The only one for my little lamb (Littlelamb Reusable Cloth Nappies)

Member Name: cg1anon

Product:	Littlelamb Reusable Cloth Nappies
Date:	07/01/09 (403 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: cost - effective, cute!

Disadvantages: lump sum cost, touching poo!

When I first mentioned to my mum that I was planning to use washable nappies on my baby, her jaw dropped. When her speach finally returned, she warned me a million times that it was a waste of money and I'd revert to disposables within a month. Last January, after my 20 week scan, I bit the bullet and bought my £220 cotton nappy kit on www.littlelambs.co.uk. There are cheaper kits, with less nappies, but I wanted to give myself as big a margin as possible as I've never been too fantastic at keeping up with the washing. For my money, I got:
- 20 size 1 (up to about 20lb/9kg) nappies
- 20 size 2 (20lb - potty) nappies
- 20 size 1 fleece liners
- 20 size 2 fleece liners
- 200 flushable paper liners
- 10 size 1 wraps
- 10 size 2 wraps
- 20 size 1 tongues
- 20 boosters
- 2 buckets with lids

The nappies were delivered very quickly, within about a week, and I quickly unpacked the 2 boxes. I put the larger size bits into one of the boxes and put them away, expecting to wait over a year before using them, and the rest were stored in one of the nappy buckets in my bedroom, ready to pre-wash just before my son was due. To pre-wash the 20 small nappies plus the accessories took two full loads in our washing machine, and the sight of beautiful white nappies drying in the wind outside really brought home the fact that the baby was on his way soon! If you are going to buy these nappies and your baby is due in the winter, it would be a good idea to pre-wash quite early as it can take a while for the nappies to dry indoors.
I decided to use disposables for the first week to avoid having to bring dirty nappies home from the hospital, and also because I expected to be rushed off my feet at first and didn't want the nappies to be just one more thing to worry about in those first days. When my son was 10 days old he wore his first 'real' nappy and it was so soft and lovely. I could really tell the difference in his skin, as the disposables seemed to stick to his bum a little bit sometimes and also made him a bit red. With the Little Lambs his bum stayed really baby soft. The guilty pang I got every time I threw a used nappy in the bin disappeared too!
The waist and legs are all elasticated on the nappy, and on the wrap the legs are elasticated, so there are no leaks. Everything seals with velcro, so there are no pins or clips to break or stick into the baby's skin.

In those first weeks I had to wash every other day to keep up with my son's hectic pooing regime. I used the size 1 nappies with a size 1 liner. Indoors I used a fleece liner but if I was going to be changing my son's bum away from home I used a paper liner so I could flush any poo away. After a week or so I abandoned the paper liners as they seemed to scrunch up, stick to his bum and the poo squished out onto the nappy anyway. You're supposed to be able to stretch the fleece liners over the loo and the poo falls off, but this wasn't really feasible until my son started weaning as breastmilk-poo is too squishy. So I wash the poo off under a flush of the toilet, clean everything in the bathroom sink under the cold tap, then drop the nappy and liner into the bucket. I change the wrap roughly every other nappy change unless there's poo on it or it smells strongly. All this sounds like a pain in the bum, but after a few weeks it becomes second nature.
As the baby grows and produces more wee, you need to add the tongue in the size 1 nappies. The size 2's come with the tongue attached. The tongues are shaped the same as the fleece liners, but are made of cotton. There are also cotton boosters, which I didn't use until my son was 6 months old. They fit between the tongue and the liner for an additional layer of absorbency during the night. Since using these, my son doesn't need a nappy change at night anymore, he goes right through from about 9pm until around 7am in the same nappy with no discomfort and no leaks.

My son was a big baby and was ready for size 2 nappies at around 20 weeks. Apart from having the tongue attached, the biggest difference I noticed was the drying time. He was born in June which was great as I could get all the nappies outside for a whole day to dry and get plenty of sun. The sun bleaches any poo stains out of the nappies and liners. It's a bit embarrassing hanging out nappies full of poo stains, but by the time you get them back in they are brilliant white again. Now that the weather isn't too great I have to dry the nappies indoors which means on the radiator for 24 hours and no sun bleaching them. On the positive side, he doesn't go through quite so many nappies now so I only wash every three days. The poo stains don't bother him or me, and when the good weather returns a few hours outside will sort them out. Also after a few months the fluffiness disappears and the nappies need a go through the machine with no powder to return them to their best.

I feel very positive about the whole experience of using these nappies. The initial outlay of £220 (the 40-piece kit is now £240) seems a lot at first, but when you think of how many disposables you would go through and the cost of each pack, it works out a lot cheaper to do it this way. You don't need to wash them in a really hot wash either, I do all my nappy washes on 40 degrees eco wash, using half a scoop of Sainsburys own powder (see an older review!). I don't do a separate wash for the nappies, all the whites go in together and there have been no stains appearing on other clothes. The nappy buckets have a well-fitting lid so you don't have any smell escaping. They don't need soaking so there are no heavy buckets to slop over your carpets on the way to the machine. Now I tend to keep the unwashed nappies in the bathroom in a bucket and wash the poo out all in one go when my son goes to sleep - it only takes a minute or two.

Little Lambs also come in bamboo or microfibre, which are slightly more expensive, but I chose cotton for all-round ease. I picked the biggest set as I said before, but you can buy a trial pack containing a single nappy, fleece liner and wrap for £8.50 (today, 10/Dec/08). There are also packs of 10 or 20 nappies.

You can sell the nappies on after finishing with them - there are always people looking out for them - but I've put away my size 1's to use if I have another baby, as I will definitely want to use them again.



Edit: Update, one year on
My son is now a year old, and has had his first bout of nappy rash. Once the rash took hold, I found that the Little Lambs (indeed, I'm told any reusable nappies) did not help him. I reverted to disposables while the rash was sore, and when healed returned to the Little Lambs. I was advised by the GP that this is the best way, particularly as my son has sensitive skin. I still stand by my belief that using Little Lambs has made nappy rash a much rarer thing for my son than it could have been. I now occasionally put him in a disposable nappy if he looks a little sore, and use this time to give his Little Lambs a soap-free wash to freshen and fluff them up. I do not regret my decision to buy Little Lambs at all, and I have certainly saved money with them.

Summary: Very worthwhile buy.