Cloth Nappies, and Canadian living??

[cookielove]

Hi i am wondering if any one can help, my sister is currently pregnant and living in Canada, she is dead set on using cloth nappies with her baby, i have had some experience of these working in a nursery, but to be honest could not tell her the best ones out there.

I have a couple questions:

1. When first born do you go straight to cloth, or for the first few days use disposables, as i heard that often people do use disposables but she adamant that she doesn't want to.

2. I know in certain counties in England you can use sample of cloth nappies to determine which ones you would like to use, is there anything like this in Canada.

3. What are the best, better cloth nappies out there, and are they available in Canada?

4. Would it be worth us buying some over here and taking them over when we visit?

TIA

not sure if Canada is the same but in the US there are many nappy services where they pick them up wash them and give you clean back. Personally we used our Kushie ones (we took them with us from home) but do believe they are a company that does online ordering to US and Canada check here

I had my DS in the UK, but I used a Canadian washable nappy brand called Bummis. They were great and saw us all the way through to potty training. This is their website Bummis Never had any nappy rash and no poo leaks.

A quick Google search for washable nappies in Canada shows that there a number of brands available out there, so probably easier for your sister to buy out there

As far as newborns are concerned, it will depend on the hospital where you sister has the baby. Some are very anti nappy buckets! Your sister will have to check. I had to give in and use disposables for the first 2 days while I was in the hospital.

You can get all the same brands in Canada as you can get here. There should be at least one company who does trial packs, if you are interested still I can ask my Canadian friends.

Best place to get them from and to answer all her questions is www.littlemonkeystore.com. They're on Facebook too and are super informative and kind and willing to help. They're a Canadian business based in British Columbia.

I am in Canada & I got my nappies in the UK - Tots Bots. At the time most of the useful info I could find about cloth nappies, both through the internet & word of mouth was British so I went with a British product that had been heavily recommended.

However, now that I'm a mum & know other Canadian mums I have heard of Canadian brands that are really good. Bummis as mentioned above & various smaller brands. Motherease is a Canadian brand that make really, really good nappy wraps & training pants. The pocket style nappies seem very popular here but they seem very bulky to me.

I have to say though that even though my Canadian friends use various nappies that all look great & that they are happy with I am glad I went with my British Tots Bots Flexitots & Bamboozles. They are a 2 part nappy ie you have to use a nappy wrap & this gives much better leak protection.

They also come in 2 sizes - you use size 1 for newborns up to about 17lb I think & then onto size 2. I have found that this meant a much better fit and meant that the nappies have a longer life than birth to toddler nappies if you are thinking of using them for another child or selling them on. Other mums are always commenting on how slim the Flexitots are compared to anything else here which is a big bonus as fitting clothes over cloth nappies can be a PITA at times.

One thing I would say is do your reasearch - seek out reviews & comments. Some nappies fit big & on a slim baby you will have leakage issues especially if you go for an all-in one nappy.

Oh & tell her to give herself a break & just use disposables for the first week, she'll have enough to be getting on with!

Some Canadian nappy websites that may be useful.

Motherease
[[
www.newandgreen.com/index.php Vancouver company that does cloth diapering workshops]] yes really! They sell a good assortment of diapers popular here.
The Nappy Lady British website that I found quite useful

Where does she live? I'm on the west coast & ready to sell DD's Tot's Bots now she's potty trained!

Don't think that second link worked:
New & Green

Oh, meant to say, most cloth diapers are only for 8lb & up so she may have to wait a few weeks anyway. You can use prefolds / muslins but it's messy & more expense.

IME Kushies (widely available in Canada in department stores etc) are rubbish, they don't wash well & wear out quickly. Go with a specialist store.

If you are going to take nappies out in a large quanity from the UK, make sure they are going to fit well or it could be an expensive mistake. Big baby / slim baby does make a difference & she may want to try a few brands first.

WheeshtWillYe is 100% correct imo. Tots Bots beat any Canadian product that I tried. Canadian Motherease wraps are brilliant but their nappies didn't fit well on my 2 at any age (leaked badly.) Tots Bots nappies combined with Motherease wraps are pretty much bomb proof. Kushies are unbelievably crap - don't let her try them or she'll be put off cloth nappies for life!

Wheesht, where are you? I'm on the West Coast as well. PM me if you don't want to say on here :)

WheeshtWillYe - thanks thats alot of info, i will speak to her and see if she would like to buy some second hand, before i post where she is, i'll send her a link to this thread so she can see what everyone has said, which has been so helpful.