Relatively New to CDing - HELP?

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Registered: 12-31-1969
Relatively New to CDing - HELP?
Fri, 08-17-2012 - 11:26pm

I have one DS(2). I've used one CD on him recently, and haven't had any problems. Other than that, he's been in sposies. It's a BG 4.0 OS. I'm expecting again and due next month. My question is - how many cloth diapers do I need? I plan to use disposable at first b/c establishing bfing is more important to me at this point. Right now, I have the 1 BG 4.0 OS with the newborn insert and a OS insert. I have 2 Flip covers and 6 inserts. I also have 2 custom organic bamboo fitteds.

I'm pretty sure my daycare won't allow cloth (I haven't found one in the area that will). So, I'll just be using them at home for a couple of months, then in the evenings and weekends. What do you think?



iVillage Member
Registered: 09-21-2011
Mon, 08-20-2012 - 10:33am

Hi Jennifer!!

Congrats on your upcomign bundle of joy, part 2!!!  Sorry I wasn't able to jump on this a little faster, but we were doing some work on the kitchen this weekend and it turned out to be a much bigger project than expected (as house projects often are, particularly with a toddler and pets!). 

I think starting cloth with a new baby is a great idea.  In the long run, it can save a chunck of money for you (assuming you don't go nuts and buy every cute thing you see, which is a risk if you are like me).  You mentioned that you wree going to start out with sposies and then transition to cloth, I assume after a few weeks?  I'm not sure what your timeframe is, but I was wondering how big your DS was when he was born and how fast he grew, or maybe you have a size estimate on this baby?

  Here is why: the BG and the Flips are one-sized systems.  One sized diaps are great for the long term and will work for many people, but really small babies often don't fit into them (or really large ones, but this isn't generally the issue with newborns).  Many people find that their one-sized diaps don't fit well until the baby is bigger than new born sized.  Depending on how fast your kid grows this could be anywhere from 2 weeks to 4 months old, if you happen to have really petite kids like a friend of mine.  Now that I gave that warning, I will say that for us, we were able to use OS diaps from about 2 weeks forward, but our DS was in the 98th percentile for height and 85th for weight.  He was a big kid and we were using some Fuzzibuns OS.  Anyway, my point is that the one-sized may work from you from the beginning and they may be too big--just something to keep in mind.

If you know that this baby will be smallish or expect it, you can certainly look at some of the newborn sized diapers.  You may buy them or, in some places (depending on where you live and what cloth resources are available) you can rent them.  This might be a good option for a transition time if you need it.  Here is a link to a list of newborn cloth diaper rental programs you might want to check out:

As far as how many you need, if you are cloth diapering during the newborn period (I would say this is under 3 mos), expect you use 12+ dips/changes per day.   When I first started out with my DS, we had 36 prefolds, 6 covers, a couple of pocket diapers, and a few inserts.  We didn't use the inserts really at all until DS was several months old because they just didn't hold anything in--they sort of made the mess bigger.


You mentioned that you were BFing, so I would expect that runny EBF poop to be the majority of your changes.  For this kind of change, a lot of folks find that something more substantial than in insert is helpful because the  Inserts don't really contain anything--so the EBF poop will run out and get onto your cover pretty much everytime (meaning you go through WAY more covers).  For containment of newborn EBF poop, I think you will probably be better off with one of the following options, that are in order of least to most expensive to buy: 1) prefold diaper held in place with snappi or wrap cover that has gussted legs, 2) fitted diaper with cover, 3) pocket/AIO diaper that has a gusset or wider elastic at the leg.  FWIW, I think I got all my newborn sized prefolds, 2 snappis and 6 covers for just over $100.  It was pretty darn cost effective.  As far as evenings and weekends for an older baby (who might be pooping less often or more solid once eating solid food), I think that some AIO diapers or inserts are a good option.  But I don't have a lot of faith that what you have right now will work for a newborn who poops all the time.  :smileysad:  Sorry if I am being a downer.  Maybe someone else will weigh in.


If you want to explore the cloth option more, you can check with your daycare about the cloth and see if they need some sort of extra or special gear that you can provide for them.  Where I live, some of the daycares (depending on how their space was laid out) wanted a separate diaper pail/can and not just a wet bag.  This is an easy thing to provide for them if you want to do more cloth and they can accomodate it.  Just a thought.  I totally realize though that not every place can or will do cloth.  In some places, the public health codes won't even allow it even if the daycare staff are willing. FYI--just in case you weren't aware, Flip makes a disposable insert that is compatable with their covers.  It's sort of a nice ground between full on disposable diapers and cloth that is a little more eco friendly because the Flip inserts don't have a plastic layer like a regular disposable diaper--it is basically an absorbent core that fits into the plastic layer of the cover.

Hope that helps!!! Please let us know if you have other questions or if we can provide more info.