Cloth Diaper a Newborn- 1 week old

Allow me to first introduce Paige-

She was born on February 21st, 2012, weighing 8 lbs even and was 20 inches long. She was much bigger than her older sister was at birth, and even the doctor laughed and asked where I was hiding all that baby. I know 8 pounds isn't very big as far as babies go, but for me it certainly seemed huge.

I figured I would write a quick post about our experiences with cloth diapers so far. My plan was to  use cloth from the first day home from the hospital. I bought a newborn-sized stash separate from the one-sized stash that we'll hopefully start using soon. I didn't buy any disposables beforehand, even though I was unsure if this was a good idea. I figured in the very least, I'd take home the rest of the pack from the hospital and have those.

Well, first of all, I definitely enjoy the diapers. If I'm being honest, prefolds intimidated me a lot. I couldn't get the hang of it while practicing on stuffed animals and I was nervous about trying to learn on a squirmy, scrunchy newborn. And the first couple of days were rough, I won't lie.

I couldn't figure out how to maneuver the cover and fold the prefold in a way that worked with her legs still so scrunched up to her body and the umbilical stump still attached. It seemed that no matter what I did I was irritating that damn stump. I tried different folds and nothing seemed to work, so for the first couple of days I settled on just tri-folding the prefold and laying it in the cover. It worked, but I found that poop was ALWAYS on a cover that way so we wound up going through covers like crazy. I was doing wash a couple of a times a day just for those.

We did use the disposables a couple of times while washing was being done. It was these first couple of days home that made me realize I definitely should have a pack of disposables on hand.  I wasn't going to 'cave' because disposables were easier and that no matter what, I loved using the cloth at this point. Having them wasn't going to somehow ruin the love. But running out of diapers, however, would be a disaster of a different kind, so I went out and picked up some sposies for the just in case situations. I'm glad I did, even though I've only used one of them since I bought the package. I feel better knowing that I won't somehow be stuck waiting on laundry to wash and dry. I should have just gone with my gut instinct to begin with but on the advice of many people I didn't. Oh well, live and learn, I guess!

So here's what I had for my stash-
2 Bummis super whisper wraps- Size NB

1 Bummis Super Bright-  Size Small

2 Thirsties Duo Wrap- Size 1



24 Green Mountain Diaper prefolds- Orange Edge Newborn size


And a few snappis.

Part of my one-sized collection is two diaper covers from the WAHM shop called Twinkletoes diapers. On their smallest setting, they have worked as covers already.

That's it! I also have some Sunbaby pocket diapers in Size 1 that may fit once the stump falls off, but as of right now they are definitely not working yet. They weren't really intended as part of the NB stash but I already had 12 size 2's so I decided to try some size 1's as well.


So out of all the covers, the Thirsties Duo covers work the best. I ordered two more, actually. They fit best and I like the double leg gussets. I wish that they were a little more- I don't know- fun, though. They're so boring and the selection of colors and designs is horrible.

The Bummis Super Bright is alright, but it seems a little wide for her as of yet.

The Bummis Super Whisper Wrap is actually my favorite of all of them, but I just don't like how there's only a single leg gusset. I'm positive that once her poops get more explosive, I'll have leaks more often than with other covers. For now they have worked great- but I haven't actually had any leaks at all yet. This cover just feels nicest. It's a little heavier and for some reason just feels like a higher quality than all the others.

I also am surprised to find that I like the velcro closures much more than snaps so far. This may change as she gets older, but the velcro has made life a ton easier. I opted for all snaps on the rest of the collection of diapers because I was worried about her being able to take her own diaper off as she got older, but I certainly would get velcro if I could somehow ensure that wouldn't happen.

Washing hasn't been a problem at all. The only issue, which I don't really care that much about, is that a couple of the diapers have stains from the meconium. I'm not overly worried about it at this point. The rest have washed wonderfully and I can't complain at all. We have been using Ecos Free and Clear, the same that we were using with Kayla's night diapers.

I guess that's pretty much it. I am really happy with how things are going so far. If I could do it again, I'd probably just keep some disposables on hand like I wanted to originally. Everything else has worked out pretty much to plan, and now that I'm getting the hang of the snappi situation I officially can say that I enjoy diapers as much as I thought I would.

I can't WAIT to rub the fact that it's working out in the faces of all the haters! To everyone who told me point blank that I would hate using them, and that they were disgusting, and that they thought I was weird. Yea, what now, nay-sayers?!

Here are a a couple of pictures I managed to take during the first few days:

These are a couple in her Thirsties Duo size 1 diaper cover and a GMD prefold. As you can see in the first one, they were perilously close to the cord stump and it drove me nuts. It looks really big, but there was never a leak.

 This is a Twinkletoes diaper cover and GMD prefold. It's a one-size cover but still fit her even i the first few days weighing under 8 pounds.

And since I wrote this originally, her cord fell off! YAY! And here's a picture in one of her itti bitti d'lish AIO diapers, size small. Fits pretty well! It's a tiny big big still but didn't leak when she had a breastmilk explosion in it so that's all I can ask for! Plus, these diapers are so unbelievably soft that I used to walk into the nursery just to rub them.