How many nappies you need will depend on the age of your baby and how often you wash. The table below assumes you’ll be washing every second day.  

You’ll also need to consider how long they’ll take to dry as you may want a few extra for the winter months, particularly if you live somewhere cold with a lot of rainfall and low daylight hours.

And if you’re worried about going cloth full time, why not start with just one per day or only using cloth nappies when at home or at the weekend? Even using one cloth nappy per day or week will make a huge difference. You’ll be sending less to the landfill, saving money and supporting a New Zealand business! And who knows, you may find it so easy, you want to use more.

For a newborn or little baby, one of the longer inserts, folded over will be enough for each nappy. You can tuck this into the nappy shell. Use the wider end of the insert at the back of the nappy.

For larger babies use two inserts; a cotton with a hemp booster will provide plenty of absorbency. You can either sit them on top of the shell and snap them in place or stuff them into the pocket (known as a pocket nappy). When using hemp inserts, position the hemp insert further from the skin as they take longer to absorb the wetness, but hold more.

If using overnight, you may choose to add one more booster to the nappy. Again, hemp is a great choice at night because of its absorbency.

On the face of it, cloth nappies look expensive as it might cost say $20-30 for one cloth nappy, whereas you can buy a whole pack for $30 from the supermarket (although this varies wildly depending on the brand, stage, style and supermarket).

So we’re going to base this on the cost of an average nappy, which is 60 cents (averaged between brands, sizes and styles). If you use just one disposable nappy each day for one year, that will cost you $219. That’s compared to the cost of say 2 reusable cloth nappies which would cost on average $50 (for 2). So already you’ve saved over $150. Now, this doesn’t take into account the costs of water, electricity and washing powder, but we also haven’t taken into account the cost of disposing of the used disposable nappy in your weekly rubbish collection.

The average age for toilet training is 3 years old, so using one reusable nappy a day will save you roughly $600 from your pocket, if you have 2 reusables of which you use 1 per day. Many children are not night toilet trained until well after five years old, so using a reusable night nappy will save you an extra $438 per year on top of this.

Pre-wash the used nappy daily with the inserts out. Wash for roughly one hour on a 40-60 degree cycle. After the prewash, pop them back into a well ventilated basket until your main wash.

Do a main-wash every 2-4 days depending on how many nappies you have. Bulk out the machine to be 3/4 full with smaller items or clothing to help provide good agitation to wash your nappies and wash on the longest washing setting at 40-60 degrees celsius. Hang your nappies to dry. The inserts can go in the dryer on a low setting. Using a hot dry should be avoided as it can shrink the natural fibres.