Hi Amy,
I went with the cloth nappies for both my girls. Started with the big white squares that had to folded and fastened with pins, then when I discovered there were alternatives, I switched to them.
Incidentally, I still have them and they are my best cleaning cloths ever (so they were a darn good investment ).
there were two brands that I used then; "Kushies"/"Kooshies" depending on who's selling them and "Gio". There are loads of different ones available now. Some of the brands have quite funny names, "Bum genies" I think one brand was.
Sure, when we were going for long trips, or on holiday, I used the disposable ones as well, just think that in the long run, they are more expensive, plus I just preferred them.
I probably threw more disposable ones away than necessary, as when they peed, they smelt funny to me, I was forever sniffing and checking them to see what the pong was . With the cloth ones, I knew for sure what the pong was!!
One of my other main reasons to use them was, I had a nephew and neice who had Congenital Hip disease, my nephew wasn't diagnosed till long after he was walking. This led to him having many years of operations, being in a splay legged plaster cast up to his waist and as they made a botch of the operations, he grew up and lived with a rolling limp all his life.
His youger sister was diagnosed as a small baby and only had to have her nappy put on is a special "froglike" way, for a few months, with no problems ever since.
So having read and heard that cloth nappies, as they keep their little legs
further apart, helps keep the hips aligned, I had no hesitation in using them.
One thing to note, you will need to get bigger sizes for your cloth bound baby, the extra padding makes for at least one, to two sizes larger.
They are certainly expensive to buy out right, but if you go to any of the "Kinderkleider börse" you should be able to pick them up at a very reasonable price.
Otherwise, I am positive any of the baby shops will have at least some you can choose from.
I also found that for one or maybe two extra washes, there wasn't a lot more work involved than before, the system is so convenient now. I never needed to use anything special as far as sterilising/bleach or the like, just washed them seperately and they stayed white. They also never had any problems with nappy rash.
Okay, wish you all the best, once I am allowed back on the 'puter', I'll try and send a couple of links to some places with different names.
Ros.