The plan: cloth diapering a newborn

In case anyone out there is interested, I thought I would write about my strategy for using cloth diapers on our newborn. Of course he isn't here yet so I reserve the right to retract statements and change my views, but I researched this a LOT (it was my obsessive baby activity for the entire 2nd trimester) and these seem to be the most popular choices with moms. So I'm giving it a go.


First up: the newborn sized prefolds from Green Mountain Diapers (unbleached, quantity: two dozen).


Next, the fitteds, Kissaluv size 0 from various retailers (most bought used to save some $$, and no, it isn't as gross as it sounds. They came to me in excellent condition and clean, then I sanitized them myself for extra measure). Quantity: eleven.




And the all important covers, because the prefolds and fitteds are not waterproof themselves so you need a cover to go over them (quantity: seven traditional PUL covers, but three are considerably smaller and I don't seem them fitting the entire NB stage. I also have one wool cover, not shown):




And the easy-peasy diapers, the all-in-ones (no cover required, because it is, you guessed it, all-in-one. Quantity: seven, because I found some amazing deals, I probably didn't need all these though. Five Sposoeasy brand and two Bumgenius XS):



So there you go! I envision these fitting anywhere up to 6 weeks (he'll probably outgrow the prefolds first) on up to three months or a tad more (for the Kissaluvs, since they grow with baby thanks to their adjustable snaps). But that could change if he comes out a sumo wrestler baby! At 10 to 12 diapers a day for a newborn, I hope to keep myself sane in the laundry department by having a healthy sized stash and also save his buns from blowouts associated with regular disposable diapers. Only time will tell! I hope the learning curve is short for these but I'm prepared to learn by trial and error. I'm thrilled that we'll never be out of diapers, though, so no late night runs to Target for diapers/wipes (we are doing cloth wipes as well, since it is all the same laundry)! Yessss.

Also, another huge motivator for me was the "save the planet" aspect, because my stomach turns over at the thought of all those diapers in a landfill somewhere for the next five hundred years. But I'm not going to get all preachy-green on ya. That's not my style. I'm giving this a shot and so far, it has been a LOT of fun researching, buying, and prepping.

And you cannot beat the cost savings! From my calculations, this NB sized stash probably cost the same as buying 3 months worth of NB disposable diapers, however I can reuse everything for future babies (cost to diaper Bean Numero Dos: zero dollars) OR sell it all and recoup 2/3 of my investment. Now that is a good deal.

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