Reusable nappies

[Jaxtellerswife]

After scaring myself stupid on the climate change topics and threads, I'm now trying to plan ways to make changes small and large.
I have two small children and a third on the way. I now want to try reusable nappies for this baby, mostly due to not adding more to landfill. But, I know less than nothing about them.
What do I need?
How many?
What's the cost like?
Are they easy?
Thanks for any input

Get yourself on the nappy lady website. She is so helpful. You can complete a questionnaire about your requirements and she will make recommendations and give advice about what you need

Full time cloth, washing every 2 to 3 days generally works out at about 25 Nappies.
About 10 newborn size is a good number as baby will outgrow them pretty fast. Birth to potty ones usually start to fit well from 12lbs or so.
Your local nappy library will be able to help www.uknappynetwork.org/find-a-library.html

There is a really good Try Cloth for £10 trial if you Google it. Helped me decide which brand to use. We use a two part Milovia set so you buy covers (approx 5) and inserts (approx 12-15). If it's just a wee or small poo you just need to change the insert which saves on washing. I soak them is napisan before washing to save energy then just put them in a 30min wash. They dry really quickly on a radiator. Some of the brands we tried like Little Lambs seemed like they'd take an age to dry, didn't see how they could be practical at all. They, and others, were also really bulky. Call me vain but I didn't want my baby to look much different to if they were wearing disposables. I was pretty sceptical about reusables but am a total convert now. Have used since baby was approx 10lb.

Birth to potty state they fit from 8lbs onwards and they do, I’ve been using them on my 4 week old since he was born and he weighed 8 lbs 5oz.

I use all in one nappies so brands like Bumgenius, bambino mio and tots bots. I like the cute prints and they dry very quickly.

I have about 25 nappies which is enough to get away with washing every other day at the minute with a newborn- newborns poo and pee A LOT. You gradually need less nappies as they grow older but certainly in the early days you need lots unless you want to wash constantly. They’re also not supposed to be put through the tumble drier as it can ruin them so you have to consider getting them dry before you can use them again. I dry them on a clothes horse.

Wow lots of good tips, thank you all

They are easy. The one off cost is substantial but they go for cheap second hand on eBay and are often in brilliant condition. Also worth noting once they’ve been bought you don’t have to worry about nappies again so it definitely saves.

would also recommend www.plushpants.co.uk Christine who runs it is helpful she and I had our 4 children in cloth many years back..(She likes to claim she got me converted)

You can definitely put some nappies through the tumble dryer. At times I've had 2 in full time cloth nappies, and actually most of my nappies have lasted all 3 kids.
For newborns I've used a pad folded muslin in a waterproof wrap until about 2-3 months. I've then used birth to potty popper pocket nappies. Little blooms on Amazon are very cheap and the bamboo inners tumble dry very well on hot (7 years constant use with 3 kids!). Don't tumble dry the outer bits. Oh and I only tumble dry when I can't line dry.
To get poo stains out (and from vests) hang outside - daylight magically disappears it.
You also don't tend to get poonamis with cloth nappies.

Definitely try before buying as they vary on fit and I found some not suited to my dc, both on rise and leg circumference.

I bought Itty Bitty nappies for daytime. They're sized so not so bulky on smaller babies although you obviously buy more as I needed outers in small, medium and large. I did however share inserts among the sizes as they weren't that different in size. I had to buy huge, super thick Tots Bots for overnight though as DD would soak through an Itty Bitty.

During the daytime I checked/changed DD every 2hrs or so. Therefore we did use disposables on occasion (e.g. long car journey or day trip) where a leak or carrying dirty nappies would have been a pain.

I worked out the cost of buying, washing and tumble drying my washables compared to disposables for my NVQ and it worked our almost identical for the first child, presuming nappies are worn until age 3. Of course you make the savings financially by either selling on or reusing for subsequent children.