On average, newborns go through 12-15 diapers per day. We suggest washing your diapers every 2-3 days, so depending on how often you plan to wash; we suggest having 24-45 cloth diapers for your newborn baby. If you are using an option that uses separate covers, you will need fewer covers since they can be reused multiple times.

 

Any natural fiber like hemp, bamboo or cotton needs to be and dried 4-5 times before use. You will need to use detergent on your washes to help remove the natural oils. You do need to do the dries between each wash cycle to help break up the natural fibers and increase their absorbency. They will continue to get even more absorbent in the washes following your initial prep. Synthetic fibers like microfiber only need to be washed and dried once before use.

 

Depending on how long you anticipate your hospital stay to be, you will need 12-15 diapers per day of your stay. If you may have an extended stay, it might be nice if someone can bring your dirty diapers home after your second day and wash them and bring them back to you. You will also need a place to store your dirty diapers. A or contains all odors and hangs nicely from your little one’s changing station. If you are using prefolds, be sure to bring any or diaper pins you plan to use. If you plan to use , you will need 10-12 wipes per day as well as your if you don’t plan to use plain water.

 

In our experience, meconium poop can wash out of cloth diapers easily. There is no special treatment for the removal of it from your diapers; however you may want to use a to prevent it from leaving a light stain on your diapers.

 

If your newborn is exclusively breastfed, you don’t need to do anything to remove the poop from the cloth diaper before washing it in your or . EBF poop is water soluble and very easily washes out of diapers. It is almost void of foul smell as well so it’s highly unlikely that you’ll have any issues with your pail or bag stinking.

 

Newborn poop does tend to stain diapers. The good news is that diapers with stains ARE clean. If you are bothered by the stains, the quickest and easiest way to get the stains out is to lay them in the sun when they are still wet out of the washing machine. We find the stains come out very easily this way! We do not suggest using any laundry additives like bleach, baking soda, vinegar, oxyclean or laundry stain treatments on your cloth diapers.

 

You will start with a cold rinse or cold short wash without detergent. Follow with a warm or hot wash with , ending with an extra rinse. All covers or diapers containing PUL should be hung to dry to prolong their life. Everything else can be tumble dried.

Depending on how large your baby is at birth, most are worn for 3 months on average. The average disposable newborn diaper cost .25 to .34 each. For a baby going through 12-15 diapers per day, those first 3 months of diapers can cost between $250 and $450. You can easily build a newborn stash for far less than that. Also, cloth diapers have a great resale value, so you will likely be able to get a good amount of your money back!

 

and flat diapers with are going to be some of the most economic cloth diaper options for a newborn. Many of our customers love the size XS or the size because they are layered so that they have a more trim fit on newborns. You can simply fold your in thirds and lay it in your favorite , or you can use a Snappi or diaper pins to hold your prefold on your baby before covering it with a diaper cover. Flat diapers are a one-size fits all option that can be folded many different ways to fit babies of all ages. They also need to be covered with a waterproof diaper cover.

 

Neither is better, it is just what fits your lifestyle. Some people perfect the ease of simply folding their prefold into thirds, laying it in their diaper cover and wrapping it on their baby. The main benefit to this is that it puts the most layers in the "wet-zone". Others prefer using their favorite fold (angel wing, bikini twist and jelly roll are some popular ones) and using a Snappi or diaper pins to close the prefold before putting the diaper cover over the top. The main benefit to this technique is that the often explosive newborn poop is contained in your prefold diaper, allowing you to get more use from your diaper covers. Either way, the newborn poop should not escape from your diaper covers with a proper fit.

 

We all worry about the comfort of our children, isn’t that our job?! The good news is that the bulk of the cloth diapers doesn’t hurt your baby in any way. In fact, the "splayed" position is actually a desired position for healthy hip development! If you just need to ease your mind, you can always bring it up to your child’s doctor.

Most brands of one-size diapers begin fitting babies close to 10 pounds, but that will vary depend on the build of your baby. Any one size diaper is going to bulkier on a newborn than a sized diaper would since the diaper needs to grow with your baby and fit through the toddler years. If you want an ultra-trim diaper for your newborn, we suggest using a sized diaper option. If you like the convenience of a , look for one that has a sized insert option like a with a small insert or a with a newborn insert.

Follow the advice of your baby’s doctor on the care of your son’s circumcision. The only thing that you need to know about caring for it with your cloth diapers is that you will need to use a barrier to protect your cloth diapers from any type or cream or ointment. We suggest using a fleece liner as it will prevent the wound from sticking.

Most brands that have a specific newborn size are created with the newborn stump in mind. They will have a gathering of elastic or an actual dip in the fabric in the front of the diaper to fit under you little one’s healing belly button. If the diaper still has too high of a rise, we suggest folding it down to fit.