Talk to me about reusable nappies for my 4month old...

[Ewe]

I won a starter pack of nappies from the cottontail nappy company (thanks MN!). It's not something I've really looked into before and have no idea how it works.

Where do you find out what to do? How many nappies would I need in total? Is there a good website about reusable nappies I could look at? I could always give them to SIL if I don't get my head around it.

Cottontail's own site has info specific to the nappies you've got, or The Nappy Lady and Kittykins have general advice about all sorts of nappies.

I've got some cottontail nappies; they are very cleverly put together and pretty absorbant. The wraps aren't the greatest though and I've had a few leaks with them. Pair them with a Totsbots flexiwrap or Motherease wrap and they should be great.

Washing every other day I would reckon on about 14-18 nappies and four wraps, depending on how prolific a wee-er your DC is.

Now my DD is older (she is one), we get through 5-6 a day so I do a wash every third day and have about 18 in my stash.

If you find you don't get on with them; there is a very lively second hand market in reuseable nappies. Lots of nappy sellers have classified sections, there are classified ads on here, or www.usednappies.co.uk is like ebay for 2nd hand nappies (as you can't sell them on ebay if they have been wrapped around a baby's bottom at any point!)

Good luck with them though; reuseables are great.

Thank you both. Good to know they have a resale value too!

Thought I'd only need about 7-10 - do they take a long time to dry?

they're lovely nappies. If I didn't use littlekiwi quick flips and nappy elite wraps then I'd have looked at the cottontails. Aha, theres a thought- if you don't get on with the cottontail wraps have a look at the nappy elite wraps. They'll work over anything virtually.For basic nappying you can manage on 15 nappies, 5 wraps. That gives enough for an every other day wash. We keep a back up of prefolds just in case we run out. If you want more advice you could ask flame (bumfluff nappies) she's a mine of information.
well done on winning the nappies though