Cloth nappying Twins & Triplets
We’ve had a few enquiries regarding the use of cloth when expecting twins. I’m not a mother of multiples but below are some thoughts that some of our Facebook followers have shared about their experiences of cloth nappying with twins or triplets. Below is a summary of what they had to say. It takes a bit of organising but having multiples is no reason not to use cloth.
No doubt, lots of people are telling you that you’ll have your hands full already and / or to at least wait until your little ones are three months old. Multiples are mostly premature (average gestation of twins is 36 weeks and of triplets it is 32 weeks) and they are twice/triple the work of a singleton. Therefore, we say, go cloth as soon as you can and/or are able to. You’ll save lots of money and won’t have lots of stinky disposable nappies waiting in your bin (that only gets picked up once a fortnight). On top of that, you’ll be saving the environment!
“I had 4 kids in 13 months; triplets and a singleton. 50 nappies are in our stash and on a normal day we go through 30 a day. Ideally I would have liked 60 or 70 in my stash, but affordability was an issue. If I can’t get my naps dry I run out very fast! Everyday I put though a full load of nappies in our washing machine. In the earlier days sometimes 2 loads! So pardon me but I laugh at mums of one baby that complain that cloth is too hard! Because it is not!!!!”
“I would recommend having at least 30-40 cloth nappies for twins if going full time during the day. We still used disposables at nights as they leaked through cloth at nights- it’s hard to boost up nappies when they are super little as multiples generally are. When using disposables for the first 2 months we went through at least 110 a week!!! it was ridiculous!”
Tips & Tricks (NB. these are also useful and being used by mums of singletons)
1. We recommend having a washing routine with cloth nappies. Washing your children’s cloth nappies every evening, every morning (to include the night nappy) or when you have a full nappy bucket, will help you stay on top.
“For instance put a load on every evening and hang them out while watching tv and the kids are in bed.”
2. With regards to drying your nappies, we recommend you have a clothes rack for cloth nappies only. This sounds strange but really it is not. A clothes rack is portable and allows you to drape nappies quickly as there is no need for pegs.
“As our rack is usually always full, I leave it on the deck during the day and bring it in at night (its sitting in front of the heat pump as I write this)”.
3. Try various types of nappies before buying in bulk. Each person has different requirements for nappies and we recommend visiting our FAQ page ‘Which nappy to choose’ for some guidance. In addition, having children already in cloth will also make a difference.
OSFA nappies: “One of the triplets is a lot smaller than the other 2 and my older daughter is toddler size. Its easy to identify the different sized nappies by the pops on the front, and can easily adjust any nap to fit each child if one size isn’t available.”
“I used several different nappies to find the right combo for us- I have two different wetters so needed to try heaps.”
“When they finally fit smalls I used AIO/AI2 nappies – the easiest system to use, plus I have a Porse nanny who uses them on my babes too and they were easiest for her to use and put together out of the wash. Small nappies I also had about 30 in rotation. Now they are in Med- although a bit big on my skinny bubba they still fit ok. I have about 30-40 in rotation with winter setting upon us and washing every two days. I have started to use pockets as I can now boost up the layers to get the right absorbency for my heavy wetters- but everyone has different experiences.”
“We use a mixture of Tots Bots Bamboozles fitted with covers, Tots Bots Easy fits and itti bittis.”
4. The initial set up costs for cloth nappies is large. As new / to-be parents you start looking early at all of the essentials that you are going to need for your new baby. It can be quite overwhelming once you add all the cost involved with setting up the nursery, buying the car seat, etc. Cloth Nappies are an investment on top of this! While considering whether or not cloth nappies are the way you want to go, it is important to realise that nappies are the only piece of clothing that your baby is going to wear 24 hours a day for up to 2 ½ years.
“The initial set up costs for cloth nappies is quite expensive but it pays off for itself in the long term. 4 kids in disposable nappies and all the other costs that go with them soon add up!”
Many first time parents are put off buying cloth nappies because of the upfront cost. This is understandable because they are looking at an investment of around $600 – $1000 for a full time (Birth-to-Potty) set of cloth nappies. When you’re expecting twins or triplets this doubles or triples! With this in mind we encourage (new) parents to start their cloth nappy stash early. Visit our layby page for more tips and ideas.
“We save over $60 per week from switching from disposables to cloth, that’s not counting the cost of rubbish bags!”
