I've now got my Motherease Sandy's and One Sizes, and one Multi-fit. I've also got Rikki wraps and one Airflow wrap. They all seem to do the job fairly well, at least I've not had leaks the same way I did with the Tots Bots EasyFits. However I'm now faced with the frustration that having bought many of my nappies, after trying some that I'd got for free and sure that they seemed to do the job, they just don't seem to do the job nearly as well as disposables :(

The Sandy's small are too small, the large are too large. The One Sizes fit okay-ish on nearly the largest setting but DS is only a couple of months old???!! The Multi-fit just doesn't fit right at all. The Airflow wrap doesn't seem to fit quite right, and the medium Rikkis are just a bit too small - but I only have one large Rikki wrap and even this doesn't seem right around his legs - there's either gaps, or if it's right around his legs then it's too tight around his tummy. These small or medium sized nappies and wraps should still fit him as he's not at the top of the weight range for them yet, which is why I'd got them and the ones I'd tried previously seemed okay, but using them constantly has shown how they don't fit right and it's making his skin look sore around his legs and around his abdomen.

The One Sizes are quite absorbent although I have to use boosters in there, and still I have to change DS no later than every 90 minutes otherwise the nappy is completely saturated and it absolutely STINKS! When he poos, the nappy nearly contains it all... except now it all goes straight up his back and as a result goes everywhere when I take the nappy off, resulting in needing to bathe him and get him all changed etc. It means he also needs a clean wrap after a dirty nappy, too, because the poo's gone on the wrap where the wrap has contained it, or if it's a wet nappy at almost every one he needs a new wrap because the wee makes the wrap stink.

It also means that I'm having to come into contact with a great deal more poo than I ever have with disposables and although I know I can clean myself up after, it's not a pleasant experience and it's making nappy changes so much longer and it's logistically a nightmare - DS has discovered he's got legs and kicks everywhere which is okay with sposies as I can do it all one-handed whilst holding his legs (it's all just wipe, into nappy, into bin), but I can't with real ones because of having to clean up the nappies, remove liners, separate wipes from nappies, ensure composite parts of clean nappy stays together whilst putting on etc and as a result he gets at the very least his feet covered in poo... and after cleaning him up I can't leave him on the changing mat whilst I go and clean myself up because it's not on the floor, and I can't lift him off whilst my hands are covered in poo - and babywipes might clean it off as a temporary measure but not much good for proper sanitisation if he waves his hands around and grabs at my hands (as he's doing an increasing amount), then gets them all germy before chewing on them! (I've also got antibac hand gel which I use except that obviously won't remove 'solids' from my hands, which is why I'd rather wash them properly!)

Also, I'm dry pailing temporarily as my bucket and tea tree oil still haven't arrived (stupid postal strikes), but the stench is horrific - it's not from the dirty nappies, it's from the wet ones! It's like having a really stinky male hamster in the room!

It's also making such a substantial increase in washing that I genuinely can't see how it's saving any money or is more environmentally friendly (we've got an energy usage meter which shows a shocking increase in kWh usage - and we have a relatively new and A+ rated washing machine). It doesn't help that with the poo thing I'm having to wash even more of his clothes than usual, too.

I've had to give in and put DS in a disposable tonight so I don't have to change him at least twice overnight which then wakes him up and he thinks it's play time!

I really don't want to moan, and I really do want to use real nappies rather than disposables, but I have spent so much on different ones and trial kits trying to find things to work and there just seem to be so many obstacles to overcome and admittedly it's stressing me out more than I ever imagined it could!!!

Is it just that I haven't found the right nappies yet? Or is this typical of a beginner using real nappies and will it get better? I really wasn't expecting to find so many new problems from switching to real nappies :(

something seems to be going wrong!

I thought Aston was a very heavy wetter (2 big wees and 2 little ones an hour based on his nappy off time) but nappies last 3 hours during the day and 7-8 hours at night. Do the nappies you are using all have extra booster layers to give 4 layers of towelling (2 on nappy and 2 on booster?) I have always used booster layers with Aston (majority totsbots standard size 1 and size 2s).

Aston is 4 months and probably 17lbs now. He is just on limit of small wraps and medium wraps. With the velcro, I fix it at an angle rather than completely in line (If that makes sense) in order to get the legs and waist right. I also alternate wraps which are wet so that one dries while the other one is on.

If its a dirty nappy, then I make sure I have toilet paper already torn off to wipe it off his bum before I take the nappy away and while holding ankles. I then take the whole nappy/wrap/liner/dirty paper out from under him and put to one side folded in half. you can then deal with the nappy once the baby is all done and somewhere safe.

The amount of dirty nappies will decrease - we are down to 1 a day now but that's only been the last few weeks.

I have 4 days worth of resusable nappies so it's a full load of nappies plus a few other white bits every 3 days. Which is only about another 5kW of energy a week.

I use tea tree oil in a dry pail and we haven't had any smells at all.

K

Thanks for replying (and reading my thesis, I didn't mean for it to be that long lol)! :)

Yep, I use the boosters all the time (I got the ones that snap in so I know they will stay in place, too). I knew that Ewan was a heavy wetter but I was still hoping I'd get more than 90 mins out of resuables... last week when he was weighed he was 17lb 10oz so that sounds about right for being between sizes like your Aston!

We're on 2 or 3 dirty nappies a day, but he gets his money's worth out of those LOL I get everything ready the same way as with disposables, it's just that where the poo goes everywhere even though it's contained within the nappy it goes up his back and every single time it's borderline easier to bathe him than it is to just wipe him :(

It's just so frustrating, as I say I'd like it to work but there just seem to be so many obstacles that I'm stumped, and I can't keep buying different nappies to try as I can't afford it and I also seem to give it a couple of days to find out for sure whether or not they're going to work...

We're having a few problems which sound similar, my dd is going from prem to small and we're getting either gapping or the sore look you've described but she gets that sometimes with a disposable, I'm hoping in a few weeks that it will get better as she grows.
We also have to change every 1hr 30 to 2hrs and I can't use cloth over night as she only wakes once and with nappies not lasting long enough I don't want to have to wake her. With a tots bots flexitot and imse vimse wrap I can occasionally get to 2hrs 30. The only nappy that lasts a little longer is a Fuzzi Bunz but because of her size it leaks around the legs.
My wraps need changing at every wrap, I have two atm so I rinse one with hot water and leave to dry while she wears the other.
I'm still using water and cloths to wipe bottoms so I take the dirty nappy of place it too once side after I've tried to clean the worst of her (although she frequently puts her feet in it), I use a larger flannel to wipe my hands, then use antibac gel until I can get to the bathroom.
I'm already debating having to change her on the floor, which isn't ideal for me as I'm still having back and hip issues, but being on the floor gives me more space to put things to one side without her kicking them off and means I could leave her to clean my hands properly. I dry pail with tea tree but still have to wash every other day because of the smell and because she's still got bf poo's I won't wash with my other clothes so my electric bill is going to go up for a while. I looked into this issue before I set out and discovered that other than not filling landfils it didn't seem that much beter environmentally but I liked the idea of them and so far I've done alright with them, although I think I have it easier because I've only ever used disposable at night.

I could just be a case of finding the right nappy and if your baby is not an average size then it makes that task a little more difficult (as I've discovered).
Rachaelxxx

Hi Rachael

Sorry to hear you're having problems, too!

Ewan's definitely much larger than most babies his age, at 2 months he's well over 17lbs and above the 99.6th centile! Though he is in proportion so surely the nappies should still fit okay? His thighs are a bit chunky but not disproportionately so...

Having said that, I can buy size 4 disposables that fit well but the birth-to-potty real nappies look like they're definitely not going to last until he's at the potty training stage as he's already on almost the biggest 'setting' on them.

I know that there are lots of nappies out there but I've already tried 4 different ones (shaped ones in different sizes, all-in-ones, two different birth-to-potty ones) and different wraps and combinations of the wraps and nappies, too, and there's only so much patience you can have when it's with something like nappies and you're having to deal with a(nother!) mountain of washing and a filthy baby if things aren't quite right with them.

Sorry, don't mean to have another moan but it is just so frustrating! Unfortunately for the real nappies, I've never had the same kind of fitting issues with disposables and definitely not any soreness from them...

I do hope that things improve for you and you can stick with the cloth nappies!