Cloth diapering preemies

MoFree

I am fully committed to cloth diapering Lila from the time she comes home.  However, even the NB diapers look enormous and I can't imagine them fitting her for a long time. If you used CDs on your LO from the beginning, what type and brand did you use.  If you used prefolds, we're they gigantic on their little, tiny butts? I hate the idea of using sposies, even for a short time, but I cannot imagine CDs fitting her until she weights at least  8 pounds, whenever that is.

Thanks for your answers. 

kck329

We have CDed since my DD came home. She was 6 lbs when she came home and you are right, the pockets and fitteds were huge on her.

Happy Heinies actually makes micro sizes for preemies. Personally, I'd get one or two because they are cute for pictures and memories but they are pricey and you won't use them long.

We used prefolds and covers. They were bulky at first but they worked great and were cheap which was nice too. I don't remember where we ordered ours from but a lot of places even have prefolds in different sizes, we got a smaller size and they would probably still fit but we've moved on to pockets. It did take until closer to 10 lbs for the pockets to fit well because my DD has super skinny legs and they just weren't tight enough til then.

Good luck!

thishappyhouse

How big is your baby?  They do look enormous, especially compared to the preemie disposables that you probably put on her in the hospital.  Remember that alot of the bulk really is in the fluff and they will probably fit much better than you expect.

My daughter came home at 6.5 pounds and we were able to use our cloth diapers from the beginning. We had a combination of 6 lil joeys, 4 xs fuzzibunz pockets and prefolds/covers.  The lil joeys were definitely the smallest, but the xs fb fit pretty well too and were my favorite.  The prefolds were def super bulky but we used those once or twice a day.  

We did laundry everyday, but honestly it wasn't a big deal.  You wont use these diapers for long enough to justify a stash of 2 dozen of them.  I had 18 prefolds but they are still used for stuffing pockets, cleaning up messes etc.  

good luck!  CDing has been far easier than I ever expected.  

HannahO28

I hope it's ok that I'm posting here, even though I don't have a preemie...

We've been cloth diapering Rhett since he came home from the hospital at 4 lbs, 14 oz. We used newborn prefolds from GMD and XS thirsties covers. They were big on him, and looked a little silly for awhile, but they worked. Here's a picture of him (I don't know when this was taken...probably when he was a little over five pounds) 

HannahO28

Here he is that same day without the cover. I feel like prefolds are best for little babies, because you can just fold them to fit the baby. Hope that helps! 

MrsPookaLuv

Thanks for posting this- I had planned to cloth diaper as well, but because dd was born early, I wasn't prepared yet with my prefolds and covers, so we're using disposables but maybe I can get to the cloth diaper store next week and get what I need! 

Daisiesinmygarden

I hope it's OK for me to post here as well. I've been lurking since I've been having preterm contrax since 30 weeks.

I think hemp flats or prefolds w/covers might be a good way to go. They are less bulky than cotton PFs, but very absorbent and you can use them as inserts with pockets or doublers when LO gets bigger. They are more expensive than cotton, but are much trimmer.

daphne814

We used the happy heinys micro minis from the time Ryan was 1 week old/26 weeks gestational.  He was 1lb 13oz at birth and had some bowel issues early on so didn't grow out of the stage 1 size for weeks and weeks.  He blew through the stage 2 and 3 sizes pretty quickly, and now he's right around 6lbs and fitting into Grovia newborns, lil joeys, etc.  We loved the happy heinys because they were just one step and they fit well, just like the sposies, so the nurses weren't intimidated by them.  We converted a lot of NICU nurses into cloth lovers

IncogNeato

I borrowed a newborn stash from a friend and LO was able to wear them when she got home at around 5 lbs. She had a variety of kinds in the mix but I really liked the fuzzibuns XS.

For this pregnancy I bought XS BGs but I haven't used them yet.

alitria

Our little guy came home at 4lb 14 oz.  Even our newborn prefolds and covers were enormous on him!  A friend of mine had had preemie twins and sent me a box of gdiapers tiny size.  I hadn't planned to use any gdiapers for they are the only cloth that has approached "fitting" our tiny guy and his skinny little legs!  He's just over 5 lbs. now and I think he'll be able to do prefolds fairly soon, but if you want something that fits, I'd recommend the gdiaper covers.  They're not a brand I plan to use otherwise, but they have been great these last couple weeks.  Also, the teeny little inserts will be handy for doublers later and I love that they work just like covers for the frequent nb changes. 

coastalmaine

We are using the tiny gdiapers as well...they are a little bit bulky but not bad. We started once DS came home at just over 5 lbs. 

miesl

The XS BG AIOs worked well when DD came home at 5-6 lb.  I also had the XS BG bamboo fitteds (loved those, but they are discontinued).