Bamboozle Stretchies vs Bum Genius V4- advice please!!

[Lizziefinch]

We'd like to try cloth nappies despite having no tumble drier or outside drying in our flat.

Bearing in mind we will be air drying indoors, what would people recommend?

Our baby's due in a couple of weeks and I will definitely start with disposables until he's a bit bigger and I've got used to him a bit, recovered from the birth etc...

Bamboozle stretch have the best reviews and they look so soft round the legs and absorbent.

Bum genius were recommended by a friend who's used them for two babies. They look less comfortable round the leg elastic and no-one seems to think they work at night, but they would dry faster.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Probably best to try and get your hands on a couple of different types second hand to try out first if there is no rush. A combination for different situations might be best.

I have BGs and stretchies. The BGs dry quickly (overnight on an airer in my kitchen), whereas the stretchies do take a lot longer (sometimes 2 or 3 days depending on the weather!!) so you would need a larger stash. I only use them for nights for that reason - they are a lot more absorbent and quite slim fitting in comparison to other fabrics. But I use BGs in the daytime because they are so convenient to put on - no faffing around with wraps - and because they are so reliable - I have NEVER had any leaks, even with breastfed poo, whereas I used to have to change vests etc. all the time with disposables.

Hope that helps. Good luck :)

I do the same as curlykate (though with slightly different nappies). DD wears her BG flips in the day and they are fab - never a leak even with the most horrendous poo. Then she wears old-style bamboozles with a motherease wrap overnight and it is absolutely bomb proof. I wouldn't want to use the bamboozles in the day though as they take days to dry (don't know if the new stretches are any faster but bamboo fabric is notorious for being slow to dry) whereas the flip inserts are dry by the evening if I put the wash on in the morning.

Thank you so much both of you, that's really helpful. I seem to have spent literally hours if not days getting lost on cloth nappy websites, there are soo many options, very hard to understand, and of course it's a big investment to make. But I will do as you say and see if I can get some to try second hand to test. Up to 3 days drying time really does make the bamboozles impossible for daytime use, especially in our flat where we have limited drying space. Cheers! X

I'm someone else who would only recommend bamboozles for night-times. So you'd only need to buy 3 or 4 and get the rest of your collection as fast drying nappies - BG, pop'n'gro, or pop-ins. Out of those three I would recommend the pop'n'gro either their 2-sized pockets or their birth-to-potty. I prefer their birth-to-potty nappy. It comes with 2 boosters, a microfiibre booster and a bamboo booster. You can buy additional boosters for £2.00 each so you could always just buy a couple of extra bamboo boosters to use at night-time. And a bamboo booster dries a lot quicker than a whole bamboo nappy.

Same - I have bumgenius for daytime - excellent, contains breast fed poo, dries quickly, fits under modern cut clothes. Crap for nights.

For nights, same as curlykate99 I have bamboozle stretchies. As my DD feeds lots (LOTS!) I have to double - booster them so she looks like a fallen down weeble but they are ace, but take 2 days to dry inside (I have no tumble dryer). Incidently she was weeing through 2 disposables, but the boostered bamboozle works all night.....

Horses for courses!

Get a mix of a couple of types of nappies. I used Bumgenius for ages and they worked well. However she eventually started out-peeing the microfibre inserts. Bamboo or hemp sorted us out then.

Bamboozles also very good. I've used them at night and combined with a wrap and another bamboo booster would be bombproof during the day.

I really like Itti Bitti Tuttos at the moment. They are also BTP.

Oh also do you have a boiler cupboard? I've got some clothesline strung up in mine and nappies dry really quickly in there.

Don't know about bamboozles, but I've got a old fashioned pulley for drying washing in the winter and it works really well and keeps the washing out of the way. Also this is a really helpful site if you're confused.
www.thenappyline.co.uk

Oooh thank you, I hadn't checked this thread for a few days due to moving house and unpacking, but this is all most helpful. We've decided to go for Bum genius for now and solve the night problem at some other stage. While he's little I am hoping the BG with extra bamboo boosters might work, and if/ when it doesn't then I'll look into a bamboozle or something similar. Everyone says use disposables for the first week while you recover and until the meconium stage is over, so I think I will take that advice. Determined not to landfill too many disposables though...

TuttoRhino and Tchaikovsky no we don't have a boiler cupboard that would really help, but my husband does want to put up some kind of pulley system in our lounge (!) hmmm....

I am having the same dilemma - so helpful, thanks ladies! X

Pusspuss1 if either you or your DH is tall (i.e. your baby is likely to be tall) I would look into different brands from BumGenius. DS is 24mo, 75th centile for height and BG nappies aren't long enough for him. Although the new BG nappy (Elemental I think it's called) is supposed to be a bit longer than the others.

Do the nappy lady questionaire

We do similar, bg v4, freetimes and tb's easyfits in the day and stretchies or little lambs at night. It's a fab combination, a leak is rare and usually my fault not the nappy! You might find a tiny baby is ok boosted at night with the bg at first but it won't be a very long term solution. I'd definitely second doing the nappy lady questionnaire - she really is good at working out the best solution for you! It's also worth 'liking' the Facebook pages of any brands you like, I love little lamb and have had some bargains recently (a nappy for cost of postage and a nappy/wrap for a fiver!), eBay and the preloved fb boards are also worth checking - you can build your stash slowly and fairly cheaply - unless you get addicted like many of us!

Oh! Also, if you're intending to use them fairly early, be aware the birth to potty nappies like bg can be pretty swamping on little ones despite saying they fit from 8-9lbs so don't be disheartened if they're a bit big! You can hire newborn kits or use folded Muslins (the nappy lady has YouTube videos on how to fold them) if this happens! We also started early - after 3 days - I think it helped not getting used to the ease of disposables!

P.S. I did the Nappy Lady questionnaire recently - she recommended bamboozle stretchies, or if I wanted an all in one, Bumgenius Elemental. I will get hold of a few second hand to road test.

Now I just need to convince DH, who is convinced I've suddenly turned into a tree-hugging ecowarrior (the eco-friendliness is a great side effect, but I mostly just fancy saving a few quid and hope the reusables might actually perform better than disposables... :-/)

Hi. I did the nappy lady questionnaire and she suggested teddys or bumgenius elemental. Anyone used the teddys - I've not heard of them... I'm 5'1" an DH is 5'9" so won't be a tall baby and I think teddys are meant to be long. Also she says the BG is bad overnight, what's good for an overnighter, still bamboozle?
I am bamboozled by the choice.....

I've used the Bumgenius freetime, after being recommended by the nappy lady and I did like them. Also tried bamboozle stretch after she suggested them, having not wanted a two part nappy and I love them. So much so that I am using them most of the time now. (in fact, the only reason I'm not using them all of the time is because I want some with prettier patterns ) It's not really a faff putting the nappy and wrap on and although my DD isn't a heavy wetter, the bamboozle plus a triple layer booster is plenty for a 12 hour night and they are great for in the day with no booster except what comes with them for us. I would say they are pretty bombproof leakwise.

I love them so much I plan to get size 1's for the baby when it is born, I think they'll be lovely and comfy for a newborn and they're not bulky. Suprisingly, the drying time doesn't bother me either.