How many reusables for a newborn?

[Upwind]

I know it might depend to an extent on the baby and the efficiency of the parents' laundry system. But how many nappies should we expect to need?

Money is an issue for us, so I was thinking of maybe getting just 10 good shaped nappies and about 20 of the old style terry squares in case I run out.

10-15 shaped and 20 flat just in case sounds good. based on 3 hourly changes over 24 hours, it's 8 a day plus a couple for emergency poos. A backup of flats is a really really good plan.
Did you look at little kiwi quick flips? reliable and reasonably priced too so you can have more fitteds if you want them.

Fuzzi bunz are the best around and last as well as disposables so you only need about four a day but are very expensive. Have you looked into vouchers towards buying nappies/free nappy laundering service from your local council? When we lived in Manchester we got one month free nappy laundering service from our local council and some people I knew down in London got money towards their nappies from their council.

4 a day won't work when a newborn tends to poo every feed (so approx every 3 hours).

Your numbers sound about right.

You could get the new economy bumbles where you just boost them with anything you have around. Or look on the classifieds and get used ones

Thanks all!

Will have to start researching the different types on drying times etc as well as reliability

I agree used ones can be a very good buy

we started with 8 dinky newborn ones and 6 further size 1s for backup, but we still had a few close calls where I ended up putting on nappies hot out the dryer

Just doing a bit more research we will definitely have to stick to shaped nappies rather than all in ones in the early days - not just for cost reasons, also the need for quick turnaround and lack of tumble dryer!

So, it seems the consensus is that 10 - 15 with cheapo terry back ups should suffice. I will try for birth to potty I think, and maybe a couple of dinky ones for cuteness

Also worth bearing in mind that you can easily get away with washing a newborns nappy in with your normal wash meaning you don't have to wait until you have a full load of nappies before you wash.

We have got away with only using a few nappies on DS by just adding them to our normal wash load. I figure that most of the other clothes in the load are covered in some sort of baby fluid anyway so adding the nappies made no difference iyswim. newborn poo washes out very easily.

If you get on well with your terrys then I think your plans will be fine - especially if you go for a quick drying shaped nappy.

It might be worth you looking into prefolds too. They can be quite good for newborns and are cheap to buy. You don't even need to stick with the prefold pad - DS is currently wearing a bambino mio (prefold) wrap with a bamboo terry square which I have cut in two inside - works out very cheap, is absorbant and quite quick drying.

and don't forget a newborn doesn't necessarily need a wrap over the top of the nappy. You can use a waterproof backed mat underneath instead, such as the nappy elite multi mat, or the weenotions mats. This way you can loosely pin or nippa the terry square, nappy or prefold around to catch poo underneath and wee, and then place the baby on top of the waterproof backed mat. No wrap required
works fine for an immobile baby, and as they get bigger you can put the mat under the top end for a sicky baby, under the sheet in case of a nappy leak, and when they potty train put it in the bed under them.

Thanks again for the advice - it had never dawned on me that I could just put my newborn on a washable change mat!

Will check out prefolds as well

I had 20 shaped and a further 6 flat and I still had to quickly dry the terries on the radiator sometimes! DS was feeding hourly and pooing almost everytime though, and he was also a super weeer.

Oh and he was also unputdownable so the waterproof change mat thing wouldn't have worked for us

Feeding AND pooing hourly That must have been very tiring!

I've found a range of changemats in case anyone else is interested. I will definitely be investing in one in the hope that it can be used and we won't always need a wrap indoors.

weenotions
nappy elite
(both reasonably priced and in a great range of colours!)

also
nappy lady
and even mothercare

I used size 0 and size 1 kissaluvs. Had 18 size 1's and about 8 size 0's......And some emergency Pampers newborn...
Won't be having another baby if anyone wants to make me an offer....Have Motherease wraps too.
I must get organised and list them on here...
I have that Nappy Lady changing mat too. It does a good job.

I have about 15 little lamb terry towelling style nappies with velcro to do up, no liners. looking for about £20 for all of them and 3 have feint marks on them and they have all been well used, but plenty of life left in them.

Linday, one disadvantage of the terries is that I expect them to be very hard to sell on. They are only £1.85 each new from nappylady (without the velcro but I wouldn't mind using a nippa) and being unused should have more life in them. The terries I buy, I expect to give away or use as dusters.

they are not terry nappies as in the square ones they are these www.littlelamb.co.uk/itemdetl.php?itemprcd=Microfibre-Nappy

which are microfibre nappies and cost £8.00 each.

don't forget microfibre holde wetness between the fibres and when squeezed releases it like a sponge and it can stink too. it is also a manmade fibre. On the plus side it does wash and dry quickly.
£20 for 15 is a very good bargain.

I didn't use reusables, although I would have liked to, but my DDs both used to feed 1.5-2 hourly, and pooed with EVERY feed.

lou- however did you afford to buy disposables to cope with that amount of poo

Well a combination of buying in bulk at Makro, and not realising that not all babies do this, so therefore not realising that we were using a lot! It doesn't last forever.

we like Makro especially the sweet rack

thanks thought £20 was a bargain as wanted to get rid of them have sold on my local gumtree lady coming to cllect at 7pm today.

thanks thought £20 was a bargain as wanted to get rid of them have sold on my local gumtree lady coming to cllect at 7pm today.

Personally, I would narrow down choice, but wait until the baby is born for shaped nappy.

Reason is that DD had skinny legs, and only fit into Sandy's Extra Small.

we found nippa nappies generally fit skinny and chunky babies better than ones with integral fastenings as there is more scope for fitting properly.