Leaking nappies, please help

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Hi, hoping someone can give me some ideas and advice on what I'm doing wrong. Ds is 8 weeks, and we had hoped to use washables, so bought bumgenius and fluffles with motherease wraps. I have tried both, after washing all of them at least three times at 40 degrees each using Fairy powder and no softener, but each time they are on for only a short time before his clothes are soaking wet as though nothing has been absorbed by the nappy at all. I have washed them all again with a big rinse using no powder in the machine, thinking maybe it was preventing the absorption, but tried both types again today and we're having the same problem. I don't think he's a really weird shape or that I'm putting them on wrong, so can you suggest what might work - I'm using pampers now and really wanted not to.

Are your wraps on tight enough ?
Motherease are usually soo good for stopping anything coming through.. so I cant really understand why you are having such difficulties.

How long are they on for. A short time in disposable terms is probably about the limit of a reuseable, especially if he is a big wee-er.

pocket nappies like bumgenius aren't right for all babies, but I use them with my 10 mo old DD and they usually last about 3 hours. I've never had a leak with them though, just a bit of dampness at her inner thigh)

I'm with katw3kits on the wraps....motherease (either rikki or airflow) are some of the most reliable wraps out there.

The nappies are usually on for about 20 mins before he gets wet - it's like he's not wearing one at all. I could maybe do the wraps up tighter, although they already feel pretty snug.

I found microfibre nappies disappointing in the respect that it seemed to get sopping wet very quickly.. I stopped using my bambinex teddy for that reason. Maybe they need more washing to get them up to speed?

this might seem like an obvious question, but are you putting the insert in with the bumgenius?

are you using boosters in with the nappies,

I use Bamineo, Motherease and TotsBots,
These have all been very good for me.
But always add an extra booster as my boy is quite a big wee-er.

Another thing to check is if his penis is pointing down, if his is pointing up it usually means he gets wet quicker, as if he manages to miss the booster etc.

I take it he doesn't wee through the disposables quickly then?

Weird. They shouldn't leak after 20 mins. Where abouts are you? is there a real nappy network through your council? Might be worth getting someone who is 'experienced' with nappies to have a look at how it is on - might be something simple. But of course, unless you explain it (which would mean you had noticed it) then I'm at a loss of why it should be leaking.

Is the cloth sopping wet? And silly question, but all the cloth is inside isn't it?? I.e. one tiny bit sticking out somewhere along an edge and it will wick out onto the clothes...

Lackadaisycal - insert goes in the bumgenius with the folded part at the back, as the leakage always seems to be up his back (although he is lying on his back so that may be unrelated). They've all been washed at least five times now, with and without washing powder.
Ten10 - I use the inserts with the bumgenius, and with the fluffles I just use a fleece liner. Haven't checked penis direction, but reckon whichever way it's pointing I must be doing something else wrong for it to leak that quickly! In disposables he lasts at night from about 7 in the evening to his 11-ish feed without leaking, but if I don't change him then he'll have leaked by the next feed (not sure how people get babies sleeping through the night when nappies don't last, but that's another thing entirely!).
PotPourri - no, we're in mid-Wales and the council don't provide any help at all. The cloth seems wet to touch but I'm not sure if it's just on the 'outside' of the fabric, iykwim, not actually soaking in. The bumgeniuses (bumgenii? ) don't really allow you to put them on with any fabric escaping so I'm sure it's not that.
The only other thing is that I also bought some washable breast pads, and they also haven't been very absorbent even after several washes, so am wondering if perhaps it's a water/washing powder/washing machine issue?

try the folded part to the front to add more padding at his penis. Other than that, I'm not sure.

like I said, although I found my microfibre nappy to be absorbant, it was always sopping wet.

Someone on my PN thread uses microfibre, so I'll point her in your direction.

or keep bumping for one of the lovely MN nappy ladies to see this.

he sounds like he can wee for his country if he only lasts four hours tops in a disposable though.

Maybe try some boosters in the fluffles? adn a second insert in the bumgenius, or try some hemp inserts? I take it these are V2 bumgenius; I think the V3 come with two inserts now.

Thank you! Will try the other end folding, but reckon it must be something else otherwise the fluffles would work ok. Hmmm...am getting despondent as really don't want to contribute to landfill but just can't keep trying these when they don't work.

He does drink an awful lot when feeding and is growing like a weed, so guess he is weeing loads- he's my first so not sure what's normal! He definitely wouldn't last through the night on one pampers nappy. They are the V2s, so will maybe try an additional insert - do you know what is a good absorbant hemp insert to buy separately?

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Ah - this may be the problem with the Fluffles then, as they are fleece lined, so I should use a paper liner to catch poo? Will try this and persevere!

With the Bumgenius, it may be that he wees too much for the nappy and it needs more boosting, although could the fleece liners be the problem with these as well? I'm not sure what the fabric that these are lined with is called (it's the horrible-feeling stuff that catches on your hands!) but being a non-natural fabric might work in the same way as fleece and prevent absorption?

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green kids hemp or bamboo inserts sold by nappy zone are good. Double layered so very thirsty. They might be too long on the newborn setting on your bumgenius though as they just fit in on the big setting. They would be too bulky to fold I think.

Try boosting with some micro fibre cloths....you can get them in tesco 99p for three or something like that. In the cleaning stuff aisle.

I've not had any problems using fleece liners on the bumgenius, but they don't really need a liner as the suedecloth washes up lovely, and any stains bleach out in daylight quickly.

with my ds2 i find that they are someyimes wet round the elastic which then absorbs onto his clothes...sems to be ok with bigger size liners so if you are using newborn size liners maybe try a bigger size?

i also has a problem with some modernbaby liners that seemed to lose their waterproofness so were wet all over with ds1...took them back and changed them...i find the onelife popper and motherease velcro wraps to be the best.

If you don't want to add to landfill but the washables really aren't working, you could look into compostable nappies while he is small and come back to your washables once he is on solids.
As washables became a lot easier for me once he was on solids

i meant modern baby wraps not liners...

Right - will use both types of nappy with no liner (bf so should be ok, mammatulip), and see how we get on. If the fluffles still leak, I'll try a bigger wrap as you are right thehairybabysmum, I'm still using the small size. Will report back! Thanks so much for your help this evening, am hoping all our problems will be solved when I try again in the morning.