Thinking of changing to cloth

Hi all

DH and i are currently discussing changing over to cloth nappies now that DS is a bit older. We have no idea where to start though lol. I personally like the idea of pocket nappies or AIO's for the ease of use. Our main concern is the fact that DS grows at a fantastic rate and is already in toddler huggies nappies so i am worried about buying up alot of nappies just to have him grow out of them quickly. Although at his age i guess his growth will slow down soon. This is another reason that we are only starting to think about it now. He is also a very heavy wetter overnight and we often wake up to him having wet through his nappies over night and i suspect this might be why he still wakes during the night.

So my questions are what nappies are best for a fast grower?
What nappies are best for heavy wetting babies?
What should i expect to pay for a good quality AIO or pocket nappy?
How many would i need to buy to full time use?

Im sure i will have many more questions but this is all i can think of for now so please educate me!!

TIA

I'll give it a go!

So my questions are what nappies are best for a fast grower? OSFM would be your best money saver, growing out of sizes quickly is not necessarily a good thing if you are paying for sized ones! Having said that though, the sized ones are generally over a wider range of kg than disposables, so like some mediums are 7kg - 14kg for example, or 5 - 11kg - things like that. Miss M is still in mediums now at 10 months, and nowhere near growing out of them, so you get a lot of wear out of mediums generally.

What nappies are best for heavy wetting babies? Depends - some people find ones that work for them, that say, don't work for my heavy wetter. Ones that are successful here are ones that I can adjust the absorbency (pockets) or a fitted and a cover.

What should i expect to pay for a good quality AIO or pocket nappy? Usually between $23 - $35 (depending on brand, if its embroidered, what material its made out of, if its manufactured here or in China etc etc)

How many would i need to buy to full time use? I think the recommended amount is generally 24 in your stash. However, you can get around that by buying more pocket shells than inserts, because the shells dry really quick, and the inserts take longer. So you can go through your stash for less money that way. Or just buy a few MCN's and go old school cloth as well - thats always cheap!!

HTH!

Remember also that DS's rate of growth will slow down. If it helps, I have started buying MCNs for my DD who is 12kg and 18 months old and it is already saving up money and the environment and they are just so gorgeous that I hate putting a disposable on her (when I need to) and dislike my old fashioned flats even though I do use them occasionally. It is really best to buy a few (I have been getting 1-2 of a few types) and give them a go so you don't over commit yourself. Try just 2 clth nappies a day and see how you go. I particularly like pockets as the dry quickly and I can adjust the number of inserts I use and I can choose microfibre or hemp or bamboo inserts. Nearly all that I have bought are one size fits all- from birth to toilet training as I want to use them on baby number 2!

Thank you for the posts ladies. DH and I have decided to give it a go and are planning to get 3 or so mcn to try it out and see how we go. I think we will be more likely to get the pocket nappies. In your experiences what are the best pocket nappies or what brands should i be looking out for? How do the inserts work?

Thanks for the replies

How do the inserts work? Do you mean how do they go in, or how do the materials work?

As for what is best - well it depends on your bub. Some are sized, some are OSFM, some are wide crotch, some are narrow - totally up to what suits your bub! :)

Yeah what are they made of, what material is better, how do they go in, do you need to add a liner etc?

And what brands should i look out for or all they all mostly the same?

Im pretty clueless on this subject. Not really something i ever really considered.

Hi Isobel,

I am new to this too and have been getting heaps out of reading all the posts in here - thanks ladies for being so generous with your knowledge and info. :clap:

I live in Adel too and went to Natures Cradle on Goodwood road the other day. It might be worth your time to check it out. You can see a whole range of brands, types and sizes there in real life and get some advice from the ladies there. I am going to get two each of a couple of popular brands and try them out on bubs when they are here to make up my mind about which ones work best for us.

A bit daunting though isnt it??

ok pockets are basically the same. Most are made with a PUL outer (so they are waterproof and don't need a cover) and the pocket is mostly always at the back, and you put the inserts into the pocket to soak up the pee :)

You don't necessarily need liners, some are lined with suedecloth or microfleece, so they are stay dry liners, so its not like they are sitting in wetness or anything.

You can "boost" (meaning stuff) your pockets with anything from microfibre inserts (absorb liquid really quickly, dry super fast, but don't hold a lot) or bamboo (one of my favs, hold HEAPS, but take a lot longer to dry than microfibre. Hemp is good too, I don't find it as absorbent as bamboo (but some other people might disagree) and it dries slightly quicker than bamboo (in my experience).

Thats basically it.

You can have wide crotch ones like, bumgenius, happy heiny's, hautes, green kids (green kids are one of the widest I reckon) and they all work well for us here.

Or you can have narrow ones like Swaddlebees - they can come with a bamboo velour lining as well, ultra luxury! ;)

Ummm.. what else? LOL