Affordable newborn cloth diapering

AStewartBU

Jillian's drawers has some "gently used" kissaluvs and then you can pair them with Thirsties covers. How many of each do you buy to have a full stash of newborns??

Rrrrrachel

The general rule around here is you want 36 newborn changes to wash every other day. The kissas are fine diapers, but another general rule is don't have an entire stash of the same thing. Not every diaper fits great on every baby and if you have some variety you can try different things. If you have all kissas and they don't fit right or you don't like them you're just sol.

mrshudson618

You want about 36 changes for a full nb stash. If you went with all fitteds, I would get 36 of those, and about 8 covers.

I would not have an entire stash of one type/ brand though. If I were you I would get at least a dozen nb prefolds, 2 doz or so fitteds and a few pockets and AIOs. And while thirsties are popular covers, I would get 2 or 3 brands of those as well, they fit different babies differently.

AStewartBU

Perfect-- I'm trying to decide whether or not to cloth diaper my newborn in 2 months--I've already decided to cloth diaper when they can fit into OS best bottoms, bum genius, etc. The expense of newborn cloth diapering is overwhelming to me! Just trying to figure out a way to do it that is economical for us-- if you had your perfect stash of newborns what would it be? (And I don't want to do prefolds, etc-- I want all in ones or fitteds with covers..)

mrshudson618

Don't do mostly all in ones. There are some really good ones for fitting really early, but the absorbency is usually outgrown way before OS diapers fit. They can be a good addition to a stash, but aren't a great idea especially if you are worrie about cost.

I personally prefer prefolds.

But if you really don't want to try that, I would look at GMD workhorse fitteds. Not only are they inexpensive, but they are so popular that you can resell for basically what you paid new.

AStewartBU

The GMD workhorse fitteds-- then would you buy covers for those? Do you get GMD covers?

freezorburn

The Kissaluvs 0 are a fantastic NB fitted. If money were no object I honestly think I would be happy to have 3 dozen of them -- however, once baby outgrows a Kissaluvs fitted, there is probably still a little time before he/she is big enough for OS diapers. Also, while I think it's a great diaper, there are cheaper options. If you can find a deal, I would take advantage of it to the extent your budget allows.

I will also say that even if I had 36 Kissaluvs size 0, I wouldn't stop there. I would probably still want some prefolds, flats, and a few AIO or pockets in my stash.

My only experience with NB AIOS is that there was a FB NB AIO in the NB diaper trial we got from Jillian's. DS outgrew it in a week. If you do a search on this board for NB AIOs you'll find that people have varying levels of success with them. It's just a bit harder to get a good fit to contain everything, which is why people recommend getting a variety. NB bodies change so fast, what works this week might be outgrown next week. And something that doesn't fit today might fit 3 weeks from now. 

You can take two approaches to dealing with the expense -- one is that, however much you spend, you can resell your newborn stash. Since they usually only get a few weeks or months of use, they typically hold their value pretty well. A lot of people say they are able to recoup most of their initial costs when they sell their NB stash.

The other approach would be to spend as little as possible. In other words, go with flats and/or prefolds with covers. You can always use them past the NB stage to stuff pockets, or as doublers for ON.

mrshudson618

AStewartBU said:

The GMD workhorse fitteds-- then would you buy covers for those? Do you get GMD covers?

Yes, you need covers. And like I said before I would get at least 2 or 3 brands to try.

AStewartBU

Wow! I just looked up GMD workhorse fitteds-- $5.25 a diaper--- that seems super cheap!
Sooo--- 36 of those and 8 covers of different types?
Do you have to use a doubler or anything at night with the GMD workhorses?

freezorburn

Newborns don't know the difference between day and night. You will have the same frequency of changes at night as during the day, until baby starts to STTN. So they won't need more absorbency until they are past the NB stage.

Also, nice thing about Kissaluvs fitteds is the little snap-down to make space for the umbilical cord stump.

If you decide to get 36 GMD NB fitteds, make sure you have a plan for after baby outgrows them and before they are big enough for OS diapers. Some OS diapers will take longer to get a good fit than others.

mrshudson618

You don't have to worry about nighttime for a while. Definitely not in nb size. Newborns need to be changed overnight. Whenever they wake to eat so every 2-3 hrs or so.

Critter015

For my newborn stash I have a dozen fitteds, half are the used Kissaluvs, half are GMD workhorse, then I have a dozen prefolds and half a dozen various AIOs that I got for cheap at seconds sales.

For covers I have 2 each of Bummis Superbrite size N, Rumparoos Newborn, Blueberry mini coverall, and Thirsties Duo size 1. I didn't need that many covers, but the sizes varied enough that we always had a pair that fit great. I hardly used my prefolds, but they were a cheap backup option.

I just used my cotton wipes as doublers with my newborn, but it is nice to have some fleece liners in case your baby is sensitive to wetness.

TJ1979

Don't count prefolds and flats out completely. I NEVER thought I would like them. We only used AIOs with my toddler. But someone graciously loaned me some prefolds and they rock during NB stage. And I got a few flats and even flour sack towels (5/$5) and ended up loving them. Super cheap and work great. And it's actually kinda fun folding them. I just did jelly roll.

bumpuser5078523

I loved my preemie prefolds until my son grew into his regular newborn stash. That's the only time I liked prefolds, though.

julestony

Instead of buying a newborn stash, we opted to do a newborn rental. So excited as I just picked them up yesterday...can't wait for baby girl to come and get her in these!

The program/store we used will give us the deposit back in store credit, which we'll use to finish our regular stash as well as for detergent and butt balm.