Waiting for the baby to come before I buy..

[shouldIbecrossaboutthis]

Will I regret this? I've done a lot of reading and it seems the best type of nappy is determined, more or less, by the shape of the baby, especially the tops of the legs?

At the moment my favs are closer pop in and bumgenius, although I am a little confused about the various types/models of bumgenius nappies.

So, will I really regret this? Will I be able to get the nappies with a baby in the house? I will just order online as I have seen both in shops and will use disposables until they arrive.

Thanks.

That is the best thing to do, we tried loads of different types before we bought a multipack of Flips. Some websites will even rent out nappies for you to try before you buy. Good luck, I've never regretted using cloth :)

As someone who used cloth nappies for four children, I have always advised people not to buy any nappies pre children.

Although some people will tell you otherwise, cloth nappies are more work, and when you're absolutely exhausted even the smallest amount of extra work can seem an insurmountable obstacle. If you've bought the nappies but don't have the energy to use them you'll feel guilty. Which you don't want.

Also, a new born can burn through nappies. My youngest once went through 27 dirty nappies in a day (yes, I was sad enough to keep count) - you really don't want to be washing this volume of nappies. Wait until your baby has stopped pooing constantly (n.b. some babies produce very few dirty nappies....)

fab thanks all. I'm just trying to figure out what I will need in terms or storage/organising.

I'm guessing drawer/similar with separators to keep night time boosters, soakers and nappy outers so they are easy to find when clean.

Somewhere to dry the nappies

Easy access to pail (with 2 liners) and ready made up nappies, wipes, cream etc.

Is that it?

Our local authority runs a real nappy project, you can get a trial kit on loan for 2 weeks with various types of nappy, bucket etc for a £50 deposit. You can then see which ones fit best and also how long they take to dry (v important in winter!).

My nappy lady advises waiting a couple of weeks to get used to having newborn, then trial kit, then buy whichever works best for you.

With regard to what you need - we have a wicker basket that I keep the made up nappies in with a box of flannel wipes next to it on the lower shelf in dd's room. On a higher shelf I keep an ice cream tub of water and liners to put in the nappies. I have a lidded bucket in the corner of dd's room with a mesh bag in it (plus a spare on the shelf). There's no need for a bucket liner IME, I just pick the mesh bag out and wang it straight in the washing machine, then spray and wipe out the bucket.

I also have a small wet bag for flannel wipes and a bigger one for dirty nappies for the change bag.

You aren't supposed to use cream with reusables - it affects the absorbancy. I used to use it sparingly if dd had nappy rash only.

You won't regret it. We had tots bots birth to potty easy fit and the bamboo one. Dd was 7lb15oz but skinny thighs do they didn't fit her for 2-3wk anyway

We didn't start using cloth nappies until DS was 6 weeks - we're using tots bots easyfit, so far so good (he's 9 weeks now).

We had cloth from before DS was born,I didn't regret it, in fact I regretted listening to others who told us to put him in sposies first. He wore his first reusable at 1 week old but I found it hard to change the routine of sposies. Although one type we bought fitted him for two weeks and if I had to do it again I would not buy them again but will be keeping a couple of them just in case we have another. So if you want to wait I would, but if you're like me and impatient/love the tiny nappies buy a couple to try.

we used disposables for about 2 weeks.
we planned to use cloth, and were lucky to buy some second-hand ones from a friend.
when we started using the cloth ones, we were well into a "routine" with DD - we knew (sort of, it's all stil la guessing game!) what we were doing otherwise, so it became jsut another part of the changing routine.

If you get some when the baby's born, it will be fine - you have loads of time. :)

It might be worth getting a "trial" pack from somewhere like little lambs, because then you'll have one of each kind, without paying out too much - you fit them to the baby when it arrives, and it's just another item of clothing iyswim. (we use all the types in the trial pack still on a rota)
(so you can keep using the disposables while you try them out)
then once you've decided which type you like best, you can buy a pack of them.
:)

(and yes, it is an expensive outlay, but it's worth it in the end - we've bought loads more since our first lot)

aw, bless, with your little drawer to separate everything
sorry, only jjoking - that was my dream too, but we have a shelf that everything gets thrown on and we pull out what we need.
Also, my favourite tip (and my bestest idea!) is to have a plastic box with a lid in your lounge (because that 's where you'll change most of the nappies) with a day's worth of everything, including the baby wipes (or cotton wool at the beginning) and muslins. Because you will most likely need to change nappies quickly and it's so much better not having to run upstairs for supplies everytime you need one)

Something else to bear in mind is that babies can change shape and while one type of nappy may fit well at 12lb it may be next to useless at 20lb. I'm thinking about the tots bots fluffles - they were lovely when DS2 was little but he soon produced more wee than they could cope with. I think there is something to be said for not buying too many of any one particular nappy to avoid this problem.

You could buy a few terry squares, or muslin squares for a newborn, you can adjust the fit by the way you fold them. Also cream doesn't seem to affect my nappies, but I do use liners.

thanks everyone for the fab suggestions, I have seen those trials - the thing that scares me is I'm useless at returning things on time, the trial is for a month and I just know I wont send them back in time!

nickelhasababy, how very dare you; my home will be immaculate and an oasis of calm when the baby arrives . Thanks for the tip on the downstairs kit!

I have another question now, about pails. Can you use a metal bucket or will it rust? Also has anyone used nappy pail bags, like these?

Thanks again.

yep.
and DD is now 21 weeks, and yesterday, I found some things that we were supposed to have "tidied" away before she was even due....

We haven't bothered with pails or anything like that.

wet nappies go in the bath waiting to be washed, and pooey nappies go into a washing-up bowl in the bath (it's easyr to lift it out when the bath is needed)
We've started putting all wet things in the bath, so towels go in there too (so we wrap everything up in a big towel and pull it all out together when we need the bath/shower or ready for washing)
we do nappy washing (together with other wet stuff and baby clothes) every 2 or 3 days.

the only time we need to use nappy bags is the daytime ones (because I'm at work all day)
yes, that looks like a good bag.

we're at work - me and DD