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"I wish I knew." Just starting out on Cloth Nappy journey.

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MegAndMe
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"I wish I knew." Just starting out on Cloth Nappy journey.

Postby MegAndMe » Fri Oct 01, 2010 5:03 pm

So, I'm just starting out on my Cloth Nappy journey, having just done a nappy bucket trial with a local advisor with my first child, my lovely 4 month old daughter. While using the nappies I seem to have a never-ending stream of questions about whether I'm doing things right, how to decide on which type to use etc etc. My advisor has been really patient answering them all, and lurking in the forums helps to boost my knowledge but I remain largely a novice...

So it got me to thinking of all you regular cloth nappy users and that you must have started out as novices at first too. I wonder if now that you are more experienced you would want to go back in time and give yourself any words of advice, tips, tricks, things to look out for, changes during your babies nappy wearing time that you didn't expect... basically a "I wish I had known that" kind of scenario.

Of course you might not be able to go back and help yourself, but perhaps if you share your pearls of wisdom here, other novices (i.e. Me! ;-) ) might be able to benefit from your experiences and avoid any mishaps...

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lainey1978
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Re: "I wish I knew." Just starting out on Cloth Nappy journey.

Postby lainey1978 » Fri Oct 01, 2010 5:11 pm

I wish I knew how easy cloth was and started at birth not nearly 12months as I did!

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50ftQueenie
Cloth Nappy Aficionado
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Re: "I wish I knew." Just starting out on Cloth Nappy journey.

Postby 50ftQueenie » Fri Oct 01, 2010 5:53 pm

lainey1978 wrote:I wish I knew how easy cloth was and started at birth not nearly 12months as I did!


I wish that I had not been scared of fitted nappies for so long! It took me a whole year of cloth to get over my fitteds phobia. :giggle: Think of all those woollies I missed out on. <sigh>

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Emma1977
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Re: "I wish I knew." Just starting out on Cloth Nappy journey.

Postby Emma1977 » Fri Oct 01, 2010 8:04 pm

lainey1978 wrote:I wish I knew how easy cloth was and started at birth not nearly 12months as I did!


That would have to be me too. I bought about 40 different nappies whilst I was pregnant and when I first tried them at 10 weeks I had so many leaks that I gave up and went back to sposies. Eventually at around 10 months I decided that I either had to use them or sell them so I tried a BumGenius and have never looked back.

Advice would be:

- don't buy lots of one nappy as it may not suit your baby. Instead buy one or two and then if they work you have the option to buy more.

- Buy nappies preloved if possible as this way you can try lots of different types without spending lots of money.

- plain nappies work as well as the pretty ones.

- ask lots of questions on the forum. There is a vast wealth of experience on the site so make use of it/us :wink:

- if you buy a nappy that maybe doesn't fit straight away then maybe keep hold of it for a few weeks. You may find that nappies that didn't fit very well a few weeks ago may fit brilliantly - baby's shape changes quickly.

- Invest in good nappies that retain a good re-sale value rather than buying lots of cheaper ones - by this I mean that I bought a few Motherease One Size, found out they were not suitable and then couldn't sell them on as they are 10-a-penny on preloved forums.

Hope all that helps :D

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northernruth
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Re: "I wish I knew." Just starting out on Cloth Nappy journey.

Postby northernruth » Fri Oct 01, 2010 8:10 pm

.....that bamboo is the most absorbent insert and that Greenkids are the best bamboo inserts. Buy as many as you can get your hands on!!!

That if you find a nappy that works then actually you don't need to look any more - one of my favourite early nappies was Fuzzi Bunz and we were still in them at the end, having bought and sold all manner of others.

That Itti Bittis are not worth the hype :wink:

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aimeet
Sucker for Cloth Nappies
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Re: "I wish I knew." Just starting out on Cloth Nappy journey.

Postby aimeet » Fri Oct 01, 2010 8:25 pm

I would second buying preloved and not being scared of fitteds and prefolds. I was given a whole load of bambino mios and had heard lots of bad sthings about them but they were fab for Penny when she was weeny.
Make sure that when you get wraps you get ones that work well for you and fit well over you fitteds.
I agree that ittis are overated- pretty but not too fab.
Try lots and decide what works best for you. Also don't be snooty, our ebay nappies are great and simple enough for the childminder and hubby too :giggle:

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Emma1977
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Re: "I wish I knew." Just starting out on Cloth Nappy journey.

Postby Emma1977 » Fri Oct 01, 2010 8:26 pm

northernruth wrote:That Itti Bittis are not worth the hype :wink:


Would definitely agree with that one :twisted:

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Miss_Purple
Cloth Nappy Aficionado
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Re: "I wish I knew." Just starting out on Cloth Nappy journey.

Postby Miss_Purple » Fri Oct 01, 2010 8:43 pm

Great question! I wish I had known that birth to potty nappies wouldn't be birth to potty if you have a big baby - I bought loads of BG V3 which were very reliable, but it annoyed me to have them on the largest setting already at 6 months - I wish I'd just gone straight with sized nappies - they fit so much better.

Don't be scared of wool - I spent ages dithering about whether to try it or not, but once I did I never looked back :giggle:

Don't buy loads of newborn nappies, we hired ours and they were only used for about 3 weeks, plus as we changed them about 10+ times a day it didn't matter how absorbant they were as DD never weed through anything, it was constant poos that were the problem (we found prefolds and wraps were fine for those early days).

Don't think that cloth will be cheaper than sposies if you get addicted to pretty nappies :oops: :giggle:

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littlesez
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Re: "I wish I knew." Just starting out on Cloth Nappy journey.

Postby littlesez » Sat Oct 02, 2010 8:15 am

northernruth wrote:.....that bamboo is the most absorbent insert and that Greenkids are the best bamboo inserts. Buy as many as you can get your hands on!!!

That if you find a nappy that works then actually you don't need to look any more - one of my favourite early nappies was Fuzzi Bunz and we were still in them at the end, having bought and sold all manner of others.

That Itti Bittis are not worth the hype :wink:


YES bamboo is the best :D
BUT Itti bittis work really well for us and i absolutely recommend trying one because if you can get a good fit they are a really good nappy system and they are a lot cheaper than lots of other nappies. I have 9 and have used them for a year.

I tried and tested lots of nappies but I don't regret it because what works for one person doesnt always work for another so just try a few (preloved) then buy more of what you like. If you do want fancy nappies you will still save money as they have good resale value. Dont worry about getting it all right at the start just go for it! if you bought something for example from here preloved tried it once and didnt like it you could probably sell it again for the same price :wink:

I started off with some cheap and cheerful nappies, terries and little lambs, and will be using them again. Then over the past 2 years I have built up a nice fancy stash. I have spent a fortune on fancy cloth BUT having resold a lot of it as bubs grows I have only actually spent about £300 alltogether PLUS I have a stash worth quite a lot if which i may sell at some point OR keep for the next baby.

I dithered for ages at first but it really is trial and error, and i had lots of fun in the process

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