Tried and tested - 3 years of MCN - What lasts the distance

I spent a lot of money on cloth nappies!  It is hard to know what works until you tried it and I tried so many nappies but ended up using only a few after the 6 month age.  Here are my experiences and recommendations (including vendor interactions!)

Longest lasting nappies

Baby Beehinds - in fact all of my BBH have had excellent wear and use over 3 years and I would say they still had one more baby in them!  The Bamboo fitteds were fantastic and hardy, the inserts last ages and don't fray or decay, and I found them the best in terms of leakage protection (but then again I had a cover on them).  I had one Hemp fitted which is a little bit coarse but still a decent nappy.  I used lots of the trifold boosters inside the nappies leaving my kids with huge bums but great absorbency.  I had a few magicalls which were fantastic for carers/nannies/grandparents as they are so simple and they also were excellent wear - I think the velcro was better than the snaps though in terms of fit.  And the Baby Beehind Nights are fantastic, if I could buy just one night nappy it would probably be these, because the really are absorbent and hard wearing. The Baby Beehind Petites are good for quick out and abouts but they don't last long, but at least they are slim and fit well under clothes. The I think that you could satsify all your nappying needs with just Baby Beehinds.  And did I mention they are great value too?  Davina the founder was who I dealt with when I did a lot of my orders and she probably now has such a big business that she doesn't so much sales or promos anymore but the BBH sales and service has always been friendly and helpful.

Most beautiful nappies

Wild child nappies - I really love my Wild Childs - a shame that the inserts didn't last that long!  I had to have them replaced after a year, and then they were looking tatty again recently.  I'm not sure if it's because I use them a lot or whether the kids just have toxic wee!  I had one all in one but I didn't really like it that much, the fit was ok but the design was not that great with the leg part curling outwards a lot.  However the fitteds and night nappies were superb and I would often reach for these.  Though Michelle at WC was courteous I often got the feeling that she thought I was a pain in the butt (though maybe I was being sensitive).  I would highly recommend this nappy.

Best customer Service

Sustainable Hemp Products - I bought the Sandman night nappies and some of the newborn nappies which were great up to 6 months.  Michelle was the best salesperson of the lot - friendly and helpful and really made me want to go back and get more.  Though her nappies weren't the best fit ( I did have a lot of issues with wing droops but when it's in a nappy cover who notices right?), she always seemed to remember me and send such lovely emails and seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say about her product.  The bamboo night nappies were the best night nappies I think!  And they have lasted for a long time - good wear and tear nappies these ones!

Easiest to use nappies

Ittibitti nappies - These were great nappies but didn't absorb much, even with that tiny little booster in them.  However the earlier versions seemed to better made in my opinion!  The later versions started to fray a lot earlier and have issues with snaps coming off and inserts wearing out and that crunchy funny feeling that you get when the PUL starts to peel off from inside the nappy.  However, they were trim and always sat really well on my kids.  Great under jeans!  I would have to recommend the medium size, they had the longest wear in my opinion.

Honourable mentions

Cute Tooshies - these nappies though not very absorbent seemed to last from birth till toilet training for us, even though lots of people said they had issues with low rise and plumber's crack but it wasn't much of an issue in my family.  I bought a whole bunch of them cheap too, and I did boost them rather heavily.  By the end of 3 years they did start to show their wear and tear though.  These were one of the first nappies I bought!  I never got any blue ones ut I had the plain and the pinks.

Blueberry - My favourite pocket nappies, I found these are the only pocket nappies that I didn't have leaks out of.  Excellent for carers and fast drying - I only had minky ones and they were really good nappies.  They are American so they are a bit pricey but I think they were well worth it.  You can buy them at Baby Blossom, The Weewuns, and Baby Soft Landings.  And they are one size fit all, so you can use them for 2 years!  I wish I had bought more of these, I think I only had 3.  I bought a few as gifts for friends with new babies, but I was SOOO tempted to keep them for myself.

Cloth wipes

I started out cutting out squares of flannel, but what worked really well was these baby face towels you can buy from Woolworths or BigW (I think they are called Little Wishes or something) and I used those for bum wiping.  However, the BEST cloth wipes I got were bought on oztions.com.au (now called quicksales.com.au) by beautbots, and they are the BEST wipes ever, I use them for wiping snotty noses and dirty food covered faces, and in the shower/bath.  I also pack them for taking out.  They are cute flannel print one side and sherpa cotton the other side, and I must have bought 3 lots of 5 because I loved them so much!

Images are courtesy of all the shops that I've linked, and I just had to say that this post was inspired by my nappy cleanout!  I culled my huge pile down recently to what I like to use and these are the ones which made it into the keepers (whoops, except the Cute Tooshies which all had to be retired because of wear and tear)