Liners for cloth nappies

What are liners for?

Liners for cloth nappies are not an essential part of using cloth nappies, but they do have advantages. Here is a look at the different options available to help you choose the right ones for your baby.

Some times people seem to get a little confused between a cloth nappy liner and an insert. I’ll start off by explaining what each of these things is and what you do with them. An insert is the absorbent part of the cloth nappy. It’s the bit that soaks up liquid and in many ways is actually the nappy itself. Many nappies, such as our dinky pocket nappy have an insert that goes in the nappy and provides the absorbency. Liners are different, as a rule, they are not absorbent at all, but are designed to do a number of things:

• Catch any solids in order to make cleaning the nappy easier.
• Provide a ‘stay dry’ layer, so that liquid passes through, but feels dry against the skin.
• Prevent creams and lotions from touching the nappy and potentially reducing absorbency.
• Providing a layer between the baby and the nappy to prevent staining.
• In some cases, stopping fabrics such as microfibre that can cause rashes from touching the skin.

Types of liners

Liners for cloth nappies fall into two basic types; disposable and reusable. The idea behind disposable liners is that you can get rid of them along with any solids which is ideal when you are out and about and don’t want to carry a nappy full of poo home with you. Biodegradable liners, such as our bamboo ones are generally not recommended to be flushed. They will break down in time, but as it does take a period of time, it can cause blockages in the sewage system.
The other type of liners is reusable liners. These tend to stay dry against your babies skin. They also make change time a little easier as you can stretch the liner over the toilet to remove any solids. Polyester fabric generally makes a good liner and you can make these yourself by cutting up microfleece, which does not need to be hemmed. You can purchase it in a range of colours from Minkylicious here.

Do I need liners for cloth nappies

Using a nappy liner is really down to personal choice. I usually recommend that for newborns, you don’t need a separate liner. In fact, using a liner with wet newborn poo can actually result in more of a mess as it just spreads it around more. For older children or if you are using nappy creams, they can be really handy.

Do you use nappy liners? Which type do you prefer? Let us know in the comments or on our facebook page.