The recommendation is normally 18 to 24 nappies for your whole set.

For twins, you shouldn't need double the amount, but 1 1/2 times the number for a single baby, so 27 to 36 nappies.

There are a few things to take into account when you decide how many to buy . . .

Drying time: Pocket nappies and microfibre 2-part nappies will dry overnight in most houses, so you can get away with less nappies overall. Bamboo nappies take the longest time to dry. If you decided to buy a whole set of bamboo nappies you would need at least 24 (although we usually recommend getting a mixture of bamboo and another type). If you like to tumble dry everything, you can obviously get away with far fewer nappies, although whether this is economically sensible is questionable! Also bear in mind that pocket nappies and wraps have a longer life if they are air-dried and that bamboo can be damaged with excessive drying.

Age of your baby: Newborn babies need 10 - 12 nappy changes per day, so, even with 24 nappies you will find that you will need to wash every day in the first few weeks. This will turn into every couple of days up to around six months, after that you will probably find that you can happily do a wash every three days without worrying about running out of clean nappies. At 16 months he or she will probably be using five or six nappies a day (including the night time one). At 2 years they may need as few as 3 per day as they go a long time between wees. Therefore if you are buying sized nappies, you could look at buying 20 to 24 small, 18 medium and 12 large.

Wear and Tear: It is really important to think about this! Don't expect to buy 8 Onesize Pocket nappies, wash and tumble dry them every day for 2.5 years and expect them to be in anything but tatters at the end! Generally if you are going for sets of sized nappies of any type they should be expected to last at least a couple of babies if you look after them (and don't use too much detergent). Onesize nappies will have to suffer more of beating and while 2-part Onesize nappies in our experience do last more than one baby, the Onesize pocket nappies sometimes do not do so well, especially the Velcro fastening ones. BumGenius recommend a minimum of 24 of their Onesize Velcro fastening Pocket nappies.

How many wraps do I need?
Wraps dry very quickly and as you do not need to change the wrap with every nappy change, only when soiled, you will probably only need about one wrap per every five or six nappies that you have.

How many pocket nappy inserts do I need?
Obviously one per pocket nappy. But many people find that a few extra helps as the inserts do not dry as quickly as the nappies. Also, if your child is a heavy wetter, you may need to buy two inserts per nappy.

How many washable wipes do I need?
To use them full time, probably about 30.