beginner wanting to use cloth dipers lots of questions

redhead712771

I have found pre folds for $1.55 good price?

I have also found a starter kit Infant size includes: 24 prefolds, 6 covers, 1 pail size wet bag, 1 roll of bio liners for $169, good price? Will this be all I need to bring home baby? How long do they stay in infant size? Do you use snappys (rubber band type, T shaped, closer device), does it work?

Do you have others you use along with the pre-folds?

I will be a stay at home mom so I plan to do laundry every other day, is this the normal or should I do every day?

any other advice?

TIA!!!

LClaire

I have found pre folds for $1.55 good price? Depends on the size:) That's a great price for the bigger sizes, normal price for the smaller sizes.

I have also found a starter kit Infant size includes: 24 prefolds, 6 covers, 1 pail size wet bag, 1 roll of bio liners for $169, good price? Will this be all I need to bring home baby? How long do they stay in infant size? Do you use snappys (rubber band type, T shaped, closer device), does it work? If it's the Bummis kit, yes it's a good pckage. You don't really need the liners right away, but you can always save them. Definitely get a few snappis - they're cheap and nice to have.

Do you have others you use along with the pre-folds? Yes, we use a big variety.

I will be a stay at home mom so I plan to do laundry every other day, is this the normal or should I do every day? You might wind up being able to do it daily if you want, but I'd get enough to plan for every 2-3 days just to give yourself a bit of breathing room.

superlurker

For newborns, prefolds and covers seem to be the best option.  They grow so fast and change shape, so by the time you could discover other diapers that fit and have them delivered, they wouldn't fit anymore.  I would try to have 36 prefolds for 2 days so that you could change every 2 hours, sometimes more often, and have some clean ones on hand for wash day.  A Snappi is your friend, you probably want a 3-pack in case they get lost or dropped behind the changing table or dropped on the floor of a public bathroom.

Quality prefolds can run $2 a pop, so $1.55 is a decent price.  Do NOT get Gerber/Target/WalMart "cloth diapers" as they are not absorbant enough to work.  One look a one of those vs a real refold and you will see the difference.  Prefolds are best until at least 10-12 pounds.  When the baby gets a little bigger, you may want to experiment with pockets (waterproof "cover" with an inner pocket to add in absorbent inserts), all-in-ones, and fitteds (diaper-shaped absorbent material that snaps on, requires a cover).  Good luck!

sestock17

I am new to this as well, but from the research I have been doing here is my opinion.  Are the pre-folds newborn or infant size and are they Chinese or Indian?  You can buy a dozen newborn Chinese pre-folds for about $17 and a dozen newborn Indian Pre-folds for about $18. 

The starter kit for $169, does it say what kind of pre-folds and covers it includes?  You can get pretty cheap covers for $6-8.  You might be better off buying individually if the qaulity of the products in the starter kit are less expensive to begin with. 

I am getting a majority of my cloth diapering supplies from www.babycottonbottoms.com, but there are many other sites that sell cding supplies that are comparable priced.  

I am using the Snappis b/c they are a whole lot easier IMO than pins.  If you plan to launder every other day they recommend about 24 diapers to start with.  We are doing mostly Indian Pre-folds with some fitted diapers as well.  I am still experimenting with covers and so far have Thirsties Duo, Isme Visme soft covers, and Bummis Super Whisper Wrap. 

GL and I hope this helps.

TCsbride

I have found pre folds for $1.55 good price?  Yes, it's a good price as long as they are diaper service quality. I only have tried the preolds from Green Mountain Diaper as was recommended on this site. I bought them used for $25ppd from Diaperswappers.com and sold them for the same amount. I had one dozen orange and one dozen yellow edged.

I have also found a starter kit Infant size includes: 24 prefolds, 6 covers, 1 pail size wet bag, 1 roll of bio liners for $169, good price? Will this be all I need to bring home baby? How long do they stay in infant size? Do you use snappys (rubber band type, T shaped, closer device), does it work? Def. won't need the liner till LO starts solids, but I'd say you could get a better deal by getting things seperate. 2 dozen prefolds would be $50, I'd say you'll only need 4-5 covers so say $10 each is $40-$50 and $10-$20 for a pail liner (could just use a pillow case though). Oh, and snappis are like $3 or $4 from Nikkisdiapers.com with free shipping. They work very well with prefolds. I'd say the only other thing you might need is a wetbag for your diaper bag when you go out. You could use a ziplock baggie and just rinse it out if you didn't want to spend the money though. This should get you through two days.

Do you have others you use along with the pre-folds? I used a big mixture of prefolds, fitteds, and all in ones (AIOs). If you'd like, I wrote about the newborn stash we had in my bio....back a couple posts. I'm glad I got to try different styles and different brands to find out what we liked best. But honestly I liked everything we tried for the most part.

I will be a stay at home mom so I plan to do laundry every other day, is this the normal or should I do every day? Personally, being a new mom is pretty overwhelming. I'd aim for 3 days worth of diapers, but that's just me.

any other advice? Stick around, read, and ask a lot of questions. The girls here are great and I was a cloth diapering expert in a matter of weeks! GL!