#082 The First Year In Cloth Nappies

Jess talks about her first year using cloth nappies. The cloth nappies she likes and which ones worked best for her. She has been doing cloth nappies since early 2019 when Henry was about five months old. We started with disposables. I was one of those people that was just a bit overwhelmed by cloth to begin with, but Henry used to love to do his poo in the car on the way to places, so I got sick of cleaning poo out of things and decided if I was going to clean poo out of things, it might as well be a cloth nappy house.

Transcription: The First Year In Cloth Nappies

Andrew: Hey, Vashti.

Vashti: Hey, Andrew. How are you today?

Andrew: Good. How are you doing?

Vashti: I'm awesome.

Andrew: We got a guest.

Vashti: We do. I'm really excited about this guest. She's well-known to me. She's probably well-known to anyone who comes into Nest.

Andrew: Really? Why is that? Does she just hang around all the time?

Vashti: A little bit, but, you know.

Jess: She hung around so much, she got hired.

Vashti: Yeah, pretty much. This is Jess. Jess works at Nest.

Jess: Hi, everyone.

Vashti: She's our Saturday Nesty, and she's got her babies with us, with her today too.

Andrew: Surprise, surprise.

Vashti: Yeah.

Jess: Surprise, surprise. We got 3-year-old Henry and 1-year-old Ella.

Andrew: Everybody brings their kids in.

Vashti: I know. Why wouldn't you? It's an awesome place to bring them.

Jess: You bring food and snacks and they still want to [inaudible].

Vashti: Yeah. Jess, how long have you been doing cloth nappies for?

Jess: We've been doing cloth since early 2019 when Henry was about 5 months old. We started with disposables. I was one of those people that was just a bit overwhelmed by cloth to start with, but Henry used to love to do his poo in the car on the way to places, so I got sick of cleaning poo out of things and decided if I was going to clean poo out of things, it might as well be a cloth nappy.

A friend told me about Nest and I wandered in, and Vashti gave me the full rundown, which then made it seem very easy. We walked out with 6 nappies to give it a trial that day, and I think within 2 weeks, had a full-time stash.

Vashti: I remember you walking back in. When you left with that first time, I'm like, "I don't know. You seem keen, but maybe not," and then a couple of days later, actually, you were back for more. I was like, "Oh, you're back already?" You're like, "Yeah, I love them."

Andrew: She didn't come back in and say, "I used all of those. Can I get some more?"

Vashti: Wash, then.

Jess: So, we loved them. And then, Ella was in cloth, pretty much from birth, we used a few of the nappies that we were given, the Mother didn't even finish the packet that they gave us, and other than that, she's never had a disposable, and then, bam. You're a cloth queen, isn't she?

Vashti: She is. She's an awesome cloth queen too. I'm sorry.

Jess: And now, one year old, she picks all our own, thank you very much.

Vashti: Nice.

Andrew: Picks her own color.

Jess: Yep.

Andrew: Oh, wow.

Jess: You have to get two nappies out of the drawer and she picks which one she'll have. You can just try and pull one out and she's like, "I didn't pick that one".

Vashti: So, you've really enjoyed using cloth, then?

Jess: I absolutely love them, yeah.

Vashti: And how long have you been working at Nest now?

Jess: Well, you hired me in April 2020, and then, I had a brief hiatus when COVID got a bit crazy.

Vashti: That's right. Yeah.

Jess: I came back, I think, in June that year when it calmed down a bit and other than a maternity leave stint.

Vashti: Yeah, we only got one training shift in before COVID went right here in Queensland in Brisbane and I had to sit there and say, "Look I'm really sorry, but I need to sort of put your training on hold because we just can't have that many staff members in the store at once."

Jess: And then, that was fine but then in June when I came back I was like, "Now, we have to treat me, like, this is my first shift again."

Vashti: Yeah.

Jess: So, I was telling all the customers like, "This is my second attempt to the first shift."

Vashti: You never know it now though, like, you're just part of the furniture at Nest, so you just spin in so perfectly. I love it.

Jess: Thank you.

Andrew: Oh, she's going to use that to get a pay raise.

Vashti: I'm sure she will, maybe I'll give her some nappies to try or something. Perks of working in a nappy store, you get to try all the new things.

Jess: All the new things that come in.

Andrew: Can you test everything before you sell them?

Jess: We definitely do, yeah.

Andrew: So, you're a tester?

Jess: Ella is a chief testing bum.

Vashti: Yeah.

Andrew: How many nappies have you tested over?

Jess: Probably, at least 8. Now, it's been quite a few.

Andrew: How many made it to the shelf?

Jess: Most of them.

Vashti: It's been a few.

Jess: Some of the more recent ones, I think. We're still thinking about.

Vashti: We're still looking out.

Jess: Yeah, most of the ones that I had from the beginning, I was one of the Petite Crown Capture testers.

Vashti: Yeah.

Jess: That was one of the ones that I was in there, straight away being like, "When are you getting these in? I would like some of these please, now."

Vashti: Now, your sister-in-law just had a little baby as well.

Jess: She has this morning, so she's got our whole newborn stash from Ella and a couple of extras that I've pulled off the shelves, including a new newborn nappy that's come out recently. So, we'll be good to play with those on someone else's baby's bum and see them all unused again.

Andrew: You can mention the brand. What was the brand?

Jess: DB, I have recently brought out the DB little.

Vashti: It's a Designer Bums.

Jess: Yes. So, we've actually got the pattern in the one size that fits most the large for Henry, and so, we should be able to get a 3-cloth bum shot at some point soon, with all 3 of them in the same print, in a different size.

Andrew: Wow, that's good.

Vashti: So, that's going to be fantastic, having those 3 different sizes and being able to see how they fit on a newborn, a 1-year-old, and a 3-year-old, and just see that difference, I think that's absolutely awesome. It'll be cute. I can't wait to see that photo.

Jess: It's going to be very cute. We've already had Henry and Ella in the matching prints, so it's just been a waiting game for a new baby to put the little one.

Vashti: Nice. So, Henry's been testing the large one from the Designer Bums and it's gone really well, so that, it will hit the shelves at Nest very soon.

Jess: Yup, it's been very popular at our house. The dinosaur print never goes far at storage, to be honest, but it's also a very absorbent nappy, so we're quite happy with it.

Andrew: Dinosaurs prints are just a no-brainer.

Jess: Yeah.

Vashti: It's a great dinosaur print. It's got like a pink dinosaur and it is well, so it feels like a dinosaur print that's not just...

Andrew: Oh, really?

Vashti: Yeah.

Andrew: Gosh.

Vashti: It works. [crosstalk] It sounds crazy but it works.

Jess: No, they're completely different.

Andrew: Oh, this is different?

Vashti: Yeah.

Andrew: [inaudible] has a pink dinosaur.

Vashti: They're very different. I remember bugging Vicky years ago for a pink dinosaur because all the dinosaur prints are very masculine. They're very gender-orientated towards boys, and I believe every girl needs a dinosaur [crosstalk]. Every girl.

Jess: Absolutely. I had to talk a father into a little girl came in to pick a swim nappy at Nest the other day and went with the Imsy[?] Whimsy pink dinos, and dad was like, "Oh, are we sure?" and she's like, "Yes, dinosaurs", and he's like, "Uh, can we return it?" I'm like, "Yeah, but she loves it." As long as you don't wash it, you can bring it back but she loves it. [crosstalk]

Andrew: You sent the [inaudible] person against this.

Vashti: So, now I'm very excited, we just keeping away a clue on your next range Andrew.

Andrew. Yeah, I know, don't worry about it. I'll delay this podcast until it's out. [inaudible]

Vashti: That's pretty exciting. How do you comply with the whole new range?

Andrew: Yes. Well, actually, we have a whole new range in this room.

Vashti: Yes.

Andrew: In the rhino[?] box. The rest of them are taking a bit of time to come from China. Surprise, surprise. It takes a long time to get stuff from China. [crosstalk]

Jess: Vashti, forgets how new Bubblebubs stuff sometimes. She's been playing with it for so long. When the brake pads came out, she's like, "These have been at them, like they've been out for 3 months", and she's like, "No. You've been playing with them for years, but they've been on the shelves for 3 months." Yeah.

Andrew: Was she gets a sneak peak?

Jess: She does. Yeah.

Vashti: Well, I help choose his new range.

Andrew: Well, true because Vicky always used to depend on you to help choose the range anyway because she needed the person who talked to customers all the time for you, and that's what you are. Did you like them? I think the pink dinosaur changed, they did it. I think we went with the first go.

Jess: Slight different color change. It was slightly different, just a few shades just to try and make those details pop a little bit more.

Andrew: That's right.

Jess: Yeah, the actual design itself didn't. It was more just sludge colors.

Andrew: Some of them went through so many changes. What's that thing?

Jess: The monsters?

Andrew: No. Donkey!

Jess: Oh, the donkey.

Andrew: I think the donkey went through the most changes.

Vashti: The donkey went through a few changes. Yeah. See now, we're giving away too much.

Andrew: Yeah.

Vashti: You have to edit this, and there's going to be beeps all over the place.

Andrew: Yeah. I'll beat the crap out it. What do you like about cloth nappies? What's your favorite thing?

Jess: Well, one of my favorite things was that I stopped having to clean throughout of everything else because, unlike disposable cloth nappies, hold it all in. You're only cleaning the poo out of what you expected to be cleaning the poo out of.

Vashti: That's pretty awesome.

Jess: Make my life a lot easier.

Vashti: No more cleaning car seats when you get to your location.

Jess: Clean your car seat with a baby wipe is just not fun.

Andrew: Yeah. I think I haven't had to clean poo out of car seats.

Jess: It's always a daily occurrence for us. That's why it's not fun, but I also just love the prints. It is a rabbit hole that is very easy to fall down. Vashti didn't tell me many years ago that I couldn't have any more nappies. Luckily, she has given up on that.

Vashti: Yea, I just stopped. I think Jess spends more of her wage at Nest than she actually takes home.

Jess: I'm just reinvesting in the business.

Vashti: She likes to pay her own way. When she felt pregnant with Ella, it was like, "Okay, yup, you have an excuse to buy some more nappies." Her brother and sister-in-law falling pregnant. I'm like, "Okay, you've got another excuse", and now she's just confirmed that they're going to go for number 3.

Andrew: Oh, awesome.

Jess: Yeah, so we should have another cloth bum in a while.

Vashti: So yes, number 3.

Jess: Number 3.

Vashti: It's not here yet.

Jess: No, not yet.

Vashti: No.

Jess: We're while away. Coming, so more excuses for more nappies.

Vashti: Yeah.

Jess: Plus, the bigger the stash, the better quality over the long term. [crosstalk]

Andrew: Is that [inaudible] what you sell your husband?

Jess: Yes. No, Mitch, I work. It's my money, I'll spend it on nappies if I want to. Pretty much. But, having a big stash also means that when life gets hectic with 2 children, there's usually still clean folded nappies.

Vashti: Exactly.

Jess: Occasionally, when you're on top of it, you can actually fit all the nappies in the drawer, but that's beside the point. Luckily, that's a very rare problem in my household.

Andrew: When you can't fit them in the drawer, that's the sign. You've got too many.

Vashti: We are not condoning going out and spending lots of money on nappies just for the sake of the prince.

Jess: You can get away with a lot less nappies than I owned very easily.

Vashti: Stashes don't have to be big, they can be small.

Andrew: I feel like I have to put in a public announcement that we do not support the ridiculous purchase of nappy.

Jess: You can have a well curated small stash.

Vashti: We also do support, though, you doing what you want when you want.

Andrew: That's true. When we got out of nappies, Vicky took that motivation and put it into sheets and pillows and stuff.

Jess: She loved to dance.

Andrew: That's right. It just gets shifted to something else.

Vashti: It gets moved along. Yeah. I thought we might talk about the first year in costs today. You have just cracked over one year with Ella last month.

Jess: We have.

Vashti: Yeah.

Jess: This is obviously our first experience with newborn nappies since Henry didn't go in until 5 months, and I also discovered that I was quite the odd one out. I always hear people saying, "Oh, with a newborn, you really need velcro." I've discovered that no matter how small the child is, I still hate velcro.

Vashti: Really?

Jess: Yes.

Vashti: There you go. I've always loved Velcro in a newborn.

Jess: I can see the appeal.

Andrew: What did you use? Did you used naps?

Jess: Naps! Our Pebbles were probably the only, which is a Bubblebubs all-in-one, were probably the only velcro newborn nappy that I actually liked. Beyond that, all of our bumbums, we had covers with snaps on.

Andrew: Okay.

Jess: Yeah. All the rest, we had a big bo[?] peep stash because I'm in all into fans, so we had quite a large [crosstalk]

Vashti: Well, you did start your cloth nappy stash on Candies?

Jess: No. We started with the Eco naps and one of the fitted, the Candies were a late session into a stash.

Vashi: Oh really?

Jess: Yeah. When we're out of the chinchilla and I couldn't get everything dry all the time.

Vashti: That's right.

Jess: I need more nappies.

Vashti: Yeah because you are finding the Equinox inserts were taking too long to try.

Jess: Yeah. I had a Chinese laundry happening...

Vashti: Yeah.

Jess: ...on that chinchilla. If it wasn't a ridiculously hot day, I found that it was just constantly moving them from the line into the air and then back to the line the next morning. We decided we needed extra nappies and that the Candies trifold was potentially something that would be easier to drive.

Vashti: I've just got it in my head because you had so many Candies that's where you started, but it wasn't. It was even naps.

Jess: Yeah. I started with the moms and dads range of Candies because I loved all of it, so I just bought all 9 prints from that limited edition range and then we've added bits and pieces here and there since.

Vashti: Well, Henry's wearing one of those on his bum now.

Jess: He is.

Vashti: Little dragons.

Jess: Dragons this morning. Thank you very much.

Andrew: You put pants on, though. I can't see it.

Vashti: I know.

Andrew: You just stick it out the top.

Jess: I know.

Andrew: [inaudible].

Vashti: I love the sticking out. [crosstalk]

Andrew: I like it.

Vashti: That little peek of a nappy, that's all from Henry's shorts.

Andrew: No. I love to see the nappy.

Jess: Yeah. By the time we get home, don't worry, no children will have shorts on. I just feel like they need shorts to go in the car for some reason.

Andrew: Bring out a range of see-through pants, so I can still see the nappy.

Jess: We'll get some peekaboo pants where it's just got a little clearer bum patch, so you can see the nappy. [crosstalk]

Andrew: I was on the baby website the other day. Remember those leggings? The Bubblebubs they used to sell?

Jess: Yeah.

Andrew: They're still around.

Jess: Huggalugs? Yeah.

Andrew: They didn't brand now, but they're still around.

Jess: No. There's lots of different brands, so Huggalugs is still there. I love the rock with eye socks. They're an American brand and they're proper socks, but they come thigh high.

Vashti: Socks is something that you really need in Brisbane, though.

Jess: No.

Vashti: [inaudible] We've never really don't know Huggalugs or any of those.

Jess: No.

Vashti: I see. I had the rocker thigh socks and because their rocker thigh socks do have kids up to 10 or 12 years of age, they've got older kids ones. I had all three of my children in the rainbow rocker thighs. It was fantastic because when Mikayla was a baby, Mikayla was 7 and Brent was 9. Through winter, all three of them wore thigh high rainbow socks. It was gorgeous. I loved it.

Andrew: Do you got pictures?

Vashti : I think I did somewhere. I'm sure I did. I would have.

Andrew: Okay. If you find it, well, post it.

Vashti: Yeah. I'll have to go hunting, but Mikayla's merely 8 now. It could be somewhere hidden. I'd have to go back through the hard drive to find it. I loved that, and they actually did stay up. Kayla pulled the pair out recently. They would have been [inaudible] at the time, but they've gone through all 3 kids now. He pulled a pair out and tried to wear them in the middle of summer, and I'm like, "It's too hot for that right now. You need to not wear thigh high socks in the middle of summer." He goes, "But I like them" and I'm like, "I know, but it's really hot. You just need your sandals, no socks."

Andrew: You would be the first person to try and feed him to something when it's just for fashion.

Vashti: Yeah. Exactly.

Jess: Then, you try and put them in the middle of winter and he'd be like, "No."

Vashti: "No sandals"

Jess: "I'm not cold." Yeah.

Vashti: Yeah. We are very lucky here in Brisbane, 2 weeks of winter a year.

Jess: That's it. You can't find your winter clothes because you haven't needed them since those 2 weeks last year.

Vashti: Yeah.

Jess: They're still somewhere hidden away.

Vashti: Yeah.

Andrew: And by the time you find them, it's over.

Jess: It's over.

Vashti: We were talking about- how do we get on the socks? We were talking about newborn nappies.

Andrew: Sorry. My fault. Well, I'll edit it out that it wasn't my fault.

Vashti: Yeah. I know.

Jess: This is how I still end up at work 2 hours after my shift ended if Vashti's working in the afternoon. Chat, chat, chat, chat, and then I'm "oh". Vashti's like, "You should go."

Vashti: Yes.

Jess: I probably should. Okay.

Vashti: We really, just, should not do that.

Andrew: I think we were talking about the newborn stage, like the really early newborns.

Jess: Yeah, and that I was anti-velcro, which is the weird person.

Vashti: But you took your clothes nappies to the hospital with you.

Jess: I did.

Vashti: And you bought at the Mater?

Jess: At the Mater. The Mater was interesting at the time because, obviously, had their foundation nappies and for private patients, you got given a pack of those. Private patients that also didn't say anything about cloth, whereas the public section, I don't know if the website still says that, but used to say, "Please do not bring cloth nappies." I was like, "Well, it doesn't say anything on the private section and I'm taking them. What's anyone going to say?" I'm going to try and wash them there or anything like that, but we personally found a really positive experience. All of the midwives and the doctors that saw them were really impressed, really liked them. Yeah. We didn't have any issues at all with having cloth in the hospital.

Vashti: That's fantastic.

Jess: Mitch and Henry used to just bring in a new wet bag of clean nappies and take home the wet bag of dirty nappies when they came to visit every day. So, it worked really well for us.

Vashti: Did you have the midwives coming and asking about them and chatting to you?

Jess: Anyone that did was really just about talking about the prints, that they like them, where we got them from. We had one midwife that was talking about the newborn nappies she'd used on her child, which were Baby Beehinds.

Vashti: Nice.

Jess: Yeah. Everyone was really positive about it, which was great.

Vashti: That's fantastic, and Mitch was good with taking the nappies home at the end of the day?

Jess: Yeah.

Vashti: He kept on top of the washing at home because you [crosstalk] four days.

Jess: Mostly. Yeah. 4 days post to C-sections.

Andrew: You probably had so many nappies. He probably didn't have to wash the whole time you're in the hospital, though.

Jess: I think he did one, pre-wash that.

Andrew: I knew it.

Jess: I guess that, for us, was a benefit of a fairly decent-sized stash and it just made one less thing for Mitch to try and keep on top of when he was, all of a sudden had Henry to himself for 4 days, which he had never done before. No mommy. When mommy disappeared in the middle of the night.

Vashti: It happens.

Jess: It does. I see. That was the thing that I found at the Wesley with Kyline as well. The midwives were really, really supportive of the call fuse. Well, there was no comment at all in regards to, whether I could drink cloth to the hospital or not. There's nothing in the Wesley's paperwork. All of the staff were really supportive and they were really interested. There was a note at the nurse's station calling me the cloth nappy lady, and the midwives are actually coming down and saying, "Tell me about these nappies. Show me how they work."

Vashti: Yeah.

Jess: I was in labor overnight and had like 4:00 A.M. C-section. I was exhausted. He was born with a bit of fluid on his lungs. Brent went home to get the other kids, and I was trying to get a couple of hours sleep. Kyline kept on coughing and spluttering. I was really concerned that he- I wouldn't wait to the coughing and spluttering to help him get rid of that fluid. I asked if he could go to the nursery just so I could get some sleep, and they took the cloth with him.

Vashti: That's right.

Jess: There was no issues. They didn't need to change him. Thankfully, I changed him before he went and he was only for, I think, 2 hours before they brought him back for a feed.

Vashti: Yeah.

Jess: They were keen. They were happy. There's no issues with using cloth in hospital. I think that's the misconception that a lot of new parents get under. It's like, "Oh no, it's too hard in hospital." It's really not it.

Vashti: No. It was really easy, particularly when you're just not thinking about it, beyond sticking it in a wet bag to deal with it later.

Andrew: Something that I noticed, though, is [inaudible] setting, especially Gabriel or I had to go into...

Vashti: NICU.

Andrew: NICU. Gabriel even asked me, "How do we transfer to hospitals?" Vicky was starting to get upset about the fact that she couldn't put a cloth nappy on it. I said, "They're trying to save his life. Just leave him alone."

Vashti: Well, that's the other thing. It doesn't have to be cloth, especially if your child is going into special care or NICU for whatever reason, there's enough going on. You've got enough on your plate, and the nursing staff are doing what they need to do. If that's the sort of situation you're in, don't stress about cloth. Worry about it when Bobby is back with you.

Jess: Absolutely.

Vashti: If you have a standard birth with no complications, even a C-section, and you want to use cloth from the start, then there's nothing stopping you from doing cloth from the start.

Jess: Everything in parenting is that you've got to do what is right for you and your family on the day.

Vashti: Yeah. So, what is your favorite nappy from the start?

Jess: It changed on a weekly basis. Pebbles were my absolute favorite early on, and then we moved on to the seedling Commando.

Vashti: Commando mini?

Jess: Yeah. Commando nappy. Can you tell I'm toilet training a three-year-old? That's always one of the options. Are we going Commando? Are we wearing on these? What are we doing? Yes, the seedling mini fits were a favorite and then Bo Papes[?] were great. After that, it all changed and obviously, Bambams were a bit of a favorite for overnight because Ella turned out to be a unicorn baby that actually slept for long stretches from really early on .Oh wait, unicorn baby, trust me. Henry was the complete opposite. I'd called The Midwives and was like, this baby sleeps for, like, 5 hours in her bassinet, what's wrong with her and they're like, that's normal. I'm like, no, it's not. I've had a child before and my mother-in-law who's a parent of 4 asking me if I was drugging this child. Okay? This is not normal.

Vashti: Does she still sleep at one?

Jess: Nowhere near as well as she used to. She's getting a lot of teeth at the moment. So she's struggling at the moment, but she's still a fairly good sleeper. Still a fairly good sleeper.

Vashti: You use the bam-bams for those longer period?

Jess: We use the bam-bams for longer periods and if we really thought she was going to sleep, we'd also stick a couple of Bubblebub stretchy bamboo prefold around that and put that all in a cover as well. That way we had heaps of absorbency and we knew that no matter how long that she slept, she weren't going to be dealing with changing sheets.

Vashti: See that's what I love [inaudible]

Jess: Yeah.

Vashti: You can have the nappy sitting so snug and secure on and then boost outside of the nappy before you put the cover on.

Jess: Absolutely. So you can't go past that that makes a great little early night and happy if you do have a child that sleeps really well.

Vashti: So, all these numbers you've just talked about are all newborn?

Jess: Yes.

Vashti: So they're all nappies that are designed to fit from like that to 2 and a half kilo mark up until that 7 to 8 kilo mark?

Jess: Yep.

Vashti: Did you use any [inaudible] fits most?

Jess: We didn't even play with the one size fits most until I think Ella hits 6 or 7 weeks. And then, we started with some quite trim ones like a designer bums and whilst we've got to fit without having to do a newborn hack. It still took another couple of weeks before it was a really nice fit. So, certainly for us in newborn nappy isn't something that I'd want to go without. Like we said, Nest newborn nappies after newborn babies. It's just so much easier. Nice and trim and you're not messing around trying to get a fiddly newborn hack to fit and you just got a nice trim nappy that baby's comfortable in and anyone could put on as well.

Vashti: What was his birth weight?

Jess: She was 3.7 kilos.

Vashti: She's a decent size.

Jess: Yep, yeah.

Andrew: It sounds it's like you could have put a candy on but wow.

Vashti: Yeah. When you started using the one size fits most you remember how much she was worrying then?

Jess: She probably would have been getting close to 5 kilos, I think by then and still it's just because no matter how big they are, and this is thing I say to customers in store, who's particularly, when they come in and say, like I've had an ultrasound is going to be a big baby, so we're not going to bother with newborn nappies. We're just gonna go straight to one size fits most and of course, if that's what they want to do, that's awesome. And we can help them find some nice trim nappies for that. But a lot of people forget that, no matter how big the baby is, they've still got those scrawny little newborn thighs and that's where it's difficult to get the fit. And that's where a newborn nappy is nice and easy, because it's already built for those little chicken legs. And then, once they start to get those delicious roly-poly baby thighs [crosstalk] it is so much easier for one size fits most.

Vashti: [inaudible] until around 2 to 3 months.

Jess: That's it. Yeah. And then all of a sudden, by the time you hit 9 months, you like this nappy that you've sold me is a birth to potty training. It's not birth [inaudible] training so about to grow out of it. Look at these thighs. What am I supposed to do about this? And you're like, it's okay, it's okay. They're going to start walking in a few months, and then you're actually going to go back down and [inaudible] It'll all be fine, I promise. Yeah, I had the same feeling with my first child, but it'll work.

Andrew: I think it's probably the number one question on the website is, among the last snap. He's about to go out of these. What we're gonna do?

Jess: Yeah. You told me. [crosstalk]

Andrew: He's gonna stop running soon it will be fine.

Vashti: That's the think they do, they [inaudible] they start of really scrawny and with this big pot bellies, newborns have these pot bellies.

Jess: Yeah.

Vashti: But these teeny tiny little flies, and no bum at all.

Jess: Yep.

Vashti: And that's where you need to get the good fit. And then they start chunking on that [inaudible] at that 2 to 3 month mark, and you start getting really concerned because they just explode in their way Kylie hit 8 kilos at 4 months. He's born 3.815. It [inaudible] decent size. 8 kilos at 4 months, his [inaudible] brother didn't hit 8 kilos until 5 and a half months [inaudible] like 20 months, he was only 11 and a half kilos. So he more than doubled, his birth weight in the first 4 months, and then [crosstalk] So yeah, it really, once I start getting mobile, they just lose it all and just grow up instead of out.

Jess: That's it, and like Henry is now 7 to 8 kilos and he's still not even in the last snaps on his Candies. So, as much as it may seem like it, 9 months, this nappies is never going to work until toilet training, they do but 99% of children, they will.

Andrew: He's not an [inaudible] now though, is he?

Jess: Yeah.

Andrew: Oh, is he?

Jess: Yeah, we talked about that before he's wearing pop up, the dragon one.

Andrew: Okay, yeah, see, he's got pants on that. I don't have my glasses on.

Jess: If I take his pants off him, I'll never get them back on again.

Vashti: [inaudible] standing is a new trick.

Andrew: You've passed the newborn stage.

Jess: Yeah.

Andrew: What changed? [[crosstalk] the fact that you went changing nappies 12 times a day.

Jess: Well, I have children at [inaudible] so I still change them at least 8 times. [inaudible] Oh, I used to laugh at the podcast Mary's like, " Oh, no once you get toddler you'll any changes in like 4 to 6 times a day" and I'm like, "You have not met my toddler's, no." on average or you might have weirdo children like...

Andrew: Was it strange screaming at us? And we we're actually talking back to you now?

Jess: It's a little bit different.

Vashti: Because you've been an avid podcast listener, haven't you?

Jess: I've never been a huge podcast person but during the COVID lockdown, I think actually like listen to all of nappy [inaudible] pretty much back to back and then I've stayed on top of it since then.

Vashti: You did come on as a guest once before...

Jess: No, I've never been on before. No. This is my first appearance on the podcast. That's a very exciting.

Vashti: And I didn't even bring cake..

Jess: And we didn't bring cake for your birthday yesterday, [inaudible] I do better.

Vashti: It's okay.

Andrew: But you have been here before though because you've been filming with...

Jess: No, we filmed in at Nest.

Andrew: Oh, okay.

Jess: Yes, so this is also my first trip into Bubblebubs HQ too.

Andrew: [inaudible]so many videos. I can't remember where she is.

Jess: Yeah, we need to do some more videos.

Andrew: Yeah. I can put you on the list. Actually, we haven't shot videos in your new place. [crosstalk] Oh, okay.

Vashti: Just did them.

Andrew: Oh, that's fine. We all said [inaudible]

Vashti: Yeah Kelly and [inaudible].

Jess: It's a newborn one as well with someone else baby before we arrived.

Vashti: [inaudible] when we did the A and A videos, [inaudible] we've done a few videos in the new show but I've just recently been reviewing our videos and I want to do some new ones. We've had some new products in and stuff like that, so I'm always done testing on the products, we haven't actually got videos on your website about them.

Andrew: Stand by for some new Nest nappy videos. Yeah.

Vashti: So yes. So maybe [inaudible] where like you're starting to use your bigger nappies so you're hitting around that 2 to 3 month. mark.

Jess: Yeah. So I moved onto the one size fits most, so that expanded the stash significantly again, and tried out some different ones. Obviously, 2 different children, 2 different body shapes. So, we've liked some different nappies on Ella than what we used to like on Henry and I found even our favorites with Henry changed as he changed as well. We've always been able to make our entire stash work but you'd often find points where you like, I were going to be in the car for a long time where I might not get to change you for 3 hours and you pick a a certain nappy based on their body shape at the time because you knew you were going to get the perfect fit and you had enough absorbency in it to last for however long you need it. So, that's the reason that I've always been paying on a fairly diverse stash. That's always on these things when I see in groups or when someone comes into the store and they just want to have 24 of the same nappy and it does work for some people. It makes it easier for other people to stuff but I've always loved having a variety of different nappies in our stash.

Vashti: That's always good. I'm a big person for variety. It can be difficult when you're first starting out trying to find what you like. And I'm like, you know, having to choose a couple of different things and play with a couple of different things and then getting concerned that your mix up the inserts and so you don't mix up the inserts and even if you do, it doesn't really matter though.

Jess: It doesn't matter and that's a conversation I had with a custom of the other day. Like if you put the wrong nappy, as long as you've got some absorbent bits and you've got a shell, that's water resistant, it doesn't matter. You can [inaudible] a nappy all you like.

Andrew: I assume [inaudible] what was on.

Vashti: This isn't a happy place to jump [inaudible] until you're doing it wrong.

Jess: Worst thing that can happen is you end up with wet sheets or something like that. And that's not that terrible really. Most of the time as long as you've got absorbent and a water resistant [inaudible] you shouldn't even have leaks. It should be fine.

Vashti: Yeah. So, did you find much difference between having a boy and having a girl, did you find that their nappies worked differently between boys and girls?

Jess: I didn't find that much different to be honest. There's a lot of talk about, you know, making sure your absorbency is out the front for boys, but I think because our entire stash is built out of very absorbent nappies that we never really had that sort of issue only really, for a short period of time when Henry was absolutely flooding things. And then, all we really did is for example, with the candies would fold the booster in half and probably put it up front rather than having it through the middle. But for the most part, I haven't noticed changing our nappies around. I don't fold them differently between the 2 kids.

Vashti: So, you don't need different nappies for boys than you need for girls?

Jess: No.

Vashti: See, isn't that awesome?

Jess: Yeah.

Vashti: You don't have to buy different things. I don't have the same...

Jess: And we already had all the pink nappies because they were Henry's favorite anyway, if you sent him off to get an a nappy, he came back with a pink one. It took me a few too many months to be like, that's it. I'm the one looking at these nappies and I want this cute pink one. And at first my husband looked at me he's like what why do we have a pink nappy when we only have a son, he got over that quickly and since then it's become henry's favorite. Now, it's one of Ella's favorites too.

Vashti: Did the pink nappy [inaudible] It's one of his favorites shirts.

Jess: Actually, we're all wearing pink shirts today.

Vashti: Wow. That's interesting. Few different shapes. But uh, sorry, no, we didn't plan that in. We must have just hoping, you know, channeling pinkness this morning.

Jess: Needed a bright pink for the grade-a out there.

Andrew: It's funny you say that because just a few minutes ago you were saying that you like a lot of nappies and now, you're saying oh no I just need a few.

Jess: When did I say I just need a few? Oh, you don't need to have..

Andrew: Yeah. Because you before you said yeah I got a lots of and they say yeah, I don't [inaudible].

Jess: I personally like a lot of nappies because I have no self-control when it comes to pretty new prints.

Andrew: So that's it. It's just the prints.

Jess: Yeah.

Andrew: You're not buying others because they get slightly different shape or...

Jess: No, I've never yet changed and that I tend to stick within the brands that we know and love but yes, I'm a sucker for it.

Vashti: It's funny when I've given you a nappy that you've never used before, and it's like, you know, we're talking in the shop. And I say, I have you used this nappy because I noticed that you don't gravitate towards it when you're selling and you're like, oh no, I haven't used [inaudible] right, take one home, use it. I want you to know how it works so that you can tell your customers. And it's funny listening to you come back and talk about what you do and don't like about it. You've always said everything that we've got works. I think you've tried just about everything on our shelf now.

Jess: Pretty much there's a couple here and there that we haven't, but I know enough about them that I could take that home and know that I could comfortably make them work on my child and I'm happy to sell it to anyone. But yeah, it's always much easier to sell something that you know and use to sell, which is why you only pick people that use cloth nappies. Like you never gonna hire someone off the street. That just says, "Hey, I'd like a job please." Because they won't [inaudible] this is the good things about an all-in-one. This is a good thing about an all into. And this is a pocket that be and... the benefits.

Vashti: [inaudible] the whole this is a good thing about a pocket nappy, you just said, this is a pocket nappies. Jess, doesn't like pocket nappies.

Andrew: Joined the club.

Vashti: You just lay the absorbency on top of the pocket. It's fine. It becomes an all entry that you just didn't snap up.

Andrew: Join the club. I'll teach her the [inaudible] secret handshake.

Jess: Who has time for stuffing pockets, but some people absolutely love them and it's quite funny seeing different people. I had a customer on Saturday, that watch me suffer a Seedling. Many fitting was like, oh, no, that's too much work. But other people come in and they're like, "Oh no. That's exactly what I want." And that's perfect. And that's why there's so many different types of nappies.

Andrew: So as Baskin Robbins has hundreds of flavors.

Vashti: No, 31 flavors.

Andrew: 31 Flavors.

Vashti: 31 Flavors. They just changed them regularly.

Andrew: Yeah. But I keep cycling out [inaudible]

Vashti: Really?

Andrew: Yeah.

Vashti: See, I'm a choc chip cookie of a person.

Andrew: [inaudible] a stable.

Vashti: I took Kylen to Baskin and Robbins yesterday, the big kids had homework club and stuff like that. So, [inaudible] school pickup and we went have Baskin-Robbins for my birthday. He chose the orange sherbet which I was really quite surprised because that's like a..

Andrew: Not an ice cream.

Vashti: It's a sherbet it's not an ice cream. And he go on and saying he wanted chocolate one and he chose [inaudible]

Jess: Came out with orange sherbet.

Vashti: Which I was pretty impressed with. Mind you. Like, I always choose chocolate chip cookie dough because it's my dead set favorite. He did eat nearly half of mine. And all of his, I got one tiny taste of his.

Andrew: Because sherbet doesn't fill you up.

Vashti: No.

Jess: He's a growing boy.

Vashti: He keep saying to me, don't eat all the white chocolate and I'm like, "Sweetie, there's no white chocolate in this, its vanilla ice cream with chocolate chip bits." And he goes, "Look, there's a white chocolate bit." "Darling, that's a cookie dough." "I love the cookie dough." Of course you do. [inaudible] You come to a Nappy podcast, we talk about ice cream.

Andrew: Delicious.

Vashti: Yeah, absolutely. [inaudible] got pregnant and having cravings.

Andrew: People driving around [inaudible] now gone through the drive-thru.

Vashti: Yeah. So, same nappies worked on boys and girls. But you have still found different things because of the different shapes of Ella and Henry.

Jess: Yeah. So we tend to gravitate towards the designer [inaudible]. They just seemed to be a really good fit with her, but we still use the eco-naps and the candies on Ella as well. Typically, the candy sit and Henry stash at the moment though, because they still fit him at 17 kilos, whereas designer bombs one size fits [inaudible]stop feeding him a while ago. So, it was quite exciting to see the new launch which is a great fit on him.

Vashti: Yeah. That's good.

Jess: They all work.

Vashti: See.

Jess: It's just new prints that you need or don't need.

Vashti: Well you don't need, you want. So, Ella is 1 now?

Jess: She is.

Vashti: And how often do you change her nappy a day?

Jess: She would usually get changed anywhere between 6 and 8 times. Sometimes more, sometimes less. [inaudible] and she went through yesterday.

Vashti: Nice. And are you using dedicated nappies on her now?

Jess: Absolutely. So, she's pretty much always had some form of dedicated night nappy whether it be a bambam with the pre folds, or but we always love a fitted than not.

Vashti: Fitteds are awesome yet.

Andrew: What fitted are they using?

Jess: So, Henry is currently still in all about baby beehinds fitted. So, she is currently actually in a day fitted she's in the bubblebubs bamboo delights with a stretchy prefold around is enough to get her through and when Henry moves up a size she'll go into the baby beehinds.

Andrew: Not boosting in it just the nappy?

Jess: A nappy and a free folder on the outside. [crosstalk[ Yeah. She typically only wets about 400 mils overnight.

Andrew: So easily...

Jess: Very easy.

Vashti: I know Henry wets a little bit more. We've weighed some kids night nappies.

Jess: Yeah. Around 9 months. It was just almost impossible to keep up with it. We had some raw soap masters for a while there, which I really struggled to fit on him but they were the only thing that could keep up with the output that he had around 9 months.

Andrew: What's the brain soaked masters? [inaudible] Monsters?

Jess: Yeah.

Andrew: That's brilliant.

Jess: Yeah. So, it's still a fitted nappy, but they've got the athletic wicking Jersey against the skin and then they've got a layer of microfiber underneath that. That's a quick absorption which is fantastic for flooding babies, because they just let go and afford the microfiber, soaks it all up and then gives it a chance to soak into the bamboo cotton. And then you still need a cover over the top of them, of course. What covers do you use on your night nappies? Do you use wool? Because I'm a wool person.

Vashti: No, I've never even tried the wool to be honest because the looking after it's just, not been up my alley and we've always gotten away with [inaudible] that can just go through the same pre-wash and ,ain wash that we use. So, we had [inaudible] early on and we're still using some of those but the petite crown catcher is my favorite.

Jess: Yeah, I love the petite crown.

Vashti: I know you do. You were one of my testers with petite crown that knew I wanted like 2 to 3 months worth testing and all of my testers of petite crown were back within a week going [crosstalk]

Jess: Come on when are we getting these in.

Vashti: Like, hurry up.

Jess: It's fine. It'll be good. Just get some.

Vashti: Of course. That was like right before COVID here and so I had to wait almost 12 months to be able to get them in because of COVID.

Jess: I think it broke got to the point where I'd walk through the door and [inaudible] would be like, "No."

Vashti: "No. They're not here."

Andrew: And she was only turning up to work.

Vashti: Yeah. No, this is before I went. [inaudible]. So, that's pretty much your first year in cloth with Ella.

Jess: Yeah.

Vashti: We've touched on Henry being in cloths from 5 months as well.

Jess: Yeah.

Vashti: You've said you got a [inaudible]

Jess: Yep.

Vashti: Now that you've done it from birth, is there anything that you would do differently with the Third?

Jess: No. We will go straight back to cloths from hospital with number 4.

Vashti: Yeah. Even with 3 kids?

Jess: Yeah. I think chances are all potentially still be [inaudible] if you're already watching nappies, an extra 12 from a newborn makes no difference here nor there to what you're doing at home. And I'd hate to try and have to work out which disposable fit Ella. This is the thing, once you've been clothing full time, you come to the point like I wouldn't even know what size or brand to go and buy. I haven't walked down the aisle in Coles and Woolies in 3 years.

Vashti: It's funny, isn't it? Because I remember we have people come into the shop going, "Are there in size for disposables?" and I'm like, what's the size for?

Jess: What's the weight range of that?

Vashti: How much does your baby weigh? Oh, they are in size 4 and I'm like, "I don't know what that is. I'm sorry."

Jess: Maybe we need a conversion up in the office [crosstalk] and size.

Vashti: I think I might just do that. So, straight to the number 3, you're going straight into cloth right from the start again?

Jess: Yep. And it's so easy.

Andrew: Quick question. Do you want a boy or a girl?

Jess: Doesn't matter.

Andrew: Because you all ready got one of each?

Jess: We already got one of each.

Vashti: Yeah see, I did that. I had a boy. I had a girl and then I had one of the others. You don't want one of the others. Everyone at home is going, what's one of the others? He's gorgeous. Gorgeous little boy. But yeah, he's full-on, like takes a lot of work.

Jess: I think Henry still going to be a full on one and Ella going to be our risk-taker. My God. She's not walking yet, but she climbs everything. She was at the top of the pike the other day.

Vashti: Wow.

Jess: Can you get down from there, Ella? She's like, [inaudible] Yeah, I can get down. You can get me.

Vashti: She's gorgeous. She's absolutely gorgeous. Well, I think that's about it.

Andrew: Thank you, Vashti.

Vashti: Thanks Andrew.

Jess: Thanks Andrew.

Vashti: Thanks for coming in, Jess. [crosstalk] Do you want to come back for another episode?

Jess: Absolutely.

Vashti: What do you reckon?

Andrew: Sit right there.

Vashti: Don't move it's now 2 weeks later.

Andrew: Can I say that out loud?

Vashti: Gosh.

Andrew: Thanks everybody. Goodbye.

Vashti: Bye.