Stash critique- would love advice!

meggyski

Hello all!

I've been lurking here awhile and am due 8/20 with our first. I finally got around to inventorying our stash last night, which consists mainly of hand-me-downs and garage sale scores from my sister (with a few new covers received as gifts). Here's what I have- in general, I'm long on covers and short on diapers! I'd love suggestions on what else to add and what I might consider getting rid of. Any advice appreciated!

Newborn diapers: 

- 16 prefolds

- 3 workhorses

(considering 6-12 more workhorses, will this be enough? I also have 12 very large prefolds, 20" x 12", could cut in half to make another 2 dozen prefolds, so maybe don't need as many workhorses? )

Newborn covers: 

3 thirsties x-small covers

1 rumparooz newborn cover

8 bummies whisper wrap newborn

Small/ medium diapers: 

- 1 workhorse small

- 1 workhorse medium

- 12 medium dappi fitted diapers

- still to order: probably 6-12 medium workhorses or a dozen trifolds depending on price. Do I need small workhorses too, or can i jump from the newborn workhorses to dappies?  

Small/ medium / one size covers: 

5 thirsties size 1 (6-18 lbs)

3 g-diapers size small (can I use these with other inserts/ fitteds/ prefolds or do I have to go with G-diaper inserts?)

8 bummi whisper wrap smalls

7 bummi whisper wrap medium

1 one-size rumparooz 

4 flip diaper covers, 1 size (can I use these with other inserts/ fitteds/ prefolds or do I have to go with Flip inserts?))

Pocket diapers / AIOs (all one size): 

3 bum genius with 12 inserts and 12 newborn inserts

2 alvas

1 tots bots AIO

3 kawaii baby one size

Misc supplies: 

- 1 wet bag. 

Still to buy: 

- 2-3 more wet bags, 2 diaper pail liners, reusable wipes. 

Anything I'm missing? Thanks in advance for your advice, all!

Robi1

What brand/size are your prefolds listed under newborn? Some last longer than others. I think with a total of 12-15 workhorses and 16 prefolds you'd be fine. Or if you want you could just get another dozen prefolds and just a few workhorses, depends what you like.

I would not get rid of anything until you see how you like it on your baby. There will be things you dislike down the line and you can get rid of them then (sell/trade for things you want more of).

I believe you can use G diaper covers with other inserts, but they're not super well recommended around here. You can definitely use Flips with anything inside them - other inserts, prefolds, fitteds, etc. 

I'd go ahead and get a few more things to fill out your newborn stash, but hold off on one size until you see what you like and how things fit your baby. Seems like you have lots of transitional items for in between when your newborn stash is too small, so you'll have time to buy more of what you like and pass on what you don't. 

Other things you might need: cloth diaper safe laundry detergent, diaper cream, definitely wipes and spray bottles or something for wipe solution/water. Smaller wet bags for in the diaper bag. 

mrshudson618

I would make sure to have at least 30-36 changes for nb. I personally would save your large prefolds and invest in more nb size prefolds or workhorses.

Be sure to have some CD safe cream like grandma els or Cjs.

Snappis, pins?

G diapers and flips can both be used with prefolds, but in the gdiapers they will only fit trifolded.
Other than that it looks like you are all set for the first few months.

CLLDLL

NB: Aim for at least 30 changes, preferrably 36 to wash EOD.  If you are handy with a sewing machine, I think cutting the very large prefolds in half would be ok.  (You'll need to serge/stitch the cut edges or you'll get fraying.  That being said, I think it's nice to have 6-12 "easy" changes for those bleary-eyed ON changes during the NB stage.  Prefolds are awesome, but they take more dexterity to put on than a workhorse/pocket/AIO.  So if it were me, I think I'd opt for buying 6-8 more workhorses and only cutting 1/2 of your very large prefolds.  Keep the rest for changing pads/burp cloths.  You do have a lot of NB covers, but IMO that's a good thing.  Their poo is runny and gets everywhere.  More covers will allow you to not have to wash a cover in the sink on a bad poo day.

Small/Med:  If you go with snapless, I think it's perfectly acceptable to skip small workhorses.  The mediums will be a bit bulky the first few weeks you use them, but if that doesn't bother you I think it's fine. I'm not familiar with dappi fitteds, so I can't comment on using them after NB WHs. I think you should still aim for a total of 30-36 changes in this stage.  Some kids slow way down on pooping early, but my kid pooped a good 4+ times a day until we started solids at 6 months. 

You definitely have plenty of covers here.  My fav on your list is the Thirsties.  Are they aplix or snap?  The old style aplix (sold in 2012 & earlier) is awful and wears out quickly.  If they are snap or new style aplix I'd personally keep those, the Flips, and maybe half of the Bummis in each size and sell the rest.  You can use any insert/prefold/fitted you want under the Flips.  I've never tried G-diapers so I don't know about those.  I'd guess as long as it fits you could use a prefold, but probably not a fitted.  When baby outgrows the size small/med stuff, you'll only have 4 Flips and 1 RaR OS left.  If you end up using a lot of prefolds/flats/fitteds you may want to get a couple more covers.  Maybe something like Blueberry Coverall, a Best Bottoms, or a Sweet Pea.  

Pockets/AIOs - Just to be sure you know, the BG inserts are microfiber.  Microfiber can't go directly on baby's skin.  It has to be stuffed in a pocket.  So having 12/24 inserts doesn't give you that many changes.  You'll only have 3 since you have 3 pockets. 

What about CD safe diaper cream?  Coconut oil, CJs Butter, Earth mama Angel Baby, and Grovia magic stick are some popular ones around here.

Have you decided what detergent you are planing to use?  pinstripesandpolkadots.com has a really good comparison of detergents and their level of "CD-safeness".

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aurora_Borealis

Don't cut up your very large prefolds. Lay them on the changing table so you don't use up diapers from your stash in rotation to do this. Also, you may find you love prefolds and want to use them when your baby grows into them. (Why yes, this is exactly what happened to me.)

I would make sure you have at least 30, preferably 36 diapers that will fit a newborn. Newborns will pee as soon as you put a fresh diaper on them. So another dozen workhorses and a 1/2 dozen prefolds (OsoCozy sells their size 1 PFs in 6-packs on Amazon)? Plus you can use the PFs to trifold in covers once they are too small to snappi.

ABColeslaw

Keep all your covers.  I loved thirsties xs and bummis covers for this stage.  I say get another dozen either prefolds or workhorses ( I prefer WHs for this stage)  But don't cut up your large prefolds. 

meggyski

Fantastic advice, thank you all!  Sounds like the first thing to do is make sure I have 36 NB changes. Love the advice about going with workhorses for ease at the newborn state, you've all convinced me those will be a worthwhile investment for overnights and runny NB poop.  It also seems that the consensus is to not cut the large prefolds. I'll keep these for later. 

Robi1Aurora_Borealis suggests) just in case mine are more worn than they seem to be. Thanks for the clarification on the Flips too! Glad to hear that those can be used with everything.

mrshudson618 good call on the snappis and CD safe cream! Will add those to my list. I'll probably just use coconut oil as it's been a great belly rub so far, and I already have a nice changing table sized jar of it. 

CLLDLL so much great advice, thank you! In particular, great tip to go with snapless med. size workhorses and skip the smalls. Thanks for the advice on the Thirsties covers too. Some of mine have snaps and some have aplix so I'll cull the worn out aplix ones first (I have a snap setting tool someplace, so maybe I'll try adding some snaps to the older ones). Also, good point on the O/S covers, I didn't think of that.  I'll keep my eye out for a few more. Finally, thanks for the tips on pocket diapers, too. I've heard not-great things about microfiber and pockets don't seem to be that much more convenient than fitteds/ covers, so I won't focus on getting any more of those. For detergent we already use Country Save so I think we're all set there. One less thing to worry about, phew.

ABColeslaw Glad to hear some positive feedback on the Bummis- I have a lot of those so I hope they fit! I'll take your advice and keep all of the covers for awhile to see what works best. 

Thanks again everyone! Much appreciated!