Which cloth nappy option is the best way to go for a newborn?

Hello Ladies,

I am considering using cloth for my newborn but yet again I don't know where to start. I don't want to spend a fortune on nappies that bub will be out of in flash.

I have a stash of Itti Bitti mediums and I will use those once bub reaches the right size.

what do I use before that? Terry flats and covers? Prefolds and covers? How many will I need. What brands are good?

I recently bought a prefold to try and dd leaks through it quickly and it didn't have a panel down the middle like I thought..So which prefold is recommended?

Thanks

I can't recommend any particular brand of prefold - think mine are homemade - but I used a LOT of prefolds and covers with Miss M as a newborn - plus lots of different fitteds and covers... she can still fit into the small itti's at 4 months - but she also fits into the mediums (as does her 13kg brother!!)

I used BBH bamboo fitteds for Calvin - the advantage of these is that they are an adjustable fitted nappy - so he is still using them now. But they are expensive.

If I had my time again, I would probably just have bought the greenkids pockets - also adjustable (that I use most of the time now) & just have used sposies for a couple of months until he fitted the pocket nappies.

I used bambino mio's on DD as a newborn (i remember pamela, the midwife who caught her, asked if it was ok to dress her as her "prize" and was like "um, i think you're gonna need to do this bit..." when she saw our stack of mcn's :)) and they were fine, but with #2 i'm planning on knitting and ither felting or lanolising a bunch of shorties for that stage because although they were soft and didn't hurt her, i never liked the lines the elastics at the leg left on her skin. No leaks though... Pretty bad rash but i think that was the 4 litres of orange juice i consumed in the 2 days after her birth (was BFing).

Bx

Flanelette is better for a newborn if you want to use flats as they aren't as bulky as terry.
There are a lot of prefolds about that aren't really a prefold as you've discovered so read the descriptions carefully. Also the material they are made from will help their performance. I've been making my own with an extra panel down the middle out of bamboo and testing them as a stuffer in DS's pocket nappies with great success. They're dead easy to make too so if you can sew or know someone who can then why not give it a go!

Ezz the BBH are still fitting Caleb at 2 so I reccon they are the best value nappy I've owned ;) He still wears the first ones I got him when he was 8 weeks old!

thanks ladies for your response.

Raven - Absolutely no sewning ability here hon. I have a 30 yo Elna machine that my mum gave me and I don't know how to use it. Actually learning to sew is on my wish list.
Good luck with bub hon. Where would I get the bamboo material from?

Ezz - I guess I am trying to work out if using sposie will be the better option until bub is big enough to fit into the ittis or the gk I already have. I love the gk now on DD but they were really bulky on her until she was 6 months. Now that I have used cloth I just love the idea of using it for a nb...pitty it took until bub number 3 hey. Did you use a cover with the BBH?

Hoobley - good luck with your move. Maybe longies would be ok as this bub will be winter...I can't knit either!!!

Arimeh - DD is 11 months and is in large ittis, only because she has thunder thighs!!! My other daughter was is long and skinny so I think I would have got more were out of my ittis with her..I actually love gks on her now

I was a prefold user, with the motherese rikki covers. but, I did use sposies overnight..... I had some cotton ones, and some home made flannelette prefolds which I made using the nappy flannelette from spotlight. With all the prefolds, I used an extra hemp booster, cause I did have a heavy wetter. And if I used a flannelette flats, I boosted them too. Good luck.

Yes I did use the covers for the BBH. Sometimes the explosive newborns poo would go out the legs of the nappy - but the cover caught it. That's the advantage of nappy + cover for a newborn. If you get BBH, you will be able to use them for your DD now + for the newborn.

I did use some terry flats for DS when he was little - but they only lasted for an hour or so between changes & they were so bulky! If you are going to go for flat nappies, I think the bamboo prefolds are going to be a better bet.

But, I like the convenience of not using a cover (which is why I like the greenkids!). I think DS was using these from 3-4 months - but he was a porker. He was 8kg by 3 months.

i used Bambino mio , the prefolds and the newborn covers ... DD has only just grown out of them at 12 wks !! so for me it was great value !! ( am going to be selling them too soon ) also i use (and still do ) use pookey pockets nb snappy nappies .. i love them !!

we're going to attempt cloth with this bub and I've bought some flannel flats to use for the first week or with my bummis and BBH covers. I dont want meconium poos on the "good" nappies lol. after that I have a variety of different MCNs to try out and see what works best for us:) With DS I loved the ericas/very baby nappies best of all, and anything with side snaps.

Hey Bek when you posted we were flying up the freeway on the way to hossie to have bub :lol:

A few places to look for bamboo is bamboofabricstore, fairyfabrics or nappiescovered. I've got it from snapsaustralia too but you'll need to get bigger quantities from them.

Raven you are a doll thanks for the information.

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A few places to look for bamboo is bamboofabricstore, fairyfabrics or nappiescovered. I've got it from snapsaustralia too but you'll need to get bigger quantities from them.

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Hi

What %bamboo do you go for for making prefolds? I looked at the shops you mentioned and they have so many bamboo varieties!

Thanks,

Kate

Hi i'm due in three weeks and was wondering the same what cloth nappies are good for newborns and those explosive first poos (especially as hoping to breastfeed).
Hubby is liking the look of the bumgenius AIO, we have a couple of trial ones in XS size which should fit bubs as the obstrecian thinks baby is going to be in the 80th percentile (mid to top end of 8lbs) as baby was 2.7kg at 34 week scan.

the other trial packs i have are itti bitti (aio and snap in one size small) and tot bots size one.

any feedback on bumgenius aio would be appreciated. and has anyone used the one size pocket bumgenius on newborns?

thanks

Hi :)

Yup I did - I was still using the smalls on Miss M till about 2 weeks ago - she must of had a growth spurt! So I got from about a week old to 6.5 months - pretty good!!! I love my Bumg's .. absolutely love them!!! I've only got 1 medium now so I have to save that for special occasions.. lol

I've just started using the one size on Miss M now (stealing her brother's stash)

I used sposies (naughty me lol) but with bub #2 Id use prefolds and covers until they were big enough for smalls or mediums.

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Hi :)

Yup I did - I was still using the smalls on Miss M till about 2 weeks ago - she must of had a growth spurt! So I got from about a week old to 6.5 months - pretty good!!! I love my Bumg's .. absolutely love them!!! I've only got 1 medium now so I have to save that for special occasions.. lol

I've just started using the one size on Miss M now (stealing her brother's stash)

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Where do you get smalls from in Bumgenius because i can only seem to find XS and on their webpage it lists no products in this category

Bek - I've also been mulling this over because I know with DS I couldn't get my head around cloth for about 10 weeks so have been thinking of just doing sposies till bub is big enough to fit into my stash of OSFA pockets. I also have some BBH and mandy mac fitteds and a LURVLY BB chicky has lent me some more nb stuff. I'm not a fitteds/flats and cover kinda girl to be honest.

BUT - I remembered this morning that with DS I had some Whizz Kidz nb fitteds and I LOVED them. I Only had 3 so nowhere near enough but I only paid $10 for them and am going to go hunting for some more. They were great.

I'm an eejit and sold 2 of the three I already had, plus two of my nb covers - yanno, not having any more babies and all :rolleyes: but planning on spending up before bub gets here this time. I didn't buy enough nappies for DS last time cause I figured I'd try what I had and see which were the best fit/which I liked best but by then obviously I wasn't working and financially it wasn't all that easy to just go buy a heap of nappies.

I am getting DS a whole heap of itti d'lish because they are the best nappy on him by far. He's been it the large for months, we could have gone the medium but I wanted to get more use out of them. He has about 6 now and I'll get him at least 8 more (we use sposies overnight for DS because he wakes if he's in cloth).

So for the new bub I'm taking all the BBH fitteds (which I only ever used on DS at night anyway) and all of his bumg and baby kanga pockets. He was in those by about 12 weeks.

OK, that was a novel, but just trying to nut all this out myself before bub arrives so I know what I have to buy.

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Where do you get smalls from in Bumgenius because i can only seem to find XS and on their webpage it lists no products in this category

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I think they are releasing a new version because when I went to buy AIO's from the supplier I couldn't get any. So I don't think there are any in Aus yet :)

Willow - I have made the decision to use sposies for my newborn until she fits into my medium ittis. I just know that I would rather be doing other things than washing nappies late at night. I feel guilty about it but on the other hand I have never had a nb in cloth. Thankfully I have 6 ittis and 2 greenkids plus I double use the ittis by using some trifolded cotton squares. I have 12 large ittis. Thankfully my SIL hated using cloth and sold 6 of them to me for next to nothing.

so far ive loved my kissaluvs and gussetted covers, FJ fitted and cover and small bubblebubs on millie

Bek - I've decided to use a mix of both for the first month or two. I have some cloth but probably not enough for full time so might use sposies overnight and whenever washing is too hard.

If this was #1 or #2 then I'd go cloth but it is absolutely our last and I don't want to spend a heap on nappies that won't fit for very long, I'd rather invest in larger sizes that will get more use.

I brought DS a 13 pack of itti's while the nappy hunt sales were on so now he's in those full time (he has about 18 I think, plus a few of his bumg pockets in the unlikley event we run out, hasn't happened yet) and everything else will be used by the new bub.

So for the new bub I have:

About 6 or 7 newborn fitteds (mostly borrowed but a few of my own. Some of these are pretty girly but I'd probably just use them on a boy anyway! LOL)
3 small BB covers - need to get at least one Maz fleece cover I think, much prefer fleece to PUL
A couple of prefolds (borrowed)
5 small BBH magicalls (borrowed)
3 mandy mac fitteds
3 BB OSFA fitteds
2 small peapods (not the best nappy but I found them pretty good on a young baby with frequent changes anyway)
8 bumg OSFA pockets (some will need leg elastic replaced I think, will have to find someone to do that for me)
3 medium IB d'lish

Most of these should fit from about 8-12 weeks as I tend to have bigger babies so I'm not buying much else I don't think. The nb stuff is mostly borrowed (thanks Mel! :hug:) The IBs are great on DS and he'll wear those till he tt's, then the new bub will inherit those. Still haven't had much success with him in cloth overnight which is a shame, but might try again soon.

Re washing - figure I have to wash DS' anyway so another load or two shouldn't make much difference, we have a 8.5kg front loader and i can do a few days worth of DS' nappies in one load if need be.

Willow - True regarding the washing. If this was my 1st or 2nd bub I would definately look at buying cloth for nb but like you this is my last bub and I would rather buy bigger ones.

Sounds like you have everything sorted for Boo