How do you CD the first few weeks?

[Watergirl's World]

I'm jumping into this CD thing, but am confused as to the first few weeks/10lb mark.

1. How do you CD with the imbilical cord still there?
2. How many prefolds/covers are you going for?
3. How many AIO do you have and when do you use them (ie. family ease, outings, nighttime).

I think I understand the system when they hit about 10lbs or more, but it's the first few days/weeks that I'm having a hard time visualizing as a first time mom and CDer.

Thanks in advance!!

[Lynda&Jenna]

We personally prefer a newborn diaper. They fit a newborn and up to 12lbs. My grand baby was born Dec 1 and weighed 7lbs 13ozs. He is almost 5 months and has just outgrown his newborn diapers. We loved Clover fitteds with the snap down for the cord and also thirsties fab fitteds. We used tiny tush covers in xs and also thirsties xs covers. Hope this info helps.
Lynda

[cristeen]

We also used newborn fitteds with the cut-out for the umbilicus. And my guy fit into his until about 5 mos also.

[ssj77]

My favorite for the first few weeks are the Rumparooz Lil' Joeys. They have a snap down in the front for cord care and fit 4-12 lbs. They also have internal gussets which are fantastic for keeping messes inside the diaper. I am totally in love with these diapers!

Sultana

[Chamomile Girl]

We've used prefolds since he was born. We started with three dozen of the GMD orange(newborn) size with newborn (mommy's touch) covers that did not cover the cord. I'm really glad that we got the newborn size because he swam in the next size up, and I am also really glad that we had three dozen because we had to change him about every hour.

Unfortunately he outgrew those diapers in about three weeks. No kidding.

[AllieFaye]

I use diaperkit with an umbilical notch for the first three months. It takes quite a while for my little ones to reach ten pounds. I love the fitted and use mostly those. I do have some AIOs for outttings and grandmas. After that, I use my whole stash. I have well over 100 cloth diapers, all different styles and am a total hyena. I can't offer any rational expectation for an appropriate number for a sane person.

[octobermom]

were still miles away form 10bs LOL...
ANyways I did preemie prefolds and bummi orgnial/superbrites and nanabottom AIOs in both preemie and NB at first. The dipaers all went over her cord except the peemie preflds which we could fold below but I found it wasn't any big deal. I had a decent mix of both AIOs and prefolds but why I LOVED my AIos I got them so like DH would have easy change diapers but DD was a month old before he changed a diaper.. Just cause of his schedule not him refusing....
Looking back if I could start all over and knowing what I do now I would have invested in
2 dozen preemie prefolds
18 NB prefolds
18 small prefolds
4 preemie AIOs
9 NB AIOs
9 small AIOs
4 XS sandy diapers
2 bummi orginal wraps NB
2 bummi super brite NB
3 NB bummi SWW
3 more NB/small wraps in whatever fancied me..


Deanna

[chel]

my dd always had both nb spossie and gmd orange cover her belly button (short torso?). she was never a heavy soaker and the cord stayed dry and fell off normally.

lo is right at 13lb and still fit great in her motherease x-sm covers. both the orange and yellow prefolds work great in the xsm covers

[Watergirl's World]

Thank you ladies for all your input!!!

[BetterTogether]

For E we used XS thirsties covers with a mix of XS thirsties fab fitteds, KL0s, and orange edge prefolds from GMD. I had a few XS thirsties AIOs and one XS BumGenius AIO for fun
I just wasn't really comfortable with diapering in general, and ended up selling it all before she outgrew it at 6 weeks (except for the BumGenius - it is the cutest thing ever) and buying a whole stash of Sposoeasy AIOs in size small. My expectations were for cloth to be just like disposables and I had lots of leaks and just wasn't really good at using them. As I got more comfortable with cloth and being a mother in general, I got braver and tried prefolds again. Now that is pretty much all we use! So, for the new baby, I'll probably buy
-36 organic orange edge prefolds from GMD
-10 Thirsties duos covers
-several Thirsties duo diapers and maybe some other all-in-one/ pockets to fit a newborn.
I plan on tri-folding. Since snappi-ing never held in the poop for us anyway, and I like to wash the covers frequently, I don't see the point in bothering with the snappi. Plus, I can use the orange edges for a lot longer with tri-folding than with snappi-ing. I wash non-poopy covers with baby clothes, and since I remember doing so much laundry in those early weeks, I don't think this will be an issue :-)

-Oh, and your original question...the Thirsties XS covers had a notch for the cord, so we never had to worry about them going above it.
-We only had about 5-6 AIOs, and I always used them last and NEVER for outings because they always leaked for us! And they leaked at night! It was terrible! lol That's why I would suggest something super absorbent like the Duo diaper, which you can also adjust the absorbency for. I will plan to use AIOs/ pockets for 1) shopping 2) church 3) middle of the night 4) DH/ grandmommies/ granddads

[Mal85]

I really loved prefolds in the newborn stage. They're cheap, so it's easy to get plenty of diapers for a low price.

I started out with 3 dozen prefolds (plenty for wearing and using as burp cloths). And 2 newborn Bummis Super Brights. She only wore the Bummis for a couple of weeks, then we moved her into XS Thirsties (3-4 covers). She used this system until she was about 6 months old. Mind you, I have a petite, skinny torso, skinny leg girl. Your mileage may vary. I used pockets and fitteds on the days I had class (I had to go back when she was 4 weeks). These were just to make it easier on her baby-sitter. We did get poop on the inside of the covers when using the prefolds, but the cover held it in. Much better than poop all the way up her back the few times we put her in a sposie! I would just wipe the cover out and use a different one until it dried.

I bought bigger prefolds, but I've found as she gets older the prefolds are more difficult. She is very squirmy through diaper changes, so it's hard to keep her still long enough to get them on. We've been slowly transitioning our stash to AIOs during the day and pockets at night. I am using BumGenius OS Organics right now, I prefer the snaps. We love them, but I don't think they'll last through several kids like prefolds probably would. We already have a couple (that I bought used) that need the elastic replaced and we're starting to get small holes on the inside of some of them (again, the ones we bought used).

[octobermom]

One thing I suggest don't invest in a lot of one type of cover a good cover (if using fitted /prefolds ect) is worth its weight in gold but it must fit properly. Many love thirsties covers I do too however neither the duos or the sized thirsties came anywhere near fitting my skinny LO in rise wasit an leg... My DD now 7 weeks and 7.5lbs still doesn't fit a thirsties XS the legs still gap and is jsut now fitting a duo on the tightest setting.. For us the bummi line starting with the superbrites and orginals worked a ton better but it wont be that wasy for everyone.
Kinda like flats everyone swears there one size and I'm super great at flat folding I can fold them down tiny but again HUGE on my newborn like no way in heck bulky bbay would have been smothered to death in bulk....

Deanna

[HeatherB]

Totally agree with octobermom - start with a variety and figure out what works for you and your baby.

For newborn days, we have loved:

- XS Very Baby AIOs (low rise is PERFECT)
- XS FuzziBunz (not sure if they still make these)
- NB Swaddlebees fitteds
- Size 0 Kissaluvs fitteds (bigger and bulkier than Swaddlebees)
- various WAHM NB/XS fitteds that either have a snap down or low rise

I hadn't found the prefold love before my now-2-yo was about a year, so I only used preemie prefolds for ME for postpartum. But I will likely try them with our new baby.

[veedeep]

We started out with 3 dozen infant size prefolds (planned to fold them down in the front), and Thirsties XS covers (this was before the duo wraps came out).

Folding down the prefolds created way too much bulk (esp. when trying to ride the cover kind of low to keep it off the cord stump). I ended up buying one dozen of the orange-edge GMD prefolds that others have mentioned, and those were great. We got by with only one dozen, and used the infant size when the orange ones were in the wash.

DS outgrew the orange-edge REALLY quickly (in about a month), so I'm glad I didn't buy a ton of them. They got a lot of use as burp cloths after DS outgrew them, though, so if you do buy a few dozen I wouldn't consider it money wasted!

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by octobermom

One thing I suggest don't invest in a lot of one type of cover a good cover (if using fitted /prefolds ect) is worth its weight in gold but it must fit properly. Many love thirsties covers I do too however neither the duos or the sized thirsties came anywhere near fitting my skinny LO in rise wasit an leg... My DD now 7 weeks and 7.5lbs still doesn't fit a thirsties XS the legs still gap and is jsut now fitting a duo on the tightest setting.. For us the bummi line starting with the superbrites and orginals worked a ton better but it wont be that wasy for everyone.

I completely concur! I had bought NB Imse Vimse, they didn't even start fitting him until he was 2 or 3 months old. Until then the only cover that fit him was a preemie sized Lite Wrap. Even now at 7 mos, the Sm Imse Vimse is huge in the waist.

[alegna]

I have a stash of kissaluvs 0s which have been perfect for my big babies (8lbs 12 oz, 8lbs 11oz) and are outgrown by my fast growers in a month to 6 weeks.

-Angela