Newborn Picks

So I am LOVING cloth diapering a newborn. He is now 4 weeks old. I have a lot of my first son's diapers saved but we started with a diaper service so the diapers I had are still too big on my newbie! Plus there are so many fun diapers out there that I needed to try! I consider him a business expense - to try out all my new products!

So Netanel was born Jan 17 weighing in at 7 lb 4 oz - perfect size! But he was also too small for some of the diapers that should fit a newborn. Plus we had the umbilical cord issue - what would fold down and not rub on it. So I'll share my faves!

Lil Joeys are awesome for newborns! They're a bit pricey, I agree. But they really fit perfectly. They're designed for 5-12 lb. We used them from the beginning, as they have a fold down for the umbilical cord. Plus they still fit great a month later, and I except to get at least another month or so use out of them. To top it all off, my 2 year old's favorite diaper is Rumparooz Ladder 6 - so now he has matching diapers with his little brother!

Tini Fits are also designed to fit 5-12 lb. They don't have the umbilical cut out and they were a bit big initially, but we love them now, at 4 weeks. Plus they're stuffable like a pocket!

FuzziBunz Perfect Size in XSmall is another great fit. I love pocket diapers in general as you can stuff them with extra absorbancy, which I've needed to do. Plus if you snap them all the way to the center, at the smallest setting, it pulls down the middle to clear the umbilical cord.

Kissaluvs fitteds in a Size 0 are a well-known favorite for newborns. They fit great, snap down in front and are trim. To go over it I used a Thirsties XSmall cover which fits great. I started with a Bummis Newborn Super Brite but he's basically outgrown that by now - except for very trim diapers. But it doesn't work over prefolds anymore.

Prefolds are also a great newborn option. They're economical, absorbant, and you can customize the fit. They are a bit bulky but fit fine under a onesie or stretchie. Babies look cute with a bubble butt! For overnight diaper changes I like Bummis Whisper Pants - you dont have to deal with pinching and tucking the prefold into a cover. They're not cute, but when you're bleary-eyed in the middle of the night, you just pull it up and you're done!

bumGenius XS All-In-One are also a great, easy newborn diaper option.

And coming soon are GroVia's newborn organic All-In-Ones! Can't wait to try it!

What's your favorite newborn diaper??
Check out our Newborn Diaper page!

Using Flat Diapers with a Newborn

When I started cloth diapering our newborn the day after he was born, I had a stash of preemie sized prefolds (for babies up to 10 pounds) and infant size prefolds (for babies up to 15 pounds).

Unfortunately, the preemie prefolds were too small to fasten with a Snappi around my 7 pounds son, and leaked if I just placed them in the cover; and the infant prefolds just didn’t fit well in the extra small newborn covers.

Fortunately, I’d also bought a dozen birdseye flats, thinking that they were cheap and I might experiment with them someday. I tried simply folding a flat diaper in half, then folding it in half again. Perfect! They were so easy to use, and kept the runny poo totally contained (unlike the hospital disposables).

They were also a breeze to wash and dry. I ordered two dozen more right away, and I’m still using them almost 6 months later. I never would have guessed that my favorite cloth diapers would be flats!

Contributed by
Christy

If I knew then what I know now (re: cloth diapering newborns & small babies)

Steering my customers in the right direction when they ask for advice is always a top priority, and sometimes this means steering them away from a huge sale and into a more realistic, economical and practical option.

New moms, specifically first time moms, are usually really good about doing their research. Which diapers are the best? How do they work? How many do I need? and so on. In my experience they usually end up deciding on a well known pocket diaper and make up their mind that's what they want to use and they plan to build their stash accordingly. New baby = 12-24 pocket diapers plus inserts. Then they're off to shop.

If I knew then what I know now about babies and their bowel movements...lol I would have started with prefolds and covers when I first began cloth diapering my sons, especially since I rarely left the house. Why would I say such a thing? Because new babies poop and pee all day long. A squirt here, a drop there, as soon as you've placed a fresh diaper on their tiny bum they've gone and soiled it again. You check it and think, "man I can't just let them wear that diaper, even if it is only a pea sized amount of poo." Before you know it you've changed that babes diaper 3-4 times in one hour!

This is where prefolds come in. A soft and fluffy prefold, which are easily laundered and very forgiving, can be tri-folded into a cover, think Thirsites, and you're ready to go. Baby soils it two seconds later, you grab a fresh prefold and replace the soiled one with a clean one. Chances are your cover didn't even get dirty. Repeat this scenario throughout the day and you might go through a dozen prefolds and 2-3 covers. Depending on how often you plan on doing laundry, you could get started cloth diapering an infant with 4-6 covers and 2 dozen prefolds.

When you're ready to take baby out and about or have a need for diapers that you can or need to leave on for an extended period of time (like overnight), then you should experiment with pocket diapers and microfiber inserts or hemp inserts. Microfiber and Hemp are miraculous in the amount of pee they can hold, and paired with pocket diapers such as BumGenius or Duo Diapers they've been known to rival disposables in terms of how much they can hold before leaking. This makes them a perfect option for night time diapering or for use when heading to the doctor, the mall, or the grocery store.

Final thoughts, extend the life of your expensive pocket diapers by utilizing prefolds and covers when you can, especially when babies are less than 6 months old.

Thanks for reading!