When is the right time to start using modern cloth nappies (MCN)?

A couple of my sustainability minded friends gave me some good advice when I was pregnant with Turtle.  They recommended that I wait until she was 3 months old before I started to use cloth nappies. For us, because she was our first, I think that it was sound advice.  However, it is a very interesting thought.

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When is the right time to start using modern cloth nappies or MCN?

Straight away?
If you use MCN straight away then you should definitely consider buying the specialised newborn style of cloth nappies. One of my friends had the one size multifit nappies all ready to go and then her darling boy was born and they didn't fit him for a couple of months.

You will also need to be organised enough to keep up with the laundry. Most newborns poo frequently. At least every time that they feed. Turtle did not do this. In fact she didn't poo for a week after she was born. We were so worried because it's not what is "supposed" to happen. Clearly every baby is different but consider yourself warned that it is likely your baby will poo a lot for the first few weeks or even first few months.

3 months in?
If you are keen to use cloth but want to wait for the madness of the first 2-3 months to be over then 3 months is probably a good goal to work towards. The benefit of waiting a little while is that you can try different styles on your little one and see what works best for your family.

Waiting until Turtle was 10 weeks old definitely helped me to be more confident about styles and what we liked before we bought lots of nappies that we didn't like.  But it was a lot to take on after she was born.  Trekking around with a newborn baby to research and buy secondhand nappies is not easy. It was from this experience that I learned to limit my driving radius to within 10-20km of our home unless it was a really amazing buy.

Whenever you're ready?
This seems like the most logical answer... Yes, whenever you are ready! Some people choose cloth for their baby later since they have the time and space to try it out.  There are also some really nice designs of MCN that draw people in too.

If you are trying to minimise your waste then the sooner the better but don't stress if you're not ready because there is always something else that you can be doing in the meantime.

What do you think? Is there a perfect time to start using MCN?