Cloth Diapering
tesskerr
member
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Newb - I'm sure you have helped 1000's of us...
tesskerr
member
Ok ladies, I have started "nesting" (ugh I HATE that term).
We will be moving 3 weeks before my due date, so I want to have this all sorted now. I have 20 "Chinese" nappies (diapers), 5 god-knows-what from "The Warehouese" (like kmart), a few from honeybuns, and a mix coming from Kawaii. They are all AIO's, none are new born size. They all have standard (micro-fibre?) inserts.
Prep - I have washed, on cold, (I live in New Zealand and 99% of people only wash on cold, our washer is not even set up for a hot wash). I have washed what I have so far about 4 times, with "Eco Store" washing powder, I have had a quick look, and I'm pretty sure its ok for cloth. They were then dried in the dryer on warm. Is this ok for prep?
I have liners ready, but I won't use them till solids, right?
They will not fit a new born (I just can't afford to get new born size ones as well), when did you ladies fell like your cloth fit you baby well? I know every baby is different, a guide would be great.
A few of my friends commented that they found the cloth nappies leaked, and the baby needed changing a lot. They were only using 1 insert. Does 2 inserts help? Should I stock up a bit on different types of inserts? What are your favourite?
I think that is all I need for now, I want to get everything sorted, packed and stored under the cot (crib) and ready to move, so I don't have to think about it again for a little while!
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Re: Newb - I'm sure you have helped 1000's of us...
I've never tried washing on cold. I have no advice there.
Yes, liners are typically just used when LO starts solids.
DS was 8lbs at birth, and I think his OS diapers started fitting around 10-12lbs. Kawaiis tend to be pretty big, so they did not fit as soon as some of our others. I don't have experience with the other brands you mentioned. Just keep trying them every few weeks, and when you get a good fit (no gaps at all around legs or waist, even when you lift legs up toward baby's head), you should be all set.
The baby is going to need to be changed every 1.5-2 hours (and immediately when he poops) for a while. (No, you don't have to wake him or her up to change a wet diaper, but 2 hours or less is a good general rule. I tried to change mine before I knew he was going to sleep, even if he had just been changed an hour ago, on the chance that he might actually nap for more than 20 minutes.) With regards to leaking, that can be due to poor fit or to not enough absorbency. If the insert is saturated when you take it off the baby, you either need to change more frequently or add another insert. Hemp and bamboo tend to be the most absorbent but are also more expensive than bamboo and can be slower to absorb. I personally held off buying extra inserts/doublers until we needed them just to spread out expenses. I think we bought them around month 6 or 8. I have also found that a lot of my diapers came with two inserts anyway, and using both of them works fine for us.
I hope this helps!! GL!
You've got a good handle on the routine (boob-nappy-boob, etc).
And yeah, snaps...whew. I feel your pain! I still have fitteds with snaps that I haven't figured out yet.