What to make/buy for a first stash?

It has to be said, cloth nappies never cease to amaze me! No matter how much I read, there always seems to be more to figure out I've only been on this forum a few weeks, but already I have learnt masses - it's just turning that into an actual stash that I'm having trouble with

Anyway, I am trying to work out what sort of stash would be best to buy/make before my LO comes along in November. I don't have a tumble dryer or a house that is particularly great at drying things. I do like making things and enjoy it, so am prepared to try out a few types. I am really into trying out terries, but also need some more straight forward nappies in case my housemates (I live in a shared house) end up helping out, and for grand parents etc. I'm really into knitting and the idea of wool soakers, not so keen on fleece covers, but aware I will probably need some PUL ones for when we're out and about. I'm planning on wearing Sprog a lot so would prefer an option that reduces the need for me to carry about spare clothes for *both* of us, as much as is possible

SO, this is what I've been thinking of making/buying:

- Terry squares/muslins - for using around the house with wool covers, where it's a bit easier to deal with explosions
- DIY fitteds - for use with wool covers/PUL covers for housemates/father-to-be (depending on how he gets to grips with terries) and by me when I'm half asleep, no doubt, and if Sprog's a wriggler
- A couple of DIY pockets - I don't really know why, it just seems like a good back-up idea - feel free to tell me this is pointless!
- Soakers/longies - to go over the top two options, and because I can't stop knitting
- PUL covers

I am totally stumped on night nappies - I haven't even started thinking about those yet!

What I'd like to know is your thoughts on what I've said above, and also how many of each you reckon seems a good starting point. The bonus of making things is that they work out cheaper, so I can hopefully have an over-generous stash to get us through the early months (when it will also be the worst time of year for drying things, sod's law!!).

Oh! And does it make sense to make fitteds with a snap-in soaker, rather than a sewn-in one? I'm kind of hoping that might help them dry quicker, but please feel free to tell me if the reality of things is different to my hugely inexperienced theorising

Many thanks for your wisdom -
Citrus xxxx

Pockets are ideal if you've got limited drying methods and space.....you can have several thinner inserts for them so that they dry off quickly on airers etc. Terries/muslins are great for stuffing pockets too.

For fitteds, again several snap or lay in inserts will work better for you as they'll dry quicker and you can then mix and match the absorbency....even for night times.

If you're enjoying knitting, plenty of wool will be great as they can take a while to air dry. You'll have plenty in rotation then!

HTH.

WSS!
I think for our newborn stash, we're going to have Bamboo LLs (because they're CUTE!) with wool/fleece and a couple PUL and some BGs for Daddy to use I'm also saving a few BTP pockets that Dawn has for then, even though I don't think they'll go small enough for newborn, they'll come in at some point
I think I'm probably going to go down the prefolds route for the first couple of weeks, as you can make them cheaply and it doesnt matter if they get stained etc.

Gosh, it feels so long ago since I was cloth buming a newborn Dawn And even then I used Bambino Mios and Mothercare's Smart Nappy I didn't know you could use prefolds like terries, I though you could only trifold them and put them in the cover Oh how my knowledge has grown!

ETA: LL = Little Lambs, BG = Bumgenius

For the first year of Kellan's life I used terry squares and Motherease wraps, then I was introduced to here... Now it's completely different I found terry squares easy to use and very quick drying, I slung them over the radiator last thing at night and they were dry in the morning. I changed to pockets/pop ins (Itti Bitti's) for a bit when he was a year as he now won't stay still to have his nappy changed, and using squares/nippas was far too much work! Now we're into a mixture of fitteds with fleece and wool, and pockets when we're out and about all day.

Just be warned, if you're not careful and restrained, fluff will take over your life

Blimey ladies, that was quick!

Angelsquidge - The snap-in inserts idea sounds good to me, definitely. I was thinking then a fleece inner (with fleece topped inserts to snap in) with flannel or something else cute on the outside It would be easy to make a lots of different inserts (I have never known so much about the properties of different materials as I do after reading this forum for a few weeks!) in different materials, and to make sure I always had some on clean and dry. In my head pockets have three layers (4 where the pocket is), plus inserts, so I figured they'd take a bit longer to dry, but maybe that's false logic as one of the layers is waterproof anyway. I think I need to draw some labelled diagrams to help me remember the differences between all the types!!

I think there will be A LOT of soakers once I put in a bulk yarn order - no shortages then!

Dawnsmummy - The LLs are cute! I guess they're made of bamboo terry, which I should be able to get hold of somewhere. They look very squishable I am a bit worried that, as no one else is as interested/obsessed with cloth as I am that I'll have to get some pockets or AIO-type-things for people who can't get their head around it. I'm also going to make a flow-chart to help people work out which nappy to put on if they've offered to help lol. It's not because I need one, honest

Prefolds and terries sound so sensible for the first bit. I suspect this might be quite a large baby (there aren't any small ones in either of our families) so maybe they'll go straight into small sized nappies, but having something flexibly-sized things like terries seems like marvelous back-up. Plus, they'll always get used for something.

Choccylisa - What you're using now sounds like what I'd like to aim for, and it's good to hear that terries are really useful. I suspected that once they start being able to crawl away, terries get trickier though

Thanks for the advice ladies - I can't wait to start sewing! xxx

Hi there!

Definitely buy/make some pockets as they dry super quick and having multiple inserts (snap or lay in) are great for fitteds as they dry quicker. Do you have a line outside? Not particularly useful in winter but our nappies dry in an afternoon on a good day

Im due in Dec. So far we have 2 Wee notions pockets (no inserts yet), 2 pul wraps, 2 fleece wraps, 1 wool soaker, 3 fitteds i think so we are going for a variety too! As for night nappies, id just use day nappies with an extra insert in, after all when they are teeny they usually poo in the night so need changing anyway.

hope that helps some x

Terries are fantastic. I have a pile of Mothercare and boots ones (Dont rate the Junior Joy ones much) and they get used for all sorts. Nappies (still! I'm a huge geek and love all the folds lol), towels for wiping up, covers for when dawns munching to stop food going on sofa/floor etc, bibs (Just tie around the back and voila! huge cover mostly-all bib ) Then obviously mopping up spills, wiping faces etc.
Even when I went back to disps when Dawn was younger (Why did I do that?!) I still used my terries for everything and always had a couple in the bottom of my nappy bag.

(edited because I apparently can't type today lol)

Terries are also good for clearing or so I found out...!!

I wouldn't worry about night nappies at first, like someone else said, the baby will need changing throughout the night for the first few months anyway. Even when baby gets a bit older, some people get away with boosting normal fitteds for night time, it's just a 'wait and see' really (see whether they are a heavy wetter or not). I do sometimes just use a boosted LL or Motherease Sandy for night although I do have some night nappies too.

You are best to get a mix of different types and see what you like - but I agree with dawnsmummy that LLs are fab. You can get them in bamboo, cotton or microfibre - I have a couple of each. I dont have a dryer either so I like the microfibres for the fact that they dry amazingly quickly! Some people arent keen on microfibre (and I can see their point sometimes tbh) but they do dry really quickly and are also very fluffy and squidgy the bamboo are fab, lovely and soft and very absorbent, but they do take AGES to dry, I find they take a couple of days sometimes!

Another good one to try for a newborn is a Motherease Sandy (the size XS are sooo cute), I use them with a Motherease Airflow/Rikki, and Tots Bots Bamboozle! You can get them in a size 1 or 2 but the size 2 can be used as a birth to potty which is fab.

I personally wanted to get a few of each type (i.e. a few fitteds, a few AIOs and a few pockets) as this seems to work best for us. I use fitteds more when I'm changing her myself and then pockets/AIOs (though out of the 2, I prefer pockets) for when other people will be changing her (plus you can get some really pretty ones )

How fab that you're going to have a go at making some too xx