Reusable nappy advice!

[Sowalk]

Hi all,

I'm due my first little one in February and am determined to have reusable nappies. I have been doing lots of online research and am overwhelmed with the different brands! I've looked at totsbots, little lamb, Bambino Mio and more!

For those of you that went reusable which brand did you find the best? Online reviews seem to give me a mixed response so wondering what people who have used them recommend?

TIA! Xx

Its been years since mine were little. They increased in popularity between my first and second. I can't really remember brands but I did like pocket nappies but found they leaked. I liked the shaped toweling nappies that you covered with a waterproof nappy. Unless there was a poo explosion or a nappy had been left wet yo long those could last all day just changing the towel so were more cost effective I found.

Do The Nappy Lady questionnaire- they’ll recommend something suitable for your family set up.
www.thenappylady.co.uk/nappy-advice-questionnaire.html

What suits one person will not suit another! You'll get hundreds of replies here, all of which will say 'I recommend xx they were best for me (and half the recommendations will be their mate's company/they get a commission). You'll end up confused as they ALL look good.

We know nothing about you, your drying situation, your budget, or even expected size of baby, let alone smaller things like do you prefer organic or locally made! Do you see yourself folding traditional nappies? Or would you prefer the simplest to use?

My advice is to take yourself off to a well established multibrand retailer without affiliation such as Twinkleontheweb or Kingdom of Fluff and ask their advice. Or alternatively contact your local nappy library www.uknappynetwork.org/find-a-library.html . There will be people with a wealth of experience who can suggest the best types of nappies to consider that will actually suit you, your baby and your budget and drying circumstances, without lining their pockets by recommending the most profitable system for them.

Nappy library all the way! I've found a few people have been put off by the nappy lady recommending nappies which are very expensive or hard to get hold of so do watch that. There will be alternatives.

We use pockets, a combination of bambino mio with extra boosters and baba+boo. I've got a two year old and a six month old both in reusables, it's mainly the organisation to get them washed and dried that's key.

We went down the tots bots route. 6 months on and we are really happy with them so far. Use easy fits daytime, bamboozles nighttime. Also bought teenyfit but they only lasted about 3 weeks as baby was almost 9lb born.

Only have experience of tots bots (the all in ones) - really like them as very easy to put on. However I feel they are probably less suited to boys as the way the insert folds means not as much absorbent material at the front, so we sometimes get leaks.

The bamboozle 2-parters though are amazing for nights. Easily go 12 hours with out leaks

See if you can trial a few from a library or some websites will do a hire kit where you can keep the ones you like.

I mainly use pockets (Baba and boo) but also love Wizard Unos and Little Love Bum Quickdry as they fit like disposables. Otherwise make sure you’ve got a good fit, the Nappy Lady has a lot of information on her website.

We have been using muslinz cloths with rumparooz and bambino mio wraps since day 3 when we got home from the hospital.

She's now 3 months old and I have added a few terry squares and a shaped nappy recommended by the nappy lady as well as a few bigger wraps. We are still trialling these so don't want to give a recommendation.

A library would be a good shout. I like the muslin as a fairly cheap intro into cloth nappies. I'm definitely going to stick with a two part system as she gets bigger and I haven't been scared away from folding like I thought I might be!

It's a great choice! My little guy is 20 months now and we're still going strong with the same set of nappies I bought at the beginning. However, I got a bit addicted and bought a variety of brands, mostly second-hand, to try them out. Here's what worked for us:

• Mother-Ease are the BEST but a bit hard to get ahold of in the UK. They seem to last forever, so worth looking on EBay for gently used ones. Everything they do is good - we use a lot of the Air-flow wraps as I don't like Velcro very much (gets tangled in the wash) so sold all my Rikki (Velcro) wraps. We have some all-in-twos (Wizard Duo) which were £££ but incredibly reliable and still going strong.

• When he was a newborn, we used disposables some days and terry squares folded with a nappy nipper (Nappy nippa? - a sort of patent fastener so you don't need pins) under a Mother-Ease wrap some days. Don't feel like you can't use the odd disposable at first while you get used to the nappy routine. We switched to birth-to-potty nappies when he got big enough.

• Baba and Boo are great pocket nappies if you like those - the double gusset kept even the slimiest poo contained. We got a set of these new and still using them. Cute too! However, they are expensive second-hand (suspect because of cute patterns that are kind of collectable)

• For nights, an Easy Peasy Bumble (using a nappy nipper, not Velcro - as above, I don't like it) stuffed with a hemp booster and a cotton booster with a Mother-Ease Airflow wrap over top was BOMBPROOF and literally no leaks ever, even when EBF and peeing constantly. Tuck the elastic well up into the leg - not sitting on the thigh, and make sure nothing is peeking outside the wrap or moisture will wick out. The Bumbles are great terry nappies that also allow extra absorbancy to be stuffed in, and this combo has been incredible.

• Little Lambs work fine and are cheap (I've only tried the two-piece ones that you need a wrap with though - not the pockets). The size 1s were in use a lot when he was smaller and I've since lent them out to lots of other mums to try them.

I've never tried TotsBots (too much Velcro) or Bambino Mio (have heard really bad things about their reliability). Had a second-hand Charlie Banana that leaked and was really narrow, and a Rumparooz that didn't fit our chunky baby well - too narrow and didn't like the microfibre booster. Petit Lulu is good but not outstanding (absorbs well but containment is less great) - but really cute with the coloured binding so have kept it. Have a set of used Blueberry Simplexes that work well on on a older baby (not sure how they'd be at the wetting constantly stage) and are great for nursery.

If you want to know any other specific brands I might have tried them! Spent my mat leave experimenting.

It really depends so much on the shape and size of your baby, childcare, drying facilities, do you expect to have other children etc.

I have the following in my stash:
Bumgenius Elemental Joy pockets stuffed with Little Lambs Size 3 bamboo inserts. These are bombproof for us, really absorbent and slim fitting and never leak. But they are bloody hard to get hold of. I have a lot of these and they are also our nursery nappies as I find it best to send the same sort in.

Little Lambs onsize pockets- too big for us and therefore leak. I only have a few but they are not my favourite. They are cheap nappies but good value if they fit. I generally use only at home when I can change frequently.

Baba and Boo-such beautiful nappies but they are bulky and a terrible fit on my DD so leak. I also had to buy the additional slim insert as the ones they come with weren’t right (one insert not enough and two made the fit worse. I want to love them but they don’t suit us.

Motherease quality has nosedived and the ridiculous washing instructions to keep the warranty valid mean they are a massive PITA. Don’t buy in to the hype.

Smart Bottoms are worth a look as are Blueberry.

I hate velcro nappies, poppers are my recommendation as velcro is a bitch to wash and toddlers undo them!

For nights I use Totsbots Bamboozles with a Blueberry Capri wrap. Another bombproof combo for us (DD still feeds lots at night). The Bamboozles are velcro which is irritating but I put up with it as they are otherwise good. Tge wraps are poppers though.

I used a variety of newborn nappies too as my DD was teeny tiny. Close pop-in were the best. More bloody velcro but you need the adjustability on dinky nappies. I also liked Totsbots teenyfit stars, Bumgenius Littles and Lil’ Joey which were all good.
None of the BTP “onesize” fitted DD until she was 5 months old as she was so long and skinny (6lb 10 so not ever so small but she had tiny thighs).

It is best to try a variety and The Nappy Lasy people were so helpful-as is their Facebook and Youtube

Re: Mother-Ease - not so much hype as lived experience in this case... The only problem I've had in nearly two years is one Wizard Duo wrap where the PUL has separated a bit. And oddly enough it's still 100% waterproof and works fine. I think everything is probably out of warranty now anyway, and I didn't bother about any special washing instructions (don't think I was given any - I just use Fairy non-bio).

I do have one BumGenuis Elemental and the elastic is RUBBISH- totally slack. To be fair though, apart from that it seems like a solid nappy and I can still use it as my toddler has very chunky thighs. But judging by the number of tutorials out there on replacing the elastics, this is a common problem...

@RockyMountainSky the forums and groups I’m in have seriously fallen out of love with Motherease, I think because their customer service attitude has been dreadful. But there also seems to have been a deterioration in quality, probably related to their supply problems. The Nappy Lady comissioned a bespoke print for charity and lots were faulty and had to be returned. When people pay a premium and have a long wait for a product they expect better-and they resent being told now to not expect wraps to last more than one baby! I had a second hand airflow that had been through 2 babies before me. Now the bindings fall apart really easily.
I don’t like the Bumgenius Elemental, but the Elemental Joy is different. It’s just scarce!

But this just illustrates for the OP that there’s a huge choice in cloth and what suits one family won’t suit another, so it’s good to see what size and shape you get before spending on any one type of nappy.

I really wanted more Baba and Boo and I still lament that they just don’t fit