Cloth Diapering a Newborn

When I was pregnant with Gerrit, I was interested in using cloth diapers. After doing some research, I felt pretty overwhelmed. I registered for a couple of different kinds and received them as gifts. But then when Gerrit was born, I was overwhelmed by so much that I decided to postpone using cloth diapers. It wasn’t until after he turned one that I decided to give cloth diapers a try. I ended up liking it, and I used cloth on Gerrit until he potty trained around his 3rd birthday.

When I got pregnant with Berend, I decided I wanted to try using cloth diapers right away this time. I did a lot of research to try to figure out what would be the cheapest way to diaper him, since I already had a solid stash of one size pocket diapers that I could use once he was big enough. I found out that using flats and covers was the way to go if I wanted to spend as little money as possible. So I bought 6 newborn covers and 6 one size covers as well as some flour sack towels, which were cheaper than flat diapers. By the time we were ready to move to Arkansas, I was set with my newborn diaper stash.

I didn’t plan to put cloth on Berend right away in the hospital, so we started out with disposables there. And when we came home, I kept using disposables. I was honestly scared to try the cloth on him despite how much I had been looking forward to it! Finally I gave it a try. It was a little challenging! Even the newborn diapers seemed so big on his tiny body and skinny legs.

I was also dealing with some postpartum depression & anxiety again, and for whatever reason, the thought of using cloth diapers just stressed me out so much. So after a few days of trying the cloth diapers, I told Andrew I was just going to use disposables for awhile. And by the way, Andrew has been 100% on board with using cloth diapers!

A couple of weeks later, when I was starting to feel better, I decided to give the cloth diapers another try. By then Berend was about a month old and had filled out quite a bit! I think the combination of him being bigger and me having had practice already from when he was smaller made me feel more confident in getting a good fit on him. From then we pretty much exclusively used cloth diapers on him during the daytime hours. The only reason I chose to keep using disposables at night is because of the lack of light (I try to keep the room as dark as possible when Berend wakes at night) and my sheer exhaustion: I wasn’t sure I’d be awake enough to get a cloth diaper on very well!

So how is it cloth diapering a newborn? Not so bad! The hardest part was learning how to fold the flour sack towels and get them securely on a wiggly baby. I already had a good wash routine, so that part wasn’t difficult. The fold we ended up liking the best was the mini kite fold:

At almost 2 months old, it is still a good fit for Berend, and I like the coverage it provides. Here he is with a cover over the towel:

That is my favorite cover! I loved the pattern so much that I ordered it in one size pocket diaper too. And don’t mind Berend’s face… he was not happy about having an outfit change haha.

Interested in using cloth diapers on your newborn? I would definitely recommend going the route we chose: covers and flats. It was very inexpensive, and I honestly bought more than I needed. The 6 newborn covers I got were Rumparooz brand, and those 6 covers were really all I needed. You can reuse the covers a few times as long as they don’t get poop on them, so it’s rare that I go through all the covers in 2 days, which is how often I wash diapers. I also have 6 one size covers of assorted brands that I’ve just started using as Berend has gotten bigger. I bought 20 flour sack towels (I already had some from cloth diapering Gerrit) and a pack of 3 Snappis (for securing the diapers). I wash every other day to prevent the diapers from sitting for too long (ew) and to make sure I have enough clean ones folded and ready to go. The only thing that I don’t have enough of is cloth wipes. I underestimated how many I would need compared to an older baby!

So for those who want to know why I choose to cloth diaper? My big one is to cut down on waste. I truly hate seeing all the diapers that go in the trash, especially in these early months when you’re changing diapers ALL the time. I also hate buying all those disposable diapers. They aren’t cheap! I’d much rather do a few extra loads of laundry each week and fold diapers before I go to bed at night. Granted I am one of those people that enjoys folding laundry… Another big reason I like using cloth? No poopy diaper blowouts! I am super impressed with how well the cloth diapers have contained huge pooplosions. We haven’t had a single poop leak with cloth, but we have had leaks (the big up-the-back kind) with disposables. And the most important reason to use cloth diapers? They’re so cute! I love all the prints to choose from, and they look adorable on little baby bums.