Washable shaped nappies...reccomendations?

[Astrophe]

We are looking onto these for our number 2, after using terry squares for the last one. What brands do people recommend? Cost is an issue...what works out as the most cost effective after buying covers, boosters etc etc?

Have ltd experience but for what it's worth...
Liners...if you go for fleece, don't buy them from the nappy people (approx £1 each)...buy fleece from a haberdashers and cut it up
Boosters...you could make these from your old terry squares. I have made some which fan out at the back (good poo catching coverage), are thin between the legs and which are triple thickness at the front (he's a boy!)
You could knit your own covers (pattern on the nappy lady website) but that could be taking it a bit far
Other things to bear in mind:-
Is your child tall and thin? If so avoid Tots Bots and go for somehting high in the rise (Bumbles; Sandys)
Does your child ahve sensitive skin? In which case those with fleece linings may not be such a good idea. Perhaps you could try with some home made fleece liners first and then if htere is no horrid reaction then you'd know you could use a fleece lined one (Ella's Bumhugger; Bumbles; Minkys)
For what it's worht, we use Bumbles which are very absorbant and not too expensive (£7 each I think) and which can be adapted for newborns. And also Sandy's which are a bit more expensive but lovely and soft.
There is a website clothnappyreview.blogspot.com/ which can be very helpful and the Nappy Lady advisors seem pretty clued in. Mine has been fab.
If you have terry squares, then you may be better off with a stuffable or pocket nappy - about which I know zero
I have sold nappies that I didn't like on hte nappy lady website and recouped at least 50% of my outlay so the Budget Committee wasn't too annoyed.

Motherease One Size - a birth to potty shaped nappy - so you do not need to buy the next size up when your baby grows. They are a really nice quality nappy that dries very quickly. Not the most absorbent I have used as quite a slim nappy but you can boost with Motherease boosters or your own.

I have used Motherease Airflow wraps with these - have managed with 3 per size. The Medium wraps start from 10lbs up - so you could wait and start with this size rather than Small which is 6-12lbs and didn't last me very long. DS was born 9lbs 7oz.

Another vote for MEOs, they've been very cost effective for dd and you could flog them on ebay after you've finished with them.

I reckon you should stick with the terry squares for the first few months, rather than buy the number of fitted nappies you will need for a newborn i.e. lots. Flat nappies are much faster drying, than fitteds, which is always handy when you are changing so regularly.
Once you get to 5 or 6 months and need only 5 or 6 nappies a day then you can buy fewer fitted in size large or size 2. The sizing is weird, but there are quite a few that you could buy at that age that could well see you through to potty training.
Bumbles are nice, or Bamboozles (slim Tots made of bamboo) or you could get a microfibre nappy like the Dizzy Diaper microfibre of Tots Fluffle.
The thing is you won't know what you need until later, you may have a heavy wetter, a baby that has runny poop, a chubster, a skinny etc... so it's probably easier to try a few.
If you have a look at my nappy review site here you may get some ideas.
I personally have reservations about birth to potty nappies, as they are expensive to buy for a newborn and are usually far too big and leak around the legs. They fit for a while, but quite often are outgrown, so you end up buying new nappies anyway. The other thing is often the absorbency is ok for a newborn, but not sufficient for a 8 month old.
You can use size med/large nappies, like Bumbles or Tots as birth to potty nappies, but again they will drown a newborn, if you can live with that they are great nappies.
My ds had really runny poop until very recently and most birth to potty nappies we tried leaked, except bikini cut Cuddlebuns.

It depends on the baby you have though... My ds who will soon be six months is still in his first size TotsBots and they fit like a glove.
Honestly - at 21 weeks I can still make the tabs meet across his tummy on both the terry inner and the outer.
(and I'm not squeezing him into an hourglass shape either )

BTW I think the Tots Bots are wonderful. They may have lost their 'natural' unbleached colour in the Perfectly Happy People soak I use but the elastic is as good as new and they're un-stained by even the most evil of poos ds is capable of. Can't recommend them enough.

I also got a large amount of Cotton Bottoms in the first size. He's grown out of these (the outer is weeny) but I've barely used them as they leak like crazy with my little man... with a chubbier baby they may well have worked quiet well though.

Sorry long post but I wish I'd had someone to help me out when I was buying.

Waving or Drowning - My ds is tall and thin... Tots Bots are perfect

I tried terries in pocket nappies, am quite disatisifed with the results. Hard to wedge the terry in, tend to promote leaks, terries just aren't absorbent enough for their bulk. People go on and on about hemp & microfibre for pocket nappies, instead.

I second whoever said start with terries until baby hits the midi-sizes, then try a sample of different shaped nappies. I am also skeptical about birth-to-potty idea.

You can buy the old snugglenap wraps & wedge terries (or muslin clothes, or small prefolds) into them, let's you use your existing terries like shaped nappies.

Having switched from terries to shaped, I am pretty happy with Ella's House bumhuggers, though I have to boost them to be sure they'll go 4-5 hours. TotsBots are perenial favourites, too.

Dunno what wraps you used before, but Motherease wraps worked out well for both my terries & the bumhuggers. I use old rags as liners, myself; you can cut up an old fleece sweatshirt & presto, instant free washable liners!

Bumbles are used in our house at night. ds not even 2mths they are big so wouldn't use them during the day but great at night and we use them for dd22mths.
During the day we love fuzzibunz, have bought some size small for ds and dd in size med/petite toddler. It is an outlay but the resale is good and you could stuff the fuzzibunz with your terry squares.
Babykind do a 70% refund on first nappy of each kind purchased which sort of gives you a chance to try out, but the other thing to do is to go for a hire deal for newborn sizes and just purchase when they get a bit bigger. We have done that to top up the amount of nappies for ds. It is very inexpensive in NZ, sorry not sure how it rates in uk but there must be some around. It also gives you a chance to try a variety of nappies before you buy any.

i used motherease one size from birth to potty no probs. they are still in great condition so hopefully will use them again. definitely worth it.

Thankyou everyone! So much info...I will probably look through it all when I am not so pregnant and a bit more sane! (only 2 1/2 weeks to go now...) We have borrowed some Cotton Bottoms in newborn from a friend, then will consider options after a few weeks/months. Our last child was born 4kg (9pounds) so I wont be buying anything in a small size!

With our terry squares (unfortunately left in Aust...we moved to UK 2 months ago) we used some more expensive covers at first then gradually switched to those plastic pants with the elastis waste and legs that are really cheap (and the tell tale sign of bad mothering!). They worked fine for us and we had no nappy rash at all...would these work with shaped nappies?

Thanks again for all the tips,
Astro

motherease one size birth to potty nappies. I really love this and they are great as they fit both my 8wk old dd and 2.3yr old DS.

what exactly are these 'wraps', by the way? Even the 'expensive' covers we used with terries were only abour $4 each.

wraps are the covers.depending where you buy from can dictate the price. I tend to look on ebay as you can get 2 new proraps for £5

Apostrophe, we used Cotton Bottoms Newborn as well, on our teeny baby, and would definately use them again for a littlie, just because they are cheap, very hardwearing and dry so fast and I find them easier to fold than a flat nappy.
We always used ours with a nappi nippa in the newborn or angel wing fold, which is where you fold the outer two panels into the centre, then fan out the end you are going to put the baby's bum on, you then bring up the unfanned end between the baby's legs and nippa the two fanned wings and the crotch. If you pull the prefold on tight, you have a much better chance of keeping in the bf poop.
There's another way of putting on prefolds called the Jelly Roll fold, which is supposed to be excellent for newborn poop containment. This site has excellent instructions for both folds.
We used Cotton Bottoms wraps with ours, which are designed for prefolds and trim shaped nappies, they hold the whole thing in place really well and fit very neatly. You can pick them up on used forums or Ebay for around £4 each.
Finally, the newborn size is quite diddy and we moved to Junior Joy size 1's after a month or two, as they were cheap and did up to about four or five months. Although I'm a bit hazy on that period of my life.

Thanks Maiseymmog...went to the site and was very helpful. I'll have to keep reading and thinking about what we will end up doing, but thanks for the tips!

Agghhhh! Maisiemog, just went to your review site...what a nightmare! Now I have absolutely no idea what to get! (Great site...but so many opinions! )

I'd love your advice... Heres our situation

We will probably have a big newborn (9 lbs +) but will use the Cotton Bottoms we have been lent for the first couple of months.

So we need a nappy that will work from, say, 3 months on. I was really sold on the Motherese one size as I don't really like the thought of buying the whole kit more than once...but maybe thats inevitable?

The other thing is we always used disposables at night with our terries, and will probably do that again, so don't need 12 hours absorbancy!

At almost 2, my older girl is pretty small and skinny (considering she was big when born)...course it may not be the same this time, but she will be potty trained soon-ish, so hopefully this will happen again with Number 2 Baby and we wont need really big sizes.

So...I await your expert diagnosis! - (And anyone elses...!)

Thankyou!!!

Another vote for Motherease One Size. I used muslins at the very beginning, to catch the meconium, but used Motherease from a couple of weeks (in the newborn position, folded down at the front and without the pop-in pad). Even with the constant flow of explosive yellow poo my daughter was producing, they didn't leak. The only time they did leak was at night, when someone hadn't made sure the wrap fully covered the nappy at the back. They wash very well, dry easily. Very happy with them thus far, although I can't comment on what they've like with an older infant.

astrophe you sound similair to me. My ds is now out of nappies apart from over night. I also use disposables over night for DD.
I have 10 meos and 2 tots bots that I use on rotation and wash a bucket full every 2 days.
DS was 9lb1oz born, DD was only 6lb14ozs so dont expect another biggy!!!...lol
I like the meos due to lack of restocking costs so only have to replace wraps as she moves up a size. I have also used meos overnight on my ds as he is dry most nights so didnt want to pay out for disposables[cheap I know].

Whats good about the Tots Bots? Seems like everyones divided about whether TBs, Kissaluvs or MEOS are the best.

Maybe the TBs and Kissaluvs are better for overnight, which I don't need?

tbs seem less bulky on dd as they are sized. I know a lot of people use them over night. they also have fleece liner on their built in booster so they are absorbant. Thats what ive noticed in my limited usage of them..lol

Sorry for confusing you. I suppose it shows that a lot of people have tried the same nappy and had a completely different experience. It's hard to say what you will need at this stage. YOu might get on really well with Mother-ease, lots of people do.
There are now different kinds of Tots, there's the straight forward white terry model, which is bulkyish, there are coloured terry tots, which are slimmer, there are bamboozle Tots, which are slimmer still and the Fluffle, which is microfibre and I think quite slim.
The Bamboozle is very popular, as it is very absorbent and soft, the nippa version could be a good bet for a possible birth to potty, as could the bamboozle.
I have so many nappies and to be honest I would hate to only have one kind, as they do suit different occasions. Plus a lot of them are just gorgeous, you will be hooked.
I reckon you should hold-off on buying more nappies just now, apart from a really cute tiny newborn nappy, like a newborn cuddlebuns , just for fun.
Quite a few size 2 or medium/large nappies should be viable from 4 or 5 months, like Bamboozles then try a few different ones.
You could get a nappy agent round to show you different nappies?
Plus you could get the next size up of prefolds as a back-up, cheap and you can fit quite few in a nappy bin between washes.

these are good