Would really like to pick your brains and experiences with re-usable nappies (sorry this is a bit of a ramble too as I'm trying to remember brand names of nappies and inserts, all of which are in the wash at the moment). We're currently doing a trail of several brands that a local company have kindly offered us and generally I'm impressed and think we'll go ahead with the switch. However we have noticed that we are having to change the re-usable ones more frequently or we're getting big leaks! Basically it would really help to know how long a reusable one tends to stay on for before leaking/needing changing? We can last 3-4 hrs in disposables so I am slightly concerned that at only 6 months he's already saturating them within 2ish hours we could be looking at getting through nearly double the nappies each day and don't fancy it becoming even more frequent as he gets older and produces more wee!

I'm sticking with the pocket nappies as they are the easiest for us to manage and our nursery are happy to use them. DH isn't keen on the 2 part system as it's more faff, and to be honest for our circumstances I agree - they just aren't for us.

In our trail kit we have a Blueberry which seemed great the last two times I've used them, but today it has leaked bigtime in less than 2 hours (soaking his clothes and the floor), yet the insert wasn't that wet. Have a feeling that one was my fault but not quite sure why as it's velcro do up at the waist and it seemed very tight as I did them tighter after checking the fit. One of the others (can't remember the brand) she set up for us as a night one with 2 loopy do inserts in it and it only lasted from 7pm to 10.30pm before he woke up wet and needed a change, along with the bedding as the nappy and inserts were totally saturated.

Bumgenius is what we're aiming to go with but again, after around 2 hours it's pretty saturated with the main insert in. We don't have the booster insert, are we likely to get much longer with it in?

Thanks
Kristin

I can't help with those nappies as we've only used 2 part ones so far but we normally get 4 hours out of a standard nappy (Easy Peasy Bumble) on Barney who is nearly 12 months now. With an extra booster in it we can do 12 hours over night without a problem.

I wonder if the issue is maybe the shape of the nappies (or the shape of the baby ) I'm looking at switching to pockets and I've had to go for ones that adjust separately at the waist and legs because Barney has fat legs so if I went for one with one fastener I know they would leak because I couldn't get the waist tight enough without cutting of the blood supply to his legs! (Does that make sense?)

The only other thing I can think of, especially with you saying that the Blueberry one had been ok, is the way you are washing. You probably already know this, but detergent build up can really effect the absorbancy (as can fabric conditioner) I normally use half the reccomended amount of detergent, and then run an extra rinse cycle as well.

Hope that helps
xx

Can't help with any of those makes but I use Bambino Mio (as do Max's nursery 5 days a week) he is 18 months and he has one on at about 8ish in the morning then he gets changed about 11ish and again about 3ish and then he come sout of it at 6.30ish for a bath - we choose not to use them over night but I am sure they would be fine. He NEVER leaks and only gets changed more than that if he has pooed!

Right, big learner question now...don't laugh!! Why don't you change nappies each time a baby wee's? Surely thats the best way of avoiding nappy rash and leaks and smelly babies??

Might be unrealistic?!?!?!?!

Because as with any nappy there is no real way of knowing if lo has had a wee plus you would end up spending ALL DAY changing nappies when there is no real need to!

Thanks for the responses. Think I've found half the problem, I wasn't pulling the inners up far enough so when the elastic section stretched round the legs the inner was dropping down and not where it should have been. Now getting a much more respectable 2.5 - 3.5hrs out of them without leakages. I was washing them fine, mainly a case of trial and error.