What are liners and how do we use them?

Liners are used between the nappy and the baby’s bum, essentially to catch poo. However, there are stay dry liners to be used with nappies that don’t offer this effect, for instance fitted nappies. That is what we use overnight.

Disposable

Little Lamb bio liners (disposable)

There are two types of liners out there. Disposable or bio liners are generally made using bamboo, are biodegradable and can be flushed down the toilet with the poo. It can’t get simpler than that! They are very thin sheets that seem too large for the nappy (trust me, all parents think this when they use them for the first time) but they fit! Place them between the nappy (whichever type) and the baby’s bum and put on the nappy. If you do so as I show on my YouTube video, cupping the nappy as you put it on, the liner will fit perfectly. Having said that, if there are any ends pointing out (and it happens, don’t worry), just tuck them into the nappy using your finger.
I wash bio liners (when they aren’t soiled and I flush them down the toilet, of course) until I can use them no more. This saves me a few peenies. I can wash them about 4 or 5 times until they completely fall apart, depending on the brand. I’ve tried many but keep coming back to my favourites – the Little Lamb ones in the picture. I get them from https://www.matisnappies.pt/product/liners-descartaveis-little-lamb and you can use my discount code FAFA.

Example of an all in one nappy with a bio liner

Reusable

Liners can also be reusable. These are washed with the nappies and are a great choice for anyone wanting to save their pennies, those who prefer more natural options, or if you’re after a stay dry effect on top of catching the poo. As I said above, this is something we do for night-time, as we generally use fitted nappies, which aren’t stay dry. Plop the poo into the toilet and put the liner to wash. If you’re dealing with stubborn poo (when introducing solids, for instance), rinse under cold water and squeeze the water out before putting in the bucket or wetbag. It’s what we do. You can buy these liners, I love a Portuguese brand called Eye of Shangri La (http://www.eyeofshangrila.pt/category/liners-linguetas) or we can make them ourselves! They are usually in fleece or microfleece so simply buy a fleece blanket from Ikea and cut it up! I bought a yard of fabric and my mother in law cut me up some liners.

Eye of Shangri La reusable liners                                    DIY microfleece liners

They turned out at less than 50p each. I also love the super soft microfleece Little Lamb liners… in fact, they’re so fluffy I want to use them myself (https://www.matisnappies.pt/product/liners-reutilizaveis-de-fleece same code as above).

Little Lamb reusable liners in super soft microfleece

Example of a fitted nappy with a reusable stay dry liner

When should I use liners?

Well, in all fairness, the answer to this question depends. You can start any time you want, really. However, if your baby is being exclusively breastfed you don’t need liners because their poo is hydro soluble, i.e. it dissolves in water and the machine handles it all without us having to do anything. You CAN use them if you want to, say, prevent staining, but stains come out with the sun. I never used liners while exclusively breastfeeding. Plus the poo is quite liquid and I doubt the liners could contain much of it. Just saying …

Now, when it comes to introducing solids and beyond, trust me, they reveal their true essence. It is so much easier to just grab the liner and flush it down the toilet, instead of having to scrape poo off the nappy However, you do you! When you first introduce solids, the poo be quite pasty and we had to rinse a few nappies, even using liners but it really isn’t that bad. It’s just part of parenting. If we used disposables, we’d have a lot more poo to contend with owing to the explosions that tend to happen with them but don’t tend to happen with reusables because of their back elastics. Some rinse them in the shower, some flush the toilet and rub them on the sides, some have special toilet showers.

I store the nappies prepped, liners inside, ready to go on the bum. That way, anyone can change Baby S’s nappy without having to give it much thought!