Cloth nappy essential accessories

Starting to use cloth nappies can be confusing enough, with the vast array of varieties and types of cloth nappies, but when you start to look at the accessories that are on the market, it can get even more confusing. So what are the cloth nappy essential accessories? What do you need? What’s good to have? What can you manage without?

Cloth nappy pins?

In the past, cloth nappy pins were essential for using cloth nappies.  These days, there’s no need at all for nappy pins.  Most modern cloth nappies come with their own fasteners, usually either hook and loop (velcro) or plastic snaps (also known as domes).  This means that there’s not need for pins to fasten your nappies.

If you decide to use a pre-fold, or even a flat cloth nappy, you may then want some form of nappy fastener.  Rather than using nappy pins, the snappi nappy fastener, is a great alternative. In fact, if you are planning to use cloth nappies from newborn, then a snappi really can be considered one of the cloth nappy essential accessories.

Nappy bucket

When it comes to storing your dirty nappies before washing, then a nappy bucket is the obvious choice.  You don’t have to pay extra though, for one specifically designed to hold nappies though.  Any large bucket with a fitted lid (to keep in smells, and keep out children) will do.  As most people dry pail, rather than soak their nappies, another alternative is a large wet bag.  These can be handy as you can hang them on the back of the door near the washing machine and they take up less room than a nappy bucket.

Wet bag

When you’re out and about, you will want somewhere to store cloth nappies. Wet bags are usually made from PUL and have either a zip or drawstring closure to help keep in smells.

Although very handy to have, they are perhaps not really cloth nappy essential accessories, as a plastic bag with a knot in the top will do the job just as well.

Nappy liners

There are two basic types of nappy liners for cloth nappies. Reusable liners and disposable liners.  They are basically there to catch any solids, but washable liners also help to wick moisture away from your babies skin, and help them feel dry.  Many modern cloth nappies are lined with a microfleece or suede cloth inner that does this job already, so washable liners may not be necessary.

Disposable nappy liners can be quite helpful, as they can be disposed of along with any solid waste.  This is even easier if they are disposable liners.  You will probably find that you won’t need to use nappy liners until your baby is on solids, as they tend to succeed in doing little more than spreading wet, newborn poo around.

Reusable baby wipes

Reusable baby wipes, or washable baby wipes as they are also known are cloth nappy essential accessories.  If you are using cloth nappies, you will not notice any extra washing, with the odd extra cloth wipe to wash, and you can save money by using these instead of disposable nappy wipes.

There are a number of different solutions and mixes that you can make up to use with your reusable baby wipes.  You can add a few drops of tea tree oil to water or even use camomile tea to sooth a rashy bottom.  The simplest way to use washable baby wipes however, is to simply wet with water and wipe.

When it comes to using cloth nappies, you don’t really need to have a lot of extras or accessories. What would you add to our cloth nappy essential accessories guide?