Cloth Nappies #184

Hi girls, I've been reading a few posts on here and have been trying to figure which way i will go with cloth for my bub :)

Iv'e got a dozen pocket nappies which are adjustable in size along with a doxen extra microfiber boosters but I think they will be a bit too bulky for a new born.

Gigi I looked up the BBH's bamboo boosters (foldups) and saw that they are 2 layers, I am guessing that you could fold it up into 3rds and it would than be 6 layers and you can then lay that down inside any cover? At $4 each I'd love to get some if they can be used this way or do most covers like the BBH's covers really need an full cloth nappy underneath to stop irritation from the cover? And are those bamboo fold ups enough on their own or shoudl they really be used as a booster?

I also checked out the Booroi prefolds which seem good value with 3 layers in the middle section, but again for the cost of the BBH's boosters at the moment would you just double those up or would it be too bulky?

I really love the look of the Eenee Weenees Pouch Snibb they are sooo cute! Has anyone used boosters/foldups/flat nappies etc inside of these for a newborn? I haven't read the best reviews on eenee products?

Sorry I've rambled on a bit... I'm kinda lost :doh: so would really appreciate any hlep you girls can offer and any other prefold brands I can look at. Thanks

Cherish, yes you are understanding it

prefolds are a double layer of fabric, with some extra layers in the middle panel
trifolds are a double layer of fabric

both of them, you fold into three

so the TWO layered item, becomes six layers (for trifold) and a few more (say 8) for the prefold

i found six layers of bamboo fine for a nb bub AS the nappy itself.

many companies call a trifold a different name, to make a "point of difference" for their product, but basically, a double layer of fabric, around 30 x 30cm, is a nb trifold/defacto prefold.

many names for what is essentially the same thing.

if you can fold an A4 bit of paper into three, you have just passed the test for folding a prefold/trifold! it's that easy.

looks like a pad once you've folded it
you stick that into a nb sized cover, lay a microfleece liner on top of the "pad" and then put baby in it

if you have a snug fit (e.g a nb sized cover on a nb) you won't need a snappi
if you have a loose fitting cover, then you will need to close shut the prefold/trifold with a snappi.

dead simple, which is pretty essential, when you have a nb and sleep deprivation going on!

i had a very frequently, runny, explosive pooper, (we're talking 20 changes per day here!) so i found covers with leg gussets to be Da Bomb (in terms of pootainment value). Good fit is everything. if you got gapes (tummy or legs) then you will have leakage.

And i learnt in the first week, DO NOT PUT COVER ON LOOSELY! Do not buy a "too big cover" thinking you will save money. i was WEARING poop allover me (changing my clothes and clearning the furniture endlessly) until i learnt this valuable lesson from very patient mcn mums online. My baby is NOT made of china and i need to do up the covers firmly - this was hard lesson for me, i was so scared of doing up the nappies too tight! oh well, it was all new to me. Plus i had been too scrooge to buy nb covers - so of course they were too big. Once i bought nb sized covers, did them up firmly enough - NO MORE LEAKS! yeh!

i had to learn the hard way (i had thought nb sized stuff was a waste of money up til then). and i had a 3.79kg bub - which is not small i was told. but we STILL needed the nb sized covers and nb sized trifolds. All was not lost, was easy to onsell the nb sized covers afterwards, and we kept using the bamboo foldups for two years after that. (as boosters in other nappies).

If you have bought OSFA pocket nappies, they will often have microfibre boosters to suit baby at a variety of ages. Is there a nb sized booster also? Nothing to stop you stuffing those pockets with a bamboo trifold INSTEAD or AS WELL. My baby outwet the microfibre boosters pretty early. they're good cos they dry fast, but you'll notice, the things that take longer to dry, also absorb more fluid.

Some of this is personal preference too.
you'll find different makers use different sorts of bamboo.
you might get one trifold made ALL our of bmaboo fleece (e.g baby beehinds foldups, pea pods bamboo inserts - another excellent trifold)
you might get one trifold made from ONE layer of bamboo fleece and ONE layer of bamboo terry
they will vary in sizing too
buy a microfibre car cleaning cloth at big w and you have yourself a microfibre trifold. microfibre fabric doesn't have as much OOMPH to it, so will not hold the shape well, i found these harder to physically put in a pocket, but it is an option. We tried it, but it didn't last very long for my bub, the bamboo and hemp trifolds were much more suitable (for my child).

Sherpa is another thirsty fabric, i don't see much made out of it anymore, but it's good stuff. And i had a soy/bamboo fitted nappy, that had a trifold snapped inside it, that fabric was very thirsty. i saw soy Cute Tooshies (OSFM fitted nappy that does up with side snaps) on sale at nurture nappies recently. We only had one but gee it performed well. (by the time i found those, we had enough nappies, coudln't justify getting any more, wish i had found them earlier).

Wow Thankyou sooooo much Gigi :) That is all so very helpful! I am totally new to this and had no idea that there were different bamboos... Which is more absorbnt bamboo fleece or bamboo terry? I had thought that I could use the boosters that came in the pocket nappies or even 2 of them but unitl I get some newborn covers I dont' know if they will fit in them. I think I will get some hemp prefolds that I have found on nurture nappies and some of those bamboo foldups from BBH cause they are so cheap and it sounds like I will get loads of use out of them. Thanks again :)

learning about the napy fabrics (in the items you are buying) really helps you to make "infomred" decisions.

knowing the "properties" of a MCN fabric

i learnt heaps by reading everything i could find in teh DIY SEWING section of the Nappycino forum. ALthough i wasn't sewing any of those fabrics, just reading what the sewers that DID sew nappies had to say, helped me understand which fabrics did what, and that in turn, helped me when i went to consider/purchase a nappy.

Later on, i started sewing the mcn basics, e.g bought bamboo to make trifolds and boosters. And i could have made wipes too (if i hadn't already bought heaps of cloth wipes).

bamboo terry (single or double sided)
bamboo velour
bamboo fleece
bamboo jersey
SO MANY types of bamboo
and then theres the GSM numbers (which i'm not very good on!

any TERRY fabric has little loops in it, a bit like towels and flannels, but heaps softer cos it's bamboo!

the velour - it's so soft! some nappies like the itti bitti boo (a sized fitted nappy) are made INSIDE and OUTSIDE of this stuff.

the fleece, it's fluffy on one side, smooth on the other side.

the jersey, it's like tshirt fabric, that's what bamboo baby, kids and adult clothing is made out of.

whether the nappy or absorbent accessory (trifold, booster, prefold) is made out of bamboo terry, bamboo fleece, bamboo velour - it's all good. they're all absorbent.

the difference is in the SPEED of taking up fluid.

i was taught a good trick, in stuffing pockets, esp NIGHT pockets.
have the hemp or bamboo TERRY (the loopy looking one) CLOSEST to the baby's bottom (inside the pocket cavity)
have the hemp or bamboo FLEECE (the fluffy one side/smooth the other) FURTHEST away from the baby's bottom (inside the pocket cavity
cos when baby wees, the wee goes THRU the stay dry liner or inner, down in the absorbent fabric, the terry soaks up the quick bursts of wee, the fleece is the "marathon" part, keeps soaking stuff up.

and when baby has the runs, loopy fabrics are again a really good bet, cos when you have heaps of watery poop, you want a fabric that CAN soak up really fast.

(you can get COTTON terry e.g bath towels, the standard nappy flats)
you can get BAMBOO terry
you can get HEMP terry
the common denominator is the LOOPY appearance of the fabric.

so even if you don't sew, or have no intention of sewing anything MCN, remember the DIY SEWING section of the Nappycino forum, well worth a read.

i would link you, but it's not allowed on this forum.

Nurture anppies also has leg gusset covers on the special page e.g imse vimse. they also stock the thirsties and the bummibrites (also with leg gussets). THe peapod bamboo inserts are also good contenders. I'm sure you'll find more during the next month, if you do the Nappy Hunt. And some parenting forums have trading rooms. Sometimes people buy prefolds, and then don't end up using them, so they sell them off.

i have no idea if the Mazalicious store is still making prefolds, but hers were very nice too, but when i've looked, only available in small quantities - depends what you want. Some people want to buy them by the dozen for example. If you're using trifolds/prefolds as your child's nb nappy system, you would need minimum, a few dozen.

a word about hemp prefolds, i found them very important to get the size right. other fabrics, if prefold is a bit big, you just fold down the front. but with the hemp ones, i coudln't do that. so my too big ones, just didn't get used. the fabric was too "hard" to fold down. don't konw the right word to convey the meaning. but it ended up SO bulky, it just wasn't workable. so make sure you buy a nb size. (like 30 x 30cm).

i have a vague recollection that Cushie Tushies might sell a bamboo terry trifold too. maybe someone else could verify that for me.

hth

i just remembered you asked about Eenees - um, no, i wouldn't go there. Tried them, not a happy story.

Yes CT's do, they call it a fold-up and it is Bamboo terry. It seems thinner than the others I have.

Once again Gigi you have blown me away with so much information and I can't tell you how much I appreciate it! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you and hello alioops, I've checked out CT and might get some of those boosters too. :loveshower:

I have a much better understanding now of the bamboo story! I have purchased a few things from Baby behinds :) I got 2 of the Petite All-in-II newborn size because they are so cute! and 2 newborn covers to go with my foldups of which I purchased 10. I was thinking that I could use one as the nappy and just fold another in a rectangle and lay down the middle with a liner ontop, I guess that would work I just hope it wouldn't be too bulky. I've also gone ahead and bought 2 of the eennee newborn snibs because they look just so adorable :) I don't think I will use them as directed though due to so many stories of them not working! I think I might use the prefold system that I said above and just use those eennee snibs and 'covers' and hope that the bamboo soaks everything up and I don't have a leak? Feel free to burst my bubble if anyone thinks that wont work ;) I got a pack of the eennee microfiber nappies too because they are pretty cheap and thought if I don't use them in the nappies I will use them for wiping up spew or something! But I thought I could use one of the bamboo fold ups and the outer part of the nappy and the microfiber in the middle folded into a rectangle or vise versa... I also got some eennee liners in a roll of 500 as I want to be able to just throw them away, to start with anyway and I've read you can cut them in half for new borns so I should get double the amount out of them.

Thanks also for the hemp info, I don't think I'll buy any online but if I find some in a shop I can see what it feels like etc so can pick some up then.

I am going to sign up for the nappy hunt, I spent about 5 hours last year looking on different sites and going crazy because I couldn't find any of the icons :wall: It was so frustrating that I gave up! This year though I will be seriously looking to buy stuff though so I might be a little more patient hehhe,

Now I can't wait for my nappies etc to arrive!!!!

lol cherished u should have waited till next week then u would have got a discount :)

JwithJ Thanks for that. I know the nappy hunt starts next week but BBH's already have the item I purchased heavily discounted (half price for the fold ups) and I noticed that eenee don't participate so I bought them now ;) Besides I didn't buy anywhere near enough for a newborn so if I like what I see when it arrives I will buy more during March anyway... Gosh it's so addictive, the nappies are so cute! Do you have any advice on what you found best for a new born?

havent had a nb in cloth yet so im trying to build up nb nappies but im gonna use mostly prefold and cover its just easier at the moment during the day jamie can wear a prefold with a fleece cover for 2 hours and thats only cotton ones :) but hes a mega wetter at night so sorta good but sorta bad lol

WOJB: brown iishfly fitzall firetruck - does anyone else find them really huge for OSFM?

Closing this now :)
New thread HERE