1st day using cloth, couple of questions!

[Zfbaby]

Hi all,
I starting using my stash of cloth nappies today. Our son is 15 days old and weighs 9lb2oz. We tried a tots bots easy-fit btp first on the smallest setting and then a bum genius btp also on the smallest setting. My first question is how do I know it fits well? The totsbots left marks around his legs so I'm guessing it's too tight in the hip rise but going up a size seems like it would be too big. How to I judge if the legs fit too big or too small? The bumgenius seem to be far less bulky than the totsbots but come up really high on him. I think I remember reading somewhere it should come below belly button?!
Also has anyone experienced leaking around the tummy? I've noticed with the totsbots that his pee seems to have been wicked away up to the top of the nappy and then leaks through his clothes. Any way to stop this from happening? It seems a bit of a flaw to allow the inserts to be pushed all the way up to the waist edge, no?
Maybe I'm doing something wrong with them?!

 

[Rachel_C]

Check the fit by putting it on LO then cycling his legs around/giving him a good wiggle while watching carefully around his legs. If the leg elastic stays snug against his skin, it's tight enough. If you can slip a finger in the elastic without really having to force it, it's not too tight. If you do see gaps appear with movement, either tighten the legs or try pulling the nappy higher up around LO's waist to adjust where the elastic sits. Keep trying until you can wiggle him with no gaps appearing.

Some marks are ok, the kind that look like the marks you might get from a pair of socks. If it looks sore though, or gets dry, or doesn't disappear fairly quickly, you should adjust the fit.

There's no 'should' with how high a nappy should be. It varies by brand and by baby - some babies have longer bodies than others. As long as it works, it doesn't matter whether it's low rise or right up by LO's nipples .

With the Easyfits when you tuck the flap-out insert into the nappy you will need to fold it over at the end (inside the pocket) so that it's not all the way to the front. Aim to have it finish where you can see the absorbent bit finish on the inside of the nappy, about 2-3cm from the top. Then make sure that the inside front of the nappy is flat - if you see any folded bits on the inside (where the rise is folded down on the outside) make sure they're further down rather than right at the front. You see the smoother bit at the front inside? You still want that flat against LO's tummy, not folded up at all.