New to cloth - have question about wetness

[Vegan Princess]

My DD is 4 weeks old and we finally started using cloth diapers yesterday (had tried when she was new but she was early and tiny and they were too bulky). We are using the prefolds from a diaper service and I'm using Thirsties covers. I was shocked by how soaked the entire diaper was when I went to change her. It had been probably 3 hours since she'd been changed as she had been sleeping most of the time. But the entire diaper was wet...so she was wet up her back and up to her belly button. Is this how cloth diapers are? Is it bad for my baby to be sitting in a totally wet diaper until she gets changed? I just can't help but think it has to be bad for her. Not to mention I find it really disgusting that I get pee on my hands every time I change her. Am I doing something wrong here or is this just how it is with cloth? Did I get spoiled by using the sposies for the last month? Right now I put her back into the Tushies disposables.

Cindy

[DizzyMissLizzy]

You could either:

Use a prefold with a doubler or booster inside too, Get a bigger or more absorbent prefold, or change her more frequently.

The only time my daughter was that wet with a prefold is when they were getting small on her. I was putting a booster inside and it worked great.

[fruitfulmomma]

Sposies are more absorbent that cloth so they hide the fact that baby needs to be changed. A baby who is 4 weeks old should probably be changed every 1-2 hours during the day and at least once or twice during the night.

If you are unable to change her that often, like during naps or car rides, you might want to use something with microfleece which will pull the moisture away from her skin. You could also use a doubler which would give you more absorbency.

[Vegan Princess]

Thanks for the suggestions. Are doublers something that need to be washed? Since I live in an apartment and don't have a washer or my own, I'm unfortunately stuck using either something I can throw away or whatever the diaper service provides. I so wish I could buy something other than just prefolds to use but it's not an option until we move.

Cindy

[curly_mommy]

I would just change her more frequenty, as some of the other mamas suggested. Newborns pee a lot. My little guy went through 10-12 prefolds a day for his first few months. We also were on a diaper service, and the owner of the diaper service was really surprised that we went through so many, but I like to change diapers frequently.

It does take a while to get used to changing more frequently when you switch from disposables, but you'll get the hang of it soon. And when you change her more frequently, the diaper won't be as soaked, so you won't get wet when you change her.

Good luck!

[Mamato3wild ponnie]

You can hand wash doublers really easy and hang to dry.
Wait till baby explodes some diapers mama...those hands are going to get yucky...i know the feeling about baby being wet....but they dont know any different and are just as happy. Know that your doing the earth and your baby a great favor by cloth diapering.

[MoOnFiReGlOw]

I'd get some flats that are really easy to hand wash and fold them to fit the diaper I'd also get some anti-pile fleece and cut some liners out to help with the wetness against her skin.

Changing her about once an hour is definitely a bit closer to what I was doing when my son was a newborn as well! hth

[michelle123]

If you decide to use fleece liners to create a stay-dry inner for your baby's bottom, those could probably be washed by hand or with baby clothes. They don't really absorb. I've never done it, but you can probably just rinse them and do them with regular laundry or wash by hand.

[Michigan Mama]

You already got a lot of great advice. The only thing I'll add is that you can use two prefolds together for times you know you can't change baby as often. It will seem bulky at first, but that's an alternative to using doublers...

fwiw, the fleece liners work well for us.

[Galatea]

Newborns are usually VERY heavy wetters and need to be changed every hour or two. This will pass soon. My dd would completely soak any diaper we put on her within 1-2 hours.

Wetness next to her skin is not a problem for her. We are culturally used to that dry feeling, which in my opinion, is why it takes kids until the age of 3-4 to be potty-trained, when it used to be 1-2 when everyone used cotton diapers.

If she will be napping, then double-diaper her to prevent leaks.

As for getting pee on your hands, well, babies are juicy, gooey people, and this is just another part of having a baby. If you continue to use sposies, you will have poop all over her and her clothes and you and your hands. We didn't use cloth on ds1 until he was 3 months old, and would have to change his clothes 2 or 3 times a day b/c the poop would always explode out the diaper. We never have this problem with cloth. Plus, lots of babies spit up routinely. Out of all the fluids that come out of a baby, pee is the least gross! Welcome to motherhood!