Which Cloth Nappies?

[Rooster30]

Hi all,

Just wondering which brand of cloth nappies you all use and why?

About a year ago I was recommended Bumgenius Elementals. I found them okay, bought four of them and used them sporadically. I then bought a couple of Flip as thought they might actually be easier and cheaper than the Elementals - only having to buy a few covers and a few liners appealed to me.

For some reason, I didn't keep up with it all. Possibly because my OH wasn't a fan of cloth nappies (but he's a huge fan of cloth wipes) and possibly because I didn't want to use them out and about and just ended up back on the disposables.

I'm considering giving it all another go and this time going for the Bumgenius Freetime - as they are similar to the Elementals but much faster drying time.

Just thought i'd see what you all use so that incase I do go back to cloth I know what to go for!

 

[Sprout]

We use Little Blooms because they're ridiculously cheap - about £3.50 with inserts - and work really well for us. Haven't tried any other brands. We do only use them for daytime though. We use disposables at night because I think they would leak by morning.

 

[Rooster30]

Wow! At that price, my goodness, you're definitely saving money! I plan on using disposables at night too. Okay, going to look into Little Blooms now..

 

[mylullaby]

Hi ladies. Can I just ask a possibly rather silly question please?! What do you need for the reusable nappies? The outer part? How many of those do people usually need? Then the insert? I saw some kinda cushiony inserts on Amazon alongside the outer part, so assume that's the next bit. So how many of those would you need? Then do you also need liners? And do they kinda catch the solid bits? Then when you change the nappy do you change the liner AND the insert and only wash the actual outer nappy bit at the end of the day or after a poo explosion?! Sorry for all the questions. I've just realised how much this interests me (esp the £3.50 little blooms) but must confess I haven't done any research whatsoever. Also, this will be my first baby so do you think reusables will just be an additional faff I will regret once baby arrives? How much extra washing would you estimate the reusables create per week? Thanks in advance for any words of wisdom. Xx

 

[Sprout]

Hi mylullaby, there are loads of different kinds of cloth nappies so I can only answer for the insert kind, like Little Blooms. We use 2 inserts per nappy which you put into a pocket in the outer part - so when the nappy's dirty you need to wash the outer bit and the inserts.

We have about 14 nappies in total (so 14 outer parts with 28 liners) which is just about ok if you really keep on top of washing. My baby is 5 months though, you'd need more for a newborn. I would ideally like 20-25.

We do a nappy wash every day or every other day but that's because we don't really have enough! I think if we had more we could probably wash 3 or 4 days worth at once, iyswim.

As for solid bits, we haven't had any solid poos yet! But I guess it would just sit in the nappy and then you could just drop it in the toilet before washing.

Another thing - you can pick between bamboo and microfibre inserts. Bamboo is supposed to be more absorbent but is more expensive and takes longer to dry. We have used both and I don't find much difference tbh.

Honestly, it's so much easier than I expected...but then we have a ridiculous amount of washing anyway so I haven't noticed much change there. We did only start using them once she was about 2 months old though so I can't comment on how hard it would be with a newborn.

 

[mylullaby]

Thanks so much for taking the time to write such a detailed reply hunni. Really appreciate it. Plenty to think about. Might start off with disposables to begin with and see how I feel after a few months. Hmm... I dunno... thanks again xxx

 

[LittlePants]

I am of the opinion that there is nothing at all to beat good old traditional terry squares. They are still by far the most efficient nappies there are, always fit, wash well, dry quickly, no stuffing or boosting, no elastic to go slack or make marks, economical, and really not difficult to put on, once you've spent a very few minutes practising folding them. What's more they are the only truly birth to potty nappy there is. You just can't go wrong with them.