over the last two years, i have come across people in all sorts of situations who use MCN on their child/children and make it work

e.g mums with seven children
mums who work fulltime
mums who study and work part time

i agree with PP, it is in part to do with attitude.

and you know yourself best, you know what you need to do to make something work.

if you are not set up to do something, it has a good chance of failure.
but if you plan, get the stuff you need for it to succeed, it has a good chance of success.

here are some things i did to make MCN work for us (as a newbie to it all)

- got good backup organised (joined ozclothnappies yahoo group, nappycino forum, these are two great MCN advocacy sites, great to browse thru for learning about MCN, then post questions when you get stuck, plus helps you meet people IRL who are using MCN too - if that's what you want

- got two nappy buckets (one to live in the loo, while other one is upside down in bathtub, drying from being washed out when i last emptied it). Where you put YOUR buckets, will depend on the layout of where you live. Some people have their baby changetable setup in the laundry for example.

- got a Little squirt installed in the toilet, to make rinsing off poo super easy, we use it every day, worth every cent

- bought enough nappies for two days, wash once a day

- got a clothes horse to hang up little things, instead of pegging

- bought sensitive washing powder for the nappies to avoid nappy rash

- bought half a metre of micropolar fleece from spotlight, cut up into liners, no sewing required

- two wetbags, one for the nappy bag ready to go out, one in the wash. Even very early on, going out with baby, unless you have a wetbag, too tempting to use sposies.

- nappy bag that will actually fit cloth nappies, most are made for sposies and are too small for MCN.

- re drying times, there are some MCN that dry faster than others. Esp for newborn stage, drying time is not really a big issue. Prefolds and covers dry superfast. When they get bigger, pocket nappies dry superfast, just make sure you buy MORE inserts, than you buy pocket nappies and you'll be fine.

There ARE tricks of the trade, read up on these whilst on maternity leave, get chatty on teh advocacy sites, people are only too happy to help the newbies. If you WANT this to work, there is alot you CAN do to make it work.

i would suggest you don't get all hyped up and buy a gazillion of one nappy. it sounds the easy way out, but i would hold off doing that.

Sewing some MCN whilst on maternity leave could be another option too, great DIY MCN threads on nappycino, here at belly belly and other forums too. If you can sew a straight line, for a rectangle, you can sew a trifold. (Fold a trifold in three, you get a pad, put that pad inside a cover - that's all that a prefold and cover is. Baby gets older, you stick that padfolded trifold into the pocket - it's the insert for the pocket nappy. Trifolds are SO useful, SO easy.

Sewing nappies is trickier, cos elastic is involved, but possible.

if you knit, sewing woolly covers called soakers, is another possibility.
Wool covers keep baby dry (you lanolise the cover to make this happen).

so many possibilities - and if you don't sew, plenty of stuff available online to buy, and a few IRL stores too.

MCN is not for everyone, nothing suits EVERYBODY, it's up to you.

People who know they are a bit patchy about remembering to wash the mcn, buy HEAPS of mcn, so it doesn't matter, they don't run out.

People who can be very discliplined about remembering to put the wash on every day, can get away with buying less nappies and just cycle thru the same nappies often.

i like the middle ground, so you have some leeway, for times when baby won't sleep, or you get sick, or whatever happenes, happens.

the MIXED packages are a good idea, to get an idea of what you do and don't like, before you commit to a type, or brand.

nurturenappies, darlingsdownunder, berry baby, babyblossom all do mixed packages. that's where you buy a package that is made up of a VARIETY of nappy styles. e.g
fitted and cover
pocket
all in one
that way you try several styles, to help you decide what you prefer.

People who DO use MCN are not superhuman, they have ordinary lives. They're just like you, people doing the best they can.

IMO, have washing machine (and the little squirt), not a problem! wihtout washing machine, i don't htink i'd be using MCN LOL. The little squirt sure does make it easy too. Not everyone that uses MCN has one, but for us, it's a very handy thing to have.

hth