Using cloth nappies on newborns

A couple of months ago I wrote a post titled “Large family budgeting – cloth nappies” where I talked about the huge financial savings that switching to cloth nappies (or diapers) can make.

Now that the twins have arrived we have four children wearing nappies full time, with another in them for night times only (although it seems that won’t be for much longer. Say “yay!” with me!).  Libby and Anna are the seventh and eighth children for whom we have used cloth, having shunned disposables when Harry was a baby.  We’re pretty used to using them, having done so consistently for more than eight years now.  We are well in the habit of running a machine load of nappies at the same time each day.  The only real difference is that we now have to use two buckets instead of one, but still able to wash both bucket loads in one cycle thanks to a 9kg capacity washing machine.

From my cloth nappy advising days I know that some people are reluctant to use cloth nappies from birth.  New mums worry about the nappy being too big, too bulky or too uncomfortable on their tiny babies.  Our babies have ranged from 5lbs 2oz all the way to 8lbs 9oz birthweights, and they all wore cloth from the delivery room onwards.

Our nappy of choice for newborns is always the Bimble by Easy Peasy Nappies, a mother and daughter company based in Oxfordshire.  This is a tiny nappy suitable for babies from approximately 5lbs-15lbs although, to be honest, I think this might be a little optimistic.  The only child of mine who did fit into the Bimble at 15lbs was a long, thin baby.  The chunkier ones were out of them at approximately 12lbs or so.  Nevertheless, it’s a fab nappy for newborns.

The Bimble is a terry nappy with a fleece lining.  It has an attached flap which you fold into the nappy, folding it toward the point of the wee’s exit in order to provide more absorbency where it is needed, so at the front of the nappy for a boy or the middle for a girl and is fastened with nappi nippas… a modern day equivalent to the nappy pin and far safer!

In order to allow you to visualise how a Bimble fits on a newborn I have a photo of Anna modelling one for you.  Anna weighed 5lbs 2oz when she was born but had to a weeny 4lbs 10oz at the time this photograph was taken.  (Fear not.  She’s back up to 5lbs 4oz already).  Anyway, here she is…

Teeny little thing isn’t she?!

Now considering these nappies are really one of the smallest on the market you can see that the Bimble still looks pretty big on her.  However, it really doesn’t swamp her like some alternatives would.  You can see that it still allows her cord and clamp to peek over the top whereas some other nappies would have to come above it and therefore not allow much air to get to it.  The Bimble is also wonderfully absorbent and a great quality nappy, and can also be used later on as a booster for larger nappies.  Finally, the Bimbles are very reasonably priced.

So if you were considering cloth nappies for your new baby but were not too sure on where to begin, there is my nappy of choice.  In case you are wondering, this isn’t a sponsored post or review.  I just wanted to answer a few questions I had been asked on using cloth with newborns and on what I would recommend.  Do remember that many nappy sellers do offer an advice service or hold meetings where you can see and feel the nappies for yourself before buying any so do take advantage of these if you can.  However, once you’ve decided on your nappy of choice, do remember to shop around for the best prices as they can vary from seller to seller.