If you’re a part of any of the South African cloth nappy Facebook groups (click here for the official group…it’s where I learned everything I know!) and you ask about newborn cloth nappies, 9 times out of 10, people will recommend you use flats and covers, and then Pokkelokkie will be the brand most moms will talk about.

Pokkelokkie is owned and run by the lovely Kerryn, who is most famous for her hemp cloth nappies. She whips up her creations from her home in Brenton-On-Sea , right here in South Africa, with Pokkelokkie HQ taking up residence in her basement. Her slogan for her business is “buy once, buy well” and I learned the hard way when I first started out. I bought some newborn hemp flats from another company, and I was so disappointed in how they ended up looking after just a few washes. I then bought some bigger flats from another brand and the colours ran and ran and ran, and still run to this day. I won’t ever waste my time on any other brand of hemp flats (even if I’m trying to save costs) I’d rather just save a bit more and buy from Pokkelokkie.

When I found out I was pregnant with Aaron (click here to read more posts on my pregnancy) I knew that I was going to use a lot of Pokkelokkie nappies. I bought a whole stash of newborn sized hemp flats, and Kerryn got in touch and asked me whether I’d like to try out her Sleepy Dust Night Fitted nappy, as well as her Dawn Patrol Day Fitted.

Here are my thoughts…

Sleepy Dust Night Fitted (Hemp)

I love this nappy! It’s squishy super absorbant, and I just LOVE the colour (it would be as beautiful on a girl as on a boy).

This nappy comes in either dusty blue or teal green (this is the one I have) and comes in a range of sizes; small medium & large. I have been testing out the Small size, which is recommended from birth to about 7kgs. Aaron is now 8 weeks old, and weighs about 5.5 kgs, but he is quite chunky and as he has been sleeping such long hours at night & has stopped pooing at night (yay & long may this last!) I don’t change him at night at all and so need to boost the nappy a bit. This makes it bulkier, and so I probably only have a couple of weeks of wear left. BUT, Everly was much smaller than him at birth, and I probably would have been able to use this nappy on her up until about 3/4 months.

The elastic around the legs is wonderful, as it really helps to contain those runny newborn poos. Aaron usually gives this nappy the ‘poop of approval’ during his first feed of the day, and I have yet to have a leak. As it’s a hemp nappy, it does need a waterproof cover. I prefer using PUL covers at night, my favourite right now being Blueberry Coveralls & my one and only Thirsties cover (these were all bought overseas and brought over by family) but you can buy Blueberry covers from TineyHiney (click here).

You will also need a snappy/pin to close the nappy. You can buy these from Pokkelokkie or you can get them at Pep/Ackermans.

Pictured below are all the extra bits that come with this nappy…

• The ‘outer shell’, which is hemp

• One hemp booster

• A fleece liner

The Sleepy Dust Night Fitted nappy costs R165 for the small size (to fit newborn - +-7kgs), R360 for medium (to fit +-6-10kgs) & R390 for large (to fit +-9/10 - 15kgs).

Click here to head on over to the Pokkelokkie shop.

Here are a few pics of Aaron rocking his night nappy. The only con for me, I wish I had more! I plan on buying some in the bigger size too.

Dawn Patrol Day Fitted - Cotton Fleece

Man oh man I love this nappy for day time use. The best part, the velcro straps! It makes putting this nappy on a breeze (especially for Dads!). The Dawn Patrol Day fitted nappy is made from Cotton Fleece, which means it’s not as absorbent as the hemp nappy, so it wouldn’t work well as a night nappy but it’s perfect for day time use when you would be changing every 2 - 3 hours anyway. Because it’s Cotton Fleece and not hemp, the bigger sizes are also a bit cheaper than the Sleepy Dust Night Fitteds, which is great because you would need a few of them for day time wear, vs just one or two hemp night nappies.

We have yet to have any leaks with this nappy. This nappy isn’t waterproof and also requires a cover (PUL, fleece or Wool are your options) and as I mentioned above, I like to use PUL covers, my favourite being the Blueberry Coveralls.

There are two velcro ‘settings’ on this nappy, meaning it can be adjusted to fit smaller and slightly heftier/older babies. Aaron is wearing the Small/Size 1 nappy, which first from birth to about 6kg’s. At 8 weeks he is just about too big for it, but I’m going to try and squeeze a few more weeks of wear out of it as Iove it so much!

The nappy comes with a cotton fleece ‘rectangular’ booster, and a smaller, round cotton fleece booster. It also comes in two colours, grey and the most gorgeous rust colour. It comes in three sizes, just like the Sleepy Dust Night fitted; Size 1/Small to fit birth to +-6kgs, Medium/Size 2 to fit +-5-10kgs and Large/Size3 to fit +-10-16/17kgs.

Pricing is as follows:

• Small - R165

• Medium - R250

• Large - R275

Click here to head on over to the Pokkelokkie shop

All in all I’ve loved trying out these nappies, and will definitely be buying them both in bigger sizes for Aaron, and would highly recommend them both. Do you use cloth nappies? Is there any reason why you don’t/are scared to? Drop me a comment below, I’d love to hear from you! And I LOVE sharing my love for cloth nappies, so perhaps I’ll be able to bring you over to the cloth side :)

Here are all my posts on cloth nappies if you’d like to read more about our cloth nappy journey (we have used cloth nappies on both our babes from newborn, and Everly is still in cloth nappies at 19 months):

Disclosure: these nappies were sent to me as a gift to try, but all thoughts and views are honest, and my own.