Which Brand Is Best?

[SewItBaby]

I am looking to purchase some cloth nappies but having never used them before I am unsure of which brand I should use. There seems to be so many brands available online these days, how do you know which ones to buy?

I don't really want to wait until the baby is born and trial a few different brands because I want to purchase a full set of them while we still have dual income. Can you please share your experiences of brands you have tried and tested and those that you prefer. If you could rate the 3 levels out of 5, it would be appreciated.

Cost
Absorbancy
Durability

[Japh]

You may not want to wait but it will depend on your baby's shape as to what fits well Im afraid. I had two very different shaped babies and would have hated my stockpile I had for DS if DD was born first. You don't want to buy a huge stash in one style to then hate them and give up on cloth. Can you put the $$ away and buy a few till you find what you like?

I don't really work well with ratings but happy to share experience.

I bought a dozen mixed Green Kids OSFM with either bamboo or hemp boosters and a dozen Itti Bitti mixed small AIO's and SIO's before DS was born. He was 4kg, long and skinny with a huge head and didn't fit any of them despite being in the "weight range". They fit him from about six weeks and from then we loved them. I replaced the small Itti's with med AIO's at four months and large AIO's at about one year. These were the only ones I ever had (for day time night was a diff story) and loved them. Very $ effective and lasted for several hours before needing changing. The elastic went in most of them after using a rotation of about 15 nappies for at least 2.5 years. I have replaced the Green Kids elastic easily myself and sent the Itti's off to someone else at $5 each for repair. I prefer the Minkytimes and Anytimes as the Funtimes don't last as long. They are also a bit stiff. Overall minky nappies are my preferred choice.

DD was 3.5kg and short with super chubby legs. I had Bubba Moo newborn, Nappy Chappies lushies and small daysies, small Blueberries and Kissaluvs. Loved the Daysies, Bubba Moos, Kissaluvs and Blueberries. Hated the lushies as they were so bulky but used them from about four to eight months. As she grew the AIO Itti's were a poor fit as I couldn't get it tight enough on her waist without cutting off circulation in her legs. The Green Kids swam on her till about six months. Now she's nearly one and still sporting chubby legs we love Itti Tuttos, our Green Kids OSFM and Bambooty OSFM. We have others including Fluffy Bubs, Eco Bubs and Jazzy Butz but they just don't fit well on her. All ones we do love for DD are great for $$ and longevity in wear before changing and are still all looking great quality wise at this stage.

The only covers I have come across that I hate are Tots Bots. Very plastic-y. I don't mind fitteds and covers but find them less appealing than AIO and AI2. I hate side snaps as they always leak on DD now she's older.

Greenkids now have Newborn size which I am dying to try.

Perhaps give EcoCubs a try for a demo of their nappy library to see a few in person before deciding. There are also a few other places that have nappy libraries but don't know the off the top of my head :-)

[xjessicax]

With DS 2 I started him in prefolds and covers (wool overnight and PuL during the day), and then build my stash up from there. DS1 didn't start in cloth, we converted around 8 months.

I am not a huge fan of pocket nappies personally.
Durability will be played in part by how often you wash, how many are in your collection, how you dry them etc.

DS2 never really fit in "small" nappies either, so depending on size of bub really depends on where you start.

My recommendation would either be to get some fitted nappies & covers, or prefolds for the first 4 weeks or so, and trial some nappies there, perhaps put money aside while you're on dual incomes and see what happens!

[Eggie]

Fuzi Bunz are good. I did have happy babes pocket nappies, but they take longer to dry. With all this rain around at the moment it's worth a thought!

And invest in a good, organic nappy cream. This one's gorgeous Organic Baby Nappy Cream | Organic Baby | Lily Loves Pearl