Cloth Nappy Tree Forum

Hi everyone,
I hope I'm posting this in the right place.
I'm looking for a few pointers or for someone to tell me where I'm going wrong.
I have a 10 month old boy. Back before he was born I decided I wanted to use cloth nappies but the large start up cost put me off. I didn't want to be in a situation where I spent a couple hundred on cloth, didn't like them and then had to use disposables anyway.
Well last week I decided to buy a few used on eBay and I got two new ones from my local Morrisons. They are all the same Bambino Mio nappies. They have three different snaps to resize them. For the record, the used ones appear to be excellent quality still and are very clean. I've been using them for a week alongside disposables (I have 11 cloth nappies). Every single time I've put one on my son they have leaked within an hour at most. It seems that as soon as he does a wee it comes straight through. The top front and legs appear to be the culprits.
I've done a lot of googling and I've made sure it's tight around the waist and legs and that it fits him properly, that it's positioned around the knicker line and not down on his legs.
I've read about people who have posted about similar issues and I've tried the suggestions they were given.
The only thing I can think of is that it needs a booster- but does that make sense? A booster just to hold 1 wee? I understand I need to change cloth more frequently than disposables but I kinda thought I could get away with more than 1 wee. Someone suggested folding a flannel and putting it in the front to act as a booster but that didn't seem to significantly increase the time before it leaked.
I am perfectly happy to buy boosters and understand that I will need them for things like night time but I want to avoid spending even more money on cloth if I'm going to have to continue changing outfits along with nappies.
Do they need plastic covers? Although the outside of the nappy is soft cloth the inside is plastic coated.
I kinda feel like I've made a mistake, wasted £50 and should just cut my losses. But then I see someone using them successfully and wonder what exactly I'm doing wrong.

you have posted in the right place!

What fabric is the stuffing for the pocket made from? My first guess is tha is isn't absorbent enough - microfibre in particular can be problematic.

Hi Sim,
Thanks for your reply. I think it might be microfibre. It certainly feels like the microfibre cloths.
Should it be the case that it doesn't even hold one wee?

Microfibre wouldn't hold one wee from either of my two boys and I know many others had similar issues. It also has a tendency to suffer from compression wicking - when it is full the wee squeezes out with the slightest pressure.

My go-to combo was a petit dessous bamboo with an Easy Peasy Hemp underneath.

Bamboo absorbs pretty quickly and hemp holds a lot (but absorbs slowly so is no good closest to the bottom!)

You could try a hemp booster (or two) under the microfibre inserts and see if that helps?

Hi and welcome to the forum I agree with Sim if it is MF then that is very likely the crux of your problems. I use a similar combo to Sim but I have lots of MF so I tend to use them on top (closest to baby) as they are very quick absorbing so do work well that way then hemp underneath which acts like a long term storage layer! You should be getting at least 2-3 hours (longer if you don't have a heavy wetter) so please don't think that you are doing something wrong, you just need to get your boosting right. Also have you tried any other brands of nappies? Some types will work / fit better on different babies. Please keep asking questions until you get it sorted and have a look in classifieds if you want to try some other nappies.

Welcome again

Welcome
I agree with the ladies and it can take a while to get the right absorbency and combo of textiles. So my best advice is to not give up, get a few different more absorbant materials like hemp and/or bamboo - don't by alot try it first to find the right combo for you little one

I echo what the others have said. We can't use microfibre nappies and tend to stick with bamboo and hemp.
It may be worth either boosting with a different fabric or trying a different fabric nappy.

Thanks everyone for your help.
I think I'll try some boosters before trying other nappy brands/ throwing the towel in.
You've made me feel a bit better about it all

Mab wrote:Thanks everyone for your help.
I think I'll try some boosters before trying other nappy brands/ throwing the towel in.
You've made me feel a bit better about it all

Honestly dont' get down about it - it is such a learning curve at the beginning but once you have sorted what works for you you'll be all set @Mab