Nappy sizing and such

Just a quick word of advice. This applies to disposables, in my experience, as I've not tried the Other Kind.

You produce a perfect tiny pink bottom (attached to your newborn), and you take it home in due course ready to polish it clean at extremely frequent intervals. You are supplied with a small pack of newborn-size (size 1, they term it, if memory serves) nappies. Unless you knew your baby would be premature, in which case you have some even tinier nappies to hand. In case a baby elephant arrives instead, you also have a small pack of the next size up (size 2).

If you've never attached a nappy to a real baby bottom before, as I had not, fear not, 'tis very simple. Probably a midwife has additionally assisted you to change the first meconium-drenched nappy in the hospital. In the case of the Hungry Mouth (who actually wasn't very hungry at first), she squirted meconium over all her brand-new babygarb the first night, so take many a spare vest and babygro to the hospital. Incidentally, that sticky black Marmite-like meconium kept coming for several days before it all went lovely mustard yellow and runny.

I digressed there, didja notice? Sorry: we are discussing sizing. The key thing here is that babies grow. They grow very fast. Their bottoms grow too. In a couple of weeks you can hardly squeeze the sticky side tabs onto the adorable nappy picture strip, ands you still have a half-pack of size 1s. So out you send Hubby to achieve size 2s - and many of them, you reckon, since the other thing newborn babies do is wee. A lot. Ten times a day, perhaps. But only a few weeks later, every poo squirts copiously up her back (Pampers) or down her leg (Huggies). Time to upsize, despite that spare pack or so. Off you scurry to get size 3s, and at this point, you could invest in two packs, shall we say. Depending on how hungry the Hungry Mouth you've had is...the size 3s may do another month or so. But by the time your baby is about 4 or 5 months old, you may well be onto size 4s, from which some skinny babies never graduate. The Hungry Mouth is on size 4+ at 8 months, but she is thinning down as she gets more mobile, so I don't think we'll need to upsize just yet.

At size 4, I think you could start taking advantage of the jumbo packs and 2-for-1 offers. Try to use all the discount vouchers for the 'leading brands' you'll probably have been sent, but do try out supermarket own brands. Cheaper, and sometimes less leaky. Though sometimes bulkier (no problem in winter and when your baby is very small and needs warmth). Boots and Sainsburys are good.

And give your spare tiny nappies to brand-new mums who haven't yet got the hang of their preferred brand or size.