Cloth Diaper Stash

I was pretty fixed on cloth diapering from the beginning. A big pull was that money is tight, and cloth diapers are a cheaper investment overall (some places will tell you they aren’t, and in some circumstances that may be true, but really, on average, cloth diapering is a better investment). We used disposables for the few days in the hospital but I didn’t really like the plastic-y feel or the crinkliness. I’m a fan of the bulky charm of cloth.

Here are the supplies I started with when my daughter was born:

-30 newborn prefolds           

-6 Thirsties diaper covers (4 regular, 2 duo)          

-2 Fuzzi Bunz pocket diapers

-regular laundry detergent

-a big ol’ pile of homemade reusable wipes

-a super awesome diaper pail

-some gallon-sized Ziploc bags for wet bags

Now let me break down that list a bit:

-30 newborn prefolds

Green mountain diapers is a fantastic website. It’s jam-packed with helpful info and tips and they sell excellent prefolds. Since we needed the orange-edge newborn size for so little time, we borrowed them from a friend whose baby just outgrew them. Obviously this isn’t an option for everyone, but I would recommend renting or buying second-hand for the newborn size, if not for all sizes.

And as a side note, there is absolutely nothing wrong with second-hand diapers. I know you wouldn’t buy second-hand underwear, but diapers are so expensive that you kind of have to just get over the idea of it. They are perfectly hygienic. If you feel like you need to, wash them more than once. Wash them ten times. But I suppose that wouldn’t really be very environmentally friendly of you.

-6 thirsties diaper covers (4 regular, 2 duo)

To be honest, I settled on thirsties covers because they were cute and the reviews were good. I chose regular because they were cheaper, but we ended up with two second-hand duo covers and recommendation-wise, I would steer you towards that. The duos cover two different sizes of the regulars, and even have a little half-step in between. They are not twice as expensive as the regulars, so by that logic alone they are worth the extra $$. Ramona is around 12 lbs now; she’s been wearing the duos since day 1, and is nowhere near outgrowing them. To be fair, she’s also still in the regular covers as well, but those look like they’ll only last us another week or two.

-2 fuzzi bunz pocket diapers

These had some pros and cons for us. Pocket diapers are easier in general because the prefold goes inside, so putting them on and taking them off is an easier process. But the fuzzi bunz brand doesn’t have any gussets around the legs the way the thirsties covers do, so (at least in my experience) we had a few more blowouts. When Ramona was about a month old we bought one thirsties pocket diaper with an insert, and that was excellent. Best of both worlds.

Another thing about the fuzzibuns is that they are fleece inside. This was great in winter; it seemed so cozy and I would always put her in the pocket diapers for bedtime. When it got hot out, though, her legs and bunz would always be too sweaty when I changed her.

-regular laundry detergent

Not too much to say on this topic. I haven’t tried anything else so I don’t feel like I can compare this at all. It works for us; we’ve never had a reason to switch. The end.

-a big ol’ pile of homemade reusable wipes

Don’t skip this section because you can’t sew. Reusable wipes are the easiest things to make. Ours are made entirely from cut up tee shirts. It’s as simple as that. Step one: cut the tee shirt into rectangles, like 3x4”. Step 2: dip in water and wipe that poop off your baby. Tee shirt material doesn’t unravel so the edges don’t need to be hemmed.  Newborn skin is too sensitive for the alcohol on disposable wipes, so you have to find an alternative in the beginning, in any case. And now that I’ve been using reusable wipes the whole time, I find the scent of alcohol wipes on my baby’s skin kind of unpleasant.

Essentially, it’s silly to use disposable wipes with cloth diapers.

-a super awesome diaper pail

We got this diaper pail as a gift right before Ramona was born. It has been excellent. We keep it in the bathroom by the changing table and the washing machine. Diapers go right in it as soon as she’s changed. We keep a pair of rubber gloves on the side and use them to load diapers from the pail into the washer. It’s pretty straightforward, the pail has a carbon filter that keeps any smell from escaping. It has served us well.

Often people use a liner in the pail, but so far I haven’t seen a reason too. Every once in a while I hose out the pail, but that has only happened once or twice. Poop doesn’t really get on the pail; it’s usually all wrapped up in the diapers.

-some gallon-sized Ziploc bags for wet bags

They sell wetbags, but to me they seem kind of like glorified Ziploc bags, so I use my regular old un-glorified Ziploc bags. We use the kind with the actual zipper lock thing so that there’s little chance of a wetbag explosion in my diaper bag. I think of them as somewhere in between reusable and disposable; I’ll use one for about a month before I throw it away. So we’ve hardly made a dent in the box I bought when Ramona was born.