Being a new Cloth Mum By Shauna Webb

My cloth journey started in January 2018, I just had my third baby December 2017 who was having consistent rashes and dry skin irritations resulting in dermatitis from disposable nappies, I opted to give Cloth nappies a go. I had absolutely no clue about cloth and the only person who I knew that used cloth recently was my mum back in 1993 for myself. Little did we know a LOT has changed in the way of cloth nappies since then. Things have changed from the use of PUL covers over Piltchers, how you clean your nappies and the style of nappy e.g. flats, prefolds, AIO, AI2, pocket ect.

One thing I was sure of and that’s the accessibility to cloth nappies in Western Australia is not the best. We did end up finding a brand in our local Baby Bunting store which was good for the time being while I was learning. Though my tiny 7lb 5oz baby was not stocking up the weight around her legs very fast so I had consistent leaks. After a few searches online I had found multiple different brands and ordered 2 – 4 nappies per brand to try and find a spot that would fit my petite little one. Brand after brand after brand and I kept having the same issue. Determined I must not have been using them right I found a family member who does use the Modern Cloth Nappies. I got her to check for fit and see if I was just not putting it on right. Thankfully the hours and hours of YouTube videos, Facebook stalking groups I was doing it right but the nappies themselves were not right for my little girl.

I noticed the nappies I had all had two rise settings. But noticed in some of the review pages people had nappies with three rise settings. So I started my search for a company who had designs I liked, and three rise settings so I can get a couple to try. I almost gave up almost a month in for my search I had added a few must haves for my search of the perfect nappy. So I now had;

• Cute designs
• Three rise settings
• Double gusset
• Bamboo insert
• Insert included in the price
• INSANE CUSTOMER SERVICE

To my surprise I found a company to which had recently started out, which yes had three rise settings, Yes had double gusset, Yes had bamboo inserts that were included in the price, yea they were super cute and different to any other design I had seen before, but most importantly they had insane customer service! This company was ‘Boho Babes Cloth Nappies'.

So I brought a trial pack which came with two OSFM nappies at a discounted price. The nappies were picked at random so I really liked the surprise I got when I opened it up to see mermaid theme and a Burgundy rose themed nappy. I prepared them as per the instructions and couldn’t wait to give them a go. The next day came by and put them on Miss Harlynn, I had put them on the SMALLEST setting the nappy had and WOW they actually fit nice and snug around her legs. Her waist was still a little big but being she was still so tiny *by this point she was 2 months old weight maybe 4.5kg if we were lucky* here came the test though. Those newborn breast milk poops. So far all the nappies I had tried when this girl pooped i swear she could have out pooped her dad! Usually it resulted in a full wardrobe change. Though as the day went alright thought either she was having a good day and didn’t fill her guts as much or these nappies were alright. I wasn’t set on the inserts at first due to how thin they were BUT as I had been using microfiber inserts before then they still held a lot more than I had been able to get the nappies to hold before so I was impressed. Though after a few months, some more purchased nappies and after some feedback from other mums/dads, Dani and Rhonda decided to upgrade the inserts to something a little thicker. This did the trick for us.

By the time the inserts where changed over I was now using cloth for both my 2 year old daughter (Violet) and my baby (Harlynn). So the new inserts were definitely proving to stand the ground. After hitting the gastro bug a handful of times *thanks Mr 6 year old at the time who was in school sharing the germs* ‘Boho Babes' nappies were definitely proving to be my best nappy out of the 8-10 different brands I ended up with. So it was time to buy a stash, and sell off my other nappies I no longer liked. My favourite thing of all is while I was stacking up my stash of nappies. They had Afterpay available so I could buy more than one nappy at a time saving me money in the long run.

Then talking about saving money I have managed to not need to buy nappies on our fortnightly food shop in over a year now! So cutting our $300 food shop bill down to $200-$250 a fortnight. Which has allowed my husband and I to be able to start our own hobbies to have something for us to do when the kids are either asleep or just need some winding down time. I wouldn’t call myself an expert cloth mum still, but I will definitely be happy to help anyone who asks me about them the wash routine how hard it “really is" because let’s face it. When I was 18 and a new mum I was not Interested in any extra work but if I actually have it a go like I was suggested to I may have my things together because I have found clothing so much easier than it sounded. Not only is it easier but I’m learning to help my earth be a better place 1 nappy at a time by reusing also introducing other reusable items in my life such as reusable straws, mummy cloth, baby wipes (wipes have doubled up as cleaning wipes through our house too) and so much more which I am open to learning about each and every day.

If I didn’t find ‘Boho Babes’ I don’t know how long it would have taken me to find a nappy that fitted Harlynn as she is 14 months old now still on the 3rd rise setting and on an uneven setting for the side snaps with only 1 column of snaps showing – so essentially the 3rd SMALLEST setting the OSFM nappies have.