Newborn Stash

This past weekend, I washed and dried my newborn cloth diaper stash. I thought I'd share with you what we're using for newborn diapering. Interestingly, many people who cloth diaper, do not do so the first few weeks or months. Especially first time parents. For whatever reason, they think it will be way too intimidating and they'll be too tired. Matt and I cloth diapered Olivia as soon as she got home from the hospital and I did the same with Lila.  In our experience cloth diapering is easier than using disposables (aka "sposies").  Why? Well, breastfed babies tend to have explosive bowel movements (BM).  They will explode out the best fitting Huggies, Pampers or Luvs.  Believe me, we know.  BM up their back, out the sides and even into the hair.  I've seen people on Facebook post that their newborn was on their "seventh outfit change of the day."  This does not happen with cloth.  They tend to be much more absorbent.  So, no, we are not "brave" starting out cloth diapering from day one.  It's actually easier. Those of you using sposies in those first few weeks (and continuously) are the brave ones, in my opinion. 

We have favorite newborn diapers and those are Kissaluvs. You use a Kissaluv, shown below, with a diaper wrap.  Kissaluvs are nice because they snap down in the front to leave room for the umbilical cord stub (and unsnap when no longer needed).  The trick to keeping all the BM in is to fold in the diaper at the legs.  Kissaluv's has tips on their webpage. They work like a charm!  No leaks. I swear by these. They fit newborns very nicely and are very soft.  Easy to wash and care for.  I don't like the absorbancy (lack thereof) in the sizes after newborn (more on that later). 

Kissaluv Size 0

Weehugger's Wrap - Use with a Kissaluv, Weehuggers own inserts or a prefold (pictured below)

Kissaluvs are a tad bit pricey and this time around, I only purchased a dozen.  Since I like to have around two dozen newborn cloth diapers, we purchased prefold diapers at around two dollars each from Green Mountain Diapers (I love Green Mountain Diapers because they sell only 100% cotton diapers - which I find to be the easiest to care for and wash - especially since we have very very hard water here in Germany and also did in Portugal. My synthetic diapers easily got build up and smelled).  Prefold diapers are what our mothers' and grandmothers' used. Except they are now easier to use.  In the picture below, you'll notice a prefold folded and inserted in a diaper wrap. That easy. 

Cloth diaper wrap with a prefold inserted

You can fold a prefold like grandma did and use a snappi (Sold at Green Mountain) to keep it together. Works great!  You then use the wrap pictured above or a nice wool wrap pictured below (we love wool for its breathability and sustainability - Green Moutntain also has a lot of information on why wool is great on their page).

Wool Wrap - soft, not scratchy

So that's it. What about washing? Well, you we use a cloth diaper-friendly wash such as Rocking Green, add a cold rinse to the beginning of your wash, then wash as you would your other clothing. If you feel need be, add a rinse at the end.  Breast milk BM washes out very easily.  You don't need to soak them in a wet pail. You just need to throw them in a pail lined with a pail liner (also see Green Mountain), and wash your diapers every other day. You turn the bag inside out so as not to touch any BM.  You can dry in the dryer, on the line, or a combination of both.

Get this.  My husband is actually the one who encouraged me to cloth diaper and doesn't mind it in the least.  He even does the laundry, and diaper changes.  His favorite cloth diaper? A prefold. He can fold a prefold on a baby and even a toddler in about five seconds.  He sees no need to spend any more money on all the other diapers now out there (All-in-Ones, All-in-twos, fitted (Kissaluvs are fitteds).  Probably most of this stems from the fact that if you used prefolds with some wraps from newborn until toilet training, you'd spend about $300-$500.  Yup. Two-three years of diapering for that little.  Diapering with disposables costs close to $3,000 per child. If you know my husband, you know how frugal he is. And, prefolds hold up through several children (unless you bleach them - you do NOT bleach diapers). So, had we used only prefolds for the girls and/or didn't get rid of all the diapers we've had in the past, and I didn't love me some fitteds and cute wraps, we could have cloth diapered all three children for well under $1,000.  And, no, doing an extra three loads of laundry a week is not going to jack up your electric and water bill.

Have we purchased an "emergency" stash of disposables?  No.  As of right now, we do not have a single disposable diaper in our house-nor do we plan on it.   I'll let you know how that goes...