Bambino Mio and all they have to offer. (Bambino Mio Pure Cotton Nappies)

Member Name: missmaile

Product:	Bambino Mio Pure Cotton Nappies
Date:	25/06/08 (324 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Can be used with more than one child to save extra money , 100 % cotton

Disadvantages: Quite costly

When I was pregnant with my first child I never gave any thought to what type of nappy I would use with my child, I just assumed that I would use disposable, however when my son was around 3 months old, I was doing some shopping in the city and decided to pop into the library.
As I entered the library a woman approached me, she asked me what kind of nappies I used with my baby, when I told her I use disposable she asked if I would consider trying re-usable 'real' nappies on my son. I told her I had no objection to using them; however I didn't think I would be able to afford it. Disposables may cost more in the long run, but there was no initial layout to worry about. The woman told me she was a representative from the local natural nappy campaign and asked me what my sons weight was, I told her and she handed me a cloth bag, in the bag were several nappy wraps and nappies each made by a different company, she explained that it was a trial pack so I could see if real nappies worked for me before buying any, she also told me about the campaign the local council were running, they were offering £30 per child who is in nappies to every parent in Norfolk, I had to buy the nappies, send in the receipt and they would send me a cheque for £30.

That night as I was changing my son ready for bed I pulled the bag from under my pram and put a cotton nappy on him instead of the disposable, there was an instruction leaflet, but I didn't need it, they were so easy, I had always thought that cotton nappies meant folding towels and pinning them together, but these were hardly any different to a disposable.

The next morning came my next dilemma, did I have to soak the nappy and hand wash in boiling water? Nope, they just go in the washing machine - Great!

I tried all the different nappies and one stood out, Bambino Mio, it was easy to use, the design was nice and it looked to be the most comfortable for my baby, it wasn't bulky either, so I went out and purchased a few more wraps and nappies and claimed back £30 of my spend.

Bambino Mio nappies are made up of 3 separate parts...
Mio Nappy - this is a cotton towel like pad. The pad is made up of layers of cotton so it absorbs well, the middle of the pad is a bit thicker than the rest. Bambino Mio say it can be folded in different ways to suit the baby's shape and size, however I have always just folded it into 3, when you buy nappies you get a little folding booklet which shows 3 different folds, the basic fold where you fold into 3, the extra absorbency fold where you fold over the side before folding into 3 and the loose stool fold where you do the absorbency fold and fan out the bottom.

Mio Liner - this is a big like a large dry baby wipe, when the baby does a wee it goes through to the nappy, but when he does a poo it is caught in the liner making cleaning the nappies much easier, they can just be flushed down the toilet. The liner is made so that wee can pass through it, but it cannot come back through, so there is no risk of the baby's bottom being wet and causing nappy rash because of this.

Mio Soft Cover -this looks just like a disposable nappy, it is shaped to fit the baby, and it has elasticated legs and waist and Velcro fastenings. This is made from a really soft cotton so does not rub as baby moves around. The elasticated legs stop any leaking from the nappy ( leaks was one of my biggest fears! )

The nappy is really easy to assemble, you fold the nappy in 3, then wrap the liner around the nappy, place the nappy and liner into the cover, and then you just put it on like a normal nappy.

When it is time to change the baby, you just unfasten it, remove the liner, flush it away, then remove the nappy, put a new nappy and liner in the wrap and that's that till the next change.

Bambino recommend that if you are using only cotton nappies, you will need to purchase 24 Mio Nappies , 3-6 soft covers and 1 role of Mio Liners initially. Personally, I have 4 covers and 10 nappies, obviously the liners you will just need to keep buying as needed. Also it will depend if you will be using solely cotton nappies or a mix of real and disposable.
I use cotton nappies most of the time, but if I know I am going to be out for a while, I use disposables because I do not like the idea of carrying around a dirty nappy for hours, but most of the time I use cotton nappies.

I always put my nappies in the washing machine to wash my nappies and wraps, then I let them dry on the clothes horse, washing line or radiator, however Bambino Mio do sell nappy buckets and some people add tea tree oil or some sort of soaking fluid in - I have never found the need for these, even if my baby has a particularly dirty nappy, the most I have ever had to do is use a hotter wash, I never soak and my nappies are still lovely and clean and fresh, infact those from my first child have been used with my 2nd child.

Cost is one of the main factors in buying natural nappies, Bambino Mio say that using cotton nappies saves you upto 60% or £600 if you use them for 1 child, obviously you save more if you use the same nappies for subsequent children and that includes the costs of washing them.

The Mio Nappy comes in 2 different sizes, size 1 is for a baby who weights upto 16lbs, they cost £15.95 for a pack of 8 and a size 2 for a baby who weighs upto 35lbs costs £14.95 for 6 nappies.

The Mio Liners come in packs of 200 and cost £4.95 per pack, these come in one size. If you buy these from Bambino Mio directly, you can buy 4 and get your 5th pack for 20p!

The Mio Soft Cover comes in 5 sizes, size newborn is upto 11lbs, size small is upto 16lbs, size medium is upto 21lbs, size large is upto 27lbs and size extra large is upto 34lbs. The Mio Soft Cover comes in 3 designs, plain white; cool stars, which is white with blue, green and purple stars on it and funky spots which is white with orange, green, purple and blue spots on it. These cost £8.95 each.

If you want to try out a Bambino Mio nappy before spending lots of money on them, you can buy a Mio Trial, this is a little pack containing 1 Mio Liner, 1 Mio Nappy and 1 Mio Soft Cover, they come in all 5 sizes and cost £10.95 for newborn and small and £11.95 for the bigger sizes. This is what was included in my trial pack from the Real Nappy Campaign.

Bambino Mio do several products to compliment their nappies, they do Mio Wipes, like baby wipes they are moist, however unlike baby wipes they are biodegradable and can be flushed down the toilet, they also have aloe vera, chamomile and lavender on them, I really like these, they smell great and I have found them to have no adverse effects to my sons sensitive skin. These cost £1.49 for a pack of 40; if you buy 4 packs directly from Bambino Mio you will get a 5th pack free too! I always take these offers up because both these and the Mio Liners are things you are going to have to buy more of so you may as well save the money while you can.

You can purchase a Bambino Mio Nappy Bucket, this costs £14.95 and is square, and it holds 14L. There is a laundry bag in it, you put your nappies in, then when you are ready to put them into the washing machine you just put the whole bag in. Personally I have not bothered with one of these as I have never needed to soak my nappies, but if you do want to soak them, a normal bucket would be fine and be much cheaper!!

I use non biological gentle detergent to wash my nappies in the washing machine, I find this keeps them sparkly clean and fresh, however you could buy Mio Care, this is a 14kg pack of powder which is non biological and can be used with a low temperature wash, which is one advantage as I do use a pretty hot wash when I do my nappies. I have never used Mio Care, however a friend uses it and her nappies come out lovely, Bambino Mio say it is more economical per wash than normal washing powder, it cost £4.45 for 1kg.

There is also Mio Fresh, you add it in with your detergent or Mio Care, you put in a tablespoon and it is antibacterial and has deodoriser in it, bambino Mio says it eliminates the need for soaking and boil washing. I add it to my normal detergent as I like to be sure that the nappies are clean and germ free, using it make me confident that the nappies I use are safe and hygienic. It costs £3.50 for 500g which they say is 35 washes and £5.45 for 1kg which they say is 70 washes. I buy the 1kg and I find it lasts me around 90 washes when I use a level tablespoon and it works brilliantly.

Bambino Mio boast that Mio Care and Mio Fresh are Allergy tested, perfume free, no chlorine bleach, biodegradable. enzyme free , phosphate free , no optical brightness and not tested on animals, I think these factors are really important, both my children have sensitive skin and eczema so it's important that there are not too may nasty chemicals in the laundry products I use, especially for nappies as they are so close to their skin.

I recently discovered the Mio Swim Nappy, I was sticking to disposable swimming nappies, however I had a few problems with them leaking in the pool as those of you who have read my Huggies Little Swimmers review will know! So when I spotted the Mio Swimming Nappy I decided to give them a try as I am confident in the cotton nappies, I anticipated these would be good too. These have elasticated legs which keeps everything contained and they come in some nice bright designs, there are boys ones and girls ones- pink with fish, blue with fish, pink with spots and blue with spots. The sizing is the same as the Mio Soft Cover, however they do not do newborn size in the swimming nappies, they cost £7.95 each. There is a warning on them that they contain solids only , so wee will still come out, but I think that is the same for all swimming nappies, I have never seen a swimming nappy which can contain wee.

My eldest is no longer in nappies, when it came to potty training, I choose to continue with Bambino Mio and used their training pants. To start with, I continued using the cotton nappies as it was easy for him to just pull the velcro, then when he had that mastered, we moved on to the training pants, which are just like normal underwear, except they have a small amount of padding. With these if the child has an accident, it will be absorbed, but unlike the Mio Nappy, it does not keep your child dry, he will feel the wetness and know he needs to be changed. There are problems I have with these, firstly, I found the waist elastic was a bit tight, meaning they could be difficult to get down, so when my son knew he had to go to the toilet, he would rush off, but would then have an accident because he couldn't get them down fast enough, also, once soiled the whole thing has to be washed, so if your child is new to potty training and these are the only training pants you will use, you will need quite a few pairs because they will need to be washed and dried before use, you can't just replace the pad. These do air dry pretty quickly unlike the nappies which can take a while. They come in 3 sizes, 24-29lbs, 29-35lbs and 35lbs+, they are available in white, pink, blue and red, they cost £4.95 and if you buy 4 you get the 5th for 20p! When your child is ready for potty training you can also get Mio Potty, I didn't personally buy one; they cost £4.99 and look just like any other potty, so I decided to just buy a cheaper one from the supermarket. I did have a look at these though and they seem pretty sturdy and comfy, but the one I got cost me 99p, even that was a bit pointless though because my son decided he was too big for a potty and should be using the toilet.

Bambino Mio sells Muslin squares at £7.95 for 6 squares, these are lovely and soft and great if you have a sicky baby, I have never used them, but I bought some as a gift for a friend and her baby who is now 14 months has one of her muslins in her hand most of the time, it's like a mini security blanket and my friend says her daughter used to find it comforting when she was left with a babysitter to have her muslin because it smelt of her mother because she used to use it to clean up any dribbles from breastfeeding.

You can buy a Mio Nappy Bag which is water proof, I guess this would be a good option if you use cotton nappies all the time and have to carry around dirty nappies to take home and wash, it a rectangle zip up case and it purple with a strap to carry it, its £7.50, its not big enough to carry anything else I ( though I doubt you would want to ! ) you just pop it into your normal changing bag.

If you plan to use the cotton nappies all the time and you can afford the initial layout, Bambino Mio offer some packs which can save you some money, they do a birth to potty pack for £225 , for this you get 24 size 1 and 24 size 2 Mio Nappies , 4 Mio Soft Newborn covers, 3 Mio Soft small covers, 3 Mio Soft medium covers, 3 Mio soft large covers and 3 Mio Soft extra large covers, you also get a free Bambino Mio changing bag/rucksack, you save around £25 if you buy this pack rather than buying everything separately.

There is also the Potty Training Pack, this has a Mio Potty, 2 training pants a sheet of reward stickers and a potty training guide, it costs £14.99, you don't really make a saving though because buying the potty and pants would cost £14.89, so the guide and stickers are 10p.

In addition there are 2 more packs, the accessories pack which costs £39.99 and includes the purple nappy bag, 200 Mio Liners, 500g Mio Fresh, 1kg Mio Care, a nappy bucket, 2 laundry bags, 40 Mio Wipes and a detergent scoop. The other pack is the nappy set; this has 12 Mio Nappies and 3 Mio Covers. You can get it in 4 sizes, the newborn and small cost £ 45.95 and the medium and large is £49.95, they do not do it in the extra large. They say this pack has enough for around 2 days, so may be good for keeping in the nappy bag for going out or if baby is spending the night with grandparents or something.

I bought my first nappies from John Lewis, however quite a few stores stock bambino Mio, then I started buying directly from Bambino Mio online because it was more convenient and I could make savings such as the 5 for 4 deals, BUT you have to pay £4.50 for postage and packaging, so it's only worth doing if you are buying a big lot and don't want to carry it all, or if you would have to pay more in petrol to get to somewhere that sells Bambino Mio, I bought nappies, Mio liners and Mio wipes all in one lot, it was more than I could have carried and I do not drive, so it was worth paying the postage, it obviously costs them much more than £4.50 to post to me.

I would certainly recommend Bambino Mio to anyone, unlike disposables, I have never had a nappy leak with these cotton nappies, you do not need to worry about them splitting ( I hate when a disposable has been badly made and it splits and gel goes everywhere even though baby has barely done a wee in it ) , they seem to be healthier for my babys skin, my eldest had a little nappy rash before I started using cotton nappies, since using them I think it has only been once or twice and that was whilst he was teething, my youngest has never ever had nappy rash and I really think it's because I use cotton nappies - they let the skin breathe.

I think these are really worth their money and I am definitely better off because all the originals I bought have lasted for my youngest to use, it is a high outlay but if you can afford it you should go for it, what I did was buy a few at a time to start with and gradually change over from disposables to cotton nappies, even if like me you don't use them exclusively, you still make a good saving and you don't have your rubbish bin full of nappies.

Washing is easy as easy can be, I pop them in together they wash they dry and ready to use again, none of the soaking scrubbing and boiling I imagined. These also look so much nice than the disposables and I really think they are more comfortable for the baby.

I think there could be some improvements to the training pants so they are easier for the child to pull down, also if a child were to have a bowel movement in it, I can't imagine it would be too easy to pull them down for changing

There are quite a few other cotton nappy brands, some work a little differently and prices can vary, out of the pack I received initially Bambino Mio were the ones I was happiest with, I have no regrets other than the fact I didn't use them from the beginning.

Bambino Mio have won at least 7 awards for their products and they seem to be the most popular brand. These nappies are very durable, they could easily see several children through from birth through potty training, there is a place in my town where you can go along and buy second hand cotton nappies and sell yours on and there are always lots of bambino Mio, so they other people seem to be big fans too !

Summary: Comfortable stylish and good for the environment