Cloth Diapering a Newborn...

Many people who are deciding to cloth diaper their newborn ask, "What do I need?"  Well I'm going to discuss the ins and outs of cloth diapering a newborn baby, what you will need, do's and dont's and what to do about that sticky meconium poop and your cute cloth diapers.

Newborn babies are going to need to be changed atleast every 2-3 hours, so how many diapers you need will depend on how often you want to do laundry.  Cloth diapers should be washed atleast every 3 days to help prevent stinkies and staining.

Washing once a day you will need

approximately 15 diapers

Washing every 2 days you will need

approximately 24 diapers

Washing every 3 days you will need

approximately 36 diapers

Cloth diapering a newborn can be tricky, you don't want to spend a fortune because they will grow out of them soon, but you want something that fits, and unless you use cloth diapers made for a newborn they don't usually fit right, one-size diapers are great, but they are big and bulky and don't fit a newborn quite right, right away.  So you can plan on using newborn diapers for about the first 3 months. 

 Newborn prefold's are great, they are affordable and can be purchased for under a dollar each if you find a good deal on ebay, or a group running a diaper coop (which there are lots of!) all you will need to go with them is a few newborn covers and your all set until they fit into the other diapers. 

There are also All-In-One newborn diapers which are great, they are easy for new mom and dad to use.  They are wash and wear diapers, you don't need to put anything together, and many of them come with a part on the front that tucks down for umbilical cord.

Bio-degradeable liners are GREAT for baby's first sticky poops, it will help prevent staining and make the poop easy to remove from the diaper, you may need to cut the liner a bit, most are made to fit full size diapers, but cut in half they fit a newborn diaper perfectly.

You will want a wetbag or a pail liner to store your dirty diapers in, and now's a good time to start using cloth wipes, I suggest atleast 3 dozen wipes, but you may want more, and remember you can pick up or make (2 layers of flannel sewn together) as many as you want, these will work with you for the next few years!

You may also want a bottle of wipe solution, cloth diaper friendly bum cream, and cloth diaper detergent, but these are all optional and can be picked up at a later date.

If you want to have a well rounded stash for your newborn to start cloth diapering I would suggest

2 Dozen Newborn Prefolds (can be used to add absorbancy to other diapers)

3-4 Newborn Covers (can be sold when outgrown)

12-15 All-In-One newborn diapers (re-sale value is great)

1 roll of biodegradeable liners

2 wetbags

3 Dozen wipes

Optional:

1 pail liner

1 jar of cloth diaper friendly bum cream

1 cloth diaper friendly detergent (supermarket brands work just fine too)

I hope this helps, if you have any questions please post!