It is an expensive inital outlay by the time you buy the outers, the inners, nappy bucket and paper liners (like Iona we use these to make things easier to clean and it also protects the liners from nappy creams). But we hope it will ultimately be cheaper over the long term. Our baby is 11 months and is on the second (of three) dome setting and there is plenty of space widthways as well, so there is a lot of room to grow (admittedly he is of slight build).

So far, so good. Aside from the usual pros of using non-disposables (cost and environmentally friendly) we are finding that they compare favourably with disposables both in terms of fit and convenience.

My friends found the Bumgenius nappies were quite bulky. Because the Flip outer shell is so thin there is no such issue here. The liners are not much bulkier than a single disposable and are easily transportable (I’m not so fond of the idea of carting around a number of dirty nappies mind).

The liners are extremely absorbant, although I think disposables have the edge in this regard as I have to change my boy a little more frequently now. That’s clearly attributable to the chemicals and it’s been quite a revelation seeing how much my boy was wetting. He is suffering from a little more nappy rash than before which we’re hoping will improve as we get better at changing him more frequently.

The outer shell can get a bit dirty on the edges as the inner liner shifts around, but the shell does a great job of containing mess. This compares favourably to disposables. We had a few problems with leaking disposables, but admittedly this was probably more to do with incorrect fitting thanks to a squirming baby. The Flip dome system ensures the fit is always right (hence no leaks), although the squirming baby issue remains. (I’m not sure how they would perform with an unweaned baby where everything is fluid).

As the other posters noted, the shell does not need to be washed straight away. It can be wiped clean and then reused until you are ready to wash it. This massively reduces the laundering load (and the need for multiple shells), especially if you are happy to reuse shells with slight soiling on the edges for a while longer. As for the inners, they wash well and dry fast (although we use the dryer as per the instructions), but you need a lot of them. We are going through about 5-6 a day and are currently washing them every other day becuase we only brought 8, so we clearly need to buy more as doing so many washes is not efficient.

Probably my only complaint is that the liners stain and as you are not supposed to use laundry additives, it seems it will not be possible to keep them pristine white with the help of whiteners. Maybe in the summer, a bit of sun will bleach them. This is just aesthetics though.

All in all, we are pleased with these nappies. We find them sufficently comparable to disposables in terms of ease of use and convenience to make the conversion easy. Most of all we are delighted to no longer be contributing to the plastic landfill.

When I heard of FLIP and the offer at Babipur, I thought it was worth a try, and after trialling a couple, I ended up buying more!

So to compare my experience of FLIP with the squares and bumhuggers…

The pros – **slimline** – no bigger than disposables (so now we can use just the one size of trouser – we were using one size for disposables, and one size up for the terry’s squares!), neat fit at the legs and back so no major leaks, thin and sturdy-looking wrap, no need to buy different sizes, dries super-fast (fitted nappies take longer to dry in the creased areas).

The cons – the insert can dislodge when your toddler is running about, which is fine for wet nappies, but poo can get onto the wrap more easily, but saying this, this is pretty easy to clean off.

I am happy to stick with the re-usable insert when out and about as they don’t take up much space at all, but I do actually still use a paper liner (as with the Terry’s squares) so I have less contact with any offensive material!

All in all, FLIP are fab! They are convenient and user-friendly, and I am really happy to have been re-converted and doing my bit for the environment again!