cloth nappies advice for new mum please

[Faifly]

Hi i'm stocking up for the arrival of my 1st. Decided on pre-folded cloth nappies, currently looking at onelife and mothers ease. The question is, how many a day would you say a baby would go through? Say between 8 and 12? Or more?
Also, has anyone tried keeping a baby in a cloth nappy without the waterproof covers, at least while they're awake? My idea is, the less plastic covers, the more breathable they'd be and the easier on the skin.
One other thing - some people mention in reviews that the one-size-fits-all nappies can be a bit too big on a newborn. So what would you suggest for a newborn, just stock up on disposables until they grow a bit bigger? Or use terry cloths? I just dont' think I could afford like 24 prefolded at £8-10 a piece if that's only to get me through the first 6-12 weeks.
Many thanks!

I only switched to clothe recently so can't answer all your questions, but can say that you probably do want some kind of outer on a nappy otherwise you'll get a wet (or worse) lap. Newborn poo is not going to be contained without some kind of outer. I don't know much about prefolds, but I suspect you actually need the wrap to hold the nappy onto the baby. You can always use wool over a terry square, that's very breathable.

Hopefully someone with more experience of cloth nappies on a newborn will be along soon.

I used motherease shaped nappies with poppers right from the word go. They were brilliant, wouldn't leave the wrap off though - they are breathable, let baby have nappy free time whilst lying on changing mat.

The wraps I used were also motherease with a velcro fastening at front. I bought 5 wraps and 20 nappies (lots of washing) but they dried very quickly on radiator (Januuary birthday! twas very cold!!) they kept nice too.

Used them till DD was 5 months (she was a small baby) then switched to using local nappy laundry service which provided cotton nappies where you had to fold them yourself (took a bit of getting used to!)

As afterglow said wool is very breathable if that is your concern. I would say that you have estimated the right amount of nappies for a newborn. As for cost, if you don't mind second hand / pre loved you can get cloth nappies starting at £3 each which will save you the hassle of folding.
Motherease Sandy's XS or S might be good on a newborn? You can buy them pre loved about $5 each.
HTH

Hiya,
I use TotsBots Bamboozles shaped nappies with my 6wk old during the day and disposables overnight. I use about 8 washable nappies in a day.
I didn't start using washables until baby was about 3 1/2 weeks old, she was too small for my shaped nappies until then and also I didn't want to use them until the cord stump had fallen off.
You would definitely need the waterproof cover because without it the moisture will just soak straight though onto whatever they are wearing, the only way around that would be to change nappy and outfit immediately when it becomes wet - otherwise it will soak through onto whatever the baby is sitting/lying on.
You could look at the fleece wraps that are available, they might what you are looking for, see:
www.babykind.co.uk/wraps.htm#fleece

I used motherease one size from the start. They are pretty bulky but do the job - the only draw back is that some of the cute outfits people bought didn't fit over the ginormous bottom....

I'd get some disposibles too, we were too shell-shocked with our first to do the washable thing for the first few weeks. Fine with the second although there was a LOT of washing with two of them in cloth!

I used muslins with our newborn. You fold them as for terries (I used something called the Jo fold which you can find details of by googling), used a liner and pinned with nappy nippa. Then just used a waterproof outer as you would with other nappies. They are cheap, wash and dry really well, and can be used for other things once the baby is into their bigger nappies. I would just do a bulk folding session once they were dry so they were all ready to go when it came to changing DS. They are fine for newborns where you're changing their nappies all the time anyway.

I used these alongside disposables - as with liath, i was too shellshocked to deal with washables all the time and found disposables easier partic at night when I was all fingers and thumbs! Moved fully to washables at about 10 weeks - would have done so sooner but needed a few weeks to work out which I liked best before buying the set I needed.

If you don't like the idea of plasticky type wraps, then there are fleece and wool ones.

Prefolds are notoriously unreliable, especially for newborn and breastfed babies.

Personally I would look at something like tots bots size 1 shaped terry nappies, nature babies diddy diapers, easy peasy bimbles or mothease sandys. The diddy diapers especially are not too bulky on a newborn and can fit up to around 18lbs which is anything from 6-9 months. size 1 nappies always have a good resale value as well as they tend to be less well loved than size 2s which have to do a longer time in service. You can get some very reasonably priced second hand nappies, or buy new and sell them on to fund your next size up.

I was using a mix of diddy diapers and tots bots and had 20 nappies and was washing every other day in the early weeks (when DS was pooping every nappy) and then every third or fourth day after that when he settled down to one poo a day.

for wraps, you can use wool wraps which are very breathable but need to be lanolised to keep them waterproof and generally seen as a bit of a hardcore real nappy users thing (I'm too scared to try them!). to be honest though, the PUL wraps that are around today are very good and are a far cry from old fashioned plastic pants. Most people who use cloth nappies don't have any problems with nappy rash from using PUL wraps. Motherease airflow or Poppolino popo wraps are quite baggy good for, well....airflow

Another thing to consider is that different nappies suit different babies, and if you happen to get the one that doesn't suit your DC's shape it can out you off cloth for life. When I started out I tried a few different types that I bought from a classified ad and from that worked out what suited DD and then bought more of those. Most people I know who use real nappies have a few different kinds in their stash, also for the reason that some clothes might warrant a super slim fitting nappy under them, or if you have a girl, lovely patterned wraps look great under summer skirts and dresses. Nappy sellers often do trial packs containing a few different sorts of nappies for you to try and will gove a discount off your full order.

Check out the for sale threads on here and ither parenting sites for some good bargains. Be warned though, it can be very addictive

sorry that was a bit long winded, but I hope it helps.....there is a lot of nappy chat on the real nappy chat thread on here, with some swaps and things going on as well.

Good Luck

thanks everyone, sorry i actually meant shaped, not pre-folded. You know, the pants type with poppers or velcro. Sorry to get you confused

I would recommend motherease wraps definitely - the air flow ones.

I would say the one size motherease are better on a bigger baby tbh but a great low cost option if money is an issue.

My ideal choice would be sandy's the whole way through apart from the first few weeks (unless you are loaded and can afford a stash of xs as well - they are absolutely gorgeous and they do them in bright colours now too)

I've also used various tots bots which are fine but I just find the motherease don't lose their thickness as quickly - in fact they don't seem to lose it at all.

To give you an idea of sizes, my 3 yo can still fit into a motherease one size stuffed with a booster and a prefold at night. My 9mo still fits a sandy's size 1 and I expect it will be another couple of minths before they are too small. (she no longer fits either a tots flexitot or bamboozle size 1)

i would consider getting a few different types and trialing them for a few weeks, if you invest in a whole system and they dont get on with your lifestyle or fit your baby very well (diff babies diff shapes)

i would recommend getting a pocket nappy, an all in one, a shaped nappy and wrap. but avoid prefolds they are rubbish
brands i would recommend?
bum genious are FANTASTIC, they are also fleeced lined to stay dry next to babies skin.
MEOS are a good basic nappy but do use the motherease wraps
tots bots AIO are great too.

i would also say get birth to potty nappies so they last alot longer, and save you some pennies

I did the same as Natty, and used alongside disposables. It meant that we didn't have to spend the first few weeks also getting to grips with washing nappies - just used them when I was feeling on top of things and used disposabl;es on a bad day. By the time we bought our bumGenius, both DH and I were sure that we would get our money's worth. We made the switch at about 10 weeks, although probably could have done it a few weeks sooner. Definitely worth doing it that way.

Have you contacted a local agent for a demo or to see if they have a hire kit?

Try here

hi i have used onelife since dd was 10wks now 14months and bf, as they seemed so huge on her when new born! you def need a waterproof cover, have not had prob with nappy rash only when i've used wet wipes so the wraps don't cause that. i've got 23 nappies and use 4-5 nappies a day now she's older but we use disposables at night just a perference. i've found the onlife easy to use and very good at containing lots of poo unlike disposables that leak everywhere

i used disposables for the first week, then onto first size shaped nappies (an assortment - tots bots, little lambs, diddy diapers and more, can't remember) BUT my little one grew so fast that i had to go onto the next size before
she was 12 weeks old. so a very expensive experience.

if i had known how big she was going to be i would have definitely gone for a cheap option for the first size ones or gone for one size ones.