Newborn nappies/ wipes

[New2020]

Hi everyone..

I'm 26 weeks but want to get my baby prep done early so I can feel a bit more in control and less anxious

I was planning to start with using cotton wool and water and thenjoy water wipes. At what point could I use just regular baby wipes?

I'm also planning to use disposable nappies...how do you know what size to get?! And brand?

I used a variety of brands of newborn nappies. You change then so often it doesn't really matter which ones. Water wipes didn't exist when mine were babies so I used normal sensitive wipes practically from the start. Cotton wool and Water is no match for meconium nappies BTW! I ditched them pretty quickly for wipes

I had my baby 12 weeks ago and also did the same with my 1st 6 years ago.

Took 1 packet of water wipes into hospital. When they had finished I bought 2 boxes of the huggies pure wipes, once they're finished I'll just use normal scented ones.

Thanks @dementedpixie I've stocked up on the cotton wool so I'll give it a go..I wasn't sure if you could use wipes straight away as things I read/ people I had spoken to recommended cotton wool and water for the first few months. I think the water wipes will be used quite soon after!

Cotton wool is an absolute pain in the arse to wipe with and I personally don't taste water wipes as, ironically, they aren't wet enough!

If you want to stick with disposable wipes then we liked supermarkets own brand sensitive/fragrance free and nappies we just went for own brand again - mostly Aldi or Boots for us.

Just buy a size 0 and a size 1 to be sure you've got it covered but don't stock up too much as some can fit better than others and/or sometimes their skin can react to certain brands - we ended up using cloth wipes and nappies for this very reason with #2!

Don't rate water wipes - I definitely don't taste them either 🤣

I used Aldi nappies with both. Used water wipes for the first 4 weeks, then Aldi sensitive

I did the cotton wool thing with baby number one and it was a total and utter pain in the arse. I went through so much cotton wool it was ridiculous. And given I’m allergic to cotton wool I wasn’t really sure how it was supposed to be gentler than wipes, plus it’s still landfill, isn’t it?

With my three subsequent children I’ve used wipes from day one. I try to be as efficient as possible with them - so one wipe per nappy change if I can manage it as I’m very aware of the effect on the environment.

Thanks for the tips!!

How many packs of nappies would I need to get started..Sorry if this is a silly question! Have no idea as a FTM

Is size 0 a tiny baby size?

Nappies with have a weight guide. My dd didn't use the first size for long, but she was a chunky baby. I used wipes from day one. Pamper nappies I initially and then asdas little angels nappies.

I used cotton wool for like 3 weeks with my 1st. About a week with my second and not too sure what to do this time as it seems no one bothers with cotton wool anymore. I wouldn't use normal sensitive wipes though because some of them really aren't sensitive at all e.g. the pampers sensitive green pack that I've been using on my other dc. Aldi extra sensitive in the blue pack are supposed to be like water wipes but obviously a lot cheaper. With the nappies, the packs are so small I took the opportunity to get multiple brands to see what we get on with best and I've only got 3 small packs in size 1 as I have no idea how many packs we'll need before the next size

The nappies will tell you what weight they suit on them. I've had 8lbs babies and used size 1 which I believe is from maybe 6lbs? But someone I know has just had a 9lbs exactly baby and fits size 1 and 2 at a few days old

Reusable wipes (or a flannel) are a million times easier for meconium

I’m also 26 weeks tomorrow and we’ve just bought two packs of Aldi size 1 nappies (I don’t think they do size 0), I’ll get a few other brands And sizes for variety too - don’t want to stock up on too many until she’s here.
We’re going to use water wipes for the first two or so weeks and then switch to Aldi sensitive probably.
We did consider reusable wipes but this is our first baby and might wait until we’re in the swing of things before we try them.

The first couple of weeks we were on about a two-hour feed, sleep, nappy change cycle, she'd sometimes sleep a bit longer at night but she was a bit jaundiced and we were told not to let her sleep more that four hours in a row, not that that happened more than once! So I'd say we got through 10-12 nappies a day. Nowadays at 20 months + it's more like 6-8.

She was 8 1/2 pounds and was still in newborn size babygrows for the first 2/3 weeks, so I'd guess it was one of the smaller nappy sizes too, but you can make a good guess on the weight ranges and be aware different brands use different weight ranges so you need to check. At 41 weeks I was pretty sure she wasn't going to be tiny so could be fairly confident which range she'd fit into but don't forget they'll always grow into the next size up and you can always go to the shops.

We used cotton wool and water as that's what the hospital wanted, they didn't even like water wipes, and I'd say we did that for maybe three weeks though I'd switch sooner or try cheeky wipes earlier on a second child.

One odd thing though: the hospital and nurses wanted us to keep an eye on how many wet nappies she has in 24 hours for the first week or ten days, I think because she was slightly jaundiced, and we found it was harder to tell than you'd imagine: pampers had an indicator line that turned blue when it was a wet nappy and we found that really helpful. I had assumed we'd use lidl or Aldi nappies but friends had done a baby pack for us including pampers and we realised a) the indicator strips on pampers were way better and easier to read and b) she had nappy rash using anything but pampers and water wipes. She still does at 21 months, I tried again recently to switch.

The cheaper ones are really good for most people but it's worth checking if there are rashes etc- using pampers, water wipes and bepanthen her bum was perfect except for maybe one dose of nappy rash during teething but as soon as we tried to switch brands she reacted. I'm hoping any future babies have less sensitive bums!