Cloth nappy recommendations

[Lookingforwardtoourrainbow]

So DH and I are keen on using cloth nappies for our next little one. Has anyone any brand recommendations please? Tia

I used little blooms. We bought the off Amazon, purely because they were cheapest. We don't have a drier so the thought of paying up to £20 per nappy filled me with horror. I found them great. I used to 'unstuff' them as soon as they came off DS, then I'd sit in front of the TV at night and restuff them all at once. The only thing against them for us was they were a bit bulky, especially as we had to put double inserts in as DS grew. We used them until about 20 months and then we went in holiday for two weeks so used disposables. When we came back dS refused to wear them and kept pulling them off so we've stuck with disposables. DC2 due in Jan so we'll be getting them out again soon!

I must have tried pretty much every brand out there but have recently discovered motherease uno which are pricey but amazing! My little one out pees tots bots and bumgenius even with added boosters which is what we mainly used before but ive left a uno on for 8 hours by mistake recently and it was fine. They are an aio, dries super fast, super absorbant, lifetime guarantee on elastic and snaps. Baba and boo are also good but are pockets, bulkier and take longer to dry but considerably cheaper.
The nappy lady questionnaire is a good place to start though.

I would avoid pre-soaking or ‘wet pailing’. It can deteriorate the PUL and tbh is a massive dirty faff (people also worry about the drowning risk but this seems a bit mad to me). We keep our dirty nappies in a regular laundry basket with holes for airation and amesh bag so it’s easy to throw in the washing machine. We wash every other day and do a rinse followed by a long wash at 60. We’ll probably switch to 40 once he’s a bit older. We have the occasional stain but they sun out easily enough or often just disappear in the next wash.

I've bought lots of bambino mio solos, they're all in ones and suitable from birth to potty. I got them second hand on eBay. Also got a few other all in one brands too which I can't remember off the top of my head. They're all in excellent condition. Our baby is due in February so haven't had a chance to use them yet but have watched videos on how to use them etc had they look fab. We'll also be buying a heated airer as well to get them all dried quickly, you're not supposed to tumble dry as it reduces the life span of the elastic and towelling. And I think we'll do washable wipes, my mum has made us lots and we'll get a spray bottle to pop in the change bag along with the wet bags!

Unless you have a 10lbs baby @witchy89 you’ll probably find you need to use disposables or get something smaller for at least a few weeks.

@StarfishSandwich they are suitable from 8lb, I have a big pack of first size biodegradable nappies too, mostly in case I'm not able to help with nappies straight after and my poor partner has to figure out how to use the washable ones so we should be good!

We use Bambino Mios which are great. Depending on where you live you can get a big discount buying a set from the local council as they want to encourage more people to use them.

I’ve ordered the bambino Mio solo but mainly because they were on offer

Baby is due next year so haven’t used them yet but they feel like lovely quality

For anyone interested in Mio solos, they are currently on offer in Sainsbury’s and ASDA, £12 reduced from £16.
I’m working with a supply of 10 Mio solos, 12 little lamb and 5 tots bots for daytime, and 7 bamboozles at nighttime. I do a wash every 2nd day and they dry in about a day in a warm airing room (bamboozles about a day and a half). Just as a word of warning though, I’ve avoided hanging them on my heated airer as I’ve heard they can damage the fabrics, you’re not meant to even directly hang on a radiator. I hang on a normal airer beside the heated airer though with a normal load of washing and that has worked well for me.

OP I've never used a pre-wash. We put nappies in the bucket, top up with water, wash with ordinary detergent. Seems to work ok. Someone said wet-pailing can rot PUL - we keep wraps separate so they don't soak, it depends what kind of nappy you have as to whether you can separate it out to do this.
By and large they don't stain, the fleece liner helps with this as does drying them outside in the sun as much as possible. The sun bleaches them out. But then we only started using them quite late, at about one year old or so - so not bright yellow milky poo by then!

Absolutely fantastic advice, thank you all. Been non-stop reading the past few days and think I've come up with a bit of a starter plan as follows:

I would like to use from newborn if possible and will be breastfeeding all being well. My other babies were born between 6 and 7lb10oz so fairly small. Not sure what to do about the meconium stage yet but I plan on getting 10 Bamboo Little Lamb size 1 to use on a night from day 1 and 10 bamboo muslin squares to use on a daytime from day 1 as I'm thinking these will be less bulky under daywear and don't need to be quite as absorbent as will be being changed more regularly. Will use fleece liners with both to help take wetness away from babas bottom. Will pair these with 3 Motherease Rikki wraps and 3 newborn Little Bloom wraps. May also get a couple (4) of the Little Bloom Newborn pocket nappies for ease of use whilst out and about/when dad wants to change but have been warned that these may still be quite big on a newborn less than 9lb???

Hoping the above will last me until little one is about 4 months old by which time I hope to have built up a store of about 20 BTP popper pocket nappies. Will see Will use fleece lined with charcoal inserts for day (as been advised these can help prevent smells better) and will use the bamboo terry nappies from earlier as inserts/boosters for the night, again with a fleece lining. Know velcro is more adjustable but I do worry about it scratching the skin of little ones, how well it wears and how easy it is for them to undo as they start to explore hence will start with poppers unless anyone else advises otherwise. Hopefully this will take me to potty training???

Going to dry pail so will need a bucket and will place used nappies (rinsed if necessary) into mesh bag sat within bucket. Will pop in a few drops of tea tree oil to bucket too to help with smell. Not sure whether a lid is needed at this stage. Plan on washing every other day so assume I can just take the mesh bag and throw this straight into the machine?

Will also get a wet bag for storage out and about.

As for wipes I plan on getting about 30 white fleece wipes (for bottom) and 20 other coloured fleece wipes (for face) and will carry a spray bottle with some essential oil for out and about use. Used wipes will go into wet bag along with used nappies.

Does all this sound ok??? Any advice/corrections would be most helpful! Going to buy most preloved if possible over next few months so won't matter too much if I need to change direction here and there sinceI'm only looking to have spent about £120 in total which will have paid for itself within 10 weeks in comparison to using disposables so happy with that!

I used little lamb 2 parts from when the cord fell off, fit my 7lb9 ds fine from then. To be honest the early days you change nappies regularly day and night so I wouldn't worry too much about night time absorbency. Little lamb also do microfibre (drys very quick) and cotton, so worth looking at to reduce drying times.

I preferred Velcro fastened to start with because of the adjustability but I have a tall skinny. Now he is bigger definitely prefer poppers as he can't get them off as easy. Mother ease airflow wraps are fantastic and much easier to put on a moving toddler than Velcro version.

Bucket -tip get one with a clip (totsbots one is good) to keep toddler out longer and yes you will need a lid they still smell of wee and poo. Yep take the mesh bag out and chuck in machine.

Wipes, I prefer cotton to fleece (for bum) because it collects the poop better rather than spreading. That being said the ones that have survived the longest are thenappylady premium ones and they're cotton one side and fleece the other. I use coloured (cheeky wipe microfibre) for face and hands and white for bum.

Have a look at little lamb vest extenders, really useful for us as ds is tall skinny anyway so having to size up to fit reusable meant that he drowned in width.

Do join a fb group and see what you can pick up second hand. The newborn nappies are often sold on as they're used for such a short period.

My son started fitting in btp (birth to potty) at about 9 weeks as he's a skinny baby. We use mainly Little and Bloomz and second hand tots bots. I've bought bamboo liners as they hold pee better than microfibre. At night he is in second hand little lambs with an empty L&B used as a wrap. We cut up a cheap flerce blanket to line the nappies so even when they're sopping wet his bum is nice and dry.

We have pocket nappies but use them like wraps rather than stuffing, because they were cheaper than stand alone wraps. You can also stuff the pockets with muslins if you don't have inserts to hand. So lots of options to mix and match.

I think most brands use baby Velcro which is softer, and I never managed the poppers as they weren't adjustable enough for us.

Some more great ideas, thank you.

Think Ill leave the Rikki wraps then and go straight for some Little Blooms Newborn wraps. They're quite cheap and I could always put some of the bamboo terrys in as inserts I suppose.

The only reason I was going to alternate with 10 LL fitted and 10 Terrys is simply that I don't want to be left short if baba is smaller than expected and know you can adjust terrys to suit. Also like the idea of them doubling up as insets later on. Having said that if people are saying the LL will suit even small babas then I may just get 20 of those. Understand that Bamboo has a longer drying time but I'm ok with this. I can do a daily wash if necessary and from what I gather they can be used in the dryer on a low setting if absolutely necessary. I personally struggle with the feel of microfibre (can't even use tea towels...just goes through me) and I live in a very hard water area so find cotton goes quite hard hence my focus upon the Bamboo. Appreciate the advice though!

For those who have used the Little Bloom Newborn size from Newborn....how did you find them out of interest? I've been told that even the newborn size is quite bulky so am a little apprehensive on that score. I've already been given a few BTP size Little Blooms which look great but are going to be far too big at first unless I have an unexpectedly big baba this time.

Hi OP, we cloth bummed from birth this time. We used little bloom newborns but DS was 9lbs 6oz at birth so they lasted him about a week! Never had an issue with them being too bulky, they were the least bulky ones we used tbh but it does depend how you boost them.

Can I make a suggestion tho? Not rtft sorry so not sure if it has been suggested...find a nappy library & borrow a starter set if you can. I say that because when we started this time i already had my favourite brands from clothing with DD...and they didn't suit DS. The all in one types he wet through far too quickly & we couldn't boost them enough & still get a good fit. We went through loads before settling on two parters permanently. DS is now 21 weeks, a super heavy wetter & we use little lambs & tots bots bamboozles...with little lamb wraps we can boost as we need & know they fit. No leaks whatsoever.

I bought most of mine preloved & managed to resell the ones that didn't work, but it was still a chunk of money. Trialling some will give you the chance to figure out what works & how you feel about them etc. Once you know what you like, i can highly recommend the cloth sites on FB, some brilliant ladies on there for advice & some brilliant bargains.