When do cloth nappies fail to pay back if potty training is early?

What nappy-count do the save pages assume?

This page is a payback check for one child. It is not potty-training advice, and it does not invent an average potty age.

When does a new kit fail the payback test?

Payback fails when kit + laundry to the stop date is higher than the disposables you would have bought to that same date. Early potty training shortens the second number. It barely shortens the first, because the kit is front-loaded.

• The disposable comparator is own-brand, not leading brand. Which? / MoneyHelper 2024’s £1,000 is a leading-brand 2.5-year frame. The Nappy Lady’s May 2023 one-child nappy line for Aldi Mamia was £265.60 — a much tighter hurdle for cloth.
• Part-time use makes the avoided bill smaller still. If nights or nursery stay disposable, you never avoid the whole WRAP 4,000–6,000. A new kit then has fewer replaced packs to amortise.
• Which? lifespan is 2–4 years or 400–500 washes. Stopping at 18 months uses fewer washes than a 2.5-year model. The unused life only has cash value if a sibling uses it or a listing clears — and 2026 preloved prices are weak.

UK parenting threads often flag 18–30 months plus part-time cloth as the case where a new mid-range kit loses to supermarket own-brand. That is a budget observation, not a potty-age statistic. There is no official average potty age on the NHS changing pages used here.

How do I test 18 months without inventing a potty-age average?

Use counts, not a claimed typical age. NHS Best Start gives about 4,500 changes to potty and a daily range of 10–12 then 6–8. WRAP gives 4,000–6,000. Pick a stop month and a daily rate you actually used.

1. 1
   Write the kit you actually paid New-kit invoice only. Ignore a hoped-for resale credit. Which? (February 2026) lists second-hand as a way to cut the buy — a cheaper kit lowers the hurdle.
2. 2
   Add laundry to the stop date Washes so far × label kWh × Ofgem p/kWh (26.11p Direct Debit average, 1 July–30 September 2026), plus detergent. Which? describes a wash every two to three days.
3. 3
   Price the disposables you did not buy, at your usual brand Changes to the stop date × your usual pence per nappy. Own-brand is the honest test. Dated Mamia examples (The Nappy Lady, May 2023) ran 3.5p–8.3p by size.
4. 4
   Compare the two sums on the same stop date If kit + laundry is higher, cloth has not paid back on this child at this date. A later sibling can still change the household total; that is a different question.

Does an early stop change the answer for a second child?

On one child, an early stop is the unkind case for a new, mid-range kit versus own-brand disposables, especially if use was already part-time. On a second child, WRAP’s extra-save line still applies: the kit is paid and the avoided disposable bill starts again. Do not fold that second bill into an 18-month first-child payback unless the sibling is already on the way.

In shortCloth fails to pay back on one child when a front-loaded kit plus laundry exceeds the own-brand disposables you would have bought by the stop date. WRAP and MoneyHelper save figures assume roughly 2–2.5 years. Test 18 months with your change count and your usual pack price — not with a scaled-down leading-brand £1,000.