I love real nappies and have used them since my little girl was a week and a half old. What system you use depend on a number of factors, i.e. how often do you do washing, do you have a tumble dryer, cost etc. I have already put this in another post but thought I would copy it here for you.
Terries - these are the ones most people think of when thinking of reusables. They consist of a square peice of terry towelling which is folded into shape and secured with either a nappy pin or a nippa grippa (much easier and safer than a pin). These are then covered by a wrap or plastic pants. This is usually the cheapest option.
Pre-folds - main brands for these are bambino mios or cotton bottoms. Consists of a flat nappy (looks a bit like a thick dishcloth) that is folded and placed inside a wrap, which is a waterproof outer that is shaped like a disposable. The fold is different for boys and girls. Time is needed to fold them (it takes me about 5 mins now to do a whole load), and it can be fiddly at first but you quickly get the hang of them. When nappy is soiled you just take out the prefold part and put a clean one into the wrap, unless the wrap is dirty which is quite rare. Washing is easy, just pop into washing machine and these can be line dried or put on an airer, dry pretty quickly.
Shaped nappies - most well known brand of these is tots bots (a scottish company). This consists of a shaped terry towelling nappy with an absorbnt pad inside which can be folded at either the front or middle to provide more absorbancy for boys or girls. Then a wrap is placed over this. Easy to use, no folding required, and easy to wash. Again when nappy is soiled take off dirty nappy, put on clean one and put wrap on. Takes slightly longer to dry as they are a bit thicker. Looks the nicest in my opinion especially the rainbow tots bots. Another negative is that these can make babies bum a bit more bulkier but I have not had too many probs with this.
Allin one - this is the nappy and wrap all together. brands such as motherease. The closest to a disposable it is the easiest type to use in the sense that as it is all in one you just put it on like a disposable. However i think the biggest drawback is the drying time, these take ages due to the size of them.
Pocket nappies - this type of nappy has a pocket in between the inner and outer layer where you put your pads in. You can use anything absorbant to stuff the nappy with, they do sell pads for them. The big advantage of these is that you can increase the absorbancy to suit your needs and as you take the stuffing out the drying tim,e is a lot quicker then with ordinary all in ones.
There are other types but these are the types I am most familiar with. I use the prefolds (mios) and the shaped (tots bots) and I love both these types. I find them very easy to use and like you love a line of clean nappies. The best thing you can do is try different types to find the ones that suit you and your lifestyle the best. Research has pointed out that enviromentally there is no difference but this was very flawed research funded by companies who make disposables.The reusable group in the study was very small and it was based on them washing the nappies at 60 degrees and tumble drying them. I wash all mine on 40 degrees and they always come up lovely and white. I have not had any leakages apart from two poos that no nappy reusable or disposable would have contained. _________________
Any other questions just ask. There are a few real nappy users including Rosieroo and Rosebay who are very helpful too.
