Terry Cloth Nappies for Newborns

[Schmexy]

FTM and a bit lost on the nappy front! We're decided to get some one size pocket nappies but I'm worried they'll be too big when LO first arrives so was thinking about Terry cloth or muslins for first few weeks. Has anyone done this? Did you also use a nappy wrap on top or was it ok without? Did you use liners? Thanks!

You’ll need a wrap for sure and id choose to use a liner - apparently breast milk breaks down easier or something in the washing machine so you can just throw the nappies in, but I’d choose to use a liner to avoid putting poo in the machine as much as possible. Another option is to spray poo off the nappies.

Look up jo fold/muslin flat on YouTube. A friend swears by jt, she used muslin + wrap then muslin + liner + wrap for ages.

I'd get some disposables for hospital and first few weeks tho.

That's great thank you, what wraps have you used for newborn babies? Trying to avoid buying a full set for possibly just a couple of weeks but also need to convince my partner it's not too much extra work!

We're in Scotland so get a voucher with the baby box for Tots Bots but planning on using disposables/biodegradable for the first few weeks plus testing those ones and maybe using a nappy library to find what works best before we buy our own, as I want to go reusable but don't want to fork out a couple hundred quid on a full set if it's not right for our baby.

When I was folding towelling nappies for a new born, I used to fold the nappy into a triangle and then fold the long side over once (to make a smaller triangle) before using. I used liners too, which I would machine wash (in a laundry bag) with the towelling nappies before reusing.

Congratulations on your little one!

Use Muslins not terries to start. Terries are usually way too fat for newborns. You can double the muslins for big babies. Babies constantly poo for first few weeks, anyway, so muslin tends to be thick enough until next change, at least in day time hours.

My last one was out of nappies 8 yrs ago so I don't know what latest wraps are. But there must be great communities online to help. Look at ! A midwife showed me it; I could do it in my sleep even now. Is perfect for tiny ones. We had nappy pins, btw, I never got on with the plastic clip things. We used old (clothes cut up into) rags for liners.

Gosh aren't these gorgeous!
I'd buy 2nd hand wraps for newborns, 2nd-hand muslins too if you can find them: www.usednappies.co.uk

I've seen lots of people recommend Motherease wraps for use with Terrys, but not used them myself. With both of mine I used disposables until meconium had passed and then small Gnappies.

I have 6 shells and 29 inserts. My first daughter was very small and the Gnappies fit her until she was about 5 months old. My second daughter is average size (50th centile) and at now nearly 10 weeks old she's on the brink of moving out of the Gnappies into our BTP ones.

I've never used liners - breastfed poo is water soluble and goes straight in the pail then machine (I do a machine rinse before the main cycle). Weaning and toddler poo gets flicked into the toilet. Liners aren't flushable (even if they say they are) and whilst don't take as long as disposables to degrade they're not great for landfill either.

We had newborn prefolds this time round which were great. Much more absorbant than muslins and less bulky then terry square. I got bummis brand prefolds and covers.

Word of caution however my 3rd was tiny so we got 6-8 out of the prefolds but my eldest was huge and would not have fittted into newborn prefolds. So you could hold off buying until you baby arrives

Agree with the above advice that terrys will be too bulky. We used newborn size close parent pop ins, and profolds for the first couple of weeks. All bought second hand from eBay/gumtree for about £30 for enough. If you're not averse to second hand there's loads of bargains to be found online. All of ours are second hand and most are new and washed but never worn (can't be returned to the shop if prewashed, hence the sale). The motherease sandys were the best bargains - 20 small and 20 large with 5 of each size wrap plus liners and boosters - £50 the lot! That's all you need birth to potty!! But we also bought a variety of others so we can see what suits us. We've found we have different preferences for different occasions etc but sandys are our favourite.

We used disposals in the smallest sizes just for the first few weeks and switched over to the one-size when things had settled down a bit and the sizing issue was less extreme. The first few weeks are overwhelming enough, its OK to be kind to yourself and give yourself permission to fall short of the perfect standard of eco-friendliness that you'd like to aim for.

We used motherease..... can’t think, maybe the motherease rikki? Motherease airflow are ridiculously voluminous.

Also once you’ve washed the nappies, fold them ready to use and stack them, so you don’t have to fold them at every change!

We used terries from birth for all 5 of ours. They were the standard 24inch/60cm ones (they shrink by 3 or 4 cm after a hot wash or two) although later we bought some 70cm and 75 cm ones for night for children who were not dry at night. My tips would be
buy the best quality nappies you can afford - the difference in thickness and so absorbency and softness and so, I assume, comfort, is surprising. (Our best ones were some second hand Harringtons ones my mother had used for us);
look at the Nappy Lady's videos for folds for different ages;
as Bendydick says, fold ready for use;
buy next size up shorts, knickers, trousers, pyjamas etc, as terries are undoubtedly bulkier;
on a tiny baby, use muslins at first;
use nappy liners to reduce coping with poo - after all you are already being environmentally friendly;
keep soiled and wet nappies seperate if you have more than one child in nappies at a time - wet ones can be washed with other things but I wouldn't do that with dirty ones myself;
wet nappies wash perfectly well at 40 or even 30;
sunshine works wonders but don't leave them out on the line too long or you may get cardboard; if you do leave them out too long put them out again in the rain which softens wonderfully;
do not use Comfort or other softeners as it reduces absorbency.

I meant to add before I pressed the send button prematurely that we have always used old fashioned waterproof pants - at first plastic and later PUL ones and hardly ever had a leak. If we did it was because I or DH had left nappy sticking out. Our eldest told us when he was still in night nappies and we put him in disposables over a holiday away that his proper, i.e. terry, nappies were far more comfortable because they didn't have yucky plastic which stuck to his skin.

Newborn milk poo is basically yoghurt so there's no need to dispose of it separately until you start weaning baby. Just do a rinse before the main wash, and wash at 60 (or 40 with a sanitiser in addition to detergent). Cotton wash, about 2 hours,
is good. I suggest you don't use an eco setting as they tend to use less water and you do need lots of water to effectively launder Nappies. Avoid fabric conditioner, and if buying new Nappies, check if the manufacturer recomends non bio as in that case using bio invalidates warranty.