Newbie seeking lots of info

Morning ladies,

I am a complete newbie to the world of cloth, I planned to use them with my first but due to the first 6 months of her life being spent in hospital with nappies being weighed this wasn't possible and then I just never got round to it , but having recently added twins to my brood I have decided that now is the time to make the switch for all three of them and have decided on pocket nappies, I am anxiously awaiting delivery of some from ebay (believe they are called dudeybaba nappies) and a starter kit from baba & boo. However I do not have a clue what I am doing and could do with help!!

How do liners work? They all come with 2 but surely I would need more than this?
I have read advice on layering liners hemp, bamboo, microfibre, is this the best way to go about it? (meaning I do indeed need more liners)
Do you use a fresh nappy each change? I have read somewhere that you don't always need to but surely if liner is inside nappy then the bit that sits next to their skin will be wet meaning a change would be needed?
What is the best way to wash them?
What is the best powder to use?

I think I will leave my questions at that for now, although I know I will have many more.

I have been generally appalled at the lack of advice available in the "real world" on cloth and people's reactions when I have said that I am changing have undoubtably been all negative which has made me so I have retired to the virtual world in the hope of gaining knowledge from like minded mamas!!

T
x x
Ohh by the way my eldest is 20 months (although a tiny girl, still being in 6-9/9-12month clothes) and my tiny's are 14 weeks old girl/boy

xx

I'm typing one handed whilst jiggling a grumpy 14 week old so I will reply properly later.
I just wanted to say WELCOME to the most addictive lifestyle choice that you could ever meet. We've only been in cloth just overa month but I would never change.

I will be back later when I am 2 handed.
Jess and Eddie

I am already addicted

It used to be shoes and bags now it's nappies and legwarmers, oh how my life has changed

Speak later

x x

I'm freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Question 1: What do liners do?
There is a difference between liners, inserts and boosters. Confused yet?
liners: Liners are either a piece of material like fleece or a flushable liner made from a similar material to baby wipes. Liners sit on the top layer of the nappy and it means that you can tip poo down the toilet without having to fish the nappy out of he bowl when you drop it. In a pocket nappy, you probably won't need to use anything too substantial. I use fleece liners but that is because our bamboo nappies don't have a fleece lining built in and fleece keeps baby's bottom nice and dry as it wicks the moisture away.
Inserts: Inserts are the material that you stuff the nappy with. They are usually made from, cotton, bamboo or hemp. A nappy is usually supplied with inserts.
Boosters: Boosters are what you stuff a nappy with when you realise that you have a wet leg and you only changed the nappy an hour ago. They do what they say on the tin and give a few layers of extra absorbancy.

2) Do you change the nappy each time?
With pockets and fitted nappies you'll need to change each time. If you were using fitteds with a wrap, you would be able to use the wrap if it was still clean. Snap in One nappies like the Itti Bitti Dlish can also be reused by taking out the inserts and snapping more inserts in.

3) What is the best way to wash them?
I wait until my bucket is full and then I shove them all in the machine with a quarter of the reccomended amount of washing powder. If you can smell the powder on the nappies you've used too much. It can affect the absorbancy of the nappy. I stick ours on a 60 degree wash but I'm thinking of dropping down to a 40 with 60 degrees if Ed is ill to make sure that bugs are zapped.

4) What is the best powder?
I think that this is completely personal choice. I use Persil Non Bio but only because a massive tub was on offer. We're moving to Eco Balls once the powders finished but I've heard that they don't keep the nappies very white so it really is each to their own.

We are loving our fitted nappies with wool. If you haven't been sucked into the world of wool BEWARE.
wool is great for night times because it lets some of the wee evaporate as the nappy can breathe. Not only that, you don't have to try and find trousers to fit over that gorgeous big bum because your nappy cover is the trousers.

I hope that helps. If you have any more questions then keep posting. I'm sure other people have different answers to me so you should get a good rounded opinion.

Jess and Ed.

I also meant to say that we have a few Dudeybaba's and they are quick big which is fab for me ad Ed is already 17lbs 10oz at 14 weeks :S He's still on the smallest snaps when on every other nappy he owns, he's on the middle snaps.

I was just thinking that if your twins are still quite little, you may want to look on the classifieds to find something a little smaller to keep them going until they have grown a bit.

I've not tried Baba and Boo so I can't comment on those.

Baba & Boo are great pocket nappies so they were a great buy

Welcome to the site. I'll just add a few more details to the great advice Jess gave you.

Liners are not necessary with pocket nappies as the layer of material that makes the pocket is already a liner of sorts. That said, my lo has more soft bowel movements & they are much easier to deal with when caught on a liner rather than trying to hold the whole nappy in the flush of the toilet. So I always use fleece liners.

Inserts - for most babies the inserts with the nappies are good enough. Heavier wetters would require either bamboo or hemp boosters to help the nappy hold more or you might need to swap out the inserts for bamboo & hemp depending on how much your baby can wee.

The best way to wash nappies - when I take off a dirty nappy, I take out the inserts & dry pail them in a lidded bin. Every 2-3 days, I do a wash. I put them on a cold pre-wash (or a rinse if your machine doesn't have pre-wash) with no detergent, then a 40 degree wash with detergent & then an extra rinse at the end to make sure there is no build up of powder. It is best to use a bio powder. If you have soft water, then you only need a tablespoon of powder up to a half dose of powder in very hard water areas. Some people always wash at 60 degrees but this is not recommended by the nappy manufacturers as it shortens the life of elastic & velcro. An occasional 60 degree is ok & I would always wash at 60 degrees if baby is sick or there is any sickness in the house.

For night time, you would be better off with a fitted nappy but it is always worth trying what you have got to see if they work before investing in more.

HTH

Hi

Well done for making the switch.

I agree with most of the above except pocket nappies don't work for us, I find they leak too easily and are therfore unreliable. We use fitteds (took me a while to get into as I hate wraps and didn't really believe the magic of wool until a few months ago) and AI2s which are a waterproof 'shell' with a booster/insert. AI2s can be handy for keeping the washing down (especially with 3) as you can reuse the shell as long as its not soiled with poo and use a new insert.

We wash when the dry bucket is full/we run out of nappies/wipes and put them on a cold rinse with no powder, then wash on 40 and then an extra rinse (or two) atthe end. We used to use Persil non-bio liquid but found liquids to clog up the machine making it smell really bad. So we have now switched to Bold 2in1 which also has the only safe fabric conditioner which won't coat the fibres on your nappies, stopping them being absorbant.

Best advice to summarise:
don't use water in the bucket, makes everything stink
don't use conditioner/liquid in the machine
always give them time in the sun to bleach out the stains
don't give yourself unlimited time looking at fluff - you will turn around and find the children have grown up and left home!!

it looks like everyone has answered before I got a chance- sorry a neighbour popped by!
The dudey baba look like the coolababy/naughty baby/ happy flute ebay cheapies. I rate them and we used them when dd was at the childminders as they are sooooo simple to use. My lo is quite big and has always been on a higher rise so you may find them a ittle large for the twins. I found that I boosted them with a little lamb bamboo booster as the microfibre inserts were not quite enough for us- but that was a personal thing. You can always pick up boosters on classifieds here and little lambs sell on ebay too if you need them.
Hope taht helps hun, enjoy the world of fluff!

Knew I forgot something ........

Be prepared to change a cloth nappy more often. The average around here seems to be every 3 hours.