Talk to me about reuseable nappies please!

[Madratlady]

I'm a first time mum, just starting to think about getting everything I'll need when baby arrives. I know I want to do reuseable stuff as much as possible - nappies, wipes, breast pads etc.

I've been looking at reviews and like the sound of the Little Lambs nappies. Also, they make sense whereas the Bumgenius ones which also got great reviews confuse me with all the different types.

So questions I have:

What's the difference between a pocket nappy and a normal one?

Is it worth getting the full birth to potty pack or would it work out cheaper to get the size 1 ones then the size 2s when baby gets a bit bigger?

Do nurseries or childminders do reuseable nappies if I send the baby with plenty (will be around 8 months old when I go back to work I think) or do they have to be disposable?

Any other advice? Anything else I need to consider?

I have 7 wraps and about 25 inners. I do about 2 loads a week. With a newborn I was washing every other day - getting through 10-12 nappies a day.

If you buy new, they need "breaking in". You'll need to wash them 5 or 6 times before they become absorbent. Don't use fabric softener (it stops them soaking up wee). If you line dry, the sun will bleach out any stains.

ooh, we had some disposables left over from when DD was born (gifts), and when I went on my own to visit my folks, I thought "I might as well take those, saves me having dirty nappies around in my bag for 3 days", so I tried one before we went, just to see if I would get on with them.
she had it on for about 2 hours, so maybe one or two wees? and it fucking stank
It was worse than going down into the sewerage. [boak]

so, we took the proper nappies. My mum was okay with us putting the dirties in a tub in her bath, and she even washed them for us the day before we went home

yy to nance - I usually wash them twice before first wear (because it seems like such a waste!), but just change them more frequently until the absorbency improves. (we call them "quick nappies" when they're new - just leave them on for one wee)

You can get away with just soaking overnight in bath/bucket etc then a wash, saves time and water and energy.

little lambs are a great nappy, so reliable - though a bit more chunky than some other brands. I would strongly recommend buying size 1's second hand - they'll only be used a few months and you can sell them on again for pretty much what you paid for them. I'm not such a fan of their wraps, though, they are a bit cumbersome but very reliable.

There are so many "nearly new" ones on ebay, etc. because people want to try washables but give up for whatever reason. I used a mixture of cotton (daytime) and bamboo (night time) - i didn't like the feel of microfibre and it doesn't have enough absorbency for my DD. I also use bumgenius pocket nappies but again the microfibre inserts are not absorbent enough and i had to replace them with cotton, bamboo and hemp inserts instead. The nursery my dd goes to had never had anyone with washable nappies go to it but they have had no problems with it. I just put a day's supply of nappies in her bag, with a zipped wet bag for the used ones and they send it all back at the end of the day.

smaths - i love the shape of their wraps, but I wish they came patterned. (I did facebook them askign to, and they said "we're thinking about it" then they produced more plain colours.

I have some old cotton bottom wraps in funky patterns, which I believe to be made by Bummis nowadays, and BUmmis are anything but plain!

Do pretty wraps from other brands fit with plain Little Lambs nappies?

yes, they do.

we've got wraps made by nature babies, thirsties, totsbots, motherease, dimplebum, and homemade.
all fit over

usually large or medium fit over the size 2 and small and medium fit over size 1

Ooh and blueberry wraps - gorgeous, lush prints and really good - I 'think' you can use bg flip covers over ll - a friend uses them over her terries? Some pretty patterns there!

Ooh I can see this getting a bit expensive, especially in summer when it might be hot enough for the baby to have just a nappy on the bottom half!

We use the little lambs. We had 20 of size 1 and 2. All bamboo. Had 5 wraps in each size.
We just sold all of size 1 a few months back and got 3/4 of our money back. So well worth the initial expense.
We also have the bamboo boosters

At newborn age we used 8-10 a day so washed daily. ( actually used disposable first 2 weeks). Then 5-6 a day so moved onto every other day washing.
For 6 months we had a newborn in size 1, and young toddler in size 2, and washed daily again.
Now every 3 days is fine with one 2 year old using.

We have an overdoor drying rack that hangs into our airing cupboard. If we wash in eve and hang there before bed, they are dry 12 hours later as warm in there. Otherwise take 24hrs.