David and Katherine Goodwin

We used proper traditional terry nappies for Tom and everyone we mentioned it to back then said how it was too much bother but when you look at the amount of baby clothes you end up washing anyway it didn't seem to add up to all that much more work.

I used cloth nappies on my daughter from two months to potty training. I started out with nappies called fuzzi bunz-Google them and take a look. They are like disposables, going on with press studs, being adjustable at waist and hip and being completely dry on the baby, with the cover built in. There is a microfleece (polyester) liner between baby and the absorbent stuffing that lets pee through but then dries instantly and so baby stays dry.

I swapped to prefolds and terries when she was older so she would feel the wet to help potty training. I also wanted to be away from manmade fibres by then and so I went to all cotton, and even some organic fitteds like Under The Nile that were the most absorbent nappy I had.

If you have a drier then washing at home really isn't much more effort than doing baby clothes, especially if you have enough. I had enough for three days.

When you are done-and this idea may take some getting used to, you can sell the nappies. There is huge value in (obviously clean) second hand cloth nappies. Consider selling them yourself instead of going through the council-you can often recoup up to 50% of what you sold. I bought a good number of mine second hand as she got older and I got over the hang ups. Just sanitise before you use them (use some of the nappy powder from Boots). Second hand ones lose little if any value, so you can sell them on and get most back.

There is a website in the US called diaperswappers, where you can sell and trade diapers, and there is a UK equivalent. I am sure I can find the address for you through them if you are interested.

I hope it works out for you. Nothing holds breastmilk poop like cloth. Gone were the days of exploding nappies, and ruined outfits, because the cloth absorbs it instead of it just sitting between the chunks of elastic like in a disposable. Overnight too is easy, because you just add extra liners, or booster pads to the nappy. My daughter was unable to go through the night in a disposable because of nursing all night long (we coslept for my sanity and sleep sake) but in cloth I could put as much absorbency as I needed in, and with a fleece dry liner we could go 9-10 hours.

If I can help, I will, I am a cloth addict!

The trouble with wonderroos was the elastic in the legs. I'd only had them two months when the elastic went in both of the two I had bought as a trial. Additionally there were problems with my daughter having chunky thighs, when there was only one row of snaps on the wonderroos, and hence no adjustment between thighs and her skinny tummy. They either hurt her legs or gapped at the front.

Motherease are great I agree. There are boosters for them when the kids get a bit bigger, and then the ToddleEase when they really are too big. But the covers were not so good, the Riki wrap being too chunky on the thighs and ultimately, it was too stiff feeling. Bummis pull ups were nicer for being really soft, but not so breathable. We got into wool and fleece in the end, often just putting a prefold under a pair of fleece trousers.

Oh and I don't know if you have pins but if so, look online for a nappi nipper I think it's called in the UK. They are Snappis in the US-and they are a nappy gripper that takes away the stab the baby risk.