Cloth Diapering a Newborn - My Experience

It's sunny and mild -- probably for the last time in 2010 - so my diapers are out sunning. I continue to be astounded at how well the sun bleaches out the stains caused by breast milk poop. Score one for nature! And I thought I would take this opportunity to write about my experiences with cloth diapering a newborn.

Miss Veronica will be 3 months old tomorrow (I cannot BELIEVE how fast it's going this time) and will officially become an infant. And how we've been diapering her has been changing over the past month or so (she's a porker!). But I wanted to share the stash that we used on her while she was tiny. Well - she was almost 9 lbs at birth, but you know what I mean.

First and foremost, a HUGE thank you to Isha. She let us borrow a whole bunch of her NB stuff that Rory had outgrown. In addition - thanks to my Mom for some cash to augment our stash, some of which was used here, some to buy stuff I will highlight in a later post.

Here's what our stash looked like:

• 12 Kissaluv fitted diapers in size 0 (bought used from Ottawa Kijiji)
  
• 12 infant prefolds (borrowed from Isha)
• 4 Thirsties covers, size small
• 4 Bummis covers, size small
• 3 Annie Marie Padorie (AMP) All-in-one diapers
• 4 Apple Cheeks size 1 diapers (borrowed from Isha)
• 3 Fuzzibunz OS pocket diapers
• 1 Happy Heiney's mini pocket
• 3 Jamtots bamboozle diapers (used at night)

The reason we chose a newborn stash was because most of the OS pockets don't fit newborns well around the legs. In addition - you change them so much over the first little while that it's just easier to have prefolds/fitted diapers and covers as you're using 12-15 diapers a day! We used disposables until the meconium poop had passed, then we dove in.

We used the Kissaluvs and the infant prefolds most of the time, especially when at home. We liked both - the prefolds were more absorbent, but Dave liked the Kissaluvs better since they had snaps and he didn't have to wrangle with a Snappi. We reached for the Thirsties covers first -- they have leg gussets - but the Bummis ones are great, too. Sadly, she outgrew the Kissaluvs a few weeks ago. She can still get into to the infant prefolds, but they are getting small. Soon, it'll be pockets all the time.

My favourite diapers on her were my AMP AIOs. Annie Marie Padorie is a Canadian company and their diapers are adorable. They are super trim, have great applix, and dry very quickly. She's outgrown them, but they were a great diaper when we went out. I love the diaper in Med and in Large, too, but I'll detail that in another post.

Another great option -- and one that'll fit for ages -- is the Fuzzibunz OS. The diapers are sized using buttonhole elastic in the legs, so you can get it really small. These actually fit smaller than the FB Small diapers, and the snaps are great, too.

The other diapers we used were ok. The Happy Heiny's fit her right away, but I am just not a fan of that diaper. Plus - she's too big for it now. The Apple Cheeks are another Canadian-made diaper, and it fit her fairly early on. The inserts of these diapers are supposed to agitate out in the wash, but the pocket is right in the middle of the diaper. It is GROSS fishing the insert out of a newborn poopy diaper. And the Bamboozles are ok. The diapers have been discontinued (I got them used) and I can see why. But they work well at night.

Any questions? Feel free to fire away!