Our first day in reusables is going slightly awry - are we doing something wrong or do you have to change them every few minutes?

[Anglepoise]

DD (PFB ) is 18 days today. So far we've been using disposables, mainly because all my reusables are quite big, but are keen to start using all the cloth nappies I spent my pregnancy amassing. Today we've tried her in a microfibre Lollipop and a Bumble (which are both still pretty big on her!). The Lollipop was probably on for about three hours and the Bumble for only maybe about an hour, but both were absolutely soaked through when we took them off. Both had liners and boosters in them. Are we doing something wrong or do you have to change them very frequently, or does DD just produce an unusual amount of pee? Slightly concerned as these are still big nappies and she's a relatively small baby - how are they going to hold up when she's bigger?

TIA

Congratulations on your DD!
I don't know much about shaped nappies, so no specific advice, but ds1 was what I believe is known as a heavy wetter...so I know the feeling...could piddle his way through all known disposables, too.
I'm not sure they do wee huge amounts more as they get bigger (non-liquid diet) and the ratio of nappy size to infant gets more reasonable...ds2 is wearing the same day nappies at 18 months as he had at 3 months and they are not as wet now and look much less enormous.
I have some bamboo boosters (babeco I think) which are good - slim but very absorbent - if you need extra absorption without too much bulk.

Presumably you are using a wrap ? a plastic like cover that goes over the nappy ?

Assuming you are ... It sounds OK. 2-3 hours is about right for a change.

Dont worry it gets easier as they get older, however my mother would probably disagree with me on that one, since she regularly still gets it wrong and only the other day put a nappy on DS2 (22m) put his vest over the top and then the wrap. Duhh !!!!

I was worried about this when I first tried DS in cloth nappies. We went through about 10 nappies in half a day! Thanks to the advice I got on MN I used fleece liners and DS gets on great with cloth nappies. His nappy is very wet, but the fleece keeps his bum dry and his motherease wrap keeps his clothes dry (except when DH puts it on ). I generally change him every 3-4 hours, and whenever a dirty nappy is suspected. Good luck!

It's a bit of a shock going from dispos to cloth, the wet is taken up by the chemical gels which keeps the dispos bone dry but because there isn't any in the cloth the nappy feels very wet. You can use a fleece liner against your LO's skin to keep the skin dry.

Thanks!

Soaking as in the entire nappy was damp. We have ME wraps, so her clothes weren't wet, and those disposable papery liners. Should I be using a fleece liner instead of the papery thing?

Sounds as though it's otherwise normal, just very different from using disposables. We will persevere now that I can reassure DH that we are not slowly killing her (he is ridiculously soppy over this little girl ).

Pffft, I've just related your wisdom to DH and he says that that's what he thought, despite looking panicky and anxious over finding her so wet yesterday

Did you pre-wash the nappies? It can take a few washes to get them to maximum absorbancy?

Don't panic too much, if her bottom isn't soaking and you aren't getting leaks all is well .

I don't like the disposable liners on a newborn because any 'solids' wash off so easily in the machine at that age and paper liners hold the wetness against the skin like a disposable does. If I was you I'd stick with fleece (your bumble is fleece lined anyway so no need for an extra liner unless you want to use a paper one).

The lollipop softee is a bulky monster anyway - but very cute - and so is the btp bumble at that age. Like everyone else has said things will setlle down as your DD gets older - they do seem to be more wet at that age than leter on, and the nappies don't look so huge either.

Well done for getting to grips with cloth so early on with your PFB. I was still at the 'hiding in the corner gently rocking and jumping at the slightest noise stage' when my PFB was that age

The Lollipops are secondhand anyway, so have been washed a few hundred times already. The Bumbles are new but washed them a couple of times.

So far her poop doesn't scare me too much, so will abandon the papery things for now.

We have some Tots Bots arriving next week which I hope will be size 1s so a bit better fitting on her (they're coming from our council , hence being a bit unsure of the size).

Thank you for the help and the support - much appreciated

Congratulations on the birth of your DD!

Fleece liners are great - nappies are soaking but DS is dry. You can make your own or twinkleontheweb.co.uk has some shaped ones fairly cheaply which we use. As BBM says, well done on using them so soon. We didn't go full time cloth until he was 10 weeks old as the laundry was too much to deal with before then!