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My sweet baby girl is 6 weeks old now. It’s hard to believe she is already that big, but at the same time, it feels so difficult to remember the days that she wasn’t an active member of the family.
Our first month has been filled with lots of adventures, starting with our crazy birth story and our current adventure of buying a travel trailer and remodeling it (apparently we are crazy to think this was a good idea with a newborn, but I digress).
This time hasn’t been without its struggles. My body is slow to have milk come in, and then I ended up with mastitis when she was two weeks old, which has tanked my supply yet again. I’m in a battle to get that supply back as I write this.
All that to say, it has been quite a month in our household. However, I want to take the time to share my thoughts on my newborn cloth diapering stash so far and what I’m loving & not loving as I thought. I want to write individual reviews for each product, but that probably won’t come until the baby is a little older and we have more of a routine down.
I apologize if it seems like I’m rambling in this post–I’m still very much in the postpartum period and finding time to work on reviews has been difficult, so be kind. 😉 I hope this helps those of you weighing your newborn options.
My Newborn Stash- What Does It Consist Of?
Here is a video I made when I was pregnant highlighting my newborn stash. Here is the post I wrote on my newborn cloth diaper stash with more details.
My Top Newborn Cloth Diapering Choice
It seems difficult to pick the first choice because I do love most of them. I got lucky that none of these was an awkward fit. However, some of these diapers have more limited absorbency than the others, and I’ll highlight those differences here.
My top newborn diaper choice right now is my newborn size workhorses from Green Mountain Diapers. Workhorses are a fitted cloth diaper made from cotton.
Why Workhorses Are My Favorite
- I love that they are made from natural fibers.
- They absorb a lot.
- They contain poop well.
- Faster to put on than a prefold.
- Trim fitting, and fit well under a cover.
- It is easy to see & feel how much baby wet the diaper, which is important when you’re dealing with weight struggles like us!
Workhorses are awesome, however, I know she will grow out of them soon enough. This is one reason why I like prefolds from a budgetary standpoint–even when babies outgrow their prefold size for traditional folding, you can pad fold a prefold and get longer use out of it. Prefolds are also cheaper per change than a workhorse.
However, not all of us are in this to diaper as cheaply as possible. You just need to identify what your primary motivation is for using cloth diapers and go from there when you make your stash selections. Even if workhorses cost a little more, having a few on hand for the sleepy middle of the night diaper changes is a good idea.
My Runner Up Newborn Cloth Diapering Choice
Prefolds are my second favorite. I am using the newborn unbleached cotton prefolds from Green Mountain Diapers.
Pros & Cons of Prefolds
Pros of Prefolds:
- Cheap diapering option (prices range depending on size, but on average you are looking at a couple of bucks per prefold.)
- Absorb well
- Multiple folding options to help you get the best fit on your baby–the jellyroll fold is a popular choice for a newborn.
- Natural fibers against baby’s skin
- Easy to wash and dry- can dry prefolds on high heat with no concerns (you may want to separate the covers from the wash before you do that to protect elastics & PUL).
- Easier to see and feel how much baby wets the diaper compared to an all-in-one, which is important for those dealing with weight gain issues
Cons of Prefolds:
- Not everyone is into doing origami to get a diaper on a baby (and, with prefolds, it’s not that bad–flats are more known for fancy folding and the whole idea of the prefold is to lessen the amount of folding compared to a flat. However, when you compare it to other diapering options, it still may seem complicated).
- Can take a little longer to change a diaper until you get into the swing of things.
- Requires fasteners (like pins, snappis, or boingos. Some people don’t use any fasteners, but most people find the diaper stays in place better when you do) and fasteners are easy to misplace.
The Best Newborn Covers
My newborn covers are awesome! I love all of them. However, some are better for right away after birth, and others are better after the baby grows a bit.
If you plan to start cloth diapering right away, the Cloth-eez Wrap in size zero is an awesome choice. They aren’t fancy (ie: they don’t come in a bunch of colors or prints), but they are super soft, practical, and have double gussets.
This cover has a snap down for the umbilical stump and a snug fit for a small baby that prevents leg gaps. However, size zero only goes until about 10 pounds, and while size one has a decent range for a newborn (7-14 lbs), it does not have the umbilical notch.
If you are okay with waiting until the belly button stump heals to start using cloth diapers and expect to have an average-sized newborn, I would get size 1.
I figured I would have another small baby since my boys were both 6 lbs. However, my baby girl was a week late and came in just an ounce and a half below 8 lbs! So our size zero wraps won’t last us as long as some of our other covers. But I adore how simple these are. I like that there is only one snap per side to fasten it. That shortens diaper changes and is less confusing for any other caregivers. They are also softer than other covers.
My favorite newborn cover, however, is the Tiny Diaper Cover from Wink Diapers.
The Tiny Diaper Cover has several rise settings making it easy to get a perfect fit for babies as small as 4 pounds to as big as 16 pounds. It also comes in different colors and prints. It has an innovative design I haven’t had on any other covers I’ve used before, consisting of a back gusset along with double leg gussets.
These diapers are very reasonably priced, but you can get 30{9994046f29331ee04cc0b5e07eb28364315ea03ccc2f01b5a43e8b85b372d1e9} off with code rockingthecloth. I will absolutely be buying more of these in their regular sizes for my one-size stash.
Runner Up Newborn Covers
I love my Thirsties Duo Wraps size 1, but they may be a tad big right out of the gate. However, they fit my daughter well enough once she reached 8 lbs (she was born close to 8 lbs, but dropped quite a bit of weight when my milk was slow to come in). They look bulkier than the Cloth-eez Wrap or the Wink Tiny Diaper Cover, though. At almost 9 pounds now, they work well for us.
My Nicki’s Diapers newborn cover & Imagine Diapers newborn cover are in the same boat as the Thirsties Duo Wrap. Great covers, but perhaps a bit big for most babies right after birth. A few weeks later, the average baby should fit in them well enough, and then there is plenty of room to grow.
My Newborn All-in-Ones Stash
One thing that surprised me was that I am not as into the Lil’ Joey all-in-ones as much as I thought it would be.
They’re a great diaper, but my daughter already out-pees them much faster than our prefolds & workhorses now at 8.5 lbs. I get so used to how much the prefolds/workhorses can hold that I forget I need to change her faster with the Lil’ Joey and she ends up leaking in them.
They run smaller than some other newborn diapers, so these are a good buy if you have a tiny newborn or if you plan to cloth diaper as soon as you get home from the hospital.
If you plan to use disposables for the first couple weeks, or your baby is average or bigger sized, I would skip these. Wonderful quality diaper, but just a bit too small to make the price worth it to me. The weight limit on them is 4 to 12 pounds, but my opinion is they run a little smaller than the 12-pound max, especially in its absorbency capacity.
My Favorite Newborn All-in-One
My favorite all-in-one is the newborn Imagine bamboo all-in-one from Nicki’s Diapers. They are a reasonable price and so soft. They have a nice trim fit and a higher rise than the Lil Joeys. They have a very similar fit to the bumGenius newborns, but I think they are capable of holding more liquid. However, my daughter is starting to out-pee them now, too.
Overall, I wasn’t the biggest fan of pockets or all-in-ones for the newborn stage with my first two babies, and with baby number 3 that has continued to hold true. If you have the patience to change your baby once an hour, then they’re fine. But my prefolds & workhorses hold enough that I can go at least 2 hours.
I just change the baby each time I nurse, and that works great with prefolds & workhorses, but I get leaks that way with all-in-ones.
What Newborn Diapers I’m Avoiding
I got some Nicki’s Diapers bamboo flats in size small, and I’ll be honest that I’m not reaching for those at all at this point. I don’t dislike them per say, but my baby hates getting her diaper changed, so I try to make the change as quickly as possible. I imagine at some point when my baby gets a little older I may like them more, but for the newborn stage, I much prefer the workhorse fitteds and prefolds.
Size References
Here are some photos to help you get an idea of what many of these diapers look like. At the time of these photos, my baby was 8 pounds.
- Rumparooz newborn cover (over prefold),
- Newborn size Green Mountain Diaper prefold on its own
- Cloth-eez Size Zero cover (over prefold)
- Newborn Size Workhorse,
- Wink Tiny Diaper Cover (over workhorse),
- Nicki’s Newborn Diaper cover (over workhorse),
- Lil’ Joey,
- Imagine Bamboo Newborn All-in-One
I hope this post helped those of you in the market for some newborn diapers. I will be posting more detailed individual diaper reviews at some point, so stay tuned!
What is your favorite newborn diaper? Let me know in the comments!
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