Talk to me...

[MelZ]

Talk to me about your newborn/young baby cloth experience!

What did you wish you did differently? What did you do that worked perfectly?

What sort of a stash did you have?

Has anyone bought newborn nappies? Was the fit good?

Tell me anything and everything

As you probably remember from last time, I planned to stock up on heaps of OSFM, which I have and plan on getting some more, but I think I need to get some newborn ones too. Unless the OSFM will fit from birth... For some reason I have been reluctant to get nappies that a baby would grow out of within weeks. I suppose I could do a swap afterwards...

PS I know its REALLY early, but its on my mind so Im asking about it, so I can have everything prepared as soon as possible (wont be buying anything till past 12 weeks or untill we find out the sex). But i have a list of everything I need and want so that when Im ready to get it I know exactly what Im getting

[Esther]

It was awhile ago that we used newborn/small nappies. I found with my boy we needed smalls because he was 8'12" when he was born and gained weight rather than losing any I still found the osfm didn't fit till he was a few weeks old.

Some of the brands I bought aren't around anymore but this time I want to get some bv fitteds from Sustainable Hemp and hopefully some small fitteds from Bek at Pookey Pockets. I loved her pockets for my boy when he was little. They were the only nappies that fitted his skinny legs at the time.

Though I have already been naughty and have a layby at BBH. I just couldn't miss out on the coloured ones. I bought the original bamboo ones for Deklan but never got around to getting the newer ones.

Also I just couldn't resit getting some BG aio from Nuture Nappies (they are on special).

I also have a long list of other things I want to make or buy

[MadMel]

Well Mel I brought lots of smalls and OSFA. I had 6 newborn nappies and my little man was WAY too big for them so they have now gone to better homes

The first week I used flanny flats with Rikki covers. For us it was perfect, but I found from about a week and a half I was confident enough to try the MCN...

I started with the AIO/AI2 as I wasn't confident enough to give fitteds a go. So we used Itti, Bubblebubs and BG OS. Week 3 I went on to fitteds and that is where I discovered my favourite nappy, the CT BD

We have had a couple of wee leaks at the legs from learning how tight to do them, how much boosting can go it without gaping and finding the right fits. I have not had one poosplosion yet which I am so proud of!!

My stash was fairly small to start with, but once I found what worked I stocked up on them. Now I have a fair few and all different types. I am more eger to try new things now too Bamboo Velour is my favourite so when I see a nappy that I haven't tried (like the Mirabai nappy) I jump at the chance to try it (and end up buying another cos it is so yummo!).

Also I brought a lot of my stash second hand to begin with. I like knowing how they are going to work for us before I spend the $$ to buy some new ones So far half my stash is 2nd hand, the other new and I am so happy with out cloth experience so far!

Who knew I would be waiting with antisipation for my little bubba to poop or wee JUST so I could chance him hahaha

[*becstar*]

Being my first cloth experience i started with the basics, cotton prefolds and a couple of NB PUL covers. I used these with complete success until I had the chance to learn my bubs needs (average wetter, irregular solid pooer - lol) and then moved into mainly OSFM fitteds. I did have a few OSFM AIO (like BG's) from the start. I was reluctant to buy small nappies because I couldn't justify the cost for such a short amount of time. Now Jake is big enough for Medium sizes these should last him for ages so I'm getting more Medium AIO's but I still prefer my OSFM for value!

[Possum]

We did flanny flats and hemp/cotton prefold for the first few weeks with PUL covers. Terry was simply too bulky and the OSFM (BBH) didn't fit yet.

This time around I am sewing a bunch of small sized nappies and will be using them together with the same stuff as last time. I figure I can justify having tiny nappies since I'm going to be not buying anything for them except for maybe some elastic if I run out.

[Pheebs]

For me it was hard to judge.....I bought newborn nappies but Marlie was way too small to fit them (he leaked in all of them as he had no meat on his legs) then he did a growth spurt and finally was able to fit them...

Id definately go OSFM so BBB (which are an awesome night nappy too) as apposed to the MA (just for example) as now Marlie is out growing the smaller sizes and he is only 8 weeks old! The bamboo's are just lovely and dry so quickly on the line too, im heading towards more of them!

I have some prefolds here but cant work out the folds! (thats my next adventure!) AIO are really good during the day though and very "daddy friendly"! (although DH did use a BG the other day with a Peapod cover, was very cute, he was so proud)

The other thing as well is that Marlie is allergic to Microfleece so we cant use the inserts on a few nappies, you might need to take that into consideration!

[bilbylove]

what i did

• bought some cotton and hemp prefolds - got cold feet and bought mainly the bigger sizes of them (which didn't work on my nb, they were too bulky to "fold down") so that wasn't such a good use of the money
• bought a few bamboo foldups (gold - wish i had gotten more of these)
• bought some bamboo terry flats - i never got the hang of flats, but they were good for other uses
• bought small PUL covers and one nb fleece cover as a show off cute one
• bought some malden mills fleece pockets for nights (they were excellent)
• bought some ebay flannelette nb fitteds
• bought a Little Squirt (best thing i bought for MCN)
• was lent some baby beehinds prefolds (whihc BBH no longer sell). These were too long, but being finer fabric, COULD be folded down to fit for a nb.
• set up a bookshelf, with boxes, labelled "fitteds - need cover", "prefolds - need cover", "liners", etc. that was useful for both of us, esp when very tired
• elevated as much as possible (nappy bucket, washing machine, dryer) to reduce bending down in early weeks, had nappies in bookshelf at waist height and above
• clotheshorse to avoid pegging up the wet nappies
• bought very little show off stuff for the first stage, as i knew baby would grow fast, adn she did. I knew what my budget was, so i went for practical stuff, and started buying some showoff stuff when she got to 7kg. Cos i knew out 7 - 16kg nappies would be worn until TT-ing. My bub is 23 months and 11kg now, so i think that is a fair call. We are getting great value out of our 7 - 16kg size nappies.

what i wished i had done

• bought a decent amount of bamboo trifolds
• bought nb sized covers with leg gussets BEFORE baby arrived (i was convinced i wouldn't need them and it was an extravagance we could live without) - so in the first week when i realised, i coudln't handle all the leaks of the too big covers (the smalls), it was a pain to have to go get the nb covers THEN. If i went again, i would buy nb leg gusset covers, keep the tags on and not wash them, UNTIL i knew i had had a baby at the birthweight to need NB size - JIC i had a baby that went straight into the small size.
• bought wetbags earlier, cos even when baby is tiny, i still was going to hospital, GP appointments etc where i needed to store used nappies
• bought more "birth to 7kg" type sized nappies. i freaked out about buying nb sized nappies, but adjustable (e.g ones you close with a snappi) nappies that have a good weight range ARE economical (i worked this out too late to be of use to me!!).
• bought nb size boosters (sustainable hemp products sell them) earlier on - they were and are still, so useful.
• if i went again, i would have used the smaller OSFM fitteds from the start e/g whizz kidz sidesnappers, cute tooshies bamboo delights and mandy macs
• understood the reason why nb sized things are made, i didn't get it UNTIL i started MCN-ing my baby, then i REALLY got it. I had a 3.79kg bub, which i am told is a large baby too.
• learnt more about the fabrics MCN are made from, before making my initial purchases. You can save yourself buying lemons, if you understand what the fabrics do, what they are worth, how they need to be looked after etc. I ended up researching this (reading the DIY sewing thread here on NC) afterwards.
• not been so seduced by pretty OUTER fabrics. When i was pregnant, those pretty outers blinded me, so i bought without thinking some nappies, that if i had bothered to read what the entire nappy was made out of, and the fabric properties of the fabrics, i would not have bought those nappies. (which turned out not to work for us - my own fault). THere are many great nappies that DO have pretty outers, but there are also the other kind out there.

it's good to research early, then make your purchases closer to your EDD, good on you for being so organised.

[Pheebs]

• not been so seduced by pretty OUTER fabrics. When i was pregnant, those pretty outers blinded me, so i bought without thinking some nappies, that if i had bothered to read what the entire nappy was made out of, and the fabric properties of the fabrics, i would not have bought those nappies. (which turned out not to work for us - my own fault). THere are many great nappies that DO have pretty outers, but there are also the other kind out there.

I 100% agree with this one!

[MelZ]

Thanks so much for the info everyone!

So considering I have a fair amount of osfm, how many newborn ones should I get?

I have always been a pockets and AIO's girl, but it seems so many people find fitteds and prefolds etc are better on tiny babies (And thinking about it now, makes sense really as the whole nappy is absorbant, not just the insert, unless theres a different reason!)

I will be on a budget for the newborn ones, as Id rather spend more money on the medium size ones. Not that I need much more. I probably dont actually but theres a few more I want to try that we never used last time!

[MelZ]

Has anyone used Kissaluv countours on a newborn? Thought I might do that with a thirsties cover.

Because Im on a budget with it, Im thinking of going for those or snappi nappies with a cover.

I'll use all my onesizes as soon as they fit. So Im thinking I would only be using the newborn/smalls for 4-8 weeks