Cloth nappies for toddlers

[Again]

We've only ever used disposables up to now, but I've been feeling bad about this recently. Does anyone have any advice about moving to cloth nappies at this late stage?? My ds is 21 months now.

I just got a loan of some nappies from a vendor. I was wondering though if I should wait to buy until him move into pull ups?

It's never too late!
just design a good system for yourself and go for it. It will probably seem like a hassle at first, but like everything else once you have established a routine things will be easier. An you can always 'mix and match' (use disposables when proper nappies are inconvenient; we always had a biodegradable dispy at the bottom of the changing bag just in case...), it doesn't have to just one thing or the other.
In terms of the nappies themselves, as I've said elsewhere in this topic, we always preferred simple square terries, each to his/her own, but if you do use terries you may need a larger fold and booster pads for all that toddler wee!

Again it is definitely worth it - if you buy second hand they sell on for pretty much the same. Often all you will lose is the postage costs so it wouldn't be too extravagant, even if it is just for a few months.

Paleodad, on the subject of cloth nappies for toddlers, can you recommend a good terry fold for a very heavy wetting DS aged 2.8?

Sorry for delayed reply. In answer to your question tuty, unfortunately i've no experience of toddlers at that age wearing cloth nappies. My DD (2.4) is largely out of nappies now, though before that we were using the 'neat nappy' fold (better for older kids), as shown here, with either a mothease fleece liner or folded muslin as a booster.

HTH

Paleodad - can you tell me what sort of wrap you were using with that folded terry please?
DS is 2.75yrs, still just in nappies, has grown out of shaped but I do have a stash of terry squares. (When he was little didn't have the mental capacity for origami!)

Well, TBH we always preferred old fasioned plastic pants to wraps. we had a few wraps at first (motherease and some velcro-NCT-sale specials) but i never really liked them and we rarely used them. We were lucky as several of our local Boyes stores (when we lived in the NE of england) had piles of them for 20p each, and later six for 1.99 or something.
They lasted about six months or so before wearing out, and fitted DD until 2.3ish, though they were pinching abit in the end (but maybe you can get bigger ones, never actually looked).
I'm not sure why everyone prefers wraps, as i always found the plastic pants alot easier, though maybe someone else knows of a good reason for not using them....

i know what you mean about origami nappies. I always favoured the 'chinese nappy' when DD was younger (though we called it the sumo...)and i could never remember how to fold the 'neat' nappy. sometimes we'd prefold a few before we went out to save time faffing in some dirty changing room.
Again the advantages of plastic pants; when the fold went wrong i'd just clip what i could with the nippa and push it all into the pants

hiya

what about other reusables for toddlers? I used a mixture of reusables for my DS2 (17mths) until he was 12mths and then when he started walking his fat bottom seemed to be getting in his way... now I really want to get back into reusables. I still have motherease AIO and some pockets which will prob fit him- which are best for a very energetic toddler?

thanks

sorry, i have no experience of other sorts of reuseables; we only used terry squares. Someone else might have more of an idea on other sorts of washables for toddlers though.
We had a couple of motherease but they were always at the bottom of the pile for emergencies when i had been lazy in emptying the nappy bucket...
Don't see any reason not to use washables again though.
Personally, I thought they came into their own when DD was learning to walk; more ass padding for all those falls .

well i tried him out with a pocket nappy (luvely zebra velvety one) but he was having none of it! Happy for me to put it on him but was trying to take it off 1 minute later and then getting very upset. Bit worried he's had too long in disposables . Will try again tommorrow with a motherase and wrap... My main concern is that it is bad enough getting him to lie still for me to put a disposable on- let alone a two part nappy...

Good luck!

honeyapple - I don't have a child as old as yours - mine is 15 months but a heavy wetter so wees like a 2 year old! We use pocket nappies, but have to buy inserts seperatly as the ones that come with them are not absorbant enough for us to last as long as a disposable. We use a mixture of bumgenious, blueberry onsize and greenkids. A few others too but these are the main ones.

Let me know if you want any more info on pockets - or pop over to the cloth nappy chat thread - we are very friendly .

My toddlers have/still wear Motherease onesize with wrap or tots bots cotton size 3 (no longer made).

My nearly 4yo has regressed with potty training so we are now trying out pull up pocket pants from here, she also makes regular pocket nappies which come highly recommended by another MNer(BigBadMouse?). You can stuff them with whatever you have available