Why do people spend a fortune on those expensive reusables instead of using terry squares?

[Twinklemegan]

I'm not being funny, I am genuinely interested. I use terries and find them absolutely fine and I really can't understand why people want to spend hundreds of pounds on shaped nappies that are harder to wash and dry.

Easier to use, I think . I got mine second hand very cheap plus a trial pack and that has given me plenty. Which wrap/cover do you use?

I haven't actually used any, but can imagine that they are easier and quicker to use (from what I have seen) - and you can get some very cute designs I imagine nurseries are more likely to prefer the shaped than terries too.

I know from talking to other mums that practise makes perfect with terries, but I just didn't get on with them, and dd didn't like my efforts much either - she showed her lack of appreciation by grizzling and wriggling on the changing mat, and then grizzling until I took the offending item off her! So we opted for prefolds with a couple of shaped ones for nights. Luckily the local council here offers a trial scheme so we got to try lots of different nappies without forking out on them.

Btw, where do you get clothes that fit over terries? A mum I know who uses them finds that a problem.

Oh yes - the cute designs are a bonus

twinkle - how do you fold your terries?

Oh, and I forgot to mention, I can wrap paper liners around prefolds which makes them more effective at catching poo (the design of sized swaddlebees is good for this too, but they are VERY expensive).

Twinklemegan, shaped nappies are more convenient ? no fiddling with folding. I appreciate the folding is not difficult, and wouldn?t say it is, but shaped are such much easier! They may be dearer than terries, but they are still cheaper than nasty plastic disposables, plus they are cloth, and have no chemicals etc. We use MEOS, which are birth-to-potty, so cheaper than sized nappies, can be used on next baby, have good re-sale value ? the reasons are much the same as yours, I guess! And I don?t believe they are harder to wash/dry ? they go in the machine and then on the line, same as terries!

Roskva, for cloth bottoms for your friend, there are a couple of real nappy clothing companies (For discount at Tinker Togs use the code DIS6002), but Tesco baby clothes have quite a good fit for the cloth bum, but steer clear of Mothercare, unless you have a very slim baby!

Oh, and I like to have designs on the wraps ? the nappies are covered up after all! I particularly like the Wacky Wrap, and the patterns on the Motherease Eco Wraps.

i used a mixture of terries, prefolds and shaped. have also used pocket nappies and AIO. i prefer the tots bots over any other as they are easy to use, and fit very nicely. i sell on ones that are outgrown to buy the next lot. i actually find its the wraps that cost more in the long run as they the nappies cover a larger weight range.

I know lots of people who use terries, nippas and a decent wrap very successfully - some of them have moved onto using them in stuffables when the wriggling becomes too much of a challenge. I love newborn terries - they are sooo cute! If you go onto Washabums website there is info on folds. They are so cheap and you can combine them with shaped ones to bring the price down.

Wallace - When DS was a newborn I used the triple absorbent fold, which my midwife showed me. I used the kite fold for a while and now use the parallel fold which gives a really neat nappy. I've been trying to upload a photo to link to but the damned Truprint site keeps crashing. I use Motherease Airflow wraps (started off with plastic pants but they were rubbish).

Roskva - I know what you're friend means about finding clothes to fit. I do find that trousers tend to be tight, but often find this even with disposables, and my DS is not fat - Asda ones in particular are hopeless! Haven't had a particular problem with Mothercare clothes SAHM. I do find he grows out of vests and sleepsuits a bit sooner than he might otherwise, but the legs on sleepsuits are generally a problem as well. I prefer him to be in all in ones, dungarees, etc rather than tops and trousers so I generally don't have too much difficulty with clothes.

SAHM - Do you mean Motherease One Size?? Otherwise, I've not heard of MEOS.

Oh dear, I meant YOUR friend of course!!

they are easier to use, and you don't have to change them so often because they absorb more, well the good ones do. But terry squares are good: I use both.

Are they easy to sell secondhand? I have just had a massive clear out and have a load of bambino mio prefold nappies. they are in good nick but I don't know what to do with them and have no friends using real nappies

not sure if bambino mios sell well, but ones like tots bots and motherease do. as long as they are stain free.

i recently hyad a nappy clear out and made about £100 back.

I didn't use terrys because of the folding.
For ds I used cotton bottoms (mainly because we began using their laundry service) with pre-folds.
For dd I invested in some tots bots with nappi nippas - they were fab. especially with fleece liners.

Yes Twinklemegan ? MEOS is my lazy way of avoiding typing Motherease One Size!

Drusilla - you can sell them on ebay, or find out if a local agent does a second-hand nappy exchange. Again, the nappy finder is great. We are setting up a nappy exchange here in Swindon, or rather, trying to!

If your nappies have stains then put them out on the line in the sunshine and the sunlight bleaches out any stains. If it?s raining I leave mine on the window sill! They come up lovely!

Thanks for that. I didn't get on with bambino mio covers at all so they are still in the packets Will give it a go on Ebay

What design are the covers - soft, lite or ultra? If they are the lite and medium I may be interested!

They are soft I'm afraid!

twinkle - i use both terries and totsbots

folding terries is not a big deal at all. I put them away folded. they do dry lovely and quickly, but take up more space on an airer. I agree the price of shaped nappies can be a bit mad! At the moment for us the big advantage of shaped nappies is that they're less bulky on our rather petite 15 week old.

(actually I've dinged the reusables this week as they're making dd's bottom all red and sore, but that's another thread...)

Fitted nappies needen't be very expensive: I have dozens of fitted/shaped nappies, but most were bought second hand and averaged around £4 apiece, so the cost wasn't too bad.
I started out with prefolds and they were fine, especially as they dry fast. Now I only use shaped nappies, although my ds is almost out of nappies now so there isn't much pressure to dry them fast, which helps.
For me they were the easiest nappies to get on my horribly wriggly boy. He is now much more acquiescent, but I only use nappies when we are out, and folded nappies seem too much faff in tiny cubicle.
Terries are super cute and I would think about buying a couple for my next newborn, but I hated them for my ds once he reached around 6 months. He was sooo wriggly that he would destroy my folded terry and I would get frustrated refolding and then catching him again whilst he rolled and crawled off. Found prefolds a bit easier, as they are stiffer and are easier to keep folded with one hand than terries, although not as cute and fluffy.

I bought mine second hand on ebay, motherease one size.

I tried terry squares but hated the pins, so worried about pricking ds! I ended up selling the terry squares back on ebay, and used some for burp cloths!

I got some swaddlebees on ebay . I also sold some kushies that I hated. I tried an MEOS in the trial pack I had, but I didn't like it much - dd was 12 weeks old, and I just couldn't get it to fit under a wrap in a way that would not leak. She is a long slim baby, and getting nappies to fit under wraps that didn't gape around her legs was a challenge, but it's getting easier now she's bigger. I like bumbles with airflow wraps for night. I've also got some
magic-alls AIOs (cheap on ebay) but find that they are not as absorbent. They seem to have a good resale value, though.

easy to use and cute looking