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Annette's long newborn review

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AnnetteandBen
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Annette's long newborn review

Postby AnnetteandBen » Wed Dec 12, 2007 5:44 pm

Annette and Benjamin's review on his tiny nappies (written when Ben was nearly 6 weeks old and approaching 8lbs, last weighed at 7lbs 4oz on due date aged 4 weeks 2 days and wearing newborn size clothes and is a formula fed baby).

Benjamin's early arrival was a huge surprise with my waters breaking at 35 weeks + 3 and then finally Benjamin arriving at 35+5. I had been expecting an average to large size baby so hadn't splashed out on loads of teeny tiny nappies. However I had got a couple of small ones just in case, mainly to try for a couple of weeks for research purposes, but they got used a whole lot more than expected.

Ben has been a cloth bummed baby from birth, apart from a short stay in SCBU where they don't allow cloth nappies (don't know why, at the time it wasn't an important question to ask). He also spent a long time in incubators naked for treatment for jaundice however this didn't stop his cloth use, he just had the nappy opened up underneath his bottom catching whatever came out. This worked until he got a lot more mobile in there and would rotate himself round and round, so for the last few days we went to just using the inca sheets chopped into strips laid across the bottom of the incubator which we could peel off when needed. Due to our long stay in hospital (he was discharged when he was 9 days old) and the amount of nappies we already had and the problems we were experiencing with royal mail delivering parcels I didn't buy any extra tiny nappies, so we had quite a boring but useable collection.

Ben was 6lbs 2 oz / 2804g at birth. His first ever nappy was a popper fastening bimble size 0 with a bummis newborn wrap (sold under the label cotton bottoms made by bummis). His other tiny nappies were 40x40cm bamboo babeco squares folded into the jo fold and fastened with a nippa and a few newborn prefolds made by cotton bottoms. All of these nappies could fasten underneath his clamped cord and were a good fit. I personally wasn't responsible for washing his nappies, my husband took them home in wet bags and brought back clean ones (sometimes bringing them back slightly damp to drape over chairs and his empty plastic cot to finish drying (we don't have a drier!), but we didn't have any problems with the meconium staining and discovered that Vaseline applied thinly to the bum area after changing helps the meconium just slide off. We used fleece liners and washable wipes too.

Marks given out of 10, ten being good.

Tiny Nappies
Bimble
Reliability 10
Absorbency 7
Cuteness 10
Drying Speed 9
Slimness 10
Value for Money 5
Daddy score / none cloth user ease of use 10
Overall comment Highly Recommended
Detailed Comment I found this to be an OK nappy, expensive to buy new but a great fit from birth and still fitting at 5 weeks. I've not found it very absorbent for the amount of time it takes to dry, but never had a leak from it. I only had 1, and it was popper fastening and white but it is easy to boost if you need to and is fleece lined.

40 x 40 cm babeco bamboo terry
Reliability 10
Absorbancy 9
Cuteness 9
Drying Speed 10
Slimness 10
Value for Money 10
Daddy score / none cloth user ease of use 1
Overall comment Fabulous!
Detailed Comment Once you get the hang of folding they are great, very absorbent, slim, relatively cheap and quick to dry (especially for bamboo). At 5 weeks the jo fold is starting to get a little tight. If I could give these a mark higher than 10 I would as even once they have been grown out of you can use these to boost other nappies, inserts for pockets or instead of muslins or even floor cloths!

Cotton bottoms newborn prefolds
Reliability 10
Absorbancy 9
Cuteness 5
Drying Speed 10
Slimness 8
Value for Money 8
Daddy score / none cloth user ease of use 5
Overall comment Recommended
Detailed comment Even those these have a reputation for leaking, I haven't had a problem with them using the poo catcher fold and fastened with a nippa. At 5 weeks these are also starting to get tight when using a nippa.

Size 1 nappies

Little lambs cotton
Reliability 10
Absorbency 10
Cuteness 9
Drying Speed 8
Slimness 8
Value for Money 10
Daddy score / none cloth user ease of use 10
Overall comment Fabulous!
Detailed comment these were bought as the main nappy in our size 1 collection and they haven't disappointed. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend these for the value of money and ease of use as an applix nappy. They were also a good fit from around a week old, folded down and fastened with a nippa. These are daddy's favourite nappies and he learnt how to fold them down and nippa very fast! They are also easy to dye with Dylon Cold water dye if you want colours. I got cotton little lambs before the other options were available, so can't comment on the other materials.

Diddy diaper and micro diddy
Reliability 10
Absorbency 10
Cuteness 8
Drying Speed 7
Slimness 9
Value for Money 9
Daddy score / none cloth user ease of use 8
Overall comment Recommended
Detailed comment In the early tiny nappy days I found these kept his legs further apart than even the folded down little lambs. I found them more fiddly to fold down and fasten than the little lambs with the tabs still at 5 weeks being too long, so one has to be folded back before you can fasten the nippa. Once he got bigger (7 to 8lbs) we also tried without a nippa and they seemed to fit well.

Tots bots cotton and bamboozle
Reliability n/a
Absorbency n/a
Cuteness n/a
Drying Speed n/a
Slimness n/a
Value for Money n/a
Daddy score / none cloth user ease of use n/a
Overall comment I have the applix version of both and these are still too big.
Detailed comment Both of these are still too big for Ben. They would fit better if the applix had cross over tabs like the little lambs do or I guess the nippa version would fit as you could cross over the tabs and make them fit. They also seem higher in the rise which although a good thing for long term use means they don't fit as well right now.

One size nappies

Swaddlebees Organic Velour Onesize
Reliability 10
Absorbency 10
Cuteness 9
Drying Speed 8
Slimness 9
Value for Money 9
Daddy score / none cloth user ease of use 7
Overall comment Fabulous!
Detailed comment In the chaos of coming home from hospital I had forgotten about these nappies, so never got to try the snap in booster as a contour nappy. However poppered onto the smallest rise setting they provide a lovely fit (from 5 weeks) the crotch area is nice and need and they are so soft and lovely. Being a BTP nappy I think they are good value for money as I already know they fit on a toddler, even though they are very expensive.

Motherease onesize (cotton and bamboo versions)
Reliability 10
Absorbency 9
Cuteness 5
Drying Speed 8 cotton / 5 bamboo
Slimness 9
Value for Money 10
Daddy score / none cloth user ease of use 7
Overall comment Recommended
Detailed comment These say from 8lbs, but they are too big and loose on the smallest setting still, with too much of a gap to risk to use as a nappy apart from the odd try on. When Ben was exactly 8lbs tried them and they were still a little big, but worked OK.

Bumble and Bambeasy
Reliability 10
Absorbency 9
Cuteness 6
Drying Speed 8 bumble / 5 bambeasy
Slimness 5
Value for Money 10
Daddy score / none cloth user ease of use 8
Overall comment Recommended
Detailed comment These have less poppers for fastening and size adjustment to confuse people like Daddy! From 8lbs they are very sqidgy between the legs, so there they come out as quite a big cuddly bum, but are good fitting.

Pockets

Fuzzi Bunz size small
Reliability 10
Absorbency 10 (when using your preferred stuffing, mine currently being a bamboo sq and mf cloth)
Cuteness 10
Drying Speed 10
Slimness 10
Value for Money 9
Daddy score / none cloth user ease of use 8
Overall comment Fabulous!
Detailed comment First tried at 5 weeks as they were far too big in the beginning, but are so cute having a print on the outer. Stuffing with the bamboo square works well too! Poppers can be fiddly for daddy and hard to know which popper setting to use.

Bumgenius v2.0
Reliability 10
Absorbency 10
Cuteness 9
Drying Speed 10
Slimness 9
Value for Money 10
Daddy score / none cloth user ease of use 9
Overall comment Fabulous!
Detailed comment First tried again at 5 weeks as it was too big. The only reason it didn't get 10/10 for everything was it doesn't come in prints and if not poppered to the right rise setting could be confusing. The supplied microfibre insert, with popper feature also means a slightly bulkier nappy than if an exact size insert was used.

Wrap review

Motherease XS rikki - even these tiny wraps were too big to start with. Benjamin first wore these over a folded down little lamb when he was over a week old. They are probably the easiest wrap I own to put on and guarantee a correct fit over any nappy, without adjustment afterwards. Still lots of room to grow and works well even over a MEOS nappy.

Bummis newborn - these were sold to go over the newborn prefolds, but fitted perfectly over the bimble and bamboo squares. I can't remember ever trying to get these to fit over a folded down nappy as I used a large size due to the extra bulk and fit round the legs. They dry really quickly - the longest part to dry is the size label on the outside, which if needs must can be damp!

Cotton Bottoms size 1 - these are slightly different to the bummis wraps - wider Velcro to attach the tabs too and a larger size. Used well over all nappies and still fitting now on the smaller nappies.

Little lambs size 1 - a wrap which fits perfectly over the little lambs and other nappies. Fitting using the cross over tabs so lots of waist left.

Overall (quick!) cloth review - I have only had a nappy leak when it was human error and not the nappy's fault (1st being nappy showing around leg / wrap not properly over and 2nd Daddy forgot to put any wrap on over the nappy!). In all this time I have only had 1 poo leak from a nappy onto a wrap, but it got no further.

Update at 7 weeks old - The tiny nappies are still just fitting but are a lot lower in the rise than the size 1s, but are still working well although not as absorbent. Now we have lots of choice at every nappy change as all the nappies fit and generally we save pockets for our out and about nappy changes due to speed of changing.

If you have made it this far I hope I haven't sent you to sleep! Annette

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jules070603
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Postby jules070603 » Mon Dec 17, 2007 12:41 pm

Annette,

What a great review, thanks for that. Hopefully it will come in very handy for me in the not too distant future as I didn't use nappies on Zach until 10 months old. I already have 3 teeny bambeasies and 3 xs fuzzis!!!

I have a friend who is 30 weeks ish now and will send her a link to this site, I keep mentioning CNT to her and told her about this review on Thursday when i met her. Like the sound of the little lambs, they are such good value too.

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clothpenguin
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Postby clothpenguin » Mon Dec 17, 2007 5:42 pm

Annette i have just reread this and you have enlightened me as to the cotton bottoms sizing dilemma, thank you!

CP + Beans

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AnnetteandBen
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Postby AnnetteandBen » Mon Dec 17, 2007 5:58 pm

clothpenguin wrote:Annette i have just reread this and you have enlightened me as to the cotton bottoms sizing dilemma, thank you!

CP + Beans


I had changed it slightly from your preview version :wink:

There are 2 lots of cotton bottoms wraps on the market, although mainly now as preloved. There are the ones which say made my bummis and have the label on the outside and I have used nb and s so far (patterns are frogs and 'star baby'. Then there are cotton bottoms wraps with the label on the inside and they have a wider band of applix on the front of the wrap (patterns swirls and to me dodgy looking rabbit/teddy thing.s) and we have used size 1.

Although I believe you can still get bummis wraps through totsbots direct or probably the US or canada where they are sold as bummis super whisper wrap (sww)

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Chell
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Postby Chell » Fri Jan 04, 2008 8:49 pm

Thank you, helpful to know which fit a new born and which are too big.

How long did the Little Lamb size 1 fit him for?

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Rae
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Postby Rae » Fri Jan 04, 2008 10:26 pm

The little lambs size 1 fit Kayleigh from birth until about 8 months, when they just got too short in the rise (although still fitted her fine around the waist).

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clothpenguin
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Postby clothpenguin » Sat Jan 05, 2008 9:54 am

Birth to 8 months is excellent going I reckon. They have cross over tabs which must make them really flexible for smaller babies. I gave a bamboozle to a friend whose son had grown out of it by 9 weeks! :shock: but then he is just ENOURMOUS! :lol:

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AnnetteandBen
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Postby AnnetteandBen » Sat Jan 05, 2008 11:41 am

Chell wrote:Thank you, helpful to know which fit a new born and which are too big.

How long did the Little Lamb size 1 fit him for?


little lambs still fitting perfectly - but then he can still squeeze into newborn clothes and 0-3 are still loose but room to grow.

at 10lbs (2months old-nearly 6 weeks old adjusted age) the onesizes fit perfectly, but the tots just are not fitting properly yet.

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Re: Annette's long newborn review

Postby AnnetteandBen » Tue May 13, 2008 7:54 am

He has just grown out of size 1 little lambs now at 6 1/2 months and approx 8.5 to 9kg.


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