Cloth from birth?

I haven't done cloth from birth yet - listened to our antenatal class teacher who told us to wait 6 weeks first, she reckoned we had enough to get used to. But I'll definitely be doing cloth from birth for any subsequent kids - it's really, really not that hard and as it was I started earlier than they'd recommended.

(That said, after a slow start we had no problems with BFing, sleep, spilling or anything else - I suspect if you have an unsettled baby or are having to faff about with formula and bottles cloth nappies might be just one more thing to get used to.)

Yep I'd recommend just getting a few different NB/small nappies to try, or a hire kit.

It's probably not good form to link to another forum but there are a bunch of threads about cloth nappying newborns in the "New to Cloth?" section on The Nappy Network that might be helpful too

hire kits are a good idea. i pretty much did cloth on eden straight away. we used a few disposables at the hospital but not much. having the nappies before baby is a good idea in theory but unfortunately not all babies suit all nappy types or brands...
i found it easy to do cloth straight away...at the hospital i used their flats mostly and they did the washing...and any of my fitteds i used my husband would take home and wash. sunshine will deal with any stains.

I used cloth on Daniel from about 2 weeks old. By then I was getting used to being sleep deprived so I was getting into a routine. Before then I wouldn't have kept up with the washing. Washing was the last thing on my mind when I was trying to figure out how to look after a newborn.

We used NapNaps (OSFA fitteds) on Jack from the day he came home from hospital so 3 days old and had no problems at all. The only thing I found a little hard was getting them dry but he was born in April so not really a problem you will have. We used disposable liners in them for a while which meant that alot of the poo was 'caught' by the liners and washing wasn't a problem.

Might be easier to google hire kits to see what is available in your area. I think some cloth nappies stores do them, also try your council. Our city council has a cloth nappy scheme which includes hire kits.

I have Fuzzibunz and I find they don't really fit my babies properly until about 4-6wks. (And my babies grow chubby thighs.) So I have a set of 12 - means I have to wash a lot but I didn't want to buy too many cause the chubby thighs means they don't fit after about 5mos - and I just use them from when they fit onwards. Prior to that I just used a box of Huggies newborns and left-overs from my previous baby. You may well get nappies as baby shower gifts. Because I don't have a lot of smalls, I still use one sposie per night so there is time to wash them all.

I used cloth from birth with baby Max (3rd child) and it really wasn't that hard at all. I'd used them on my DS1 from 5mths and loved them so I knew I wanted to do it from birth with this baby - even though everyone told me I was mad & that I should buy disposables for the first few weeks! I bought a variety of newborn nappies from Trade Me and The Nappy Network (about 25 in total) as it was much cheaper than buying all new and it meant that I could try different styles/brands. I used old-style cotton flats whilst in hospital as they provided them & washed them, then when I got home I just used my own collection. The meconium was NO BIG DEAL - honestly!! Everyone told me it would be a nightmare but it washed out so easily. I bought a whole heap of microfleece liners on Trade Me from username trendyvogue - they were so soft & gorgeous and the meconium rinsed right off them under the laundry tap! Not stains at all. It was much harder to wash off baby's bottom than it was off the nappies! As for laundry - I just kept a white lidded bucket with a few drops of lavender oil in the bottom (for smells) and would put all the dirty nappies in there and then do a load of washing once a day. It was as easy and putting the washing machine on and hanging them out!

Vic xx

I was going to use cloth from the outset but to my surprise PN hospital was on disposibles so used them & the extra I took home & I got given 1 pack & bought 2 packs before I thought screw that & went full time in to flats with covers. Cooper had a funky cord before he went into cloth so I already had some of that drying stuff from the hospital so just kept using that.

Being a second child it was much easier for me to put him in cloth. I struggled with it last time but wasn't so worried about saving money then as I was going back to work.

After having him in disposies for the last three days I've been hanging out to put him back in cloth!!!

A newborn hire kit would be my recommendation too. Not only do you get to try a bunch of different styles and brands, but it means you don't have to spend a lot on nappies baby might not fit for long.

We used prefolds and covers from day 3 last time (when we got home and meconium was gone) and had no troubles.

Planning to go cloth right from the very begining this time everything going to plan. We will be using the prefolds and covers again, but I have also made up a bunch of fitteds and a few pockets as I sew and already have a stash of fabric from DS so no additional cost, apart from the few I have bought.

It is totally doable if you are wanting too

Thanks for all the positive feedback ladies, its nice to hear that it can be done and I'm not totally deluded! DH will be home for the first month probably because of christmas, so I think it should work for us.

Now to start investigating hire kits and such

I wanted to do cloth from birth but honestly, if it's your first you might wanna wait until other things settle down. I'm a bit of a greenie and couldn't stand seeing all the waste with disposables but it meant i didn't have to worry about washing and could figure everything else out. I knew I wanted to use them and NOT hate them. Also, DS was pooing like crazy and sometimes would do a lil poop right after i changed him! Once he calmed down (every 2-3 days) I was able to deal with cloth diapers. Now he's not going often at all (BF, knock on wood) so using them is 10X easier!

But hey, with the 2nd, I might just do it a little earlier. Trial packs I think would be a good investment since the small ones don't last all that long and then you'll know which ones work for you! Everyone is different!