Starting out in cloth vs what you know now

I was thinking about our cloth nappying journey the other day and wondered what were those things that puzzled you in the beginning and what did you learn from those early stages.

When Oliver was little I loved the bamboo tots bots, but always managed to leave the nappy bucket until it was full as I didn't want to wash less than a full load (being green and all that). Bamboo is ace, but it took forever to get them dry in our house over the colder months and I'd be there turning the nappies over on the airer and moving them around so they got heat from the radiators, like they were the most precious things in the world.

Well, it took someone on here to make the very simple comment of 'oh, I wash them in with other things' when that penny dropped....

think that all types of nappys would work on all childern, With Ryan i could only use pockets really but keep using fitted and hading to change him every 1.5 hour till i relised that it was pockets that worked for him, and with ross i tryed a few diffrent thing and found that it was fitted that worked thr best but still use pockets occasionaly with wool

i would never change that i use cloth even with all the you must be mad comment from friends and family

think that all types of nappys would work on all childern

Aah yes, Itti Bitti's. As much as I loved the cuteness factor, they just never really worked for us. I think they are like Marmite.

I assumed that the inserts which came with pockets would be the best things to use! I eventually discovered hemp and it's been plain sailing since then

I just didnt understand the concept of fitteds at all. I thought 'what's the point if you have to use a seperate wrap that covers it up anyway' and then after not getting with a single pocket (just couldn't stand having to stuff them (aside from my beloved itti bitti's-the perfect ai2 imo!!) I tried a fitted nappy with a gorgeous gen-y wrap i found second hand. Now-best of both worlds and never looked back im expecting another and I still have all the nappies and wraps but I will try wool straight away. @laceybat has made some fantastic things for me xx

I have gone backwards!

I was so organised with izzy prefolding terries and such always had nappies even with a breastfed super pooper newborn.

This time i am like shit ! no dry nappies i will just use this tea towel

[clothmama]

I was so dismissive of flat nappies, I'd read so many bad stories about bambino mio and prefolds in general that I just wrote off all flats. When it got to autumn I couldn't get my fitteds dry due to not having the fire on yet and I bought some bright bots terry squares and it was a relevation! ?I really think they have their place and it isn't about the nappy but having a good wrap over the top! If I have a next time I'll do the same thing and have a mixture of styles in my collection as that worked for us and I found almost week to week something would work better than something else. I would however add flats from birth and also wool from birth. I had a disaster with a tots red fleece wrap in the early days so wrote off fleece but also wool in the same basket and I think it was at least 6 months until I discovered it!

I was so relieved when I realised I didn't have to soak my nappies!!! Huge relief and rid of the stinky smells!! And the only reason I ventured into other types of cloth nappies other than out Bambino Mio (and thus found this site) was LOs leg turned blue after the huge tri fold cut of her leg circulation! Its been fitted all the way since then.

I also couldn't understand the point of pretty nappies under a wrap/wool but let's erm say I've got over that!!!

I started out desperate to try every nappy going, but couldn't get my head around wool!

James had a completely different stash to Eleanor. He had a wide range of different types of nappies!

Eleanor has a bigger stash overall, but with fewer types!
And I've discovered my absolute love of wool
We now use Itti bitti's or
fitteds and wool! (With just the odd WeeNotions or blueberry throw in!)

If we do it again then I'd be keen to try out terries, but not sure I'd convince DH!
Although terries with wool is probably the only way we could use nappies from birth (as we have teeny ones here, 5lb 13oz and 4lb 11oz!)