Daft questions from a complete novice

[Lizlette]

Hi, sorry for the daft questions. I'm 15 weeks pregnant with my first baby and am looking into using cloth nappies (at least some of the time until I figure out what I'm doing).

I'm an only child so have no experience of babies and have suddenly realised that I don't know some of the most basic things that I probably ought to.

1. How do I know if a nappy needs changing/How often do I change a nappy?

Do I just change it every 2/3 hours regardless, or after every feed, or is there a way of knowing whether it's wet/dirty?

1. Where do I set up the nappies/change mat? (baby will be sleeping with me and DH to start with) so do I have the changing stuff in our room for nighttime changes, or downstairs for day time changes, or in what will be the baby's room? There's no room in our bathroom as we have the tiniest bathroom in the world (my friend has an en-suite that is bigger than our bathroom!)

1. Am thinking of terries for days when I'm just around the house and have the time/flat surface to do the folding, but looking at something a bit more 'nappy shaped' for when DH is doing changes/when we're out. Is it possible to do mix and match? will we need different types of wrap?

1. We don't have a tumble dryer. Am I completely daft to be even considering washable nappies?

Any other advice would also be greatly appreciated, and sorry for the daft questions.

Thanks in advance

Hello!

We are happy cloth-nappy users but I would recommend you consider using disposables just for the first 6-8 weeks or so as you don't need the laundry hassle in the first few weeks when you are getting used to everything else.

There are several places which will do you a rental trial where they will lend you 16-20 different designs of nappy to work out what works for you.

Cloth nappies can be one-part (where you have an integrated absorbent-bit and waterbroof covering) or two part. If you are planning to have more than one baby two parters are better, as the waterproofing will perish and on a one-parter this means you have to throw the whole thing away, whereas on a two-parter you can just get some more wraps.

I've always used shaped two-parters. I've never been tempted by folded terry squares, though they are cheaper and will probably dry quicker. There are plenty of good quick-drying shaped washables - e.g. nature babies lovable but there are many more. (the trial rental mentioned above will help you find one whcih works for you) It is certainly possible to mix and match and you don't need different types of wrap, you can use the same wrap with both shaped and squares.

We've always had a change mat on an ordinary chest-of-drawers - I prefer not having to crouch onto the floor but some people prefer to. It's not really worth having changing stations both upstairs and downstairs unless you have significant mobility difficulties. The hassle of climbing upstairs to change a nappy is much less than the inconvenience of two lots of nappy-changing clutter in the house.

You won't have much difficulty knowing when to change DC. It is slightly more difficult in the first 6 months if they are exclusively breastfed their poo doesn't smell - but you'll usually notice the sound effects or the look of effort on DC's face. My rule was to always change a nappy if DS was about to have a nap (unless it was on quite recently and checked and found to be clean and not too full), and if it hadn't been changed for 3/4 hours, and if poo is detected. Don't worry about it too much though, you will get used to it.

Thanks for the advice, that's really helpful and much appreciated. I'll look into the nappy trials as that seems like a good way of figuring out what I'm doing!

bf poo smells rather like icecream - if you start to smell that, you know it's time.

we change every 2-3 hours otherwise (and oh my god can you tell if it's a poo! there's a good loud fart that sounds wet as well as the straining look on the face!)

i like these with nappy nippas and DH prefers these

Agree with using disposables for the first few weeks, that's what we did for DS.
We're using all-in-ones (aio) from tots bots (called easy fits) and finding them easy to use. We've had the odd leak but generally no more than we did with disposables!
Often cloth nappy sellers will have trial packs - we use 'the nappy lady' who will give advice on which nappies are best depending on your needs (drying space etc). I'm sure other websites will do similar.
Good luck!