Cloth nappy washing and swimwear...

[YorksLass]

I've just had delivery of a load of cloth nappies (went for little lambs fitted bamboo x10 and the one size v2 x2 just to test things out, as we're first timers!) luckily saved quite a bit through our local council's real nappy scheme they're all in the machine for pre washes now...
A few questions... how is it best to deal with the poo? We have some paper disposable liners to try and also the fleece washable ones that they come with. The washable, do people tend to wash them off in the loo first, or soak them before going in the machine? How do you generally tackle it, as a routine?
How many would we need roughly to go all cloth? We have a bulk pack of naty's disposables I was going to use at first for meconium poos/days out and then maybe alternate until we decide what's best, but I'm guessing we'd need more than 12 nappies to do complete cloth, right? We also have 3 of the little lamb wraps, but I'd heard mixed reviews about those... we're trying one disana wool wrap, but I worry about a lanolin allergy that some of our family have, so will have to see what happens - would be great if we could use those though!
The last question (sorry!) is about the totsbots swimming nappy we got. I just haven't a clue... is there a lining it needs, or is it just that one thing they need to wear when out swimming?
Apologies for the length of this lol - thanks in advance!

 

[Phoenix85]

Hi.

No need to soak nappies, they are better being 'dry pailed'

With poo, well I always used fleece liners, I didn't really like the paper ones.

Breastmilk poo is runny anyway and mostly soaks in, I just stick them in the washer as is, pre rinse, then your regular 40 or 60 cycle (40 is enough mostly but every so often you might want to do a 60 and in winter I washed on a 60 every other wash as they weren't being dried outside - sunlight is a natural de-odourizer and gets rid of stains and kills bacteria too.

Once you start weaning and the poo gets more solid, that's when you might want to use a disposable liner (they dont work so well with runny milk-poo). I found it came off fleece pretty easily though, just sort of stretch the fleece over the toilet and give it a bit of a shake and the poo falls off into the toilet lol.
Then you can rinse if you like but again I tended to just stick them in the bucket and then in the washer and do a pre rinse and then a 60 wash (40 if it was sunny and they were being pegged out).

I always liked Motherease wraps. I kept some from last time and should be getting them out of the loft on Monday.
This time though I only bought 5 little lamb bamboo 2-part nappies and 6 Bummis prefolds (I plan to use the Bummis just in the early days with the meconium poo) all my other nappies are AIO/stuffable nappies so they don't need a separate wrap.

I would say you'd need more like 16 nappies to do cloth full time lol. In the first few weeks or months you can easily get through 8 or more nappies a day. Should really change them every 2-3hrs and at least once during the night, and then of course there are times when you put a fresh nappy on and they poop in it lol.
After the first few months you might find that number decreases to 6 a day.
But at first you'd need at least 8 for day one and 8 for day two (whilst the first lot are drying... unless you use the dryer so they get dry quicker).

Unfortunately I have no idea about the swim nappy as I've not tried a tots bots one, I bought Charlie Banana swim nappies lol! x

 

[Phoenix85]

First picture are 3 newborn "bambooty" nappies (up to 12lbs) which are all-in-one and have sewn-in boosters, second photo left to right is Little lamb bamboo (is that what you have?) a milovia wrap (milovia is the pink Alice in wonderland print) and a Blueberry coverall (wrap). Heard good things about them both. And far right is a Tots bots Teenyfit (up to 12lb) which is an all-in-one/stuffable.
I also have some newborn Grovias lol.

Last picture is the Little Lamb inside the Milovia wrap.

 

[YorksLass]

Thanks Phoenix! Knew you'd know all about this lol - great info I told my partner I'd read somewhere you can put breastmilk poo in the machine but he's still not being convinced haha (I'll blatantly do it anyway)

 

[YorksLass]

And yes... that's the little lamb ones we have,just the white bamboos. We'll see how the little lamb wraps fare, but they were just part of a deal, so no big deal if they're not so good. Might check out the milovia ones...

 

[YorksLass]

This is the disana wool cover btw - cutest thing ever
Really hope LO isn't allergic as they seem like a great option...

 

[Phoenix85]

I had a pair of wool longies for K that were gorgeous but I ended up selling them because they felt scratchy and I couldn't get them to soften.

Hope baby isn't allergic x

 

[YorksLass]

Just bumping this in case anybody knows about the Totsbots swimming nappy - still none the wiser! Can't wait to be able to take baby swimming

 

[Phoenix85]

Hi, I asked on a group I'm in and was told you just put it on as it is. Should be fine, just make sure the fit is good.

Also found this if it helps at all http://www.babipur.co.uk/cloth-nappies/real-swim-nappies/tots-bots-swim-nappy-knickerbocker.html

(It says there's thin terry towelling to catch poo?)
http://www.babipur.co.uk/cloth-nappies/real-swim-nappies/tots-bots-swim-nappy-knickerbocker.html

 

[YorksLass]

Ooh thanks for that Phoenix! Yes, that's what we have... it was just that I read somewhere about pools not letting you in without some liner, but it was unclear which brand they were referring to. Confusing! If your group has told you it's just as is, then that's good enough for me though - they look like there's enough lining...

 

[Nutsyputs]

We use bambino mio swim nappies. They are basically to catch the poo. The ones have look like pants. You don't need liners etc.

 

[YorksLass]

Ah, thanks nutsyputs!