Birth-to-potty or sized nappies?

[MrsD'ville mkII]

We're still a little way off needing these (about 19 weeks to go, give or take) but I've been accumulating naps from Freecycle and a friend and now find myself with an assortment of odds and ends and masses of prefolds. I didn't use prefolds with DD, but then she was 1 before she went into cloth and Motherease Sandy's with airflow wraps, all popper, worked brilliantly for us. She was out of naps by 2, so we didn't need to worry about sizes and the one set of naps and wraps saw us through. I've been advised that prefolds can be awkward with a wriggly post-newborn as there's nothing other than the wrap to hold the prefold in place, and I had prior to that imagined that that must be a problem, so the advice just confirmed what I thought, but it's just theory.

I'm waffling on, but what I'm trying to decide is: do we go for a birth to potty set (which must be poppered, DD couldn't undo them but velcro was whipped off in an instant) and which I imagine must be helluva bulky on a newborn; or do we go for sized nappies (velcro fine for the smaller sizes) and accept that we'll need to buy 2-3 sets of nappies etc depending on the size and potty progress of this baby? Really for all reasons except cost I incline towards the second option, but never having had a newborn in cloth I'd like to hear some real experiences. As far as the cost goes, I must confess that my mother has offered to pick up this cost and I would buy second/third/fourth hand as far as possible anyway, and then expect to sell the outgrown nappies to fund the next set, so without throwing caution to the wind as far as the expense goes, we will be able to buy what we need to get started with.

Well thank god that's over! All opinions gratefully received. Thanks

[Annpan]

have a serious think about terrys squares - I have found that now that I am in the habit of folding them, they are cheaper and easier to wash, dry, store and recycle than any of the shaped nappies I have used. Nappy Nippas are used for fastening them at the front, in place of a pin.

[Ratty]

We have used a mixture of pre-folds and Motherease. I don't think I started using the Motherease straight away because they were definitely too bulky and pre-folds were ideal (I've never met a wriggly newborn!!!!!). But now Ash is 16 months old he is in a mixture. If you do go for pre-folds then they have to be bought in a variety of sizes & the wraps also. With Motherease you only have to buy a mixture of wrap sizes. I have a lot of motherease poppered wraps in his size now but only 5 Motherease nappies so I tend to use the poppered wraps for the pre-folds too. I'd definitely have more Motherease nappies if I could afford them but it's difficult to justify since I have about 12 pre-folds!

My favourite (which I used with my first son) are definite Kooshies/Kushies) because they are an all-in-one (no extra wrap, its built in) but they take a little longer to dry. However we have an A rated tumble drier for winter or a great arier over the hottest radiator in house so it wasn't so much of an issue for us.

Personally i don't reckon you'll find out exactly what you like until baby is here & you try them out on him/her. Having a mixture in to start with is a good plan (and what I did - buying bits here & there like you). Good luck!

[Annpan]

I will second that motherease wraps are the best I have used, I use them with any nappy under them, though I never used prefolds - TBH I never understood what they were.

[barefootlinzi]

I am a lollipop nappy adviser and here are my thoughts!

I sell a lot of onelife birth to potty nappies (very similar to motherease one size) and noone has come back to me to say they are too bulky. In fact, I think they are less bulky on a newborn than some sized nappies. You can get a full set of these through lollipop (20 nappies, 12 wraps, day bag, rucksack, 2 rolls flushable liners and a changing mat) for £270, and your done! This is only available through a lollipop advisor unfortunatly, and other places you would pay £300 for a similar set. So cost wise they are good.

For sized nappies, as you say a toddler can get into them easier. Also be aware when buying velcro nappies second hand that the velcro can wear out and not stay fastened (this is happening to some of my 2nd hand nappies....sooooo annoying!) And cost wise they work out more than onesize, but not sure how this will change if you buy second hand.

As Annpan said, terries are lovely for newborns. I have some lovely soft, absorbant bamboo ones which I swear by. Also they are cheaper and have uses after the baby has potty trained.

As for prefolds, I dont sell many because lots of people find them unreliable and prefer a shaped nappy. I havent used them myself so cannot say my own experience. They are like marmite...you either love 'em or hate 'em!!

Some links for you;

www.usednappies.co.uk/ - like ebay but for nappies
www.teamlollipop.co.uk - sorry, shameless plug!

hope this helps

[barefootlinzi]

Or, why dont you buy some small motherease and wraps (motherease wraps are the best wraps ever in my opinion!) to make your existing larger nappies and wraps upto a full set? If you like them, stick with them!

[MrsD'ville mkII]

Great theory but DD will be almost seven by the time this one arrives and we weren't going to have any more, so all our baby paraphernalia is long gone! Hence my umming and ahhing about what to do for the best.

Interesting that Motherease wraps come up so well, it's good to hear that as it bears out my own very limited experience. Being completely shallow it's a shame they're not the most interesting designs but I can't let that sway me! I could start off with some small Motherease wraps over my existing prefolds, then when junior starts wriggling after three months or so decide what would work best for the next stage while having also experimented with the odds and sods I have. Knowing the baby better by then will help with deciding what we need.

My problem with terries and nappi nippas and so on is that I am horrendously cack-handed and quite infamous for my inability to stand anything fiddly for more than two seconds, so I can just imagine how I'd not get on with NN! Also this baby will be cared for by a combo of me, DH and its grandparents, as well as from time to time teenage half bro and sis, so I need a fairly straightforward system that doesn't rely on A-level origami skills! Ultimately these things have to work for your set up, and I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that a short-term prefold followed by a longer-term shaped popper nappy, whether b-to-p or sized, will work best for us. We don't have a tumble dryer but we have a great airer in the utility room and a wall of glass on the back of the house so even in winter clothes dry quite rapidly and the house is so warm we have the heating on about once a week Oct-March. As I'll be working part-time and there are five of us already and the washing machine more or less never stops, I'll have to buy shedloads of naps so drying time isn't crucial - I won't be expecting a small amount to turn over very fast.

Anyway I didn't mean this to turn into a public nappy lady consultation so I shall stop there! Thanks for the advice and please keep the experiences coming, they're very useful.

[Sarahcook]

I used Motherease from about 3 weeks as that was what we were given from Freecycle by someone! They were great. He was not the worlds biggest baby, but they were not bulky on him at all. We also had a range of ages of nappy, i,e, some had been through a couple of babies, some had been just on my son, and even the thinner ones were great. I used either motherease wraps or Boots plastic pants over the top. I found tumbling them reduced the absorbability (if that's a real word) so used to line dry or radiator them. We didn't soak in a nappy bucket, just left them dry, and found a huge reduction in smell.

He potty trained at just before he was 2 (during the day) as well.

Hope all works well!


Sarah

[clare]

Hi there,I used prefold from birth on my little one and I can say they were awful!I stuck it out for 3 months ,I had more squelchy poohs in the sleepsuits and moses basket than in the nappy,I tried with liners/without liners and then started using eco disposables,but moved to norfolk and discovered the real nappy lady and started using fluffles shaped nappies/with tots bots wraps(a good council subsidy here) when my girl was 18 months ,they wash nicely, dry quickly (only a woodburner at the time)they are really soft and they are suitable from birth apparrently,I am toilet training now so only one a day now but I found them great but I agree about velcro wraps they do wear out.

[Annpan]

I find totsbots wraps awful, and the totsbots nappies are really bulky - the bamboo ones aren't so bad, but still not as good as motherease.

I was too nervous to invest and, got some totsbots, which I gave up on and then, after using eco disposables for a year bought some terrys squares and was given some motherease nappies and wraps.

If I was going to choose from the start again I'd get 6 motherease wraps (no they are not the prettiest) a dozen motherease nappies and a 2 packs of terries squares. Terries are better for naps, motherease are easier for OH and MIL to handle, I still use eco-disposables at night though.

Terries nappies aren't difficult once you get used to them, you can always fold them when they are put away, then you just need to put them on, and a nappy-nippa can't be released by wee hands but isn't difficult to master yourself. I find the price, the fact they are easy to clean and dry and that they can be cut down to floor cloths after baby use far outways the difficulty in having to learn how to fold them.

And, for what it is worth, I wouldn't fork out £300 pound for any set of nappies - certainly not that much on one brand.

[Ratty]

I'm with Annpan on £300 being an extremely high price to be paying out for nappies! The only way I'd do that if it was for my first & I was intending to have about 5 children after that!!!

I find pre-folds so easy to use and fold - there is stitching down the middle which makes it a doddle to fold in then fold back under for extra padding at the front. I think they are probably the "updated" terry square - and cheap as chips on Ebay too!

As for velcro fastenings - the reason they "go" is because people don't close them up when washing, then they rub against the nappies or other items in the wash thereby dulling the velcro "spikes" and gathering loads of unwanted fibre under them too. I've had no problems with any velcro fastenings and mine are second hand & washed every three days or so - the current ones have been used for 9 months now with no lose of velcro grip at all.

[barefootlinzi]

My velcro nappies that have worn out are now on the third child, but you are also right about closing the velcro tabs for laundry (but when you buy second hand you can't be sure this was done!). You are right, £300 is not cheap. But using disposables over 2.5 years approx can cost you over £900 (more if using a top brand like pampers or huggies, see http://www.wen.org.uk/nappies/cost_comparison.htm for more info) so even if you do spend £300 you still make a saving. If people come to me and want cloth nappies on a budget, I advise them that terries are the way to go or get them second hand through freecycle, www.usednappies.co.uk etc. Most of the people I see at the moment are NCT mums who dont need to count the pennies, and dont want second hand so are happy to spend £300+. I am trying to get into the local surestart centres to meet less fortunate mums who do have to count the pennies, hopefully I can help them save even more money over disposables.

[Esther.R]

I used a variety of fabric ones with Beth, we used mostly totsbots (which were bulky but she was a heavy wetter so only bulky nappies were any good for us) with motherease wraps. We used minki huggles for night with fleece wraps, these were huge but fantastic, no leaks at all even as a toddler who can sleep 14hrs!

Personally I wouldn't buy a single system as what suits one is no good for another - as you can see from these answers so far.

Mine were almost all second-hand.

I have been going through my nappy stash and adding a few more small ones (Beth didn't go into cloth until about 6 months) as I only have just over 4wks to go until baby is here - how time flies!

[mrsflibble]

terries terries terries.

Soph got my mum's old ones which were 16 years old and had gone through three other children before her. they're now nice, fluffy (sterilised of course) teatowels.

[Fizzy Izzy]

Dragging up an old thread.

Thank you for all these ideas... I'm just trying to build up a stash of nappies for my LO (only 8 weeks to go!). Unfortunately, I have no idea about a second hand cloth nappy market here in Switzerland and freecycle hasn't really taken off here either. So I figure I'll just buy new. My vague plan is to have 3/4 children (this is the first) though of course I may change my mind once I've tried out this motherhood thing!

So far this is what I'm thinking of buying:
Nappies
10 Disana tie-ons
12 organic terries
2 birth-to-potty pocket nappies (for out and about)
Wraps
4 Disana wool covers (2 small, 2 medium)
4 Nature babies poppered PUL (2 small, 2 medium)
Other stuff
10 organic cotton booster/liners
Olive soap (for washing the wool wraps)
Wool cure
3 nappi nippas
2 nappy meshes (for lining the bucket)

I'm hoping that would be all I'd need - it comes to about £185 in total. I know I'd need to buy the large size wraps eventually. People seem to have really recommended Motherease, but NO-ONE will ship those outside the UK otherwise I'd buy a few to try. Anyway, I'm holding off on ordering for a couple days 'til I decide this is really what I want! Any thoughts appreciated :)