Cloth Diapering A Newborn

Links are included.

Newborn Cloth Diapers (rough estimations)

How many cloth diapers do I need for one newborn/baby?  

If you are going to wash every day: A minimum of 18 cloth diapers.

If you are going to wash every other day: A minimum of 24 cloth diapers.

If you are going to wash two-three times a week: 3-4 dozen cloth diapers.

For more information, click on the links: Zany Zebra, All About Cloth Diapers, Cloth Diaper Revival . Also watch some helpful YouTube videos on cloth diapers: Newborn Cloth Diapering If I Knew Then What I Know Now and 6 Cloth Diapering Lessons Learned.

Overwealmed by Options?

When I switched to cloth diapers my eldest was 14 months old, so my second was the first time I cloth diapered a newborn. I had similar concerns about cloth diapering a newborn since they tend to go through more diapers, and I was worried if I would have enough diapers.

Cloth diapers at first were a little overwhelming. With my first, who was 14 months when I made the switch from disposables to cloth, I used the one size pocket cloth diapers. I felt pockets were one of the easiest cloth diapers to adjust to. When my second was big enough, I able to use the one size diapers that I had used with my first. That did mean I had to use smaller size diapers, such as newborn in the beginning.

 Here is my second baby a little over 4 weeks,
wearing a red one size Doopsy pocket cloth diaper. (2013)

Trial & Error

The one size cloth diapers I mentioned, have snaps that allow you to adjust the size of the diaper to small, medium, or large. The one size brands vary in starting weight. For example, the one size Bumgenuis 4.0 pocket cloth diapers range from 7-35 lbs.  Even though my second child was 8 lbs and 2 oz when he was born, he did not fit right away into our one size pocket cloth diapers. My one size cloth diapers were mostly Doopsy brand and the Doopsy Pocket cloth diapers ranged from 10-35 lbs. 

You may have to do some experiment with a few different brands to find what you like since not all one size styles fit newborns the same or well. And what one person likes another may not. This may be helpful, a one size cloth diaper review video on a newborn that is under 7 lbs for moms of smaller babies.

I think with newborns, having All in ones (AIOs) are a great option, because they are the most like disposables and require no prepping of the diaper like a hybrid, pocket or fitted with cover styles. I also think its great to have other styles too that allow you to use one cover for multiple changes because one would need a lot of AIOs to get through a day with a newborn. 

Brands I tried

With cloth diapering my second as a newborn, I did also buy newborn cloth diapers that I used in the beginning. I was concerned if my baby would fit in the one size that claims from birth to potty training, so I bought several different newborn brands. One brand I absolutely loved was the Kissaluv All in One Newborn cloth diapers, they fit 5-15 lbs. They also have the snap down feature for the umbilical cord stump. I only purchased two of these brands at the time but wished I had bought more.

Here is my second baby a little over 4 weeks, 
wearing a green small g Pant diaper cover

with g pocket and a small size insert or pre-fold. (2013)

Another brand, I also tried was the gPants cloth diapers. They come in newborn, small, medium, large and x large. This was the brand I bought the most of, I bought several newborn, small and medium sizes. An interesting thing about this diaper is it closes in the back with the g on the rear. That did worry me at first, at how I would close the diaper if it was in the back. It  wasn't as bad as I thought, but required some practice. Here is a video of a gPant review, the video shows you how to close the diaper on a newborn and putting together a gPant diaper with the pocket and stuffing it with absorbent materials (inserts, pre-folds, or doublers).

When talking to other moms, the gPants is one of the cloth diapers that some moms love and others dislike. Many of the reviews I read for those who did not feel it was a good fit for them, the parents had issues with the closing it in the back with a wiggly baby, leaking was by far the biggest complaint, followed by the Velcro straps getting worn out fast. Velcro is the most similar to disposable diapers and very easy to use, however, snaps last a lot longer and in my opinion, a better option in the long run. I did encounter leaks when using the gPants and had to play around with them to get them to work.

Night Time

Because we mostly use pockets, I found for night time using 1 pre-fold and 1 insert has done the trick. If a child is a heavy wetter or a toddler nursing at night, add a doubler inside the diaper.

Costs
I estimated for disposable diapers diapers we spent around 40 dollars a month using brand name diapers, such as Huggies Snuglers, Huggies Natural, Pampers Swaddlers, and Luvs. We didn't get into Natural disposables until our third, which are signitifantly more expensive. Store brands diapers are slightly cheaper. We were buying a pack for around ten dollars a week, not including tax and of course we used more diapers then that during the newborn stage or if they ever were sick with an upset stomach. I think cloth diapers will definitely help parents save, and parents can especially see the savings when they reuse cloth diapers for another child that they have. However, they can see the instant savings too, for every one disposable diaper a caregiver throws away after one use, with a cloth diaper, they are using that diaper again several times over.

How did I afford my stash? Mostly from buying on E-bay new or gently used. I posted a blog link that discusses how I buy from E-bay: Stretching your cloth diaper dollar.

I am in large part able to have a large stash and not worry when a cloth diaper gets worn out because I keep costs in mind. Cloth diapering is considered expensive up front, and disposables expensive in the long run, but cloth diapering can be as expensive or as cheap as you make it. No one has to buy the brand new 25 dollar cloth diaper, when there are $3-5 dollar cloth diapers from Asia or 5 previously owned cloth diapers being sold in a set for $30 out there in the US.

My third baby as a toddler in a Doopsy cloth diapers (2019).

Is it too late to switch if I have an older baby / toddler?

I think it is never too late to make a switch from disposables to cloth diapers and making a switch with a toddler is very possible, since I switched to cloth diapers when my eldest was 14 months old. One reason I think it can be a smooth transition is I find toddlers need less diaper changes than newborns and are going through longer periods of holding their bladders. When my oldest was 24 months, she started having dry diapers at night. So in the morning when we would go to change her, we noticed the cloth diaper was completely dry. Although in her case, she was not ready to start serious potty training until she was 3-3.5 years old.

Last Edited: January 12, 2019