First timer on reusables. Think i have choosen the nappies, please tell me the good bad, and the ugly.

[2beautifulgalsandasnowglobe]

I have 2 DD's who i used exclusive disposables on.
Really want to give re-usables a go on DC3 due in May with the occasional disposable on long journeys ie,flying.
So have researched, read and asked and think we wil be going for the Bumgenuis pocket BTP.
These seem to suit our needs best.
So what are you opinions on these? Tell me everything you know and do with reusables as i am a total virgin. The more i know the better prepared and happier i will be!
How many will i need? i'm thinking 15ish. Start using after the black poo right?

It may not be what you want to hear, but i wouldn't stick at just one type of nappy at the moment. It may be a case that it won't fit your baby's shape, and being a BTP you don't have the flexibility of sizes that you'd have with a velcro or nippa'd nappy.

Personally, when they were very tiny, i got on well with Little Lambs and Tots Bots, bith velcro and nippas, which meant that i could adjust them exactly how i needed them. Now that my little girls older, her shape has changed and i prefer my BTP nappies by day and fitteds at night under wool.

If i were you i'd think about seeing if there was a nappy loan service in your area - that's what i did, and they sent me some in a bucket which had lots of different types in, and i could try them out to see which ones suited my baby best.

I too used disposables for my first. We started using reusables for our second
when he was about 3 months. This worked well for us as poo was less constant so the washing wasn't crazy. We used nappy liners first of all which were fine, but once he was on solids we haven't bothered with them. I anticipated washing them would be a burden and there wasn't any pick up/washing service in our area. In fact it hasn't been at all. We leave a cheap bucket with a top on outside the back door and that fills up every couple of days when we wash them. You need to change the water and cleaning powder every day. They do need changing more often when wet than disposables so we have used moltex disposables which we bought from the spirit of nature site who deliver, and use them at night and when out for the day, but otherwise using motherease which we have been happy with.

BG's are fine, they're easy to use and reasonably reliable, cute too. BUT I haven't found them to be great birth to potty, they're absolutely massive on a newborn and even on my nearly 4mo dt's they're huge. You may also be a bit shocked by how bulky they are on a newborn, clothes won't fit v.well to start with, but bg's are quite slim fitting on an older baby.

I would agree with Deemented, don't stick to one type of nappy/wrap. I love pocket nappies, they're fab but really don't work as well for a newborn when they have those v.loose runny poos - a two parter system much better for catching them IMO. Would you consider buying some 2ndhand for the newborn nappies (e.g. sandies) and then investing in pockets later?

BTP nappies are a bit rubbish for newborns because they are just too big, although they will be fine once the baby is a little bigger. XS Motherease Sandy's are excellent for newborns.

Definitely agree that you shouldn't just buy all of one type. Definitely try a few out before deciding what works for you. Personally I found fitteds far better than pocket nappies.

Definitely agree that XS sandys are great for newborns. They need a seperate wrap.

XS Sandy's and Motherease Airflow wrap will be a bombproof combination, promise!

This is by way of advice and a sneaky advert . My DS has just grown out of our size 1 Tots Bots, so I can tell you about them and also offer to sell them to you!

They've had 2 little bottoms in them, and I think they've been fab. Not a leak in sight (we've hated having to use dispies on holiday because they're not so reliable), and as they have the fleece liner layer we've never used a paper liner. They are nippa style, which is my preference (we had one stocky baby and one long and lanky and got a perfect fit on both). We dry pail them, and then just wash in no-bio at 40 degrees - 30 minutes in the tumble dryer and then hang out to finish - a softness/cost compromise we find works well, although fully line dried is probably just as soft once they've done their first wee .

If you are interested, let me know here and I'll give you my e-mail address. I have 20, but I'd split them if that's too many. I also have two small Motherease wraps I'm finished with - one AirFlow, one Rikki - which I'll include if you buy all the nappies.

Whether you buy mine or not, I'd still recommend the nappy combination!

Sorry - should have said was at 60 degrees...

Thanks for all the advice ladies. Thing is we are emigrating 6 weeks after the expected arrival of DC3, this is why i thought BTP would be a better option now i'm having a rethink. Would love to trial some as suggested when babe arrives, however unsure if we are going to have the time. I suppose i could buy a few secondhand to have ready to use when babe arrives and make a decision from there.
Ok so my next questions for you. Which ones should i experiment with.

Little Lambs size 1 - they come in cotton, bamboo - which is really absorbant - and microfibre - which is really soft and dries very very quickly. You need a wrap with thses ones, and they come with either velcro or you can get them with nippas, which makes them easy to adjust to the size of baby. They are easy to boost for nighttimes too. I used LL's exclusively at the beginning with my daugter, and they are a great staple nappy - reccomend them to anyone.

Tots Bots are good too, but i mainly used LL's.

I love using cloth! I bought all my nappies before DS was born, and I love them. But I would also say don't go for one type initially. I've found that pocket nappies just don't work on DS. I think maybe they don't suit his shape very well, but we get wee leaks within an hour with pockets (although I've never used Bumgenius). Where are you emigrating to? It's still possible you could get nappies there. But good on you for thinking of cloth (they're worth it - they don't leak as badly as dispos, they don't smell as bad, and they look so much nicer!)

I wouldn't even try with reusables when the baby's tiny. They poo so constantly that you'd go mad (1 day, DC4 got through 27 nappies - yes, I do know that it's pathetic to have counted them). And when people know that you're using them, you may get negative comments. But when you get used to them, they're great, and I get a (somewhat perverse) pleasure when I see them strung up on the clothes line.

personally if you get negative comments from ppl in your life jeee i would be rid of those ppl. you dont need friends that make negative comments about your parenting.
balls to other people. when i first started putting my daughter (now 18 months) in cloth nappies a few of my friends made comments about me being "cheap" and how "uncomfortable" she must be in wet nappies..
i told them they didnt know what they were talking about, and to mind their own business or find another friend.
(i also told them that they were feeding their babies formula without even trying to bf, and that i hadnt said a single thing about their choice)

yes reusables can be tricky with newborns, i would say get one of a few diff types, till you find one you are happy with.
steer clear of mothercare smart nappies, they are dreadful. (but attractive for anyone who has little experiance of cloth and can be rather off putting)

i used motherease BTP nappies, will try them on my new baby due in july, and will switch to sandys if i need to. im not to bothered about bulk myself as i put my babies in babygrows only for the first 6 months.

goodluck, and dont be discouraged by others.

Natty - so true. My younger SIL kept going on and on about how 'disgusting' cloth nappies are (without ever giving a reason for why she thinks this) when I said I was going to use cloth before DS was born. I got quite annoyed, but I can't get her out of my life.

I also agree about smart nappies putting people off cloth. In fact, I think high street shops put people off, because the only nappies they tend to sell are prefolds or something else rubbish. You have to do your research online to get the good ones. It seems like the OP has really been looking into it properly though.

This is a useful thread for me - baby due April.

On my two girls I used Fuzzi Bunz - was my favourite of all I tried because they are so neat under clothes but also don't leak. Anyone used them on a newborn though? (I have heard they now do a 'preemie' size).

I love my BumGenuis but I got them when DS was over 1 and he's a big stocky boy so I imagine they would be big on a newborn.

Buying a few second hand would be a great idea.

I think I'm the only person who actually likes pre-folds. We use Cotton Bottoms on DS mostly, started when his cord fell off. We got the Tommee Tippee ones really cheap from Boots just before they got discontinued but I've also had some luck getting extra wraps on ebay and I've seen the actual nappies on there too. I like them as they are sized, so not massive on a newborn, quick to dry and as I said, cheap!

What about just using terry squares on a newborn?

thanks again ladies i am making more lists as you all tell me the different ones. Think i am going to take a trip to local reusable nappy shop on Saturday to get more information and view a few more know what i am letting myself in for???
Think i might try and get a few second hand of different types to try for newborn. We will be living with my nan before we emigrate so i'm sure she will be a wealth of knowledge on terry's with 6 kids and don't know how many grandchildren. Have spoken with her about using reusables and thinks it is great. DH's mom on the otherhand who we will be staying with when we emigrate to America wasn't too keen!

I get a bit scared when I read all this stuff about trying out various types etc! I didn't know about MN when we did our nappy researching and purchasing and we just went for good value and bought a birth to potty kit from Little Lamb. we had a slight leakage issue with the LL wraps but it turned out this was a faulty batch of wraps and the company replaced them for us. Otherwise they are FAB. We have microfibre ones as we needed quick drying nappies (which they certainly are) and some folk find microfibre can hang on to smells but I haven't really found that yet. You can just blitz them on a high heat with a bio detergent if that happens (normally use non-bio).

Word of warning- don't use liquid detergent and do not use too much detergent. I use half what the detergent box recommends. Otherwise you can get a build up of detergent which causes the nappies to STINK of ammonia and repel liquid (obv v v bad news!) I wish I'd known this as I was momentarily concerned there was something wrong with DS to make his urine so pungent!

Also as someone else has said, reusables give them very big bums. I like the big bum look and it gives you more to hold on to and pat! But it does mean clothes fit a bit oddly. Interestingly all the baby clothes my mum and MIL kept that we've used fit really well- older stuff must be cut for cloth bots!

Good point on the washing. I wash my nappies with about half the recommended dosage. I usually do a pre-wash or rinse without any detergent, and then do a 40 degree wash. Dont use fabric softener. With regards to drying, try and line dry as much as possible and dont dry on radiators and avoid crispy nappies.

While I think everyone is right with regards to trying out different nappies, I did the tailored questionnaire on the nappy lady website and got some good advice on which nappies would suit my particular situation. I ended up using totsbots bamboozles with motherease wraps and they were absolutely perfect for us.

I didn't get DS into his cloth nappies till about 10 weeks though - the extra washing was just one extra thing I could do without before then.

Also, you might want to consider using fleece liners if you opt for a nappy that isnt fleece lined - it'll keep the baby's bottom dry and help protect the nappy from stains (handy if you end up selling them on).

Oh the nappy lady website does have loads of info on different types, washing nappies etc etc and worth a look if you didn't come accross it in your research.

I'd second sandys on newborns, they were fab on the dt's, they've just outgrown XS at 3 months and moving onto small. And Motherease rikki or airflow with anything, just fab and easy to sell on too.