Nappyneedz

My youngest daughter is getting very close to toilet training and it got me thinking about my cloth nappy journey.  I thought I’d share with you a look back at the last seven and a half years, to where it all began. Starting out with cloth nappies When I was pregnant with my first baby, I started to look into cloth nappies.  I remember being amazed at how far things had come since the flat squares my Mum used to use on my younger brothers.  There were shaped nappies, coloured nappies and even nappies made out of bamboo.  It all seemed pretty expensive to start out with too, and I really didn’t want to be making any costly mistakes.  Fortunately I found an on-line advice service, (similar to the one we offer here ) which helped me to make the right choices for the cloth nappies we needed.  I got together a small stash, that was just enough to use full time, around twenty nappies, and waited for my little one to arrive so that I could use them.  In that first year of having my baby in cl

Brighter than your usual snappi, day glo snappi is the fun and funky alternative at change time.  Bright and fun, these day glo snappi fasteners will inject a little colour into your change time. Hard to loose How many times have you been mid change, got your babies nappy already to fasten, and then can’t remember where you put the snappi and certainly can’t spot it any where?  I don’t know about you, but it’s happened to me time and time again.  There are ten other great colours in the snappi range, but the four day glo snappi colours just really stand out, and I’m sure that I would be really unlikely to loose one of these. Orange Bright and sunny the orange day glo snappi is a really fun colour.  No soft pastel baby shades here, this funky orange stands right out. Pink My little girls are both full on busy, and this bright pink certainly suits their character a bit more than baby pink.  I’m not usually a pink fan, but this shade I do like. Green This shade of green is one of our most

I thought that a “you know you’re pregnant when….” post might be a bit of fun, after our “You know you have a newborn when” post the other day (although perhaps I should have done this one first).  My amazing facebook followers on the Nappyneedz page have stepped forward again with some great bump pictures for this one. You know you’re pregnant when…… You take fifty pregnancy tests, just to make really really sure. You find yourself making lists of names. You wake up in the morning feeling like you have a hangover, even though you can’t drink. It might only be a grey blob on a black background, but you can’t stop looking at your scan picture and are already completely in love. You have really really strange dreams. You day dream about what your baby will look like. Suddenly, wherever you go there are babies and other pregnant people, it feels like everyone is having babies. You can’t go more than half an hour without a visit to the loo. Your favourite item of clothing is a pair of comf

Have you considered reusable baby wipes for your baby? Save even more money and choose a healthy alternative to disposable baby wipes for your little one’s bottom.  By using reusable baby wipes, that you wash after each use, you can cut down on chemicals that come into contact with your precious little ones delicate skin. How to use washable baby wipes Washable baby wipes are simply squares of cloth, similar to face cloths or flannels that you use to wipe you little ones bottom at change time.  You simply wet the cloth and then use it to wipe, they are also ideal for wiping sticky hands and faces.  There are a number of different recipe’s that you can use on your reusable baby wipes, but plain water works fine, simply wet as needed, or keep a small stash wet in a plastic container ready for use.  Change the water regularly to avoid smells or the water ‘going off.’ Once you have used the cloth baby wipe, simply wash with your cloth nappies and then reuse on the next occasion. Reusable b

Ahh, mount washmore. I love using cloth nappies, I really do, but there are days, when even I am a bit over dealing with the mountain of washing my children produce.  These days, I only have one in nappies, and I suspect it won’t be long until she’s out of them, but mount washmore hasn’t shrunk at all, nappies or not children produce lots of washing. Folding mount washmore It’s not the washing that gets me, it’s not even the drying (actually, on a warm, breezy day, I love hanging it out on the line). It’s the folding and putting away that can get me down.  When it comes to cloth nappies, it’s the stuffing or snapping in of the inserts into the shell that can be a real pain.  It’s the mount washmore of clean dry washing that needs sorting, folding and stuffing.   Folding flat nappies Flat nappies are different, I don’t usually bother pre-folding them into nappy shapes, I just fold and stack them.  Folding square flat fabric is easy, so I don’t mind it (unlike folding fitted sheets, I ca

When it comes to stain removal from cloth nappies, there is one thing that stands out way above the rest: Sunshine.  You may not be convinced by it’s stain removal properties, but I thought that I’d do a few experiments to show you how well it works, and talk about why sunshine is so great for stain removal from cloth nappies. This is the first in a series of blogs, looking at ways to deal with stains, and more importantly stain removal from cloth nappies. The magic of the sun When it comes to newborn poo stains, there is nothing that works as well as the sun on shifting those marks.  As you may have noticed, newborn poo (after the first couple of days) is bright yellow, and get it on any cloth (clothing as well as nappies) and even after washing you’re left with some really noticeable stains.  You can try soaking, or scrubbing your nappies, but really you don’t need to.  The sun will do it all for you. The reason that the sun does such a great job, is because the bright yellow colour

Ah those early newborn days, who can beat them.  Sleepless nights, tiredness, not quite sure what’s going on.  Here’s a fun look at those early days, you know you’ve got a newborn baby when….. You know you’ve got a newborn when You daren’t wear black, because it makes the milk stain on your shoulder from ‘burping’ your little one too obvious Two hours sleep in a row, is a good night’s sleep You find the cornflakes in the fridge, and the milk in the cupboard (again) because you’re so tired. You often spend the whole day in dressing gown. You can welcome visitors into the house, without manically tidying up first. You can take 500 photo’s of your sleeping newborn without thinking that it’s a bit excessive. Despite what anyone else might think, you’re pretty sure that your little one is so advanced that they’re smiling already, and it’s not really wind. You find that you have become obsessed by the contents of nappies; the colour, the volume the consistency. You feel like this stage will