Bright Bots Terry Nappies

You can call the way I dress my children many things but 'dull' is not one of them! I have always been a fan of colourful clothing and accessories for children and when Moo was a baby I actively sought out baby vests and sleep suits that weren't pastel. I loathe an over-load of pastel on babies, and I really don't like too much white, either. That doesn't mean I shove them out of the door looking like a clown caught in a horrific paint-factory explosion, I like to think that they at least look co-ordinated and smart to a certain degree (they are children, after all, not show-ponies), but colour is big to me.

I even extended this thought process to Bear's reusable nappies, opting for something a bit more exciting than your average white when selecting my terry towels. I originally came across Bright Bots on Amazon. An Australian brand, they bring colour to the world of cloth nappies and as far as I'm aware, are the only brand of excitingly-coloured terry nappies out there! 

Bright Bots are available in their standard 'brights' which are blue, green, red, lime, orange and the lushest royal purple I have ever seen or the 'girls' version which are still colourful, but more muted and feminine colours such as a baby pink, lilac etc. bear being a boy, I thought it somewhat unkind to stick him in a pink nappy, even though I really like pink!

Terry nappies take, apparently, an average of ten washes to reach maximum absorbency so the initial set-up is a bit time consuming but worth it if you want maximum results right from the get-go.

I love the colours that come in the brights pack and I am a huge fan of the presentation (pyramid style) and very basic, minimal packaging, after all, reusable nappies are the Eco-friendly option so a tonne of packaging does defeat one of the point.

I found the sizing of the nappies to be good, not too generous for my newborn and I must admit that I like that variance of terry towels, the different folds to suit your needs, and the ability to adjust and shape them to fit around your awkwardly-shaped child. Here are my pros and cons...

Pros.

- Attractive and colourful.

- Eco-friendly.

- Quick drying.

- Good size for most babies.

- Easy to work with.

- Very absorbent.

Cons.

- Colours can run in the wash the first few times, though this is stated on the packaging.

I'm really happy with my Bright Bots, terry nappies aren't as complicated or as time-consuming as a lot of people think, I wish they were waterproof though as the wraps get on my nerves a bit. If you'd like to try terries, I suggest here for folding tips.

You can buy Bright Bots in the UK from Amazon and a variety of online nappy retailers. I got mine from Fill Your Pants as they had the best price.

Clare

Please note that I bought this product with my own money and was not in any way compensated.

Cloth on a Budget - Starter Kit

I decided to create my own starter kit for my cloth nappy adventure, which I did with careful research, relentless shopping and hours of trawling the Internet for the best deals and prices. My goal was to have a variety of choices with enough nappies to not be constantly washing and for a low price. I'm happy with what I have, I hope that if you're considering cloth on a budget, that you find the following helpful.

Flat.

6x Terry Nappies - Bright Bots £18.95 for 6. Fill Your Pants.

Not the cheapest way to buy terries (though terries are the cheapest) , but I love the colours, they're a very good size and have good reviews. By buying a pack of six, also, I reduce waste should I decide that terries aren't for us.

9x Muslins - £3.50 for 3. Morrisons. £6 for 5. Sainsbury's.

Terries can be bulky on little newborns and although I had a lot of Muslins from when Moo was a baby, I decided to pick up a few more for use as nappies or to boost absorbency with some of the others.

  

Bright Bots.

Shaped.

2x TotsBots Bamboozles - £8.99 each. Fill Your Pants.

5x Little Lamb Bamboo - £25 for 5. Fill Your Pants.

5x Lollipop Bamboo - £22.50 for 5. Cloth Nappy Shop.

I bought the most of these because they are sized and I had heard good things about them all. I have bought three different brands, all bamboo, to see what I like for when they are outgrown and what is best for night times.

Left; Lollipop. Top; TotsBots Bamboozles. Bottom; Little Lamb.

Pocket.

Babyland - £2.99. eBay.

2x Baba+Boo - £9.25 each. Baba+Boo. Please note one of mine was gifted for review purposes.

CoolaBaby - £5.50. eBay.

When I first started research pocket nappies, I was convinced these were best and planned to buy 24 in total of varying different brands. After doing more research I decided to keep my options open but I wanted some 'easy to use' nappies for my husband and other relatives.

Top; CoolaBaby. Middle; BabyLand. Bottom Baba+Boo.

All in one.

Bambinex - £7.99. Zuilily.

Frugi for TotsBots - £14.44. BabiPur.

Another 'easy option' for other people more than for myself. The TotsBots Fugi is my most expensive individual nappy purchase, however it was too cute to resist and 15% off. I earnt some money through eBay and so purchased it with that.

Left; Bambinex. Right; TotsBots Frugi.

Wraps.

TotsBots Easy Fit Wrap. £8.99. eBay.

2x Smarty Pants wraps. £18 for 2. Fill Your Pants.

Little Lamb wrap. £6.50. Cloth Nappy Shop.

Lollipop wrap. Included with Lollipop shaped nappies.

 Top; Smarty Pants. Left; Little Lamb. Right; TotsBots Easy Fit.

Accessories.

Nappy Bucket - £5.99. eBay.

Nappi Nippas -  £4 aprox. eBay.

Net bags - £3 for 2. Baba+Boo.

Bamboo boosters - 5 Free with code BOOSTED. Fill your pants.

Flushable liners - £4.99 for 200. Boots.

Dry bag - Free with Lollipop shaped nappies.

Top; Nappi Nippas. Bottom; Bamboo boosters. Right; Bucket, net and flushable nappy liners.

Total spend; £182.57

I could've got this a little cheaper, however I opted to go for some more expensive brands ie TotsBots and Bright Bots, partly because they came so highly recommended.

So this is what I have to work with at the moment, twenty-four in all which apparently is enough to wash every-other day. There will be a certain degree of trial and error in regards to all of them but hopefully it won't take long to figure out what works for us and when Bear grows out of the shaped nappies at around nine months, we will sell them on as 'pre-loved' and replace either with the next size up or a different type depending on what suits us best as a family.

I'm not an expert, I don't pretend to know everything about cloth nappies, I'm still learning, but I hope that if you're looking to start cloth on a budget that this has given you an idea of what you can get for your money.

Clare

Saturday Savings - Pebble and Frugi at BabiPur

Happy Saturday!

I've recently discovered the site 'Babi Pur', a really cute shop dedicated to ethical products for young children and babies. They have some fantastic pricing, their reusable nappies are some of the best deals around and they sell some lovely, lovely products.

Currently, they've got some cracking deals on including...

50% off Pebble Baby knitted rattles using the code PEBBLE.

15% off Frugi clothing using the code FRUGI2.

15% off Frugi for Tots Bots Easyfits reusable nappies (discount already applied).

Here's my sneaky purchase, a bargain at £14.44

Have a great weekend!

Clare

Saturday Savings - Baba+Boo

Happy Saturday everyone! What's everyone up to today then? It's Airbourne here in Eastbourne, the free air show and I can see it from my living room so come five o'clock I'll be watching the red arrows drawing pretty pictures in the sky over the seafront! I hope your day will be as pleasant as mine!

Today's Saturday Savings is all about reusable/cloth nappies. I have been obsessed with putting Bear in reusables for a couple of months now, really since I started 'mummy blogging' and I was made aware of just how exciting and good they are now! When I had Moo, I thought they were still all terry squares and safety pins! To be fair, I have been researching terry squares which are by far the cheapest method of reusable nappy and it is definitely something that I would be happy with, however, I'm not a single parent and I have to take my husband into consideration. It has taken me a long time to convince him that reusable is the way forward environmentally and financially, so I've got to make it easy on him.

Enter Baba+Boo, a fantastic brand that I stumbled across through Twitter. They offer good quality birth to potty pocket nappies at a fantastic price and with beautiful, exclusive designs. Individually the nappies are a super competitive £9.25 (plus p+p) which includes two large, micro-fibre inserts and there's multi-buy options available; the more you buy, the more you save.

I have been really nervous about dipping my toe in the reusable nappy waters for awhile now and that is because of the expense; it's a lot to pay out for in one go, especially, if like myself you have no experience what-so-ever and your partner isn't 100% behind you on it. Baba+Boo have a very generous 'Try a Baba+Boo Nappy' scheme whereby you purchase one nappy at full price and you then have a two month trial period, if during which time you can return the nappy (clean, obviously) and will have 70% of the price refunded back to you. I think this is a fantastic idea, it is pretty much as low risk financially as you will get when it comes to trying reusable nappies and that is why it's made Saturday Savings this week! 

I've placed a cheeky order and am ridiculously excited for it to arrive, I didn't think it's as possible to feel this way about wee!

Clare