Reusable nappies

[Jurassiclover]

Hey guys,

I'm planning on using reusable nappies. Does anyone have any recommendations? I've done the quiz on the nappy lady but i just feel like it's a mine field and there's so many options!

Those of you who do use reusable, what did you do for when in hospital? Did you take reusable or just use disposable for the first couple of weeks?

Thanks guys!

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MNHQ

We used disposables for the first 8 weeks - so many changes as DS poo'd after every feed and had enough laundry to deal with!

Then started using reusables (given us by SIL whose DC are out of nappies) - loads of leaks. I then got some advice from The Nappy Lady team who suggested DS was on the small side for the "birth to potty" nappies - as he has grown and we have used boosters these have improved. I also got an updated recommendation from TNL now DS is here and we know his weight / body shape - we bought Wizard Unos which whilst expensive have been spot on for him - would suggest that maybe it's worth waiting til your DC arrives and liaise with TNL and buy a couple of one or two brands to try out so as not to waste money? I think they also have trial packs if that is of interest. I was tempted to buy up one particular brand before his arrival as they're very cute / a friend swore by them, but glad I didnt as the one brand new one we were gifted leaks all the time even with boosting.

Good luck!

Go disposable at hospital.
There are nappy libraries, you can try out a variety of different ones with before committing to a huge batch. Check your local council for free trial packs too, I got one with our 3rd but didn't like them. Also look in to professional cleaning for them as an option.

We used cloth from birth with our first, and will again with our second in a few weeks. It’s totally possible if you want to do it. In hospital my partner just took dirties home each day and brought fresh the next (we were in for a week) - lots of washing but made him feel useful! The thing to bear in mind though is that “birth to potty” nappies won’t fit all children well from birth, so you generally need something else for the first 6 weeks or so. In our case we bought second hand Easy Peasy Bimble nappies on newborn size, which were brilliant and have been lent out to friends between our babies, plus will be sold on after this baby. You may also be able to hire a newborn kit from a nappy library (locally or by post). Or another inexpensive option is using folded muslins, prefolds (basically cotton padded squares) or Terry squares with wraps.

Def make contact with a nappy library, if only for advice, and also if you use Facebook there are some really useful groups out there. Eg Nappy Lady lady buying and selling group, “cloth nappies for sale and advice parent to parent, UK”

In terms of brands Motherease wraps are hard to beat for quality, Easy Peasy nappies are good value, british and make great newborn and night nappies, and our staple everyday nappies (2.5 years full time use and going strong) are Baba and Boo. Lots of people also love TotsBots - it’s very much personal preference and finding what fits your child best.

Good luck! X

I suggest joining the Facebook group, any question you can think of will be answered.

I did use Kit and Kin disposables in hospital and Eco by Naty for the first week.

The most popular choice for cloth users is the birth to potty nappy. These typically fit baby from around 10lb right through to potty training.
For newborns birth to potty will usually be too big. The birth to potty I bought for my baby didn’t fit him well until 3 months. There are newborn versions of the birth to potty which depending on baby can last till 3-4 months. Birth to potty nappies have poppers at the front to change the size of the nappy. You can buy these as all in ones, all in twos, pockets, wraps and fitted/ night nappies.

Sized nappies usually come in Size 1, Size 2 and Size 3. These don’t change size and will need to be replaced with a bigger size once nappy is too small. Little Lamb do sized fitted nappies/ covers and pocket nappies with a folded insert.

A fitted nappy or sometimes called a night nappy means the whole nappy is absorbent and will need a separate waterproof cover. You can choose between a sized nappy or a birth to potty. These a mostly used for nighttime or when needed to last all day. Bells Bumz, Reusabelles, Petit Lulu, Bamboozles, Little Lamb are the ones I use. I use them with a Motherease Airflow wrap or a wool soaker.

A popular choice for newborns are prefolds, terries or Muslins with a waterproof wrap. These are fast drying and very versatile. There are many ways to fold and use them and also different sizes. A nappy nipper is used to hold the nappy in shape. I’ll be honest and say I didn’t like any of these at all and much preferred all in ones newborn size.

All in one nappies have the absorbent insert attached. These are the most easiest to use but do take longer to dry. They can be boosted to add more absorbency.

All in two nappies come in two parts. The outer shell (cover) and inserts, which most have poppers to hold in place on the shell. These can also be boosted but I use the brands’ own boosters for a correct fit.

Pocket nappies come with a pocket attached to the shell where you stuff the inserts. The lining is usually stay dry fleece. These are my favourite to use as I find them the most versatile. You can mix and match different inserts to find what works for you and they’re also fast drying. My favourite that I use are Seedling, Baba and boo, Little Lamb and Peachi.

Wraps/covers/shells are water-resistant outer protection.

You can choose between poppers and Velcro. When I first started I found Velcro was much easier to use, not because it’s similar to disposables, but because I was so scared of making the nappy too tight. I found Velcro easier to adjust ever so slighty, whereas poppers felt more of a staggered adjust. Now 8 months in, I can use both interchangeably and have no problem.

Inserts and boosters are the absorbent part of the nappy. They are both the same thing, boosters are just inserts used to “boost” the absorbency. Sometimes they are sized differently to the insert depending on the brand you use, but that is to do with the fit and not with the performance.

Liners are thin fleece inserts that are placed on top of the absorbent material to keep baby’s bum dry.

Microfibre is fast at absorbing and fast drying. It holds less and is more prone to leaks.
Bamboo is a natural fibre and highly absorbent. Takes long to dry.
Cotton is fast drying, absorbent and natural.
Hemp is natural and also the most absorbent but takes the longest to dry.
I mix and match between all, usually pairing different fibres together.

I bought most of my nappies second hand and I also sold the newborn nappies once baby grew out of them. Most people really look after their nappies and sell them for a reasonable price. Also better for the environment. The Facebook selling group is the best place to buy second hand.

I hope this helps a little.

We have clothed bummed since we got out of hospital. We knew I would be in for 3 days for monitoring so decided to use disposables in the hospital and cloth once we got home.

We started with muslins and we are still using them at 10 months which isn't entirely typical but they still work for us!

We have 24 muslins and did about 14 changes a day at first so washed every day (thankfully it was August!). We had 4 rumparooz newborn wraps that go from 4-15lb, my little one is little so they lasted us until 5 months! We also had 2 (then 3) bambino mio wraps, these go up to 9kg and we are still using them at 10 months!
These have been great at bridging the gap between newborn and birth to potty wraps and meant we didn't have to replace them all at once.

Once she stopped pooing overnight we bought a couple of boosters to allow 12-14h overnight. We now use Terry's overnight as they are a little more absorbant but can get 10-12h out of a boosted muslin still.

I love the "flats" (muslins and Terry's) by changing folds as she has grown and her needs have changed means I practically get a new nappy set up every few months just from the nappies I already own!

We did the nappy lady quiz and we do have a couple of shaped nappies and all in ones to have the changing bag when out or if she is having a fussy day. They are slightly easier in terms of a quick nappy change but I don't find them as robust as the muslins.
I fold muslins in batches at least enough for the day and most of the time all the nappies that have come out of the wash together so when it comes to change time there isn't a great deal of difference. The nappy lady and Terry's fb advice pages are fab!

We supplement cloth with disposables, sometimes it is just the odd nappy because I have got the timing of the washing out or sometimes it's a few days or a week because I need a break. I try not to put too much pressure on myself any and all cloth nappies I manage to do is great. As odd as its sounds I think it was easier at the start when we were doing lots and washing every day!
Life for various reasons is more difficult than those early days and I'm a lot more pragmatic about what is achievable in a day and how far my energy resources stretch!

Some great advice above, I would just add that once we decided on the nappies we wanted I bought them second on eBay for a fraction of the price of new.

We are using bumgenius pocket nappies with Velcro fastenings and the larger size inserts. Super easy to use and wash. I use disposable at night though (eco by naty) as they will hold more wee without leaking so I don’t need to change. On the other hand they stink of wee as soon as they get a bit wet whereas my baby never smells in her reusable even if it is full so they are much nicer in the day.

I use mama koala pocket nappies on 18 month dd with a mix of bamboo and hemp inserts. Very cute and lovely fit on her, as well as absorbent enough for all night.

Loved using cloth nappies...the bright coloured wraps and never running out....just put a wash on!

Don't feel it's all our nothing though..,any reusable is saving one nappy from landfill. There may be times (camping?) when disposable is better.

I used disposables for the first month. Now I use a mixture; at night it’s traditional Terry cloths with motherease wraps, and in the day a combination of totsbots and baba and boo.

Both the totsbots and baba and boo are really easy to use, relatively quick to dry and very cute. Totsbots are all in one which is dead simple, but I find baba and boo a really good fit.

The only ones I don’t recommend are peachis - they leak every time for me!

I’m reading this with interest.
I had so many cloth nappies for my daughter but the leaks were impossible to cope with. It would have to be a full outfit change every few hours, even at 6 months.
I tried with my second and I had the same.
I bought about 30 different cloth nappies and had issues with all of them.
I’m pregnant with my third and I’d love for it to work out this time.

I've used reusables with 3 DC.

What are your drying arrangements for clothes? We use a kitchen maid or the line outside and have found that pocket nappies are the only ones which dry quick enough for us (yes we could buy more but I'd really rather not).

We now have mostly "littles and bloomz" which are a relatively cheap brand which have fitted all 3 from shortly after birth to potty training.

I'd use disposable for the first couple of weeks. I use one overnight with dc3 (3m) as I did with the other 2 DC. We co-sleep and ebf and one of the major advantage is not having to get up overnight - if we used reusables overnight I'd have to (and I've tried many different "heavy wetter" nappies none of which were good enough)

I tried various birth to potty ones and never really found they fitted my son. I also had some of the flat ones that your fold up but found them too faffy. We used mostly the sized bumgenious and fuzzibunz which were great. I got most of them second hand at NCT sales and sold on afterwards so much more cost effective. Lots of people buy & then change their mind so there are good bargains to be had for very lightly or even unused nappies. We did use disposables fir the first 3-4 weeks as we were drowning in laundry anyway as my son was very sicky 🤢

I did little lamb 2 parts from a week old with dc1. Love them. Prefer the motherease wraps though. Fleece liners. Also had a few all in ones totsbots and they were a bit less bulky so worked better with some outfits but not nearly so bombproof.

From size 2 I really recommend popper wraps as both mine found undoing velcro ones very fun!! I never had to buy size 3.

Dc2 we used disposable for a bit longer maybe 8 weeks. This was to use up the disposable nappies my mother had bought (for first child) convinced that reusable ones where a pain. She was quickly converted when she saw how easy modern reusable are. I actually had more washing with disposable nappies as there were more leaks to deal with.

Oh and I did use some disposable occasionally for holidays or long days out, or when the weather has been atrocious and haven’t been able to dry.

I started using reusables once DD was about ten weeks old. By that time she had grown in to birth to potty sizes & I had gotten over the newborn shock and could manage the extra washing.

It doesn't need to be all or nothing- you can buy a selection of different brands and see what you prefer before stocking up. I still use disposables at night too.

I'm happy with reusables, biggest issue is drying time especially with the all in ones. I have a mixture of all in ones (Bambino Mio and tots bots) and two parters (tots bots). Two parters dry so much quicker and are more practical I find.

Nappy libraries do sound like a great idea but as a ftm to a new baby don't think I would have found the time! The choice of reusables is a bit overwhelming though.

well, a million years ago, there was actually a topic in Mumsnet for Cloth Nappy weirdos like myself .

It was a lovely group, made friends in RL too. It was one of those chats that kept going for years

Think I will report my post to see if it could be resurrected as the OP is right - it's such a minefield, and some brands will cater for different sizes, stages etc.

We used disposables for first 3 days then just overnight for about 6 weeks, fully cloth since then. Its so easy once you get into it but also don't feel bad at all if you use disposable sometimes. You can get biodegradable ones, horribly expensive so I can honestly say I've never used them for no reason! But a weekend away without a washing machine or a couple of days of diarrhea and they come in really handy. Once you get in the swing of it though the cloth nappies are great

We used disposables for the first 2 weeks, once the pack ran out we started reusables.

SingtomePaolo 's post is awesome.

I used prefolds up until 11 months, my husband found them hard so he switched to all in ones (bambino mio). For night nappies once she was sleeping longer periods we were using little lamb two parters, but these consistently leaked, and I quickly realised she was a heavy wetter so we got some bellz bums hemp nappies which are amazing once I add three hemp boosters.

The little lamb nappies size two are too small for her at a year, and the pre-folds i've currently stopped using as she is constantly escaping and I can barely get an AIO on her. We tried totbots and have found I can't get the legs tight enough, they are always gaping.
We do have pockets, but I don't like them

Definitely find your local nappy library and try a few different types to start with, don't just go and buy a load of one type, as babies vary in sizes and shapes so they don't work for every baby.

We cloth our now almost 18m old and after trying loads of different things, we use terries mostly and have little lamb fitted nappies for him when he's at the childminders. Both use wraps on top.

We had a tricky start and didn't start using cloth until around week 10, just down to my recovery and when I felt ready to try. but it was so easy that if we had another I'd start earlier even if I had another tricky recovery. newborn poo just goes straight in the machine usually so it's not much more work than disposable tbh. especially if using terries and tumble drying.

We use terries because I find them to be the most absorbent and adaptable, best fitting, easiest to wash and dry, and its quick and easy to fold them. I hated all the stuffing and faff with inserts in pocket nappies and all in ones. Little Lamb fitted are even better as no folding involved! the best wraps I've found to be from Nature Babies, they are extremely durable and very reasonably priced. Also made in the UK.

For night times we used little lamb fitted for a while and then when he was outwetting those we switched to bamboo terries. so we now pair a little pants super pee bamboo terry flat with a nature babies bamboo jersey flat and a booster.

Good luck I find cloth nappying very satisfying