My plan with my first son was to start cloth diapering pretty much when we got home from the hospital. (Just wait for that meconium to pass and let’s go!).
You know how those best-laid plans go… even the mice have trouble. I got home and realized the eighteen Bum Genius pockets I’d purchased were far too big for my tiny 7lb 7 oz boy. I ended up returning many of them (I hadn’t washed them yet!) and swapping them out for the Flip System, which is a bit more trim, in my opinion. But still bulky on a newborn.
So I used disposables for about 5-7 weeks, trying the diapers on every week to see if they were fitting yet. I think I transitioned to full time cloth around 7-8 weeks.
This time, I have two years of experience with laundry, diapering techniques, brands, styles… I’d like to meet my original goal of starting cloth when we get home from the hospital (no, I’m not planning on using cloth in the hospital, because frankly, I just don’t know how that is going to go. We were in for four days with my son, so I don’t even have enough dipes for that long!).
So far in my newborn stash, I have a few newborn fitteds and one-size diapers, and I’ll use a diaper rental service from Modern Cloth Diapers for a few months to supplement. I think I’ll need a few more diapers as backup, so I am considering covers and flats/prefolds to round out my stash. I should have about 20-24 newborn-sized diapers all told.
I may even venture into fitteds with a wool cover… (would love me a pair of cute newborn wool longies!).
So… you mamas that have done newborn cloth before… some questions:
- Is 20-24 newborn diapers enough for these first few months?
- Do you keep newborn diapers separate from diapers your other children wear (as the potty training has been Sloooooww around here, I may be diapering two!).
- What style of diaper works best for newborns (fitted, AIO, flats/prefolds)?
- Do you bother with a “night time” solution at this point, since the baby will probably be fed/changed throughout the night anyway?
Discuss amongst yourselves! I love learning from you all!
T Rex Mom
Saturday 28th of April 2012
I am so excited to keep reading about newborn diapering.
Don't forget, those first few days of life they don't use many diapers but generally for the first week about a diaper for each day of life. So, 24 would be enough if you wanted to take some to the hospital. However, I understand also not wanting to.
We started with Bummis covers and prefolds at 3-4 weeks so we ordered a large bulk order of Earth's Best chlorine free. A blog reader sent me some newborn covers which actually did not fit until around 3 weeks. Your diaper service sounds interesting. When a friend loaned me a BG small I felt like we had made such a step up. However, I would probably use pockets for night and the prefolds or flats for day (particularly at that 2-4 week stage where there's a wet diaper every hour).
So excited for you. Excited to hear about your adventures in diapering a newborn and possibly two kids. These are great adventures and something you can look back on for years.
By the way, T Rex Dad wanted me to tell you hi, too.
Lucy
Saturday 28th of April 2012
I've diapered two at time, twice. I have 36 prefolds, plus a variety of fitteds and other random all-in-ones. In the beginning I definitely think you need more than 24. I was washing about every 36 hours with two in diapers (one a newborn). Now that my youngest is a bit bigger (4 months), I'm washing less, almost always making it to 48 hours. I do wash them together. I just have one hanging wet bag and when that is full I wash. I find that if I wait any longer than that there are too many diapers and they just don't get clean, but you washer/water might be different and can handle more diapers.
I like prefolds with a PUL cover best. I find that you need the extra elastic of the cover to keep in the newborn messes. I had a few fleece covers, but almost always the poop leaked out of the prefold and onto the cover and sometimes the clothes. With the PUL cover, it didn't get past the gussets.
I didn't bother with a nighttime solution until my daughters were not pooping at night anymore, which was between 2-4 months for my 3 kids. Different kids, different poop schedules though, so you might need a nighttime solution earlier than that. If baby starts sleeping longer stretches I just make something up with what I've got, random extra inserts can easily go into the diaper cover.
Lucy
Saturday 28th of April 2012
In case I wasn't totally clear, the 36 prefolds, etc are for just the newborn. I use BG Elementals for my older one, and have probably close to 30 (now at 4 months and 26 months, they both wear those).
Lucy
Saturday 28th of April 2012
I've diapered two at time, twice. I have 36 prefolds, plus a variety of fitteds and other random all-in-ones. In the beginning I definitely think you need more than 24. I was washing about every 36 hours with two in diapers (one a newborn). Now that my youngest is a bit bigger (4 months), I'm washing less, almost always making it to 48 hours. I do wash them together. I just have one hanging wet bag and when that is full I wash. I find that if I wait any longer than that there are too many diapers and they just don't get clean, but you washer/water might be different and can handle more diapers.
I like prefolds with a PUL cover best. I find that you need the extra elastic of the cover to keep in the newborn messes. I had a few fleece covers, but almost always the poop leaked out of the prefold and onto the cover and sometimes the clothes. With the PUL cover, it didn't get past the gussets.
I didn't bother with a nighttime solution until my daughters were not pooping at night anymore, which was between 2-4 months for my 3 kids. Different kids, different poop schedules though, so you might need a nighttime solution earlier than that. If baby starts sleeping longer stretches I just make something up with what I've got, random extra inserts can easily go into the diaper cover.
Lucy
Saturday 28th of April 2012
In case I wasn't totally clear, the 36 prefolds, etc are for just the newborn. I use BG Elementals for my older one, and have probably close to 30 (now at 4 months and 26 months, they both wear those).
Susan L. M.
Friday 27th of April 2012
I think I had 24 main diapers but had some standby larger prefolds that we used when I ha not done laundry quickly enough! The first couple weeks we mainly did prefolds/covers. After that I didn't really have a nighttime solution, but we did find using pockets and AIOs was nice for the middle of the night changes when we were half asleep. My daughter was 7lbs 9oz and we started cloth diapering when we got home from the hospital. I used BMD newborn and next size up prefolds (12 of each), plus some purple edge DiaperRite prefolds (those were the "extra" I mention above). We used a lot of the Thirsties Size 1 Duo Wraps and their Duo Diapers. I also had the old BG small AIOs (i never did XS or newborn sizes; I also didn't worry about a knotch for the belly button!)
Susan L. M.
Friday 27th of April 2012
oops, GMD not BMD prefolds!!
Susan L. M.
Friday 27th of April 2012
I think I had 24 main diapers but had some standby larger prefolds that we used when I ha not done laundry quickly enough! The first couple weeks we mainly did prefolds/covers. After that I didn't really have a nighttime solution, but we did find using pockets and AIOs was nice for the middle of the night changes when we were half asleep. My daughter was 7lbs 9oz and we started cloth diapering when we got home from the hospital. I used BMD newborn and next size up prefolds (12 of each), plus some purple edge DiaperRite prefolds (those were the "extra" I mention above). We used a lot of the Thirsties Size 1 Duo Wraps and their Duo Diapers. I also had the old BG small AIOs (i never did XS or newborn sizes; I also didn't worry about a knotch for the belly button!)
Susan L. M.
Friday 27th of April 2012
oops, GMD not BMD prefolds!!