Modern Cloth Nappies

I always insisted I would use cloth nappies. When we started planning our new family, cloth nappies were one of the first things I looked into. I was pleasantly surprised to discover modern cloth nappies which are shaped nappies with elastic leg bands and buttons or velcro to hold them up. I was less pleasantly surprised when I realised that there are a mind-boggling assortment of these nappies to choose from.

I started researching them before I was even pregnant, and to this day I am still researching them. It's like I'm buying a house or ... a spaceship!

The set-up cost of buying these nappies is quite staggering, and while they save literally thousands of dollars in the long term (compared with buying disposable nappies), the initial cost can seem quite shocking, especially when I have so many other baby things to buy.

To help ease the budget, I am going to use some old-style flat nappies. I inherited an unused pack of 12 terries from my mum. This was a packet of nappies she kept from when we were babies. They just needed a bit of a wash and now they're good to go.

However, there are a million extras to consider such as liners, boosters and covers, which have the additional confusing aspects like the difference between microfibre and microfleece as well as the absorption capacities of bamboo and hemp and how badly they smell when they are wet.

After all these long months of research, I think I finally have the lingo, the details and the budget under control. I am making an initial investment in 6 BumGenius V3 one-size nappies because they are the single most raved about modern cloth nappy available. On top of my terry flats I will buy some flannel flats, because they are less bulky for a newborn (apparently).

Now I still need covers for the flats so I'm going to buy some Baby Beehinds PUL and wool covers, and then I'll hit Spotlight for bargain microfleece to use as liners. I've heard a rumour that Kmart sells cheap microfibre towels that would work as extra boosters. I'm still searching for some reasonably priced bamboo boosters, which have proven to be more difficult to find than hemp (but from all reports hemp smells like death in the morning).

Phew! The initial cost alone will be about $315, plus I need a nappy bucket, a wet bag and a nappy bag for going out, and some funky little snappi clips to hold the flat nappies closed (as an alternative to pins). That will cost an additional $78 and believe me, I am going the cheap route with a lot of these items.

When the baby is a couple of months old I will buy some more modern cloth nappies, probably the Australian brand Green Kids (which gets mostly great reviews, but has received some negative attention), or Happy Heinies because my friend recommended them.

The scary thing is, with how much these things cost I really don't want to make a mistake and buy an unreliable brand, but until I test them out on the baby I'm not going to know.