Cloth nappies

Before LB was born I stocked up on a range of cloth nappies all keen to save the environment and money. Well, I think I have done that -- to some extent. I go through bouts of cloth nappy mania, using them almost every day and then I don't use them for ages. I've also started buying unbleached, compostable disposables, which soothe my conscience.
Anyway, this morning I decided, after several weeks of no cloth, to give them a go again and wouldn't you know it? The first one she wore leaked. I've had loads of leaks with cloth -- I just can't get it right! I've tried quite a few different types so here are my observations:

*Prefolds suck bigtime. I was sold on prefolds when pregnant because they looked cheap, quick to dry and slim on the baby. I bought a bunch of Bambino Mio ones on ebay all ready for LB. When we brought her home from the hospital we gave them a go, but stopped when LB's dad J noticed they were rubbing her cord stump. We tried again later but they always seemed to leak. And let me tell you, that breastfed baby poo leaks everywhere! Urine I can cope with, but I had orange poo over everything! ugh! I did use the Bambino Mio covers a lot over the top of disposables -- because those leaked too!

*I then tried ordinary square nappies because I had been given a whole load of them. These worked ok, but were bulky and needed to be changed often. I also had some leaks and found them hard to fit on LB (who has been on the big size from about three weeks). I liked Jo's Fold the best, but it was too hard to fit on LB. Plus, I hated the pull-up plastic pants.

*Next up was Tots Bots. These are nice but expensive and a bit bulky. The real revelation however was the Tots Bots covers -- these are the best I've found. They're slim and keep the leaks in. Definitely go for these is you can.

*While I liked Tots Bots I couldn't really afford to buy many so I tried making some shaped nappies from the square ones I had. I padded them inside with some of the stupid prefolds. I was really happy with these. They fitted well and were ok absorbancy-wise. I still had leaks, however, even with the tots bots covers.

*The other thing I don't like is that all the cute baby clothes don't fit over the top of cloth nappies. This is pretty shallow, I admit, but a consideration!

I'm not sure if I'll continue cloth nappies for LB. If she has a little brother or sister I will definitely use them for a small baby -- cloth certainly soaks that newborn poo -- with Tots Bots covers. I should probably look out for some on ebay...