Cloth nappies

[Sheena88]

Hey so I'm approaching 20 weeks and have been thinking of using cloth nappies? Anyone used them on here before? How practical are they? Can anyone recommend a brand etc...this is baby number 3 tho I have a big age gap 😀

I am planning on Trying cloth nappies also. Have a 3yr old who was in disposables but used reusable wipes with him. I've joined some FB groups.. nappy lady, babipur etc who have a lot of info and advice. I have plenty of friends who have used them successfully also

I have bought a mixture upon advice, then will see what works and plan to sell of ones that don't work for us as they sell for almost retail value

We use cloth at home and biodegradable disposables when we are out and about. We have the Little Lamb bamboo ones and have had no problems with them. Although I'll admit when I am feeling lazy we just use the disposable ones at home as you do have to be quite organised in terms of washing and then leaving enough time for them to dry.

I used washable nappies for my first (Minky, Totsbots and others) but my second son could wee through anything and after a year of trying we had to give up and use disposables. So it doesn't work for everyone, but it is worth a try and will save those middle of the night shopping trips when you realise you have run out of nappies!
There is loads of advice available and most independent nappy sellers are a mine of information (I bought from twinkleontheweb mostly).
For the third and fourth we used a mixture of types, depending on washing machine health and energy levels!

One option is to use a nappy library www.uknappynetwork.org/find-a-library.html as they can provide help, support and hire kits to help you decide what you want.

I'm using them with my 6 week old son. We are using Bambinex teddies with a Motherease Riki wrap. It's working really well and I'm finding it easy enough to keep up with the washing. I had no idea what I was doing or looking for. It looked so complicated and like everything was in a foreign language so I went on to the Nappy Lady website which had lots of videos and I filled in a questionnaire and she gave me a couple of options. There are also places you can get trial packs to try out different systems and some councils do vouchers for them. Happy to answer any questions if you've got them, just pm me.

We've been using little blooms and getting on well with them - no nappy rash! The ones with poppers are better than the Velcro ones. We tend to use disposables for overnight and out and about.

I use pocket nappies, as I have a boy I put two boosters in, one flat and then another folded in half at the front.

They're cheapo generic pocket nappies from China and do a way better job than the little lambs that I also have which ds wees through within 45 minutes no matter how many boosters there are! They're adjustable with poppers so should last until potty training and can be used for baby 2!

I found them excellent, mainly used bamboozles and motherease. Just needs a bit more organisation re washing and I didn;t have a tumble dryer, just line or radiator. My childminder would use them too. Hate the idea of all that landfill!

Loads of people have used them! :)

With DS1 I cloth nappied from about 8 weeks (moved house when he was 7 weeks and thought probs best to not do everything at once ), used terries in the v early days and then moved on to Birth to Potty pocket nappies (generally Charlie Banana and Little Lambs), as I saw them as the most cost effective choice.

DS2 is due in November and I'm doing sized fitted nappies this time, with prefolds/terries/muslins to start with. You get a better fit with sized nappies, whereas Birth to Potty can be gappy and a bit more bulky and temperamental.

There will be times when the baby is growing and the fit goes out the window, then the next week it will all be fine again etc.

You will need to keep tweaking how you boost your nappies - we started with whatever inserts the nappies came with, to microfibre plus bamboo, to microfibre on top of hemp, then to disposables because the cloth nappies couldn't cope. Now disposables can barely cope, he is a massive wetter!

Some good resources:

The Nappy Lady - if you live nearby you can go to her house for a fitting, I did :)

clothnappytree.com - basically one woman who runs this site and gives loads of advice, she'll always reply if you post a question. Good classifieds.

See if your area has a cloth nappy library/'nappuccino' - I ended up being given a lot of nappies to keep for free through mine.

Also wool wraps for night! They allow for evaporation so the nappy underneath doesn't get as crazy wet as it otherwise would. This time i might just use disposables at night though to be honest!

Also the go-real website - there might be a trial pack available in your area. Otherwise fill-your-pants and other nappy shops have trial packs you can buy.

I'm using cloth nappies for dd3 and I'm using a mixture of little lamb bamboo mio and little bloom. The only issue we had was she was small when she was born and the ones I'm currently using are from 7kgs she was 5lb 13. Close pop in nappies fit her perfectly though and we have only had a sore bottom once and that was when she caught a tummy bug from her older siblings.

Wow you ladies are a wealth of information 😀 Yep my mind is made up in defo going to try them sure what's the worst that can happen lol?! Better for baby and the environment and sure with a 9year old ds and 8yo dd my washing machine never stops anyway 🤣 Dp just rolls his eyes but I think it's a good idea. Off I go to do some reading up on the references you have given me. Thanks so much 🍼 Roll on the next 20 weeks 😀

Sheena my DH rolled his eyes right up until he saw the price of a pack of pampers! He's a complete convert now.

My DH has admitted that he was also sceptical, although he didn't voice his concerns (apparently you don't to a single-minded pregnant lady!) but having used disposables for a weekend away and when out and about at the beginning when we were still gaining in confidence, he is a complete convert.