Reusable nappies ! Someone advise me please I have no idea !’

[Ilovebees]

I am going to have a baby soon and I want to buy reusable nappies for my baby ! I have no idea , like literally no idea what I need , how many nappies how many liners ect , I’d be so greatful if someone who uses them can tell me which brand is good and how many I need and the amount of liners and nappies ! I know there is a lot of washing to do with these which is fine ! I’d love something more eco material brands :) All advice appreaciated sooo much !! Thank you in advance !

I have a fair few reusable nappies that never sold. You can have them if you want? I have liners too. Lots of liners. More than happy to get rid send them to you for free.

The thinner nappies I used too but then used them as swim nappies too.

Was lucky enough to get some at am NCT from a lady getting rid of hers. Also got a voucher from the council.
My favourite were motherease with the wraps. Used these after the newborn stage.

We use Bambino Mio and it's the only brand we've tried and been really happy with them. She's is 4 months old now, and we started using them when she was about 4 weeks old, having used disposables before then. For the first few weeks of her life almost all her nappies seemed to be dirty nappies (more like a shart than a proper poo!) but by 4 weeks she was pooing less.

The fit is a lot bulkier than a disposable nappy but as your baby gets bigger this gets less noticeable. Bambino Mio has poppers on the front of the nappy so you can adjust as your baby grows.

Overall we use them 95% of them time, and use disposables when we're out for longer than a few hours. We have the wet bags they supply but I can't really be bothered with carrying around dirty nappies when we're out and about.

I think I have 22 nappies in total, 22 reusable inserts also. She didn't need an insert straight away but by 6 weeks her pees we're big enough that she did. With the insert in I don't need to change her nappy overnight which is great (this could change as she gets bigger - although she is still feeding quite a bit at night time!). We have the nappy bin and 2 of the drawstring bin bags too.

We've had very few issues with leaking and no poonamis compared to a few poonamis in disposables!

It is a bit of extra time spent on laundry but I don't mind. Always wash on a 40 degree wash with no fabric conditioner. Also there is the initial investment of purchasing everything but it will probably save you hundreds in the long run, especially if used on more than one child.

Also recommend Cheeky Wipes reusable wipes if you are considering using those!

Cloth from newborn is easy. The baby may pee and poop a lot but it's in such teeny amounts that you can get away with a folded Terry square or a prefold with a nippa or pins.
When baby is a bit bigger little lambs and their covers are the way to go. Really easy to use and very reliable. Stick with the cotton Terry ones as they wash and dry really well .

One of mine was intolerant to bamboo.

Second hand is great for bulking out your collection but he wary of buying too much just because you can

And if it does want work out don't beat yourself up about it.

I can only give you my experience that started in 1995 with my first baby.

I bought three sizes, 18 in each size and six liners for the bigger size although in that size I did buy disposes liners which are around a quid for a hundred back then!

They were shaped like pants and fastened by Velcro and were soft and squidgy.

For the life of me I can't remember where I bought them from but they were called Mikey Diapers and may have been Australian. Sadly no longer made.

I paid £150.00 for them and they lasted through two babies and still looked in fantastic condition when I sold them at a NCT secondhand for £20 for the lot!

They were fantastic. Neither of my children had nappy rash except for my son once when left in the care of grandma who didn't change him for over half a day!

The routine was easy. Six clean and ready to wear, six in the wash and six drying either outside on a line or indoors on an airer.

Poo when solid was shaken down the toilet.

After removing I kept them in a large bucket and they were easily washed and dried.

I did use disposable nappies if we were going out on a day trip purely so I didn't have to carry soiled nappies around. At the time 1995 and 1998 disposable nappies were horrible and they may be better now but felt very plasticky back them. Bums would be red after use and thankfully they were only used very occasionally.

Quite frankly they were the best baby item I bought and even factoring washing machine costs and the outlay of £150, I think they were extremely cost effective for two babies.

Oh this is fab, it's honestly one of the best parenting choices I made, the washing machine is on constantly at that age so what's one more load!

Every baby is a different shape so I bought one of a few brands to try (or use a nappy library). Birth to potty ones fit from around 8 weeks so I like to have approx 10 newborn sized nappies to fill the gap.

For night time I always used a 2 part system like Little Lamb bamboo fitted nappies and a cover.

Washing is so easy, chuck the net bag of nappies in the wash and add a full dose of powder on your longest wash cycle with an extra rinse.

It's great as you never run out of nappies!

I like bambino mio all in ones. I got them cheap off vinted, no stains or anything. I have 14 of them but that's a toddler so not as many as when they are little and that's with disposable 25% of the time.

For liners you can order little lamb disposable liners.

There is a YouTube lady who did great cloth nappy videos, I'll try to find a link.

Good luck and remember you are doing an incredible thing. Ignore the inevitable negativity you will get from others - which sadly I even noticed on this thread. It can work and even if you use disposable here and there that's still much less than disposable full time.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP7SPoJ1ortvhmP1NydevAiSqOMfBuv0K&si=DMFu1p0DSB1zFnmt

OP you can put your newborn in reusable- just need right size. In some ways easiest stage because the poo is so soluble at that age.
if you have a nappy library near you try renting from them to see what you like

it’s a very personal choice based on things like how you wash, how you dry, what your preferences are wrt clothes (some nappies are quite bulky and others are slimmer)

for me, motherease duo and motherease Sandy’s were the winning ticket.

theres a fairly healthy resale scene on Facebook for almost every conceivable cloth nappy.

have a look at the clean cloth nappy website for laundry tips - super comprehensive and they have advice for every type of stain beyond just nappies.

we managed about 20 months in cloth and then it really got too much once we were both back at work full time. Our boy uses disposable at night now. I do feel bad about the landfill waste still in all honesty, and am thinking if we go back to cloth at night he might finally cotton on 🤔

I used prefolds and separate wraps from about 6 weeks (once too big for newborn sized nappies, small babies)

We used little lamps 2 part, a shaped bamboo, cotton or microfibre nappy plus booster then a wrap. The wraps were amazing. I used to pop them on top of disposables when we were on holiday and never had a leak.

They always used to do 10 and 20 nappy mulripacks and bundles that were cheaper than buying secondhand

My biggest challenge was getting my washin machine to add enough water to wash them properly as they absorbed so much. I used to have to do a rinse as a prewash and then the machine would register it as a heavier load and add more water.

We just used terry squares and then bought some wraps. Squares are easy to wash and dry and can be folded various ways to fit babies if different sizes.

All the info you need is on the Nappy Lady website. Do the questionnaire and you'll have your answers. This is what I did.
My DS is 18mo and we have used Bumbles with Motherease airflow wraps since he was 6 weeks, before this I used disposables. Second baby due soon and I've hired a newborn kit from the Nappy Lady consisting of Bimbles, the Bumbles newborn sized sibling.
I love them so much! Well done you for considering reusables. The number of wipes and nappies I see friends merrily chucking into landfill makes me feel ill, people have no care at all for our planet. I have to say though that at first I was a die hard cloth user including taking them on weekends away and holidays but as time's gone on I've relaxed a bit and decided it's ok to use disposables away, it is just one less thing to pack and organise on holiday.
Getting clothes go over cloth nappies is easily doable, Frugi and Little Green Radicals are a couple of brands cut specifically for cloth, or size up regular brands. Sainsbury's and H&M are more generous around the bottom than Next and M&S.

I second motherease wizard uno. Great. Just like a normal nappy size. Easy to dry pail wash. Loads going cheap as you
now can’t sell them on ebay/vinted. Check out Facebook pages and get some second hand.