I thought that this might help new people who are currently researching the type and brand of nappy they will buy. I personally assessed my washing facilities, drying facilities and budget. At the time we only had a washing machine with 800 speed spin, plus a couple of clothes horses and an outside line, our budget was around £100 for the nappies and wraps, so I knew we would either have very few nappies that we washed a lot or lots of cheapie nappies. We ended up buying a Cotton Bottoms birth to potty pack from Ebay for £80, only a few of the smallest nappies were opened and we got 5 wraps for each size of prefold, so we never had to worry about wraps, especially as the wraps were so adjustable you could use the next size up with no probs. We went for prefolds because they would dry fast on a line or clothes horse and were cheap and easy to get clean. We did a bit of research and bought a couple of nappy nippas to fasten them. The newborn size fitted our ds as he was 3 weeks early, but he wasn't in them for long, and I do admit to buying another ten small prefolds because I couldn't be bothered washing all the time when things were so hectic - we had about 35 small size prefolds and changed every two hours in the day and every three to four (if were lucky) through the night We ended up using the prefolds until DS was about 6 months and then started to buy shaped nappies and got really hooked on the novelty, they were mostly second hand and quite cheap, but we have probably blown the budget by now. I would definately use the prefolds again for a newborn, although we do have a drier now, I just hate tumbling nappies, it seems so wasteful, and I couldn't imagine the electricity bill. We could have quite happily continued to use the prefolds, but shaped nappies were a slightly more fun and easy option. However, for me having more nappies is easier than washing a lot, so do think about second hand so you can have more time between washes - generally they can be sold on and used by another baby so I don't see a problem in terms of the environmentally friendliness of having more nappies.
