Cloth nappies advice please!! 23 March 2015 at 12:11PM in MoneySaving mums 35 replies 19.5K views

nattykins

Hi all,

I'm currently 26 weeks pregnant and looking to use cloth nappies on my baby boy when he arrives. I'm finding the whole area of reusable problems a bit of a minefield!
I'm looking for recommendations for birth to potty nappies. At the mo, I'm tempted with Wonderoos, they seem to have good reviews online. I'm after something that's easy to use (1st time Mum and Dad!), washes easily and dries quickly.

Any help and recommendations would be greatly appreciated!!

michbright

Hi Mattykins,

Congrats on your pregnancy!

I used Wonderoos for all 3 of my children - from birth for 2 of them and found them very easy to use. My childminder at the time also liked them. They were very easy for DH to use.

I would say, though, that as I got more confident, I started to use other nappies as well. Tots Bots are very good for night time use as they're much more absorbent than Wonderoos. Tots Bots are a two-part sized system.

If you're looking for a birth to potty nappy for night time use, though, one to look at is Motherease One Size nappies. They're a two part system, where the nappy is one size, adjustable, but the outer wrap is sized, so you would need wraps in different sizes as baby grows. However, you don't need one wrap for each nappy as you can reuse the wrap 2/3 times as long as it's not soiled. As a rule of thumb, I would say you need one wrap for 2-3 nappies.

Another simple nappy to look at is Fuzzibunz. These my favourite nappies for my DD1 and I was still using some of these for DD3 6 years later.

I hope this helps. If you need any more advice, just shout

Madmel

Hi Nattykins

I used to advise on and sell cloth nappies, although the market has changed somewhat in recent years. I agree with the previous poster, although I am not familiar with Wonderoos, I have heard great things about them.

Do not feel obliged to stick to one system exclusively. Most people like to add in some other nappies to their collection for various reasoons. I loved hemp nappies for overnight because they held so much, but the downside was the drying time. I preferred them to cotton because hemp is less polluting to grow.

My main advice is to contact your local council's waste minimisation or recycling officer. They should know who to contact to get some impartial advice, and many offer free trial kits once baby arrives, so you can try before you buy. Some councils also offer discount or voucher schemes. I'm not sure whether Real Nappy Networks are still going (I started one around 12 years ago) but you can chat to other cloth-using mums and get some advice.

Hope this helps and please let me know if I can help further

Louk

I cloth nappied my little boy when he was born 5 years ago and I used some pocket birth to potty noise that I bought on eBay. They were really cheap at around £1-£4 per nappy. You can buy extra inserts and I found bamboo inserts to be fabulously absorbent. I've just had a look on ebay and they have some gorgeous prints now!

nattykins

Thank you for the advice everyone!!!

Louk- I saw some of the cheaper reusables on ebay but wasn't sure they would be good quality and last for a few years. Do you know which seller you had them from?

Madmel- My local council incinerates waste rather than landfills it, so they don't do subsidies for reusables. And the real nappy network is still going.

Michbright- I was looking into totsbots nappies too, but reviews seem to favour wonderoos, but I suppose it's like anything, there are good and not so good reviews.

One thing I did notice on here (somewhere!) that Martin found a resuables website that offers you a 70% refund if you buy some nappies and aren't happy with them. Think that might be a good one to look at. My husband is worried that we'll buy a set and then not get on with them, then we're stuck with expensive nappies. I just really, really don't want to use disposables, it seems like such a waste....

jwil

I didn't get on with Wonderoos - it's the same as with disposable, not all nappies suit all babies, so I wouldn't buy loads of one type until you know what you like.

If you have a nappy library where you live, it would be a great place to start with trying a few different types.

I think a lot of the cheaper nappies on ebay are all the same brands being sold by different sellers (you can see the same ones on amazon too).

The ones that I've preferred are Totsbots easy fit, Fuzzibunz, Itti Bitti and Bambino Mio. They are so easy to use and can be boosted with extra inserts if needed.

A good cheaper nappy seller I've used is TJs cloth nappies.

There is a pretty good resell market for cloth nappies so if you don't get on with one, you should be able to get most of your money back.

gayleygoo

I'm an ex cloth nappy adviser, although soon to be cloth nappying my third baby and have been digging through my stash! The best advice I can give is not to buy a "birth-to-potty" set of any one brand of nappy, as they might not fit your baby well, dry quick enough for you. You can often get "trial packs" which have several nappies of one brand, or several different brands, so you can try them out without too much commitment. BabyKind offers partial refunds for trial packs and also a hire service.

I found Wonderoos to be reliable nappies, good value and quick drying, but can be very bulky on a small baby. I wouldn't ue them from birth, but they are cheap on BabyKind at the minute so could be worth getting a few! Itti Bitti nappies are much slimmer, and cute, but if there are gaps around the legs you can get leakages.

I prefered "sized" nappies, rather than the "onesize" ones that can be quite bulky on a little newborn. I used Diddy Diapers and other small, shaped nappies on my babies when they were small, along with waterproof covers and (knitted) wool pants/trousers. This seemed best for containing that runny yellow breastfed poo! As they grew out of the small nappies (which you can sell on, or keep for future babies to alleviate the cost), I tried out different styles. Weenotions bamboo nappies were fantastic, though not cheap to buy new.

Fabric choice is important - bamboo and hemp are much more absorbent than their cotton counterparts, but are more expensive to buy and take much longer to dry! Hemp also tends to go a bit stiff if not tumbled dried occasionally.

Cheap washable "all-in-one" nappies on ebay can be very hit and miss. I've heard bad reviews about some of them, due to fit and leaks and the waterproofness wearing out quickly etc. If they are cheap enough they might be okay, but then can be difficult to sell on later if you don't like them.

The cheapest option is flat nappies - terry squares or prefolds. They also dry quickly and just need a waterproof cover. You can often get them in bamboo or hemp fabrics too, and folding instructions can be found on youtube.

The cloth nappy tree forum is an excellent resource for cloth nappies, they'll have a lot of up to date advice on the current brands, and a place to buy and sell preloved ones (a great way of trying nappies without committing to a large cost).

If you or any of your friends can sew, you can make cloth nappies cheaply from the many free patterns available on the internet. Same goes for knitting/crocheting wool covers. I've made a lot of mine and it does save money!

nattykins

gayleygoo- wow! The TJs nappies look really good- I've sent pictures of the Captain America and Lego designs to my husband! That, and the price should swing it for him!!!

Icey77

I had Bum Genius V4's which are a birth to potty style nappy. I found them great for my DD but they don't fit my DS very well so I'm considering selling them - there is quite a market in selling on nappies depending on the wrap/print and the condition.

Perhaps try finding some pages on FB and trying to buy a couple of used but in good condition to try?

nattykins

Thanks again for the advice!

Think we're going to try a starter pack of TJs nappies, which works at around £50. This should help us work out if we can keep up the routine of washing, rather than just throwing a nappy away.

How did/do you guys get on when you go out with reusables? Do wet bags stop the potential smell quite well?

Sorry to be so dense!!!!

Louk

I can't remember the seller I used but I think I had some that were branded coolababy but as others have said they are often the same nappies being sold by various people. At a few quid per nappy they're worth a try.

I used a wet bag out and about with no issues, you will need a sizeable changing bag. I also used reusable wipes (packs of 6 face cloths from the baby aisle in pound shops with a spray bottle of water) and made my own fleece liners too.