Yay, we have started our journey!

So after much umming and ahhing DH and i have started on our MCN adventure :dance: We went and bought 2 cushie tushies today to start our collection and trial. Decided to start with a AIO to make it easy but thinking i like the idea of a pocket nappy especially in winter so it dries quicker. So excited to put ds in his new mcn's !! :clap:

I was wondering from those of you who are more experienced in MCN what are your favourite nappies and why? And how many times would you suggest we wash our mcn before using them the first time? Dont want to end up with them leaking everywhere and ruining my excitement lol!! Any hints and tips would also be very appreciated.

Yay im very excited :dance: :dance:

well firstly congrats lol
i normally just wash once then use but change more often coz they are less absorbant they do say normally about 3 times before use
make sure u only use 1/4 to half wat u would normaly use when u wash but no fabric softner or soaker

Yay, you won't regret it!!

I'm the same as JwithJ - I only wash them the once before using, but I found, especially with the cushie tushies, that they get more absorbent the more they are washed, so I'd change him frequently.

DD is a big wetter, and we have her mainly in Bumgenius with no issues on leakage. Though I think as she's getting older ones with snap closing as opposed to velcro might be better! (Harder for little fingers to undo)

Good luck!

CT's don't fit DD properly (still) so we don't use them here - faves are widdle wuns (for pretties), itti's and bum g's (for work horse nappies), baby beehinds or licious lullaby's and maz covers for nights.
i tend to only wash once, maybe twice - but realise i have to change more often during the day

don't be put off if your first nappy's don't fit right - it can be trial and error to find the right fit.

there is a group on ozebaby that you can hire a variety of nappies from so you can find the nappies that fit best without massive outlay

I only wash once.

I'm relatively new to cloth too - but my favs are itti bittis (they're not for everyone though), fluffybubs and bubblebubs... For super dooper absorbency though, I'd go bamboo Baby Beehinds (needs a cover) :).

HTH

Thanks for the replies ladies. Ill look into the brands you have suggested. We only have two nappies at the moment as we dont really have the $$$$ to outlay for a full set yet. Looking to work up to 1 day full time mcn and keep going like that trialing diff nappies as we go along to find the right one for us. I do love the pretty ones but i know that ill put it on ds and he will do a poo straight away. Plus now with summer upon us it will be nice for him to run around with his mcn on rather than the hot stuffy disposable.

I am trying to remain strong and buy majority unisex so they can be used for bub #2 but its so hard coz there are some really cool ones. If i have a girl next we will be in real trouble as i love love love so many of the girly ones lol.

Sam: I like the snaps too, thats something that i would prefer as ds is already trying to get his disposables off with the velcro. Bought some swim nappies but the only ones they had were velcro so hopefully he doesn't learn how to take them off. How do you find using cloth in winter?

Does anyone use anything special to wash them? Thanks for the tip re using less powder JwithJ, dh will be happy to hear that. We are going to try the dry pail method first as that was what was suggested to us, what do ther people do?

Yup - I dry pail - I just wait for the bucket to fill up with nappies, then put on a load :).

nappies come off DD's butt, and unless they are dirty, they go in the bucket. when it comes to washing time, we disassemble them (i try to do it as i go, but DH doesn't, so we usually have to pull them apart at wash time) - throw them in the machine, put in a small amount of powder, and set it going. we have a nappy cycle that does it all for us, so honestly, i don't know exactly what the cycle does - should probably look lol
dirty nappies get rinsed and we usually wash straight after. she is, at the moment, only going every 8 days, so we just create a load when she's been so we end up with no stains

all our nappies get dried on an airer - any that seem mildly discolored get put in the sunniest spot (we dry inside until recently - so the discolored ones go near the window)

you'll probably find you have to change the nappies more regularly than you do with disposables as there are no crystals to store the moisture!

ummm, don't use bum creams like sudocreme - they will reduce the absorbancy by creating a barrier on the material. if you check out the cloth nappy threads there will be mention of the ones that are ok to use (moo goo is the one i use, but tehre are others)
don't use fabric softner

most of all - enjoy the fluffy goodness!

Thanks BG and Sterla. Ill check out that thread you suggested BG.

Also another question i thought of, what is the most economical way to build up a stash? Are they cheaper online or from shops or is it pretty much the same?

Ive bought alot of my stash second hand, there is a facebook group lots of BB girls are in that is for selling/swapping mcn, or buyforbaby is really good too! I used to use nappychic but that's closed at the moment.
We started slowly like you, and just built up to full time cloth! My favs are cushie tushies, and pop ins, but have little bits of everything - Green Kids and BabyBeehinds for nights, and a few pretty ones too :)
I use a tiny bit of powder and then half a cup of Bicarb to wash my nappies- then dry in the sun. We dry pail also. I'm using a mixture of flushable liners and fleece liners - and make sure you use a sposie if youre giving him panadol as it stains nappies!

We do the dry pailing and it works well (although the laundry is a bit smelly with this heat!). I rinse off any sticky pooy nappies but DD is at the stage where the majority of the poo's just fall off into the loo. Don't do anything special with the washing - prob one load every 2 days, about 1/8th the washing powder recommended and I think its a 60 degree cycle (its just the towel setting). I just use run of the mill washing powder, but I know some people use special types.

Winter is a pain for drying, which is why the bumg's work well, otherwise I just have the house looking like a laundromat with airers full of cloth nappies everywhere!

In terms of building up our stash, we started with DD in terry flats as a nb, and then when she was around 9mths, got a great deal on the bumg's at the preg expo (and it was just after one of the stimulus packages - thanks Mr Rudd!!). ANd don't forget that it might seem like a major purchase now, but I got DH to think of it as an investment (esp going for the bumg's) as #2 (and a poss #3) will go through them too!