The fabulous Calley of The Eco Chic and Eco Chic Parties shares her advice on cloth diapering a newborn:
Cloth Diapering A Newborn
by: The Eco Chic
Hi, I’m Calley from The Eco Chic blog and Eco Chic Parties. I wanted to thank Vanessa for asking me to be a guest blogger on The Crafty Nest – I can’t wait to see what else is coming over here. If you don’t know me, I am a full-time working mom of 2 (ages 17mo and 7 years currently) – and in my spare time I blog about all things eco-friendly. That includes my obsession – cloth diapers!
Most of my cloth diaper encounters are online but I was fortunate to have a good friend of ours recently inquire about cloth diapering their soon to be 3rd child. T is due at the end of July and is ready to make the switch to cloth diapers. Her oldest is out of diapers but her middle child is still a few months away from potty training – so she’ll have 2 in diapers at the same time. What better time to make the switch. What’s even more exciting is that her husband is just as curious about cloth diapering this newborn to be.
It all started over a casual conversation with a few other moms. T had seen my little one in cloth and started to ask questions about HOW it worked. I’m sure you’ve all had the same questions.
-How do you deal with the poo?
-What do you do when you are out in public?
-How do you wash them?
-And my favorite question…What brand do you like best?
Over the next few months we casually talked about cloth when we ran into one another and finally a few weeks ago I invited her and the family over for dinner – and a cloth diaper demonstration! I made sure all our diapers were clean and neatly displayed in the drawer. Once I opened the drawer she was in awe of the fluff!
Now – I started cloth diapering with my last child and learned like most of us from the internet. The only person I knew who cloth diapered was my mom – and that was 30-something years ago. We decided to make the investment and purchased 12 Bum Genius 3.0s before the baby arrived. I had read the reviews and knew that they probably wouldn’t fit my newborn. I didn’t really want to make the investment into newborn specific diapers though – I wish I had! I didn’t realize how in-demand resale was on newborn diapers. I could have easily have made a good bit of my money back once we had outgrown them.
My recommendation to my friend (and for your newborn) – invest in a small stash of newborn diapers and a small stash of one size diapers. There are certain one size diapers that fit smaller than others – I didn’t know that at the time. My personal favorite newborn diapers would be the Lil’ Joey by Rump-a-Rooz or the Kissaluvs. The difference being that the Lil’ Joey does not require a cover like the Kissaluvs. Many people also recommend pre-folds and covers but they aren’t as daddy friendly and for a newbie I prefer a pocket diaper. My favorite one sized diapers that fit smaller babies would be the Rump-a-Rooz G2 and the SoftBums brands.
Since newborns have smaller digestive systems you will need more diapers during the newborn months than you will need when they are toddlers. Most of us start with small stashes and build up to a massive cloth diapering addiction! A good rule of thumb when deciding how many diapers to purchase – infants need to be changed on average 12 (sometimes more) times a day. You decide how often you want to be doing laundry with a newborn.
What about the umbilical cord? Newborn specific diapers fit low in the front so that the cord is not disrupted.
What about the newborn meconium poop? Isn’t is hard to wash off? The good thing about newborn poop is that it’s almost always water soluble – especially if your baby is breastfed (another reason to breastfeed!). If you are worried about staining your new stash simply place a flushable liner (like Imse Vimse or BioLiners by GroVia) between your baby and the diaper. Most of the poop will stay on the liner wash off the diaper easier.
My best recommendation for a first time cloth diapering mom is to find a friend who has experience. The Real Diaper Association has Diaper Circles in many cities around the USA. Mommy blogs and Twitter are flooded with resources – make an online cloth diapering friend. And don’t forget your cloth diapering retailers and brands – they are more than eager to help a new parent master the art of the fluffy bum! Feel free to email me with your cloth diapering questions too – you may have them answered on my blog, The Eco Chic.
