Long time, no nappies!

[diva-n-dan]

Well it's been a very long road but we're finally here!!!

Joined up in 2006 thinking getting preggers and putting some cloth on a baby's bum would be a piece of cake ... what nieve little fools we were ...

After more poking and prodding (and normally NOT by my husband! ) than should be allowed, we got told that IVF was the ONLY option for us ...

So off to the IVF clinic we went ... only to discover that we'd FINALLY managed to do what comes naturally ... even after years of pills/potions/proddings and surgeries!!!

We now have a lovely little son and we just couldn't be prouder ... and I get to finally delve into the addictive world of cloth!!!

Now I "was" going to make a whole heap of MCN's ... have the moolah , have the sewing expertise, even have the pattern (wee wakka with gussets).

However in my research I've noticed that some patterns don't work on some body types, some babies don't like PUL or FOE, some aren't absorbent enough, others are too absorbent and therefore take days to dry, the elastic in them can "go" with multiple washings, they can get expensive with all the extra bits and bobs you need to buy and so on and so on.

Now to be perfectly honest I'm far too lazy to be fiddle f@rting around and wasting time, money and energy with mountains of mock ups to get it right, and even if I do get it right, who's to say that they'll work equally well on the next bubba we have?

So we've (Ok I lie, I'VE decided, hubby couldn't care less as long as we're not forking out for disposables anymore!) to go down the flat road, and thought I'd just make up a heap of bamboo flats and need some of your sage advice.


I was thinking of using the Snaps Australia bamboo fleece ... it seems to have twice the gsm (grams per square metre) of bamboo towelling, so I'm assuming this would mean that it's thicker and thirstier???

As it is about 400gsm would doubling it over be too much??? I wouldn't want to go any thicker than double, as we live in Tassie and quite regularly get fortnights of torrential rain, we don't have a dryer and don't really want one!

If I was the ultimate in lazy (and I so wannabe ) and just cut widthways, folded it over and sew around the edges, I'd get squares of about 70cms ... is this too big?

How "stable" is bamboo fleece anyhow??? If I doubled the fabric and sew round the edges, would "quilting" the layers together with some fancy sewn design be enough?

How would I fasten it? Would snappies work? I don't mind using old fashioned nappy pins if need be, mind you I'm pretty handy in the crochet department and have quite a few knitted/crochet nappy covers/pants patterns, so finding one tight enough that could hold the nappy together without any fastenings would be a breeze.



If you've made it through the ramblings of this new nappy nut then you deserve a medal ... or at the very least some chocolate and the nappy you've been lusting for ....

Eagerly looking forward to your replies ... would like to get honest opinions from all quarters ... the good, the bad and the ugly ....

[~Melissa~]

Hi Diva & welcome to NC

Sorry, I can't answer any of your questions because I only know how to buy nappies not make them

[diva-n-dan]

Thanks for the welcome and the honesty!!!

When I finally start making some woolies maybe I'll have some for you to buy ....

[mum2miya]

HI Diva,
Welcome! How are you planning on fastening the flats? If you are planning on using a snappi I don't think the fleece would stand up too well as the snappi would have to grab the weave of the fabric. Bamboo terry is a better bet if you are using a snappi.
I would just go with one layer of 60cm square as once folded, you'd have a mighty thick nappy if you used two layers. Drying time is also much reduced if you have one layer and no seams.
My favourite flats were bamboo terry.
Hope I haven't confused you further!

[diva-n-dan]

Nahhhh mumtomyia certainly haven't confused me further ... and thanks for the input!

I have seen the bamboo terry ... looks really good ... but from what I can gather it's about 290gsm whereas the bamboo fleece I'm looking at is 420gsm, so I am "assuming" (I've never seen any of it IRL) a good deal thicker than the terry and therefore will hopefully be better for our little boy who we affectionate call the "Urinator"

Thanks for the heads up on doubling issue ... one of the main reasons I was thinking bamboo was to reduce the bulk factor, without compromising the absorbancy ... it would be fantastic if I can get away with only one layer ... means twice as many nappies for the same price!!!

As for how we'd fasten them ... I'm still unsure at the moment. If snappies wouldn't work then I suppose it'll have to be nappy pins or perhaps a tight fitting cover?

[Lis]

what I would suggest would be to buy some good quality covers and make some pad style "boosters" to lay inside the covers.
a lot of people are put off by using flats and getting all the folds right, dealing with the extra bulk, and a lot of the time SO's/other family members seem to struggle with folding flat nappies, in my experience.
that way your fabric would go a lot further as well, and you could also use them as boosters if you do decide to use some fitteds/night nappies etc.... and you wouldn't have to do any more sewing than you would to make flats.

I love my bummis SWW covers, and they have been designed to work well with a pad folded nappy.
mine are onto their third year of use now and still going strong
(though mister chubby legs is about to bust out of the mediums now )

[diva-n-dan]

Lis ... that's the system where you just lay a folded up cloth pad of some description down the centre of a cover and fasten it isn't it???

Fortunately ... (or unfortunately depending on your view ) ... all our friends and family are very "old school" ... we've had to teach them how to put on a disposable and most times when we've come to pick him up he's got a terry flat on him!

It's actually astonished us how many people STILL have a few flats lurking around their households ... even after their kiddies have left decades before!

[Lis]

Originally Posted by diva-n-dan

Lis ... that's the system where you just lay a folded up cloth pad of some description down the centre of a cover and fasten it isn't it???

yep, sure is!
I have a few nappies that work well that way, depending on the cover you use.

the berry plush AIOs use a similar sort of booster inside their shells, but it does snap in.

I found that bamboo flats were just too bulky, and took up too much space in the washing machine, and it was almost like so much of the fabric was wasted, because he was only weeing in the "wet zone" part of the nappy... if that makes sense... and it was pretty much impossible to find clothes to fit properly.... cause he was such a tiny thing for so many months.
I also found that I was always re-adjusting the seatbelt when we were occasionally using flats, because they made his bum so much bigger, that was frustrating!

a lot of people do like them though

[diva-n-dan]

Thanks for that Liz ... I am looking for something a bit trimmer than the usual terry towelling, I do love the "bubblebutt" look, but it's highly impractical for the excellent reasons you just said!

So with the fold/covers system, does the folded pad hold BF pooplosions in? Or do you have to change the whole cover and pad??? Do you change the whole cover/pad for each wee/poo or just the dirty bit???

[MGlatte]

Welcome back Diva and congratulations on your bub.

With the pad fold I found that the poosplosions weren't always kept in. With changing the cover, for me it depends on whether or not the cover is wet or dirtied. If it wasn't wet or dirty then I use it again.