Major U-turn

" Your baby will get through up to 5,000 nappies before she is potty trained, so getting the right nappy for your baby is a must. "

Well, we're nearly there now. After throwing so many nappies in the bin since March (see old blog, Major Bummer), I contacted a nappy advisor through the fill your pants site, who have region-based advisors (mine's from Nottingham, Heather Rai). She suggested that I first freshen up the old nappies to improve absorbency, in case they've got clogged with detergent, nappy creams etc. You do this by strip washing, using washing up liquid or dishwasher tablets, see bumgenius site for more instructions.


I spent early this week washing them through and have been testing them on our 24 month-old for the last four days.

Bumgenius 3.0 All In One Birth to Potty

Daytime

The fit is still snug, but ok. She got a bit red where the nappy had rubbed her thighs previously, but it didn't break the skin and I've managed to keep it at bay (no longer red as it was on the first day, but looking pretty good actually). I did this by keeping an eye on her legs and applying bottom butter, Natalia, to the previous problem area. I plan to keep it up.

Great! The days are sorted.

Night time

Tots bots stretchies

Unfortunately, the bumgenius nappies were a bit too snug with the normal bumgenius extra liner, and leaked the first night I tried them. As an alternative, Heather recommended that I try stuffing the bumgenius nappies with bamboo inserts, which are more absorbent liners than bumgenius' cotton ones, or trying the tots bots stretchies bamboo nappies, which she recommended as being more suited to larger babies*. Considering the size limits with the bumgeniuses, I wasn't interested in buying bamboo inserts. Instead, we're using eco-disposables at night, but considering getting 3 or 4 new bamboo nappies and wraps, e.g., GEN-Y (you have to buy separate nappies and wraps for these nappy types, so it gets more expensive at £10 ish for nappy and £10ish for wrap - this was another positive for buying the bumgeniuses in the first place). A pack of eco nappies is £4.99 for 28, at one or so a night, this lasts almost a month. I'm not sure if the investment of another £60 - 80 is worth it if the daytime bumgeniuses are saving the most money and having the greatest impact on reducing our contribution to landfill.

* = I do not think that Abigail is in anyway a particularly large size. She has been on the 50th percentile, dropping to 25th %le after 1 year old. She is also a smaller toddler when compared to her male counterparts. Therefore, the description of suitable for 'larger' or 'chunkier' toddlers/babies is a bit misleading. Perhaps it is the nappies that aren't designed correctly rather than the children?!

For now, I'm just really pleased to have the bumgeniuses working again. It's a big enough difference changing day nappies alone.

Why has it worked?

To recap: The main cause for stopping the bumgeniuses in March was 1. leaking at night/ nap times, i.e., when lying down and/or when in nappy for long periods of time 2. Chafing skin on the thigh area where it meets the edges of the nappy. Perhaps it is because she's not napping as long and also, her pattern of toileting may have changed so that there is no leaking during daytime naps anymore? Abigail has also grown, so maybe this has changed her shape so that the nappy fits better and doesn't rub as badly, or allow leaking so easily? Maybe because her skin is better now, and I know to protect it and keep an eye on it, I am just more clued up than I was when the problem first started?  As with alot of things in learning how to figure out your child, it is a bit of a riddle!

No regrets

Yes, it is a shame that I couldn't just use the all in one, birth-to-potty bumgenius nappies from birth to potty as the name suggests. Reading lately has shown that they are fit for average to slimmer children, e.g., see 'Will it really fit those sizes?' heading on this squidoo review. So how exactly do you know whether your baby is going to develop a chunky leg or slim leg? Err...

Moving on though, I cannot complain about anything else I've experienced with the now old version of the bumgenius nappy. You buy one nappy and that is it from birth to (currently 2 years). No purchasing of another set of nappies half way through, and no purchasing of additional wraps, as found with the bamboo and wrap combos. So you can sleep walk through changing and washing once you've got kitted out. I am really pleased to see the stats on the bumgenius 4.0, which go up to a larger size than 3.0 did. It seems to fix the sizing and most likely, absorbency, issues we're currently working through. For more information on the latest bumgenius nappy, read more here.