of drops of tea tree or lavender essential oil to the bottom of the bucket to combat any undesirable smells!
BOOSTER Additional pad of fabric, usually terry, which can be added to the nappy to increase absorbency for nights or longer periods of wear. Useful for heavy wetting babies. Some boosters have a layer of fleece on one side, so you don’t need to use a separate nappy liner.
SOAKER Essentially this is a booster that comes with the nappy, and is often sewn on at one end, or poppers on. It serves the same purpose, increasing absorbency, but because it’s not sewn into the body of the nappy it means you get extra absorbency without slowing down the drying time.
ALL IN ONE (AIO) The nappy and wrap are permanently attached to eachother, so you don’t take them apart to wash them and there is only one bit to put on the baby.
BIRTH TO POTTY (B2P) Nappies designed to fit from newborn babies right up to strapping toddlers, often adjusting using poppers, and sometimes having removable boosters. Money saving longer term but can be bulky on newborns.
I hope this is helpful, I certainly could have done with a list like this when I was first looking into washable nappies, it took me a few weeks to twig that "wraps" were the new modern version of plastic pants, I was quite mystified about why nobody seemed to sell plastic pants for a while there! For a full range of reusable nappies, visit http://www.plushpants.co.uk where you can also find out about our free Nappy Trial Scheme and book your own personal product test.
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