Simplicity of Newborn Diapering

I'm amazed that it has taken me so long to take the plunge and start cloth diapering one of my children from birth.  I'm not sure what my hang up was, but I finally started with our youngest the day he came home from the hospital.  With child #5, I attempted to use cloth on him as a newborn, but I didn't like it.  I was using prefolds (Diaper Rite I think?) and flats with only 2 one size BumGenius pockets in my stash.  

My first load of newborn/toddler diapers.

This time around I decided to plan ahead and look around.  I did exactly what I suggest to my customers (or anyone else who is interested in using cloth) and I bought a variety of diapers.  I have AIO, prefolds, fitteds, pockets, and AI2.  I am so glad I went this route.  My newborn stash consisted of Knickernappies Prefolds, Swaddlebees Newborn Simplex, BumGenius AIO,  Rumparooz lil Joey, Thirsties Duo AIO, Thirsties Duo Fab Fitteds, Applecheeks, and Knickernappies Custom Fit.    

I was really happy I bought the newborn Rumparooz and Swaddlebees Simplex with the umbilical snap down.  That function was so convenient, but I learned later it was not necessary.  It is totally possible to make other diapers fit under the cord.  To me these run a little small though.  Well maybe I just make too big of babies, but the Rumparooz only lasted a few weeks.  I tried to stretch out the life of these diapers on my newborn, but I could only use them for maybe a maximum of a month.  With that said, I know I will not be making a full newborn stash out of these diapers because the investment would not be worth it for just a month.  The Swaddlebees however is still being used at 7 weeks.  The absorbency is great and the elastic has good stretch to fit my son without leaving red marks.  

The diaper I would reach for first (and still do) are the Thirsties Duo AIO.  It's funny because they are not my favorite, but they are the first I like to use.  The fit on my newborn was/is wonderful.  I like these so much because they are so easy to use and clean.  Whomever first thought up an all in one is a genius.  Nothing to take apart and nothing to stuff (which in a newborn diaper this is a big deal because they are so small and a bit of a pain to try to stuff).  Unlike other AIO I don't feel they take an extraordinary time to dry.  The absorbent pad is not completely sewn in, so I just simply turn the diaper inside out and hang to dry.  On occasion (when I've gone too long before washing diapers) I will toss them in the dryer for a cycle and let cool completely before turning right side out for use.  My only complaint is that they are not super absorbent (but then I've been using hemp on my 21 mo old son).  I have to change him about every hour otherwise we get leaks.

My favorite diaper (which really surprised me) was/is the Knickernappies infant prefolds with a Thirsties x-small cover.  What a great combination.  I have yet to have a leak with this pair.  I love these prefolds because they are so super soft.  I have tried several kinds of prefolds in both bleached and unbleached.  As I mentioned earlier I tried prefolds on my other son but I did not like them.  They were too bulky and stiff.  So I was really skeptical of the Knickernappies.  I was plesantly surprised when I put them on my son.  I simply folded down the extra length in the front (doing it in the back makes it too bulky) and fastened with my snappi.  Again, it was so easy keeping it under the cord stump.

The Knickernappies Custom Fit is one that I wished I had more of.  The beauty of these, like any other pocket diaper, is that you can adjust the absorbency.  You can choose what insert to use in this diaper.  Because of my 21 month old, I've been using hemp.  What a wonderful fabric.  So I decided to totally forgo the microfiber in these pocket diapers and use the Knickernappies hemp inserts.  These little guys are amazing!  I feel totally confident when I go out on errand trips knowing that I will not have any leaks with this diaper.  Again with proper positioning I was able to keep it under the cord stump.  Even now, long after the cord is gone, I still get a great fit with this diaper.  There is still plenty of room for him to grow into this diaper in both the rise and the width.

My new challenge with this little man is finding a night diaper that will not leak.  I'm starting to think that as long as he nurses through out the night, I may not find it.  With him nursing so much, he is going to be peeing a lot.  Currently I am using some left over disposables that I found in the back of a closet.  I was getting tired of his wet jammies and my wet bed and shirt.  I've been thinking about this for the past week and I may have come up with some other options to try.  We'll see how things work out.         

Cloth Diapering The Infant

I talked before about our plans for cloth diapering our newborn.  Well, that beautiful baby girl is now 9 1/2 weeks old.  We started off with disposables.  Mostly because they were easy and my mom was there to help.  She does not do cloth diapers.  ;-)  They also proved to be helpful when my husband lost his job and we had to move.  Laundering cloth diapers would have just added to the headache and stress of that moment.

But now, we are back in our home and are cloth diapering her most of the time.  I have tried everything I bought and here are our experiences up to this point.

Fitteds....
The ease of using fitted diapers is wonderful.  They go on in a flash and we are back to doing something else much more exciting than diaper changes.  However, they take FOREVER to dry in the dryer.  In fact, I normally have to hang them for a while after being in the dryer to finish them off.  That is annoying.  Since we plan to start hanging out the diapers to dry in the back yard, I can imagine it is going to be an all day deal to get them dry.  At least it won't add to my electric bill.

Prefolds....
I really was not looking forward to using them.  But, I must admit that once I got the hang of putting them on and securing them with the Snappi's, They are my favorite.  So easy, so simple.  I do like the hemp ones a bit better than the cotton ones for laundering.  Because of how they are made, they are MUCH easier and faster to dry.  They also, after time, are more absorbent than cotton. 

However, while the unbleached cotton prefolds take longer to dry that center section, for some reason I just like them better.  Chalk it up to preference, but the cotton prefolds are the first I reach for when it is time for changing her. 

Now, we had some Gerber bleached cotton prefolds and some of the non-bleached cotton prefolds.  The non-bleached ones are much softer, much more absorbent and dry faster than the bleached ones. 

Flats...
I can't lie, we have primarily used these for burp cloths.  However, since I really hate drying the fitteds and the prefolds, I need to really practice my folds on the flats.  If we can figure them out, not only will they be the cheapest option, they will dry in a flash since they are a single layer of cotton. 

There is one pocket diaper we have been able to use so far.  It is one that was given to us as a gift.  I believe it is from Thirsties.  It has both a microfiber and a cotton insert that snap together.  It is also a size one.  I really like this one and it just reminds me that I long for the day my baby girl chunks up enough that we can use primarily pocket diapers on her.  They are still, by far, my favorite overall. 

So, wish me luck figuring out those flats.  I'll update you once we have mastered the art of flat folding.  

Sharon Underwood is a SAHM of one awesome little 2 year old boy Derrek, and a beautiful baby girl Morgan.  She and her husband live in rural town Nebraska.  Through mutual friends, Sharon and I have learned quite a bit about raising our families "naturally".