I can’t quite remember what made me consider using cloth nappies but I think I was about 5 months pregnant when i started to look into it.

Initial googling suggested that you use about 4000 nappies before a child is potty trained and that they can take up to 500 years to decompose ( although i’m not quite sure how they came up with this figure). I then started getting targetted ads for one of the nappy bins (plastic) that wraps each nappy in a sealed plastic layer to avoid smells…which you then probably put in your normal waste bin (more plastic!). The image of 1000s of plastic nappies wrapped in at least another 2 layers of plastic started to bother me.
As well as the enviromental impacts, its estimated you can also save up to £1000 a year ( I think this also considers additional washing and drying costs). And the nappies, although an initial investment could be used for other babies or passed on to friends and family.

I spoke to my partner about it and he seemed open to the idea so I hunted online for hints and tips and researched various brands.

I saw Bambino Mio solos were highly rated and I loved the ease of them (all in ones as opposed to nappy inserts and covers).
I saw that Aldi were releasing a few designs as part of their baby event in Spring last year and i decided to go for it. They were selling for £8.99 each and normally sell at £15 or £16 so figured the savings were worth an investment. We bought the last few remaining at our 2 local stores and we asked our parents to pick up a few, which they kindly gifted us.
We ended up with 19 which i figured would be about 2 days supply in the early days and about 3 days worth later on.

We live in Scotland and every pregnant woman receives a Baby Box (an initiative set up a few years ago inspired by a similar scheme in Sweden/Norway). They change the contents every so often but ours included a voucher for a free Totsbot newborn nappy cover with 5 inserts.
I did use it a few times but just wasn’t a fan of the cover and insert separates. Quite often it would just be on, E would have a dirty nappy and it also got on the cover itself so i had to wash the whole thing and didn’t get more than one nappy change out of it per day.
Having said that 2 of my mummy pals use cloth nappies and don’t use the all in ones. They love the separates so i think if i was doing it again i’d try a few different brands.
I know some areas do nappy banks/libraries where you can borrow and trial different nappies. Some councils even offer discount schemes.

Equipment I bought before

• Started off with 19/20 nappies and I’ve bought a few more new designs, bringing it to 25
• 2 x 16 litre buckets ( the idea was to have one for wet and one for soiled nappies but i rinse the nappies before going into the bucket so i now use one for normal clothing, bibs etc)
• Cheeky wipes and boxes for clean/dirty wipes.
• Travel squeezy bottles
• Wet bags- I got 3 but they’re always being washed so will probably get some more, especially now I’m thinking of taking him swimming every week.
• Liners (decomposable)
• Boosters (cloth inserts to increase wee capacity!)
• Nappy cleanser (Mio)

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We used disposable nappies for the first 2 weeks. This was to avoid staining the nappies with the first few days of tar-like poops and also because they just looked a little bit big for him at the start. The all in one nappies do have different poppers and velcro so the nappies can be used for all ages but they did seem to drown him for the first few weeks. You can get newborn cloth nappies that are smaller so i could’ve got those. E was 8lbs when he was born so it wasn’t long before his legs chunked out and they looked less bulky.

Laundry

As for laundry, we’re definately doing more loads anyway, especially now we’ve started weaning! But we really only do a load of nappies every 3 days. They’re pretty low maintenance- the Bambino Mio ones don’t need to be soaked, can be washed up to 60 degrees and can be tumble dried on a low heat.
We’re lucky that we have a utility room and i rinse all the nappies in the sink there before putting into the bucket. This means there’s no smells andI’m not worried about having them near food prep areas.
As for number 2s, pre weaning they were liquid enough to rinse off in the sink and now we’re on the solids, you can just turn them into the loo and then rinse the nappy. You can also use the liners too but even without, i’ve found that the nappies haven’t stained at all.
When I’m out and about, I’ll just fold the nappies up and put in the wet bag until i get home. If its a dirty nappy and there’s a toilet I’ll get rid of the number 2 beforehand.

I have to admit that i havent been as good with the wipes. I started off well but then started relying on packets a bit much so will have to get back into the habit of using them.
For out and about it’s not always easy as some baby changes don’t have access to a sink. A friend suggested pre-soaking them and putting the clean ones in a wet bag or taking a water bottle. I got the travel squeezy bottles for this.

It is nice to know that we’ve always got nappies and for them to not always be on the shopping list. Recently with people panic buying due to the Corona virus, we saw nappies were in short supply in our local Tesco and wipes were completely sold out. I’m glad it’s not somethibg we need to worry about!

It’s also helped keep our waste down too. A friend with 2 nappy-wearing littles was asked by the council to keep and share a waste diary when she asked for a larger bin.

And apart from 2 areas at the top of his legs that E insists on trying to scratch the hell out if during nappy changes, he’s never had and sign of nappy rash or irritation.

Any other cloth nappy users out there? Do you also experience leaks after a few hours? Any solutions for overnights?

Any prospective users out there who have any questions?