Returnng to Cloth after 2.5yrs with a newborn

Hi Im Stacey,
Im a previous cloth user, who gave in to the convenience of disposables with my last baby
Im due a new baby boy in 5 weeks time and want to try cloth again. It will be like starting from scratch as I have nothing anymore, only a bucket and some lanolin shampoo I found in the back of the cupboard

Anyway, their are many reasons I gave up cloth before, mainly the leaks tbh, but also never really finding nappies that work for us other than at night. I have long slim babies so need a less bulky nappy. I think ive tried pretty much everything on the market tbh, but determined to try again.. all suggestions welcomed.

So If im going to get a newborn stash ready, what would you recommend in terms of type ( ie should i get fitteds and wraps or pockets or a combo etc), how many and any tips to help me succeed this time.

Many thanks
Stacey x

Hi there Stacey, welcome! and yay for having another go at cloth! Liam was pretty long and skinny (still is, although he's now on the 2% for weight, so he's properly porking up!)

I've found that fitteds are the best. Pockets just seem to leak leak leak, although close parent pop-ins (the bamboo ones) seem to fare quite a bit better. I guess I would recommend terries for the first few weeks and then bamboo or cotton fitteds (I have old-school tots bots nippa version, little lambs and some that I made).

As for wraps, sized thirsties (they're being phased out by the thirsties duos so snap them up while you can!) are great and other mums of skinny babies have had good luck with little lambs wraps. We do have a few pockets, bought with the intention of being a change bag nappy...but right now we're not having any joy whatsoever. I would still recommend a few pockets though, just in case they work for you! I got mine off the classifieds.

Once he started sleeping through the night, I used two terries and a thirsties wrap or a double boosted little lamb bamboo until he was about 9 pounds. We now use a terry square plus a pop-in for nights.

I'm sure that other people will have some great tips and there are loads of threads about newborn stashes if you do a little search.

Hi Stacey!

Im new here too, hope the cloth nappies work out better for you this time. I'm sure that lots of people will be pleased to offer advice to help make things easier.

take care: Jude

I also find for leaks the best thing we have found with our skinny scrap is a prefolds in a bikini twist, it mean you can get it right up close to the legs and because you fold it on the baby with practice it a perfect fit (with a bamboo booster for nights) and they are not too bulky too!

My little girl was preterm and has a skinny little waist. I started with little lambs, diddy diapers and easy peasy nappies. I love them all. I also added 5 teenyfits from tots bots which are great and most recently got a couple of lil joeys which I think are great. Have ordered 4 more lil joeys. I have lots of issy bears and pockets nappies but they are too big at the mo. for wraps I found my fave is a motherease one. I also hav some weehuggers that I use as wraps and have ordered some weenotions wraps cause I wanted some girly ones
Theres too many lovely ones to choose from

Hi Stacey

Welcome to the tree

Like a previous poster said terries are a good start. They are very economical as well. It you want to go for prettier newborn nappies, there are some really gorgeous fitted nappies you can get.

As for your main stash of nappies, I would say go for a mix of fitted & pockets. Fitted are more reliable for most babies but pockets can be made to work for you by switching out the inserts. I have a super heavy wetter. If we used fitted nappies, I would have to have a stash of night nappies to use for day time but that costs more than I can afford. I use pockets as my main stash but I don't use the inserts that come with the pockets. Pockets are also a lot more convenient for when you are out & about.

HTH

Hi Stacey

Welcome to the tree

Like a previous poster said terries are a good start. They are very economical as well. It you want to go for prettier newborn nappies, there are some really gorgeous fitted nappies you can get.

As for your main stash of nappies, I would say go for a mix of fitted & pockets. Fitted are more reliable for most babies but pockets can be made to work for you by switching out the inserts. I have a super heavy wetter. If we used fitted nappies, I would have to have a stash of night nappies to use for day time but that costs more than I can afford. I use pockets as my main stash but I don't use the inserts that come with the pockets. Pockets are also a lot more convenient for when you are out & about.

HTH

WSS

A lot of pockets tend to come with microfibre inserts but these are no good for heavy wetters. I do use the MF inserts if they come with them but I also boost with bamboo and/or hemp.

My favourite pockets are probably Weenotions, I use them all the time on my DD, and I find if you stuff with a Ptits Dessous bamboo insert plus an Easy Peasy Hemp booster then you have a pretty reliable nappy, I've never had any leaks with that!

I am now after some Weenotions for my DS but it's only really now I'm starting to use pockets on him - I found fitteds better for the newborn stage. Our main newborn stash has been a mixture of Little Lambs, Totsbots Bamboozles, Motherease Sandys, Diddy Diapers (I really like the nippa fastening ones of these), Bimbles and a few Teenyfits (these are very dad friendly, lol!). Also I agree terries are a good option, and a cheap way of bulking out your stash! (Whenever anyone suggested terries to me I thought "no way, I can't be bothered with all that folding etc" but I actually really like them - it's a bit of a novelty - and they are very cute!).

Rach xx

Stacey, welcome to the tree and for coming back to cloth. Enjoy your new addcition

Hi Stacey

I also had long slim babies - long in length (56-58cm?) and 8lb11 and 8lb 2.5. I use/d bumgenius v3's with mine - they are said to be able to start from 8lb but I found with ds who was bigger I had to wait maybe 2 weeks and with dd maybe 6-8 weeks - but then she lost alot of weight the week after birth. For the time until they grew into them I used disposables. The bgs are still going strong, they contained breastfed poo no problems.

Just thought I'd share as lots of people seem to prefer 2 parters for when they are weeny but I really don't like them - too much assembling and more bulky imo than a pocket. I also suggest getting a few, trying them out and then selling the ones you don't get on with and if you are expecting other people to help out with nappy changes don't have too many options in your nappy box or you won't have many offers!

xx