Cloth Diapers - in HK? Delivery Service?

Hi,


Does anyone know about:

Cloth Diapers - where to buy in HK?

Cloth Diaper Delivery Service - does this exist in HK?

OR - do we need to order from overseas?


In the UK, North America, Australia and other countries there are other choices besides disposable diapers.


the high-end cloth diapers are very soft, and have velcro closures, elastic on the legs, etc... they last for years (can use on second child too). But of course the reason we are interested is environmental and to save space in landfills.


We recognise, while travelling, we would use disposables, for the convenience. But at home we would like to use the cloth diaper option.


The choices include two:

1. Cloth Diapers - you buy them, and wash them on your own.


2. Cloth diaper Delivery Service - A delivery service drops off clean cloth diapers and picks up the dirty ones at your door every week. They provide a special bucket for the dirty diapers, etc...


any advice really appreciated!

Bumps to Babes sell washable cloth nappies, don't know of a delivery service though.

I saw an article again last week that basically states that for all of the power/chemicals/water/powder used to wash cloth nappies the environmental arguement comes out even. While it doesn't answer your question perhaps it'll make you feel a little better if you can't find a service.....

Thanks - that is always a good reminder!


I live in HK, I know I don't live an eco-friendly life, and I know there is no perfect solution to most issues... but I like to try some when I can :)


I have read both sides of the debate, and for me, personaly, the cloth side is more compelling... I know it is a personal choice, I am no eco-warrior, but this seems like a good idea for me... probably a combination - cloth when home, disposable when out...


Someone also suggested using two washing machines - one for your regular washes, one just for baby clothes - as it will always be full and running!


Anyway - seems like there is no service like this in HK - so it is only an option of buying and washing at home.


Thanks for the replies.


does anyone reading this have experience using cloth diapers without a delivery service?

Oh I agree, don't get wrong I think doing something to help the environment is a very worthy cause.It bums me out the lack of recycling in this town! If we could even manage to get a few offices to turn thier lights out at night...........

i used cotton nappies almost exclusively for the first year. then used disposables when i went out, after that.

i used a mixture of different kinds of wrap around nappies (some 2nd hand!)and also the original terry towling sort... all with separate BREATHABLE outer pants.

separate outer pants can be used on more than one nappy.

i had about 20 cotton nappies in all and just 3 outer pants. you need less as baby gets older.

once the nappy was soiled i would give it a rinse if a bit pooey! then chuck it in a bucket (with a lid)of cold water with either a few drops of tea tree oil, or bicarb soda and collect them up until i had enough for a wash. (maybe 1 or 2 days) a little smelly sometimes but not too nasty!

i would put a wash on at 60 degrees. and maybe once or twice in a year did a very hot wash. tea tree in the wash is supposed to be good too.

drying them outside is good because sunshine is good at killing bugs and bleaching the cotton.


cotton nappies are a little extra work and leaks occasionally happen - but mostly seemed good to me.

ps i also used liners inside the nappy to help with messy nappies. there are all sorts you can buy, disposeable paper ones etc. silk! or a similar synthetic fabric.... i used 'fleece' fabric, which i bought on a roll from fabric shops and cut up to sizes i liked to use (big!) (but it is a synthetic fabric so maybe is too hot for HK? but it worked really well while i was in UK)

there is a uk shop on the internet, they maybe able to help you with advice.... called BORN - can be found on a google search.

i live in macau and have occasionally seen prefold types and outer pants in some baby shops but didnt look very closely. HK surely has this stuff if macau does!

Wow, there are so many success stories above - thank you all! I am glad to hear that the pre-folded, elasticated, velcro/snap, cloth diapers with outer layers and inner liners do exist in HK... not planning to fold my own (Cara, you are very brave!)


Also, the reviews posted above are great - because there are lots of sites in the USA that sell these brands and mail order to anywhere in the world... or I could pick up on my next trip to the USA.


Charis - your creative ideas on liners and the plastic bucket w/lid are great!


I figure all of this is also one of the advantages of having full time help in HK... you get homemade baby food easily and can use cloth diapers without a delivery service much easier than you can in other countries... (ok, that is besides the obvious wonderful aspects of having a full time amah)



Thank you again, very helpful.

I'm a big fan of cloth diapers - we use Motherease from Canada which has a great website and reasonable delivery charges. Whenever we use disposables, such as on overseas trips or we have not kept on top of our washing, we have more leaks. I think a two-piece system is the best because if the diaper is soiled through then the separate outer layer stops the leak escaping. In fact we still use the outer covers with our occasional disposables to prevent leaks.


I've also read about flaws in the study mentioned above. Apparently they conducted their research by stopping people in the street and did not find many cloth diaper users by this method, and those they found may not have been very representative of modern usage. From their small base sample they assumed that cloth diapers need bleaching and tumble drying, obviously not very environmentally friendly, but I have never done either of those. Also, in countries where landfill capacity is a big problem, reducing household waste might be considered a high environmental priority.


A good source of information and advice is www.thenappylady.co.uk. They are trying to sell products but will give advice without you having to buy anything, including handouts about soaking & washing methods. I bought a few samples from them to trial before I concluded that Motherease suited us best. One point on choosing brand though: different brands suit different shapes of baby. My baby has skinny legs but a comparatively big waist, for instance, so we need one that fits snugly around the legs (Kushies were much too baggy). This might explain why the various brands get hugely varying reviews from users - see http://www.epinions.com/kifm-Health-Diapering_and_Bathing-Diapers-All/ViewAll_~1/Grp_~90683

So just make sure they are adjustable in the leg and waist area to avoid this pitfall.

By the way - does anyone order from Australia or only Canada?


Any suggestions on:


Best website to order from that will deliver to HK? There are so many!


Should we buy before we give birth or wait to see baby size?


If we wait, will it take too long to get them delivered? (has been suggested we can guess based on our sizes?)


Snaps/Poppers vs Velcro?


All in One vs those with outer liners? (Outer liners seem to have good reviews)


Ordering a 'starter kit' with different sizes, or getting them one by one as the baby grows? (I have seen these starter kits on the various ordering websites)


Swimming Nappies?


Use at nightime?


http://www.thenappylady.co.uk is a great site, but a bit overwhelming at first, I am using their 'tailored advice' a friend said they were really great, hope they reply soon!

This is the reply I got from The Nappy Lady, I am sure prices will be cheaper ordering from Canada, but this was very useful information on what to buy (I edited out some parts as it was very long):


I would suggest that you save a copy of our Advice Issues document which contains a lot of information and factors affecting my recommendation, and also contains many useful tips and links. You can download a copy from http://www.thenappylady.co.uk/showdoc.asp?doc=4. You will find this useful reference material. I am happy to talk with you in more detail about the reasons for my recommendation, if you wish – please feel free to ask.


Full Order Recommendation


The nappy system which I would recommend for you is:


Needed now:

Bucket @ £6.70

18 Motherease One Size nappies (including pop-in pads) @ £8.90

4 medium Air Flow or Rikki wraps @ £7.79

10 fleece liners @ £1.00

3 boosters @ £1.60 or fleece boosters @ £2.00

Subtotal £210 approximately


Accessories to be considered:

Waterproof nappy bag @ £5.99

Flushable liners – prices vary depending on type

Change mat @ £7.65

3 lots of washable wipes @ £2.20 per 10

Weleda Calendula nappy change cream @ £4.99


Needed later:

4 large Air Flow or Rikki wraps @ £7.79

Subtotal £30 approximately


These quantities are the minimum that you will need assuming that you will be washing on alternate days. I have recommended these nappies as they are one of the most reliable and easy to use nappies that we stock.


The one size fits children from birth to potty training so you don’t need to worry about buying additional nappies once your baby gets older.


The pop-in pads are sold separately to the nappies as they are not needed for newborns. However, once your baby reaches about 8 months old he or she will need a pop-in pad with each nappy to provide adequate absorbency during the day.


For night use adding an extra booster pad into the nappy will provide enough absorbency for 12 or more hours. In my experience using cloth at night is a safer and more reliable alternative than using disposables.


I would suggest that you look at the website for further details about the nappy and wrap recommendations I have suggested. Further information can be found at:


http://www.thenappylady.co.uk/Shopping/ProductDetails.asp?ProductID=69


http://www.thenappylady.co.uk/Shopping/Products.asp?CategoryID=2 and


http://www.thenappylady.co.uk/Advice/Instructions.asp?InstructionID=5


I do recommend placing a trial order first. If, however, you decide to go straight to a full order, I would strongly advise that you prewash and use only a few items initially. This is just so you retain the option to return unwanted products until you are certain the nappies you ordered are right for you. Once they have been either washed or used, this option would not be available.


My suggestion for your trial order is set out below. I have suggested one of each of the relevant items, but you may prefer to get more than one nappy, to get a better idea of them in use before placing your full order.


In the event that you do not want to keep any of these items, you can return them to The Nappy Lady in their original unused and unwashed condition for a full refund (excluding postage).


Trial Order Recommendation

1 Motherease One Size nappy (including pop-in pad) @ £8.90

1 small Air Flow or Rikki wrap @ £7.79

Free fleece liner for providing details of where you heard about The Nappy Lady

Booster @ £1.60 or fleece booster @ £2

Free sample of paper liners

Total: £18.29


Buying reusable nappies is a major investment, and we know that some parents are lucky enough to be given them by relatives or friends as a new baby present. If this is the case for you, we are able to cater for this. You can pass on your nappy requirements to them, for them to contact us to arrange payment for, and delivery of, a gift-wrapped parcel. Alternatively, we can do it as a “baby list” whereby different friends or relatives pay whatever they like towards your purchase, and you settle any balance remaining. Please feel free to discuss these options in more detail with me, if you would like to. We would certainly recommend a tailored nappy purchase over a standardised “birth to potty” pack!


If you plan to use cloth from the early weeks, you may wish to consider the early days hire kit, which includes 2 free fleece liners. You would also need several packs of muslins and a pack of Nappi Nippas. These items are not included in the pricing above.


Non-Essential Items

Various items are listed at the end of the Advice Issues Document which I would also strongly recommend, but are not essential parts of a cloth nappy system.




As you know, the advice service offered by The Nappy Lady is entirely free of any cost or obligation on your part. We want to help you make your cloth nappy decision a success, which is why, as your advisor, I am available not only to help you make a purchase choice appropriate to your circumstances, but also afterwards for the whole period your child is in nappies, if you have bought at least part of your nappy system from us. You are free to buy your nappies wherever you want to! However, whilst other nappy retailers might be able to undercut us financially, by discounting or by heavily subsidising postage costs, we believe that no-one else offers the level of service and ongoing support that we do.

Kind regards.

Maggie Berney

for and on behalf of The Nappy Lady

The Motherease website delivers very quickly, only about 5 days for all my orders, which was much less than the advertised time. So I think it's worth just getting a few first to make sure it suits your lifestyle and fits your baby: I know so many people who have bought vast quantities of cloth nappies which didn't get used much for whatever reason, and if they get thrown away then you are definitely being more wasteful than disposables.


The Nappy Lady do a hire service for the newborn size wraps if you want to save money on things which your baby won't fit for long.


To avoid wasting time trying different brands/styles, I would (a) disregard all-in-ones i.e. those with a built-in cover. The Nappy Lady never recommends those, even though they sell them, because they do cause more leaks than those with a separate cover; and (b) avoid velcro fastenings if you intend to use cloth wipes, otherwise they will all stick together and fray in the wash.


BTW I also saw some cloth nappies for sale in a shop in Windsor House near Mothercare; forget the name of it but nappies are at the back of the shop.

I was going through past threads since I have just discovered this forum and was very happy to read this!

I am also cloth diapering my baby since she was born (my first child only tested some !) and I have also tried a bit of everything.. flat nappies to fold when my baby was still a newborn.. the ones available overhere but had to order most from abroad though. I continue to use different types according to the situation (night, day, outside, in the house etc..).


But most of all, I wanted to tell you that there is now an online shop selling cloth nappies over here (based in macao) at doubibou dot com.

great news!


I bought mine from Motherease in Canada, and had them delivered to the USA and brought them back via CX to HK in duffel bag!!


Good to know for future purchases I can get them more locally, the site says they are also available at Annerley Midwives in Hong Kong.


I still think a diaper delivery service would be a good idea here :)

Make it your mission crj, could be your way to make a million!!

Just an extra bonus - after 4 baby's using cloth nappies were toilet trained the nappies make great 'clean up' cloths for spills etc and last for YEARS!

So don't throw them out - great for dusting, cleaning up paint, cleaning the car, the bikes, almost everything!

The nappy lady is a looney, look at all that rubbish she wants you to buy, we have 18 kushies and a bucket (with a lid no less) that's it. Hannah wears disposables until her 8-10 am crap and then cloth unless we go out, her nappies soak in the bucket with a little dreft, and are washed with our regular washes, then air dried.

Yaffle, it may not be necessary to have every item listed in the lady nappy's list, but Kushies may also not suit every baby :)

if the fitted is ok for me, personnally their AIO is the worst I have ever tried :( it would leave red marks on my baby's legs, would leak in the legs or in the belly and the scratch didn't stand more than 5 wshes or so I'm glad I looked further...

by the way, any reason why don't you use cloth diapers at night as well?

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Hi, I live in Beijing and have been cloth diapering for years. (3 kids, one still in diapers). I currently have Kushies diaper liners and Beilisen pocket diapers for sale through the La Leche League store (English language meetings in Beijing).


Some diapers fit thin babies best and some which are good for chunky legged babies would leak for slim ones.


Adjustable is the key, and Kushies while great for my slim kids and they are one of the very best about waterproofness, they are not very adjustable for wider leg width beyond the belly width.


I must have used 50 type/ brands of diapers over the years. Muslin Flats, Prefolds (both with covers of various sorts), Fuzzi Bunz pocket, Little Lambs, First Class Baby pocket, Full Moon Baby Gear AIO, Sammy's fitted Diapers, BumGenius...and some WAHM made ones too.


the ones available locally in Beijing are Kushies AIO from Counting Sheep Boutique they also have Kushies Swim Diapers. Flats are at the LeYou baby shops all around town. (Their covers stink, don't even bother...from the U.S. I like Prowrap and Bummi Super Whisper wrap covers and sometimes wool covers too.) And the only other one currently are our Beilesen brand (fundraiser for the LLL and a local orphanage, we split the meager profits).


In terms of the debates before, CDing absolutely is safer for baby (only chemical is detergent residue and I control that) and though down on my list, front loaders use less water and you barely use any soap at all so environmentally friendly. We do use sposies on vacation, haven't figured out any easy way around that one yet.


interested folks in La Leche League Beijing or cloth diapering/natural family living can join Beijing Mamas Yahoo group or email me directly. lioracc {at} Yahoodotcom