Our first reusable nappy experience - Newborn Gnappies

I know I said in my previous post that I wasn't going to explain the different types of nappy but what sort of person would I be if I started to talk in jargon about certain brands and not explained anything beforehand?

Well I can make this fairly easy on myself a there are lots of sites which explain the difference in nappy types. Here is a link to just one of them which I feel explains them well... www.clothnappytree.com.

Our nappy story starts with Newborn Gnappies...

When Toby arrived into the world I had intended to use cloth from the very start however he was so small, just 5lb 3oz that I had nothing I felt would fit him. We therefore chose to use micro disposables for a week or so before I took the plunge. I found they always smelt of wee! As soon as I put them on I could smell wee. This doesn't happen with any of my cloth nappies so I swear they must put something in the sposie to make it smell strong in order to get you to change it more often and therefore buy more. 

The first nappy we trialled was a newborn Gnappy or Gdiaper. To see what I'm talking about follow this link  www.gnappies.com/shop/getting-started/newborn-bundle-baby-nappies Gnappies are American and I have heard them being referred to as Marmite, you either love them or hate them.

The newborns are small all in one pouches which are suitable from 5lb 5oz to about 9 or 10lb. They are a two parter style so you add an insert. The website recommends you use their disposable inserts only however I think this is just due to the meconium poos being quite nasty and probably staining reusable ones.

We tried these with a small Bambino Mio prefold folded into the pouch.www.thenappylady.co.uk/flat-pad-and-prefold-nappies/bambino-mio-prefold-nappies.html shows you these.

I also used a tots bots disposable liner on top. These are great for catching poop and when it comes to changing all you need to do is lift the liner off the nappy, complete with "new addition" and flush down the loo. I learnt the hard way to start with as I forgot to use the liners and had to scrape thick "Korma style" poop from the prefold with a plastic knife. Yummy. Sorry for the image implanted in your head right now and also sorry to anyone who loves Korma.

Anyway so the gnappy is different as the velcro tabs do up at the back and have to be aligned with each other to get a good fit. The pouch section of the nappy also sits high up in what will be the babies knicker line. It doesn't seem like enough to hold the pee and poop in but it did do the job. I did get a few leaks to start with but I put that down to my lack of experience in putting them on and it did get better as time went on. I did find that sometimes the pre fold was possibly a little thick in the pouch as its folded up. You can also use gcloths (gnappies own insert) bamboo inserts or a combination of any type of insert really.

We stopped using them after a few weeks as I found the elastic tabs seemed to go round the top of Toby's legs and not his waist. This worried me that they may fall down and besides I was trialling other types of nappy which I found a little easier to put on that this one.

I have some pics of my little dude in newborn g's. He was just two weeks old and weighed under 5lb as he lost 12% of his birth weight in the first week or so. They look huge on him.

These were definitely a good start at his weight and size and once we got over the first few days of cloth nerves (we all get them when starting out) it was plain sailing and even my partner could put them on.

In terms of washing they were very easy. Both the pouch and insert go in the wash. I washed them at 40 degrees with non bio washing powder (I now use bio but that is another story) and lined dried both parts as the weather was good. The pouch is very quick drying as its just a shell and doesn't need to be tumble dried.

I have since sold these nappies on to a lovely lady in Germany. I had 10 in total and was able to resell them as a bundle and made back what I paid for them pre-loved. If you are thinking about trying these then I would recommend buying a few pre-loved from one of the buy/sell/trade groups on Facebook. It will be cheaper than buying the bundle from Gnappies and if you don't get on with them you can sell on to someone else who would like to try them. If you would like information on these sites then please comment and I will be happy to add you to some.

Thanks for reading and keep a look out for new posts about other brands.

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