Poo. Every baby produces a lot of it. Therefore, as a parent, you spend a $h!tload of your time trying to get rid of it (bahahaha sorry… crappy pun. Oops there I go again! Ok I’ll stop now). So, given that this substance is so common place, why is it that even after centuries of human evolution we have yet to figure out a way of managing the unavoidable catastrophe that is the poo explosion?

That’s right. Explosions of poo. Otherwise known as “Number Threes”. The awe-inspiring, stomach-turning, breath-stopping events that no nappy can contain and no clothing can survive. Poo explosions are the reason why the inventors of Napisan should be rolling in millions. They are reason that every parent should always pack an entire spare set of clothes whenever they leave the house (that’s right folks; not just a spare singlet, or a spare onesie). A real poo explosion leaves no article unstained; it only leaves behind an enormous pile of laundry).

I, like thousands of other parents, have chosen the more convenient but environmentally unfriendly way of dealing with my baby’s bowel movements – disposable nappies. Not to say I didn’t consider using cloth nappies, which have definitely evolved since the days my mum was cleaning my poo. I distinctly remember discussing it with my husband. I was lying in bed reading a pregnancy magazine and saw an ad for designer nappy covers (I know right – wth?) and he walked into our room and I said, “So… should we use cloth nappies?” “Hell nah!” He replied, not even looking at me. And that was pretty much the extent of the discussion. (Ok, ok we did go into further discussion at some point later in the pregnancy… we exchanged about five or six lines of dialogue and I quickly realised I would gain no traction on this matter and we reached the same conclusion).

And so… as we prepared for dear baby’s arrival, we started receiving a whole assortment of different brands of nappies. I don’t think we bought any nappies for the whole first month! (Nappies are, btw, a fantastically practical gift so if you’re stuck on what to give at a baby shower or when you visit parents with a newborn, bring a big fat box with you. A big supply of wipes are great idea too).

So far we’ve tried Baby Love, Homebrand, and of course, Huggies. We also have a stack of Mamia Infant nappies (from Aldi) that I’m going to test out this week. At this stage none have been able to withstand the power that is my son’s explosive poo. If you are reading this and you’ve found foolproof nappies, please share your secret with me. If you’re trying to make up your mind about which ones to go with, here are some of the discoveries I’ve found so far. Will keep this post updated.

• BabyLove
  We scored a huge box of the Newborn BabyLove nappies at my baby shower and I’ve gotta admit, for the 2 weeks they lasted, they were great. They are bigger than the Huggies newborn size so they lasted longer, were super absorbent (the Dri-Wave technology does hold in a LOT of pee!) and what I found really good was they have a little cut-out section on the waist to make room for your baby’s healing belly button stub.
  Be warned though, I only rave about the Newborn size. Once Ukulele Baby graduated to the Infant size, I wasn’t a fan. By this stage he was sporting a pretty round belly and the BabyLove nappies don’t have an elasticised waistband so they slide down or fold over, and because they can’t be tightened as effectively as other nappies, they aren’t very good at preventing poo from going up a baby’s back. As a result, I have washed many a mustard-coloured singlet and onesie.
  At the time of writing, RRP for the Newborn size is $27 for a box of 108, which works out to be 25c a nappy, so still pretty pricey. 
• Homebrand
  Note these are different to the Woolworths Select brand (Homebrand is cheaper). But don’t let that fool you about quality! These were surprisingly absorbent and never leaked through the night. I don’t think we experienced any poo explosions when we were using these, so I can’t really comment on reliability there, but they had elasticised waistbands and grip tabs and had a good fit. What I did notice though was that they don’t draw away moisture as effectively as the other nappies we trialed, so if I didn’t change a dirty nappy immediately, my baby’s skin started looking a little red and irritated. I guess that just depends on your baby’s skin. Because they’re such a good price I’d recommend trying them.
  At the time of writing, RRP for Newborn size is $10.73 for a box of 56 / 19c a nappy. On sale can go down as cheap as 14c a nappy.
• Huggies
  These nappies seem to dominate the market even though they’re one of the more pricey ones – but understandably though, because they’re quite reliable and are (apparently) tailor-made to accommodate the differences between how girls and boys wee. The stretchy waistband and grips make for a snug fit, they draw away moisture so skin doesn’t get irritated and the leak guards have trapped stuff in to prevent… uh… leakage. At the moment these are the nappies I use when I take Ukulele Baby out because they’re the only ones that have successfully contained his poo explosions. At ~29c a nappy I just wish they weren’t so expensive! The downside about Huggies is that they’re noticeably smaller in size than other brands of nappies… perhaps that’s a ploy to get you to upsize faster. Who knows.

Update:

• Mamia
  We trialled these for several weeks and made the switch from Huggies indefinitely. They are significantly cheaper (13-17 cents a nappy) and unbelievably reliable. We have survived many a bowel bomb in these little things. The straps (not the edges) of the nappy are elasticised so they don’t fit as snug as the Huggies nappies, but that hasn’t been a problem. When Ukulele Baby started sleeping 10-12 hours a night we started encountering leakage. He’d wake up damp because he’s peed so much through the night. We have yet to find a solution for this (our interim solution is to use one size bigger for night time stints). Apart from the overnight pee problem, these are – by far – my favourite.

Got some tips/favourite nappies that you think I should try? Got a story about cloth nappies? Write to me or comment below!!