Where to find the Best Premature Baby Nappies

Your baby will rely on premature nappies during the first few weeks of his/her life.  Choosing the right brand of nappy and certainly the size of nappy is crucial to the well being and health of your child.  Although whilst in the hospital, your baby will receive a large amount of nappies, its unlikely during this period that you would need to purchase any.  But it doesn’t mean that you can not be prepared for the unexpected.  You may have been told the good news, that your leaving the hospital early due to good health, therefor its vital that you stock up on nappies for the days ahead.

 

NEW Pampers P1 P2 & P3 Premature babies nappies Launch in the UK

We are very excited to announce that pampers have now started to produce even a smaller size of the original premature size 0 nappies.   These new sizes are:

Size Weight lbs Weight in kg
P1 5 2.7
P2 4 1.8
P3 1.8 0.8

As to whom is selling these at the moment is unclear.  We will keep you updated with price details and where to buy them from as soon as we hear back from pampers directly.

Costs

There are many places in the UK that sell premature nappies, but the brand of nappy seems to be very limiting.  The best way to save yourself money is to look through some of the top sellers of UK supermarket chains to find the right price of nappy, as you can imagine due to being such a large amount of chains available, this process could take you a few hours to do.  Not only supermarket chains, but other websites such as amazon, ebay and online stores such as adeco are also wanting your money.  The below price table shows what you would expect to pay from each business.  Many businesses do have offers on at certain periods through out the year, for example asda has a baby event on approx 3 times a year lasting approx 1 month in store.  Usually they increase the length of the baby events online an additional week or two.

We have highlighted the cheapest location for this size of nappy in green and the most expensive place in red.  This table of information was taken on 12/7/2016.  however we can not guarantee that the prices remain the same after this date

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Business Brand Qty in pack Cost
Boots Pampers 24 £3.75
ASDA Pampers 24 £3.75
ASDA Little Angels 24 £2.50
Tesco Loves Baby 24 £?.??
Tesco Pampers 24 £3.75
Amazon Pampers 144 £15.80
Sainsburys Pampers 24 £2.50
Superdrug Pampers 24 £2.43
Mothercare Pampers 24 £2.50
Ocado Pampers 24 £3.75
toysrus.co.uk Pampers 24 £4.99

Tesco do not seem to stock their own loves baby size 0 brand.  On the website it does show you on their product list, but unfortunately this can not be selected.  It looks like that their own brand may have ceased selling.

Sizes and Weight

Your child’s weight will be monitored every day, weather your at the hospital or home.  The weight of your child will determine what size of nappy to purchase. How quickly your child stays in one size will depends on how quickly your child grows.  A Simple Chart like the one below shows the nappy sizes, with the expected weights of babies:

  • Size 0 nappies for premature babies is 1 – 2.5kg, or 2 – 5 lbs
  • Size 1 nappies for newborn babies is 2 – 5kg, or 4 – 11 lbs
  • Size 2 nappies for newborn babies is 3 – 6kg, or 6 – 13 lbs
  • Size 3 nappies for newborn babies is 4 – 9 kg, or 9 – 20 lbs

We estimate that your child will not be in size 0 nappies for long, probably about 2 – 3 weeks maximum.   Your child may use 10 – 12 nappies a day, so a small pack may last you approx 2 – 3 days.  You may need to purchase up to half a dozen of packs until your childs weight increases into size 1.

Why Such a Small Market for a Small Nappy

Its amazing that were such ahead with technology, but to be perfectly honest the amount of shops selling premature babies nappies is very shocking.  You would almost expect that, due to the amount of babies being born in the UK, supermarkets would be ahead of the game with their own brand of premature nappy, but we are finding that this isn’t the case. Yes there is many online retailers selling premature baby nappies, what we tend to find is that when you need nappies the most, a quick pop down your local corner shop isn’t a choice.

Your having to order online and potentially wait 2 – 3 days delivery, unless you are fortunate to have an amazon prime account, in which case when you order up to 7 pm for next day delivery on nappies which is 100% guaranteed.  The major players of premature nappies is of course, what many people believe to be the pampers brand.  Asda do also have their own premature nappy.  So why only two top players sell premature nappies.  Is it because the other supermarket chains do not believe that there is a market for this size, or do they simply believe that the baby will grow at such a rate that size 1 nappies will be of more use to the population.

Why are the packs of these size 0 nappies so small (24 nappies a pack)?  It may be down to the fact that becuase your child will not be in this size very long, its better to buy small packs of nappies, rather than wasting money on larger pack sizes, at least until your child then progresses onto a size 1 nappy, then you will find that the quantity of nappies contained within these packs are much more than 24 nappies.

To help you decide what nappy you should be buying for your baby, we have carried out some testing of two size 0 nappies brands.

Cloth vs Disposable

With the amount of nappies that you would expect to change (approx 8 – 12 nappies a day), disposable nappies have become much more common in to days market than cloths, simply because of there convenience.  Can you imagine how expensive, messy and time consuming it would be to have your premature baby in cloth nappies.  Let alone the amount of electric, washing detergent and water would be needed to clean your cloth nappies.  How ever there are Companies out there who offer a service in collecting, cleaning and delivering cloth nappies, of which comes at a price.   On average your baby will use 3000 – 4000 nappies until he or she is potty trained.

The History of a Nappy

The word Nappy, was developed in the early/mid 1900’s.  The nappy was originally cloth, but was used for all ages of people.  The nappy meant that people could travel in their automobiles without stopping.  Our modern version of this would be called toilets and how busy the roads are today, means that there is a service station every mile away, so nappies then become the main objective for babies.  I wonder who came up with the idea of putting babies (who cant control themselves) into nappies (great idea). The reality is, that many people do not really think about the environmental impact that nappies has.

Breaking the Nappy Down

The components that make up a nappy are:

  • Plastic outer waterproof backing – made from crud oil
  • plastic polymer polypropylene – sits next to baby’s skin to prevent wetness from touching baby
  • Self adhesive sticky pads – rear sides to fasten nappy together
  • fluff pulp and SAP – This absorbs wetness and poo
  • cellulose – A wood pulp component
  • Chemicals are contained within the nappy including perfume

Nappy Facts

  • Over 3.2 Billion disposable nappies are used every year in the UK, which equates to approx 8 million nappies a day.
  • On Average 4.5 trees are felled for one child, before he/she is potty trained.
  • The Used disposable nappy in our landfill sites contains human sewage and carries more than 100 viruses such as: Polio.
  • Incineration of the disposable nappy creates toxic substances which then become air bourne.
  • An Average Baby will use approx 6,000 nappies until he/she is potty trained

Recycle or Landfill

Approx 8 million nappies enter the landfill every year in the UK alone.   A company called knowaste has developed a recycling plant in Birmingham, to collect and recycle used nappies that the UK produces.  There has been many councils take up this process and is currently collecting and recycling nappies apart of their kerb side waste process, very similar collection to all the other recycling bins that we currently have at our home.  This valuable material should be recycled and put back into the main stream, by the means of:

  • Poo can be recycled – in the same way as we use a toilet
  • Wetness can be recycled same as when we wee down the toilet
  • plastic can be recycled back into plastic pellets, which can be used to build cycling helmets, roofing tiles and many more products.
  • 96% of a nappy can be recycled.

Are you interested in recycling your nappies, if so please get in contact with us by completing our contact us form, indicating your interests. We may be able to assist you in finding the right company in your local area.

Changing your Premature Baby Nappy

One of the chores that you will be faced as a parent of your premature baby, is of course nappy changing.   This is a great moment to start understanding about your baby.  This time can be used to bond with your baby, giving your baby a chance to move freely, feel, seance you and the things around him/her.  A chance for your baby to move without having a nappy on for a specific length of time is not only good for the baby, but it also allows air to get to your baby’s bottom, after all your baby is in  nappies 24/7.  Many people think that its the mothers chore to complete the nappy changing.  In fact its both the Farther and the Mothers job.

Majority of nappy changes will occur shortly after a feed, not only wet but soiled nappies too.  The following items would be useful in preparation:

  • New clean nappy
  • Nappy bags
  • Cotton wool balls
  • A warm bowl of water (not too hot or not too cold)
  • Nappy Changing mat
  • Bum Cream
  • Baby Towel (just in case)
  • Powder
  • Johnson’s baby oil

Some types of baby wipes can be used, but be cautious of what wipes you choose.  Ideally you need baby wipes that are designed for sensitive skin, i.e pampers do a sensitive skin baby wipes pack.  This is because you do not know how your child’s skin will react when it comes into contact with the baby wipe.  Your child’s skin at such an early development of ones life is very sensitive to ointments, chemicals, perfumes.

Stage 1 – Preparation

Before we start, its advisable to wash your hands throughout and make sure that your not wearing any jewellery, you can easily catch the baby’s skin and could accidentally scrape your baby, or cause brousing.  Assuming you have all the items above, lay your baby gently down on his/her back, carefully remove your babies clothes.   Just a note, sometimes your babies poo may escape, therefor just check around the nappy and your babies bum to ensure that poo hasn’t escaped the nappy.  If your baby is on a changing station, ensure that either your baby is strapped down, or that you have one hand on the baby at all times, and do not leave your baby unattended during the nappy change.  This is to prevent any unforeseen accidents.

Stage 2 – Wiping

Carefully remove each side of the sticky tabs, lift your baby’s legs high.  If your baby has soiled, use the front of the nappy to wipe in a downwards motion the excess poo.  Get the balls of cotton wool soak them in the walm water, and wipe the babies bottom/genitals. Keep wiping until you know your babies bum and genitals are nice and clean.

Stage 3 – Bonding process

Once you have cleaned your baby up.  Allow some time for the air to get to your babies skin with the nappy off.  This is a good opportunity to get to know your baby.  A new experience for your child, touch and feel with your child.  Speak or sing and play with your child and bond with your child.

Stage 4 – The Finishing Touches

Put the nappy back on your baby by sliding nappy underneath baby and bring front up in between legs.  Carefully fasten nappy together with the tabs.  You don’t want the nappy too tight, you should be able to comfortably put 2 fingers down the front of the nappy.  If you cant then the nappy is on too tight.  Put on any clothes that you have removed, pending if the clothes are not wet or have any poo on, you may want to think about changing of clothes.

Nappy Rash

There will be a time in your baby’s life that he/she will almost certain to have nappy rash.  Nappy rash is very common and its said that on average that 1 in 3 babies will have nappy rash at any one given time.  Nappy rash occurs when the skin has came into contact with urine or stools for a large amount of time.   If your baby has been in a dirty nappy for longer than 15 mins, this is generally when the nappy rash can occur in the quickest amount of time.

Frequent nappy changes is very important, although you may think that by changing your baby’s nappy less frequent would potentially save you money.

Preventing Nappy Rash

Some useful tips on preventing nappy rash are:

  • Changing your baby’s nappy frequently
  • Make sure that you clean the nappy area of your baby’s skin best as possible
  • Sometimes alcohol based baby wipes can cause nappy rash, so be sure to change the baby wipes to none alcohol wipes.
  • If your baby is taking antibiotics
  • Certain Soaps oils, detergents can also be one cause of a nappy rash, ensure that you only use clean warm water
  • Allow your baby’s bottom to get some fresh air by keeping the nappy off as often as you can (during nappy changes) but be careful of those un expected moments.

Actions to Take if your baby has Nappy Rash

If your baby does have a small amount of nappy rash in certain areas, then you can apply some barrier cream such as sudo cream.  ensure that cream has been applied to the affected areas.  In baby girls ensure that you wipe from front to back as this prevents anything getting into her genitals. Bath frequently and ensure to use fragrance free products.  After a good bath dry your baby’s skin but be careful not to use continuous rubbing. Once your baby is dry have your baby lay down on a towel with the nappy off for as long as possible, this will help get some air to your child bottom.  Some talcum powder can cause irritation to your baby’s skin.

If the nappy rash has not cleared up within 3 days, it is advisable to seek professional advice from your local GP.  Your baby may need antibiotics to help clear up the nappy rash, in the form of a cream.

If the nappy rash looks anything like the nappy rash as shown in the image, then he/she may need to seek medical advice from your local GP as it possibly could be an infection.

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