Confused about which cloth nappies to buy: any suggestions?

[Jane7]

So many different kinds - pre-fold, shaped, all-in-ones - it's a minefield. I'm keen to try out reusable nappies, but I don't really know where to start. Any advice much appreciated?

go to a nappacino and look at all the sorts.
I would recommend just buying a few different ones to try out and see what you like.

I have some normal terry squares which are cheap so I always have clean and some pre folded terry birth to potty nappies. I couldn't afford the motherease types but found these n ebay for 5 for £20 inc p&p (brand new) and they just don't have poppers. I will need to get another 5 of these I think giving me 22 in total.
I also have 10 wraps (2 sizes) and 12 terry boosters, 3 nappy nippas and 2 laundry pail bags and all that cost £60 on ebay, all brand new. I also bought a nappy pail at mothercare for £5 and will need to spend another £20 on nappies probably, and £5 on a starter supply of liners. It's not cheap but a much smaller amount than disposables!

thanks isaidno and kat2907.
i have signed up to nappy lady which looks promising...
also, kat2907, how easy to use are nappy nippas. the nappies i was considering getting, Tots Bots ones, say you need to buy a nappi nippa too. that sounds like a bit of a fiddle, no?

No, they are very simple. Cost about £1 each, you just stick them on the nappy and they grip on. Because you have the wrap over the top they won't come off.
Of course this is all hypothetical as I haven't actually had the baby yet!

kat - when are you due? i'm 3rd october and i can't believe i've got less than a month.
also, while i've got you, have you thought about what kind of liner you're going to use. I thought the paper ones sounded great because you can just flush the whole lot down the loo, but now various people have suggested that actually fleece liners that you reuse are more aborbant and stay put better. hmmm, what do you think?

Due in a week! I'll be using paper liners - the reusable ones have to be sluiced in the toilet before washing and that just sounds gross.

good luck!

Kat, fleece liners are much nicer for baby really and can go straight into the machine with poo on until your baby starts weaning.

Also most poo just flicks off into the loo without the need for sluicing - it is only if you get unlucky and have a baby like my DS2 whose poos are like tar that you need to sluice, and even now I end up just putting the pooey residue in the machine with a prewash or rinse

You can make your own fleece liners too - think of the money you'll save!

When I said most poo flicks off the liner - I meant post-weaning btw

To the op - I use tots bots with nippas on both my ds' and they are foolproof . The nippas make the nappy more adjustable than popper/velcro fastening nappies and you soon get the knack of using them.

Stick with motherease wraps as they really are the best.

Jane7 - The best advice will come if you stick a post in the nappies forum, I've had loads of really good and friendly advice from there. I would love to advise you but I haven't had my baby yet either so wouldn't feel confident in giving you specific nappy advice re pre-folds as I don't have any.

However if you're looking for shaped nappies Motherease Sandy's are very popular, they're very absorbant, dry relatively quickly and are easy to get hold of new or 2nd hand. Tots Bots Fluffles are going out of production and are on sale on various websites, they also have good reviews. Both are a shaped nappy that you will need a wrap for.

Motherease Airflow or Riki are the wraps that are most favourably spoken about - airflow moreso because they are just elastic at the top, where as the Riki are velcro, which some people say is very stiff on a newborn's tummy.

Some people buy a super-absorbent nappy for night times as the baby will be going for longer without a change - this doesn't normally matter for a newborn, but may be an issue a bit later on - Ella's House Bumhuggers are talked about alot as a good nighttime nappy.

If you don't fancy nappies that need a nippa then go for anything that says it has 'aplix' (velcro) or 'poppers'.

As for liners - fleece liners will take away the wet and leave a dry surface against your baby's bottom, any poo can't be thrown down the loo before the liner is washed, meaning you will save money, however disposable liners are useful if you're not in to poo shaking!!

I would suggest googling to find a trial service, there's on in my area that I can pay a tenner and get a load of nappies to try for 2 weeks - this way you can see what works and what doesn't - every baby is different and will get on better with a different nappy. If you want to buy something now then just get a couple of each nappy rather than a massive pack.

Also, this link is great for a description of different types of nappy

(Sorry - typo! Fleece liners: any poo can be thrown down the loo!!)

Oi lollipop, you dissing my advice? . I hang around those nappy forums y'know

Do you have a local agent for someone like www.twinkleontheweb.co.uk? (no, I am not one, I promise). I have had mixed success with cloth because of feckless laziness and other non-cloth related things . Before the first child I was told to buy 20 of one type in one go. I have since found that that was duff advice. Different nappies suit different situations (clothing, day or night, time since last poo etc). My local agent does a trial kit with lots of different types in. I think it was about £15 returnable deposit. I tried stuffables which I had thought would be too complicated for my sleep-deprived brain but hey, they are fab, dry quickly and can be stuffed with anything in an emergency e.g. a flannel or the cat (just joking) I hate nippas because I am cack-handed and they are sharp litle sods but others (more gifted than me) do fine with them. Do try as many types as you can. There's also a used nappies website (not as gross as it sounds) for cheap second hands.

Also do a shout for Flame or Nappyzone on the cloth nappy board as I think they do trial packs and do offer impartial advice.

I like Bumgenius One size pocket nappies.

Pros
Use like disposable nappies (easy for grand parents/ nursery to use)
Resize nappy using poppers on front (No need to buy bigger nappies)
Easy to wash/dry and put together

Cons
Not the cheapest (£190 for a set of 15)
Might not bridge the gap until a late potty trained toddler (They do fit my chunky 2 year old but I doubt they would fit a big 3 year old)
Pretty basic colours (some mums prefer cuter nappies)

Washersaurus - I would never diss your advice my darling! Don't you just love how I said I wouldn't feel comfortable giving advice tho, and then proceeded to give a big long string of advice!

Actually, if you're pro-nippa, how do they actually work, what do you do with them? I've seen pictures of them on the nappy, but I've steered away from them in case I couldn't get them to work.

I would suggest buying a mix of nappies to start with - it will soon become apparent which your favourite is and once your baby is bigger you can buy more of your favourite. I went through old threads on here to find out what people's views were on nappies in order to work out which nappies to buy, but I think the forums (fora?) would have more information.

I am on my 3rd child in cloth nappies and with each have preferred the pocket nappies (partly because these are the lazy option). Currently I prefer the bumgenious. I am not on a particularly tight budget though and I think these aren't the cheapest option.

For my ds2 who is now 5 months old, when he was newborn I bought some Little Lamb, bumgenious, and easy peasy bimbles. I already had some fuzzy bunz and tots from my previous babies. I liked them all tbh. (I haven't got on with Ellas House nappies at all though).

To some extent it does depend on the child which will suit you best- his/her build for example will influence which nappies you get.

I would suggest buying a mix of nappies to start with - it will soon become apparent which your favourite is and once your baby is bigger you can buy more of your favourite. I went through old threads on here to find out what people's views were on nappies in order to work out which nappies to buy, but I think the forums (fora?) would have more information.

I am on my 3rd child in cloth nappies and with each have preferred the pocket nappies (partly because these are the lazy option). Currently I prefer the bumgenious. I am not on a particularly tight budget though and I think these aren't the cheapest option.

For my ds2 who is now 5 months old, when he was newborn I bought some Little Lamb, bumgenious, and easy peasy bimbles. I already had some fuzzy bunz and tots from my previous babies. I liked them all tbh. (I haven't got on with Ellas House nappies at all though).

To some extent it does depend on the child which will suit you best- his/her build for example will influence which nappies you get.

Nippas just fit by snagging the loops of the nappy fabric so work best with longer pile nappies like terry squares or tots bots (to name a couple of types - there are lots of others).

With the shaped nappies, I just hook it onto one tab of the nappy and pull it across to the other tab and then hook the bottom to secure it all. I did practise a bit with a nappy on a teddybear before DS1 was born

No need for the , one of my teddies (a Unicorn!) has been known to wear a Sandy's with a Riki wrap or a pink Tots Bots!

My bear Marigold is wearing one of my new nappies! The nippa is easy, just sticks onto the nappy with the little grips, do one side, the other and the bottom and it holds by itself.

Hi with ds1 I bought bambino mios which have a separete cover and you use with a flushable liner. These were great didn't leak. I also tried kooshees but the nappy and cover aren't separte so took ages to dry after washing. You definately save money i bought a few disposables incase i went out so i wasn't carrying dirty nappies around.

I've used Motherease with Rikki wraps for both my children. I use thick flushable paper liners, because they keep bottoms slightly drier and are easier to handle than the very thin ones and (TMI alert!!) both my DC had quite sloppy poos, post weaning.

The nappies themselves are still going strong (if a little grey) and I'm planning to use them for number three (due in November). The only thing I've replaced each time are the wraps because they do lose their waterproofing after multiple washes. (I know they say you don't need to wash them but yellow/brown stains at the legs when leaks happen aren't very attractive!)

Either way, I didn't find the washables worked well on newborn bottoms (too many leaks, too many changes to keep up with laundry -- but I don't have a tumble dryer) and so you may find you have a month or two to think about things before you need to commit. For the first few weeks, I like Moltex disposables. And I always used these at night too to avoid very wet bottoms and hence nappy rash. (That could just have been my children's slighly ezcema prone skin, tho.)

Hope that helps.

Thank you all so much - i popped out for a few hours and have come back to all his advice!