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Crackers for Cloth III - Cracking the maths: how many washable nappies do I need?

10/22/2014

13 Comments

 
Note: I have not been compensated in any way for mentioning or linking to any of the companies/products below. Just so you know. 

Mr P&P and I decided to use cloth nappies before the Bean was born and, as I’ve mentioned before, we love using them and have learned how to make them work very well for us. However, some of the nappies in our stash have recently given up the ghost.

And so I find myself back at my desk, trying to crack the cloth nappy maths: how many do we need? It’s a tough question, and one I think many first-time cloth nappy users struggle with. I don’t have the definitive answer, of course, but in this post I’ll go through the numbers as well as the factors that I focus on in my calculations.
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Our stash in numbers

Newborn to ca. 4 months* 

7 Tots Bots Bamboozle Stretch, size 1
6 Basic Boosters
3 Motherease Rikki Wraps, size s

This is not enough for full-time use, as a newborn can easily need changing 10 times a day. In our sleep-deprived inexperience, we were just a little too cautious with our cloth nappy use. If and when there is another baby, I would probably go for this:
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*Note: how long your baby stays in newborn will depend on their size. Tall and/or chunky babies may be able to go to Size 2 nappies or One-size nappies very quickly. Our baby being a small and skinny Bean, he needed tiny nappies! 


4 months to potty training - so far
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It’s been  a good stash, I think, but the Bean is now 21 months and the Bamboozles are falling apart. According to Tots Bots, this is to be expected given how heavily we have been using them. Which may well be, but it means I have to wash almost daily to keep up and it is driving me NUTS. So I need to do some fluffy shopping!

To help me decide which nappies to go for next, I’ve started a Pinterest board with the best cloth nappy deals around at the moment: 

http://www.pinterest.com/PastaPatchwork/best-cloth-nappy-deals/

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It’s far from complete, but for now I’m particularly interested in:

The MioSolo All-in-One 6-pack kit | £69.99 from the Nappy Lady

Close Pop-in V1 +Minkee | £10 each from Babipur

Tots Bots Bamboozle Stretch (stripey) | £11.04 each from Babipur

Little Lamb Pocket Nappy | 5 for £27 from Fluff Heaven (mega bargain!)



I'm also interested in a 6-pack of Charlie Banana 2-in-1 nappies, but I'm a bit put off by the price... In any case, in the end I'm hoping we will have something like this:
4 months to potty training - the ideal stash
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As you can see, we'll have gone from 20 to 25 nappies, which should mean fewer washes and also help the nappies to last longer.

I'm still mulling over the options, so...

What to consider

The factors that will influence my final decision are:

Price
Obviously. Although I think the Bean will still be in nappies for another 6-12 months, and we could pass them down to another baby when he’s done with them, I don’t want to spend a fortune. Therefore, I’m steering clear of the very best but very expensive All-in-One nappies.

Ease of use
The Bean goes to nursery four days a week. The nursery staff are happy to use any cloth nappy we send him in with, but they do prefer the ones that don’t have a separate wrap. I get this - nappy changes are not exactly a toddler’s favourite activity and the quicker you can get it done, the better! I’m a big fan of the Close Pop-in nappies for excellent ease of use (read our review of the Pop-in V2 here).

Absorbency
Big toddler boy means big wees. Sorry, but there’s just no other way of putting this! We are boosting everything but it would be nice if the new nappies were absorbent themselves, or at least easy to add boosters to. Anything made of bamboo gets plus points!

Drying time
Although good absorbency and fast drying times do seem to be mutually exclusive, I want at least a few fast-drying nappies for when the weather is cold and drying takes that bit longer (i.e. now!).

Looks
How shallow am I… But I do want these nappies to look good, and so I love me a pretty print. I’m also looking for a nappy that isn’t utterly massive. Though I don’t think the Bean is bothered, bulky nappies make finding affordable clothes that fit really hard! 
Over to you: How many cloth nappies do you have in you stash? Would you recommend any nappies in particular? And have I missed any good deals??

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13 Comments
Jenny link
10/22/2014 04:43:25 pm

What a great post. So informative. I never have used washable diapers but I know MANY that have and loved them. Than you so much for linking up to Share With Me #sharewithme

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Katie Haydock link
10/23/2014 05:55:59 am

I didn't ever think that there was so much that went into cloth nappies!
We use pampers at the moment and are close to potty training stage so I think we shall stick this way with our first, but for any other child I would 100% consider cloth.
Great post xx

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vicki - elliebearbabi link
10/23/2014 06:53:13 am

I love cloth too, but am having a destash restash situ as my lil ladies 21 months now and some nappies no longer work for us. We have about 40 in total we wash every other day but have enough to prob do us 4-5 days without washing if we wanted but i like washing every other day. I recommend the cloth nappy tree site has a fab nappy swap and ad pages, you can pick up amazing new and preloved nappies for a lot less than rrp xx

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Eline @ Pasta & Patchwork link
11/3/2014 02:32:55 am

Thank you for the comment and for the great tip! I'll be having a look for sure x

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Seychellesmama link
10/23/2014 08:01:01 am

This is so great! I wish we went cloth with Arthur as we can sometimes struggle with getting good disposables here. Think we will look at it more seriously if we have another :) x

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Sarah (@tobygoesbananas) link
10/23/2014 04:23:17 pm

Great post! We have 15 bumGenius Freetimes, 3 miosolos, 2 Close Pop-in V2s and I've just bought one of the new Frugi print Tots Bots Easyfits (we had a V3 Easyfit but never use it any more because it's a bit rubbish, and I've also got a couple of Baba & Boo pockets but only use them if Toby needs a clean nappy an hour before bedtime - they don't last much longer than that for us but I know lots of other people really rate them). For night time we've got 5 Bamboozle size 2s and 3 Blueberry coveralls. I was using two bamboo boosters with the Bamboozles but have had a few leaks lately so just got some Hemp boosters to try. I usually wash every three days but can last four if we need to. The Freetimes are definitely my favourites for day time. I like the miosolos too but have to boost them if I need them to last more than a couple of hours. I actually can't wait to have another baby though so I've got an excuse to buy some tiny nappies! We didn't use cloth until Toby was about 7 weeks and he went straight into size 2s and one-size nappies - even thought they were pretty big on him!

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Eline @ Pasta & Patchwork link
11/3/2014 02:35:42 am

Thanks for commenting Sarah, it's so interesting to see what others have in their stash! Leaking has become a bit of an issue at night here too, so let me know how you get on with the hemp boosters.

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Emma link
10/24/2014 02:23:27 am

I have far too many nappies in my stash, I went a little crazy with them. I love mio solos (cute prints) and we have quite a few cheapies which we boost with 2 bamboo and 1 MF though I'd like to try zorb I think.

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Eline @ Pasta & Patchwork link
11/3/2014 02:36:43 am

I haven't heard of Zorb nappies so I'll look into those as well. Thanks for the tip!

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Wave to Mummy link
10/24/2014 05:00:18 pm

Great post, very informative! We use cloth nappies occasionally - I was really into it and during maternity leave used them a lot, but now that I am at work and hubby stays home, it is usually Pampers.

I'd recommend gNappies - I found them really good, easy to use, not too bulky, and they have an excellent fit.

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Eline @ Pasta & Patchwork link
11/3/2014 02:37:51 am

I haven't heard of gNappies so I'll look into those as well. Thanks for the recommendation!

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Ritz link
10/25/2014 03:47:25 pm

this is a very useful and great post! We did consider cloth nappies but didn't in the end go with it, but had I seen something like this when mine was little one I would have definitely tried!

Ritz xx

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Honest Mum link
10/26/2014 11:42:38 am

Such an informative and fascinating post, I have never used washable nappies but always felt bad about that. Thanks for linking up to #brilliantblogposts

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