Thinking of switching to reusables. A few questions.

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DD is 3 & still refuses potty training. We've got her a new potty & are trying again on the bank holiday weekend. But, she's big for her age, tall & well built (not fat, just solid). People assume she's about 5. She's in 6+ disposable nappies currently.

We're thinking of switching to cloth nappies for nights as it will be cheaper & hopefully help with potty training, does this actually help or is it a myth?

What's the best brand to use if you have to air-dry them?

Which brands are more absorbent or what's the best way to make them more absorbent without adding too much bulk?

As they will probably only get weed on, are soapnuts enough to get them clean, do I need to add anything extra?

Bump? I just weighed her, she's 39lb / nearly 18kg, which makes her too big for all the usual cloth brands I've looked at.

No idea whether they'll help with potty training sorry, but Little Lambs do a 'size 3' (their sizes not disposable sizes) that fits 35lbs+

I wash mine with a small amount of normal washing powder plus a pre-wash.

Not too big for these.

Not sure I'd make the investment myself, though they have terrific resale value.

Have a look at The Nappy Lady website - there is a questionnaire you can fill in for advice which can be really helpful with specific issues like this. www.thenappylady.co.uk
I used reusables for nearly 2 years then switched to disposables for a while as my tall boy grew out of the 'one size' ones we had. After some hit and miss over potty training at 2 1/2 years old I started using tots bots trainer pants- only when we were out of the house; at home it was normal pants & lots of washing when accidents happened, and they helped a lot- gave me peace of mind when we were out but made it clear to him when he'd done a wee. It took about a month of that for him to be reliably dry enough for me to countenance soft-play in pants only!
The trainer pants seem generously sized but not massively absorbant. You could add bamboo boosters but only slim ones as the crotch is quite narrow. This is where The Nappy Lady can probably help!
I washed in normal non-bio.

Cant afford those Motherease ones at £27 each. Looking at the NappyLady questionnaire now, thanks. The Little Lamb nappies might be viable.

Just to add to the replies above, as it seems you are already finding out, I'm not sure that switching to reusables at night is really going to save you any money at this stage, especially with a large toddler. Don't forget with the Little Lambs you will also need a waterproof wrap over the top, or some woolly soakers. Cloth nappies at night time can be hard to get right. In fact despite being a bit of a cloth nappy nerd with my kids, I never really got the hang of night times (too many leaks) and so we used disposables at night and cloth during the day.

Also, on a child this age, and for overnight, a cloth nappy is going to be much bigger than the disposable nappies she's used to, and you'll probably face some resistance with that.

One idea, might be as above, to use cloth training pants (during the day) for a while. That might help her to get the idea without too much of an investment or change.

However, the advice we had, which seemed to work, was just to go all or nothing. ie as soon as we knew they were 'able' to use the potty, the pants went on and the nappies came off (except at night - see below!). No pull-ups etc. Lots of rewards (stickers, or even smarties!) for using the potty. A portable potty is useful.

FWIW my two kids both potty trained in the day by about age 2. One of them also trained at night at the same time, but other was easily around 5-6 (definitely in school) before she was dry at night. This is not at all unusual. But I'm not sure that this was anything to do with the type of nappies used.

As for brands, I'm afraid all my knowledge is 4 years out of date, and things change very quickly with cloth nappies!

I would go for the Little Lambs overnight.

Have you considered preloved to cut the cost? There are lots of FaceBook selling pages.

During the day, you could try BumgeniusTraining Pants. I am using them with DD1. They hold their value for resale after you are finished.

www.thenappylady.co.uk/trainer-pants/flip-training-pants-by-bumgenius.html