Help for a cloth diaper beginner

[mrshatch]

Ok trying this again in the correct thread
So expecting our second and started to look into ways to save money. I looked into cloth diapering last time but couldn't get the dh on board. Well I think I have him convinced him that this would be an easy way to save money. Now my question is what is the easiest way to get used to cloth diapers when all I have ever known is disposables? Which style are best for first timers? Also I have been looking and a lot of the prices seem high to start off but I did come across the kawaii brand so wondering are they any good? I know you can buy used one's but I really prefer to buy new. If any one has any tips or pointers I would really appreciate it

 

[fdcsw126]

I will also be a cloth diaper beginner, also with second baby. I have just bought a couple different ones so far, but I have decided we are going to mostly use bumgenius free time. The liners are attached so there is no stuffing of the inserts. I just feel these will be easier over all for us.

 

[biglebowski]

If you want something similar to disposables all in ones or pockets are a good start. You can pick up some brands pretty cheap. Little lamb do a very reasonably priced pocket nappy, and often have multi buy deals. I also liked Alva when I first used cloth as it was cheap and they worked well for my lo.
Cloth nappy week runs in April so a lot of retailers run good deals if you can wait until then. What I would say is maybe buy a few different brands as you never know what will work well for your baby. I loved Tots Bots and Baba+Boo, but others on here swear by flats and covers. It may also depend on how heavy a wetter your lo is, as different boosting may be needed. You could also do a combo of using disposables and cloth whilst you start building your stash. It doesn't have to be all or nothing, and even a few cloth nappies a day will be saving you money.
The outlay may seem steep but they will save a lot in the long run. I also sold a lot of my stash once lo was potty trained. You can't do that with a disposable!

 

[bumpy_j]

It depends on what you count as easy. For me the biggest obstacle with cloth nappies the first time was getting them to fit right. I therefore swear by flats as being the easiest system. Customisable folds, cheap and quick to dry. With shaped nappies (and especially with Birth to Potty), you'll find there's certain brands that don't work for your baby's shape as well as others. Found it too much of a minefield! Really didn't want to buy a variety of brands and mess around with trial-and-error, and really didn't have the budget for it either. Once you learn a couple of folds, its just as quick to change a flat nappy as it is any other.

Plus with a wool pull-up cover, you don't need to mess around with gussets. I was soooo bad at getting the gussets to fit right with my old all-in-ones as LO1s legs were so skinny.

My system is -

24x 50cm Bamboo Squares (around £30 for 12)
24x Disana knitted Tie Up Nappies (£2-3 each)
3x Wool Wraps for each size stage (£10-£20 each)
Fleece liners for a dry bottom
A few hemp boosters for night time

I also had some muslins for the first few weeks as my LO was teeny tiny, but you can start with terry squares pretty easily! The Jo fold makes it quite a slim fitting nappy.

I use the origami fold (slightly customised for her skinny legs) with the terry squares and a nappi nippa right now, and when LO is bigger I'll pad fold the squares and use them as inserts for the tie-up nappies.

The only thing I'll say is that you pretty much need a tumble drier in the winter for this system as bamboo can take ages to dry without one. Also you'll need to lanolise your wool wraps every couple of weeks, and these take around a day to dry if not longer.

 

[MItoDC]

We use Kawaii and they're great! I really like pocket diapers because you can customize the absorbency as needed. You do have to stuff them after each wash, but once they're stuffed they're like any regular diaper as far as putting them on and taking them off. We have quite a few Kawaii, a few BumGenius, and Alvas. All work great so far on my skinny 7-month old.

At the very beginning we did prefolds and covers. They seemed the best for the tiny newborn stage and doing the "jelly-roll" fold was amazingly impressive at containing that newborn runny poo. And the nice this is once they outgrow the prefolds, you can use them to stuff the pockets!

Happy to answer any questions you might have!

 

[LittlePants]

I'd go with 50cm bamboo terry squares as well. They are by far the most efficient nappies IMO, and you always get a good fit. Easy wash and quick drying, and slim fitting as well. The folds really aren't difficult, although you maybe need to spend 5 minutes practising before baby comes.

Here's a good fold for newborns