What am I doing wrong?

[kittencuddles]

My DD is 5 weeks and a lovely chunky ten and a half pounds. We had always planned on using reusables and had bought a fuzzi bunz, a smartipants and a bambino mio. So far we've tried the first two.

Both hold in poo well which is great. HOWEVER, the FB leaks wee around the thighs, even though it seems to fit ok when I put it on. The smartipants just seems gapey. Is this right?

I'm desperate to use cloth, please help!!

What weight is she? Most Birth-to-Potty nappies are too big for newborns. It's usually 12lbs +. We started using cloth at 8 weeks. I loved Tots Bots Easyfits but they didn't fit DD well at all. The BumGenius nappies were a much better fit. I hired a trial kit from my local council for £10 so I could experiment with different types & brands before buying my own.

Have you pre-washed them?

Snug fit around the legs is very important to avoid leaks, but with all-in-one (aio) nappies can be difficult to obtain when they have newborn skinny legs. Have you adjusted the leg elastic on the FB to the tightest setting?

Bambino Mio (I take it you have the aio MioSolo?) comes up quite big and so does Smartipants. They're very useful for tall babies/toddlers (my 75th centile for height 26mo is in them), but can be difficult to get a good fit on young babies.

For my 5wo we use fitted nappies (so absorbent inner nappy + wrap) in size 1 (Little Lambs and Mother-Ease Sandy's). They're great for containment, but obviously not birth to potty (btp).

For out & about we use BumGenius Freetime. They've been a great fit on DS2 since he was born (born at 8lbs/3.6kg), including around the legs. They are sold as btp but are much too short for my toddler, so not a good investment if you or your partner are tall.

Personally I would really recommend a two-part system when you're at home as they're the most reliable. With your DD already being a good size you'll most likely be able to go for btp nappies (like the size 2 Tots Bots Bamboozle Stretchies or Mother-Ease One Size). Then for out & about use aios.

Generally I've found that certain nappies just don't work for certain babies (e.g. Easyfits never worked for DS1 due to leaks. BumGenius were too short) and other nappies leak at certain times because of how a baby grows (e.g. DS1 had very skinny legs so the MioSolos leaked/wicked around the legs for a couple of months, but then when he changed shape/grew they were fine.)

Hope that helps. Give us a shout if you have any questions.