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Thursday, February 12, 2015

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Cloth Diapering a Newborn Was Much Easier Than I Expected!

We started cloth diapering our first son when he was around 5 months old. When we found out we were expecting # 2 after trying to conceive for a year, I knew I wanted to try cloth diapering in the newborn stage.

I wasn't sure where to begin. We started out using gdiapers with our first (a covers and inserts system) to see how I would like it. When I unexpectedly became a stay at home mom, we switched over to cloth only. I bought a stash of Fuzzibunz pockets and used those until he was potty trained. I liked the simplicity of them, as well as the stay dry factor.

There were so many options with cloth diapering a newborn, just as there are for one size diapers. There are pockets, all in ones, covers and prefolds or fitteds, etc. Through my research, I was reminded that newborns poop many times a day typically, especially breastfed babies. I discovered the most cost effective way to use cloth with a newborn was a simple system of covers and prefolds. I had started out with this system originally, so I decided to go this route because I wasn't sure if I would stick to it with adjusting from going to one to two little ones. I didn't want to invest a huge amount in a stash and get completely overwhelmed with it all.

I bought 2 newborn sized Rumparooz covers and 2 Imagine newborn covers. I had 12 unbleached OsoCozy prefolds and 12 unbleached cotton babies brand prefolds. So we started out with 4 covers and 24 prefolds. I admit that I could have done with another cover or two and another 12 prefolds but we squeaked by with what we had for the 6 weeks that he fit into them. He was born at 7lbs and 6 oz. He would have fit into the newborn diapers longer, but I was excited to use my new pocket stash!

The newborn sized covers fit him right away. I would trifold the insert and place it in the cover. Between changes, I set the cover out for the next change to let it dry in-between changes. I would then restuff the cover that had been drying with a prefold while he was on the changing table waiting to be changed. I would then set the cover I took off him again to dry for the next change. I didn't throw the cover into the laundry unless it got really covered in poop, which actually didn't happen as often as I expected. I found that the trifold contained the poop much more than others had stated through my research before. I could get through a day with the same 2 covers most of the time. Some days I did have to wash every 1 ½ days instead of every other day, but we got by with a minimal stash.

I would recommend a wetbag for each floor of the house for the newborn stage. I had to lug a wetbag up to our bedroom for night time changes, so it would have been much easier if we had a wetbag on each floor. I also wish I had purchased a few all in ones for the middle of the night changes! There were some nights he pooped 2-3 times a night so it would have been easier to change into an all in one instead of trifolding a prefold in my half asleep state.

I plan on cloth diapering baby # 3 when they arrive in July. I have a bigger stash of all in ones and pockets this time though. I am hoping my husband will help with more changes, and the laundry will be a little bit easier with 3 running around! I can't wait to cloth diaper a newborn again! The diapers are so cute and it was so much easier than I had planned on. I am so glad I branched out to try it!

By Danielle


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2 comments:

Megs said...

I am due with my third in a few weeks, and finally planning on starting cloth right away! I have a huge collection of fluff to try!

Belle said...

You are lucky that trifolding a prefold was enough. I definitely needed to snappi that prefold on my newborn (she's almost 11 weeks now) to contain everything. Nothing escapes a rumparooz cover but I hated having to wash the covers. I bought 24 preemie and 24 newborn prefolds used from a nearby mom and she gave me her covers. She had a thirsties XS and a bunch of proraps. I hated the proraps and the thirsties fell apart in my washer, so I did some middle-of-the-night research and picked up 3 rumparooz. I'm still using them at 13 pounds.

I researched pockets and AIOs for newborns but none of them seemed 1)worth the money or 2) able to hold a large amount of liquid. Sure, I changed her every 90 to 120 minutes,but man, could she wet and dirty a diaper quickly and completely. Sometimes we'd change her four times in an hour. Much easier to swap out a prefold than put on four separate AIOs that take a day to linedry.