Terry nappies

The perfect nappy system. Not sexy or trendy but they take you from birth to potty with no leaks and minimum cost.

There is never a problem with your terry not fitting properly as there are no fixed sizes as with shaped nappies - just adjust the fold or get it tighter around the legs. I've had horrible leakages of milk pooh from disposables, but terries are so absorbent that I can honestly say that we have never had pooh escape onto the baby's clothes.

In addition, they dry in the sunshine in a couple of hours, or indoors on a damp day without the heating on well with 24 hours.

Only downsides - can be fiddly until you've got the hang of it, and can be bulky while your baby is still small.

Once you get your head around the "origami" of folding it, this is a great nappy system. Super fast to dry, leakproof as it adjust perfectly to your baby (I have skinny ones, pre-folds were a poo leaking disaster). Cheap in comparison to other nappy systems. We use both cotton and bamboo. Cotton dries quicker while bamboo is more absorbent, perfectly happy with both.

Quite high start up cost and are tricky to use at first, but you'll soon be experimenting with new folds. Over time the cost evens out and you will have saved plenty of money over disposables.

If your child wets the bed chances are they will be too big to wear them as nappies but they can be folded into a booster to use in otherwise not absorbent enough trainer pants.

They have plenty uses after after potty training too. Such as use on a second child and after your children have outgrown nappies they can be used as cloths.

Brilliant!! Kite fold and nappi nippas contain breast fed poo. Pad fold for older more 'solid' poo. Wash easily, dry easily...I fold my nappies before I put them away so folding becomes less of a hassle. I was given my terries - they are now being used on a fifth baby -just how cost effective is that! For a newborn I used poorer quality terries - so they are less bulky. Now using my better quality ones for my 13 month old. Night time I use a kitefold and a booster pad. My older daughter was at nursery so I used wraps for pre-folds (Ellie pants) - I put the folded nappy in them and then they could put them on as easily as a disposable...easier than shaped nappies and then wraps. I have used a couple of older ones cut up as wipes (with water). Hemmed with blue as nappy wipes, hemmed with white for face cloths/feeding. For poo bottoms I think they are better than any bought wipe - they are a bit scratchy so they clean 'weetabix' poo brilliantly....

They have lots of other uses as well - good for putting on a mat when changing small babies (better than cold plastic), and for letting them have a 'kick' on - with a thin plastic mat underneath absorbs any accidents. Have even used them to pad the wooden arms of a chair (under a throw) to prevent bumps...I couldn't imagine not having them! I prefer them to any shaped nappy I've tried (and I rented lots of different types to try them out). The only alternative would be prefolds...slightly less folding but longer to dry.

Cheap and cheerful, a great standby for when the weather is bad and your other nappies aren't drying. can be folded in a myriad of different ways to suit individual babies size and shape, and can be boosted with microfibre inserts if required. Best used with a tight fitting wrap like motherease rikki or tots wrap.

Dry very quickly but aren't so great at containing breast fed baby runny poo.