What's your newborn dream stash?

[paintedfire]

DF and I are expecting our first child in January after nearly a year of trying.

I've known for years that when I had children I wanted to have home births, cloth diapers, exclusively breastfeed, etc..

Problem is, I don't have the first clue what is actually appropriate for infants, cloth-wise. We both have well-paying jobs, so money is not really a concern here (we're incredibly lucky, I know) and I consider diapers to be a major investment for us so I'm willing to spend as much as I need to.

If you could have any kind of stash for the newborn and then the first year or so - no money or washing concerns - what would you chose? Diapers, covers, inserts, fasteners - everything. I'm clueless here.

The only thing I know so far is that I absolutely don't want to use Snappis.

Thanks!

[MyLittleWonders]

If money were no issue, I would probably have an entire stash of El Bee's. I had one (or two) with ds#3 (finally scored a couple used) and LOVED them. They are trim and amazingly well made. And they are costly; so much so that I don't think this new babe will be wearing any. I'd probably cover them in wool (I love wool - felted, interlock, knit), but I also love the simplicity and trimness of both Imse Vimse covers and MotherEase AirFlow covers. That's what I would do ... a huge stash of El Bee's covered in either trim PUL-based covers or wonderful wool.

[paintedfire]

Originally Posted by MyLittleWonders

If money were no issue, I would probably have an entire stash of El Bee's. I had one (or two) with ds#3 (finally scored a couple used) and LOVED them. They are trim and amazingly well made. And they are costly; so much so that I don't think this new babe will be wearing any. I'd probably cover them in wool (I love wool - felted, interlock, knit), but I also love the simplicity and trimness of both Imse Vimse covers and MotherEase AirFlow covers. That's what I would do ... a huge stash of El Bee's covered in either trim PUL-based covers or wonderful wool.

I'd never even heard of El Bee Diapers until I read your post, but I checked them out and while they look good the shop is pretty much completely out. I'll keep an eye out on them since I'm not due until January.

What kind of wool covers would you use with these/a different kind of diaper? I'm attracted to the Aristocrats Wool Soakers, but those are definitely more of a night-time thing, right?

[lunita1]

Originally Posted by paintedfire

If you could have any kind of stash for the newborn and then the first year or so - no money or washing concerns - what would you chose? Diapers, covers, inserts, fasteners - everything. I'm clueless here.

The only thing I know so far is that I absolutely don't want to use Snappis.

Thanks!

What I'd look for is sized fitted diapers -- not one-size or all-in-ones -- if you're planning on reusing them. This way, the fit is better and involves less hassle, and they won't be worn out with just one or two kids. Also, natural fibers -- cotton and/or hemp. I am just not that impressed by the super absorbent new synthetics. My nearly new BG AIO is stinky, after washes that make my prefolds smell fresh and clean.

They aren't super duper premium diapers, but I really like mother-ease. They're made well, work well, and have stood the test of time. I'm sure someone else can suggest something with cuter fabrics ... maybe an etsy seller?

[thebigfam]

Originally Posted by lunita1

What I'd look for is sized fitted diapers -- not one-size or all-in-ones -- if you're planning on reusing them. This way, the fit is better and involves less hassle, and they won't be worn out with just one or two kids. Also, natural fibers -- cotton and/or hemp. I am just not that impressed by the super absorbent new synthetics. My nearly new BG AIO is stinky, after washes that make my prefolds smell fresh and clean.

They aren't super duper premium diapers, but I really like mother-ease. They're made well, work well, and have stood the test of time. I'm sure someone else can suggest something with cuter fabrics ... maybe an etsy seller?

What she said! I am in love with fitted and covers! I also like wool, if you knit I would recommend knitting up a few covers. or someone could for you! I like a wrap style cover myself so I got a great pattern for a knit wrap. It helped me heal from my m/c.

Big Momma

[paintedfire]

Originally Posted by thebigfam

What she said! I am in love with fitted and covers! I also like wool, if you knit I would recommend knitting up a few covers. or someone could for you! I like a wrap style cover myself so I got a great pattern for a knit wrap. It helped me heal from my m/c.

Big Momma

I don't knit. I am not "crafty" in the least. Too many years spent in libraries, I think.

Any recommendations on wrap wool covers I could buy?

[MamieCole]

I'm a fan of prefolds or fitteds with covers for newborns, then pockets/AIOs/hybrid dipes once babe is mobile.

So, my dream newborn stash would be:
newborn and small Clover fitteds, orange and yellow edge GMD prefolds, Imse Vimse organic covers and lots of wool soakers

Then after that, I'd probably want a ton of Best Bottoms, Fuzzi Bunz perfect size, Blueberry velour pockets and some Starbunz thrown in for cuteness.

[lunita1]

Originally Posted by paintedfire

I don't knit. I am not "crafty" in the least. Too many years spent in libraries, I think.

Any recommendations on wrap wool covers I could buy?

You can buy handknit wool longies and shorties and pull-on covers on etsy. Some of them are just beautiful!

Imse Vimse & biobottoms felted wool wraps are nice.

[lapis]

wow! those El Bee's are amazingly beautiful. i want to wear one as a hat!!!!

I'm not even pregnant yet but have used a lot of cloth as as nanny... although, admittedly mostly prefolds (w/ snappies) which are fine and easy but also probably not what we'll use once we do have a baby.

I've really looked into motherease both the one sizes and the sandy's. Actually we're in Austria now, but there is a brand here that is identical apart from the cool new colors ME is making them in. I know a few people who have LOVED them, both styles... and have read mostly great/raving reviews of them online.

Other things I've considered are kissaluvs... especially the newborn hemp ones. and their liners look nice and trim. I've hear their wool soakers are similar to aristocrats.

I know some love the ME covers, and I've never used them but I've seen them on a baby and didn't they they looked very comfortable (or cute) but I do really like the Imse Vimse covers (the soft ones). I think they also have a wool one.

I'm also really looking forward to trying wool soakers.

also I used to live in nyc and i think you should make a trip to Metro Minis on the UES. They have a lot of cloth diapers and are really nice/helpful and also classes and mom/baby groups too.

I've also used fuzzibunz. I liked the old style better but the new style is fine. still wouldn't stock up on them personally.

good luck : ) all of my suggestions are based on having changed a lot of babies, having used a few different kinds of diaper systems and also reading reviews about what people have loved... I'm curious to hear what you decide on...

[Friday13th]

Oh...Lil' Joey's by Rumparooz for a diaper bag/easy change stash, I'd love a dozen of those, 2 dozen prefolds and some covers and another dozen of the tiniest fitteds you can find with some wool for overnights.

Now I want to go buy more newborn diapers even though I keep telling DH I'm done.

[paintedfire]

Right now I'm leaning towards NB size organic cotton/hemp Kissaluvs, some prefolds, Imse Vimse wool wrap covers, Aristocrats soakers, maybe some Disana wool wraps. This stuff is all for the newborn period. I figure when the babe gets older I'll get a bunch of really nice, pretty AIOs.

Follow-up questions:

1. I'm thinking of either Kushies or Bummis for prefolds? I know the Bummis I'm looking at are organic, but I can't find any reliable information on whether or not the Kushies are. They look a little too . . . . bleached to be organic, but who knows? Not me.

2. Are Gerber diaper pins any good? Like I said, I don't want to use Snappis and the Gerber are the only kind of pins I can find that come all the same color (a little OCD-thing for me).

[MyLittleWonders]

Originally Posted by paintedfire

Follow-up questions:

1. I'm thinking of either Kushies or Bummis for prefolds? I know the Bummis I'm looking at are organic, but I can't find any reliable information on whether or not the Kushies are. They look a little too . . . . bleached to be organic, but who knows? Not me.

2. Are Gerber diaper pins any good? Like I said, I don't want to use Snappis and the Gerber are the only kind of pins I can find that come all the same color (a little OCD-thing for me).

1. I would recommend the GMD (technically Cloth-Eez) prefolds from Green Mountain Diapers. They have regular, unbleached, and organic and are supposed to be the softest out there. Plus they have a great range of sizes.

2. Gerber pins are not good. You want something like the Dritz pins or the good metal head diaper pins.

[AKislandgirl]

Diapers:
Organic GMD prefolds for sure! They are the best! I still use the orange edge as doublers
Megaroos extended tab prefolds... you get to pick such fun prints! These fit great and are oh so soft!!
Sustainablebabyish fitteds, super soft and squishy! We love the sized fitteds and the one sized snappless
Little Boppers fitteds- great soft squishy diapers!

Wool:
Royal buns
Wild Child Woolies
Sustainablebabyish
I'd also search hyena cart for knit longies and soakers, lots to choose from! Beautiful stuff!

Give a snappi a try, you may be surprised to find you like it. I love our snappis! DH is great with a snappi but won't pin to save his life.

Have fun shopping and Congratulations Mama!

[InMediasRes]

I'll second the GMD pre-folds. Mine have tons of life left after two kids and they are very soft. You can probably skip from the red edge to the brown edge without too much of a problem, and my kids never stayed in the newborn sized diapers for more than a few weeks, so you could probably skip taht one too.

I like the Bummis covers a lot, but admitedly, do not know that much about covers, etc.

[Juliacat]

I have cloth diapered 2 babies from birth and I feel really, REALLY strongly about fitted diapers for newborns. Flats and prefolds are too complicated for me the first two weeks, and pockets and AIO's leak newborn poop in the middle of the night. Fitteds are the only diapers that are easy enough to use, fit well, and hold everything in. We used Kissaluvs 0 for both of our babies, but if I were doing it over again I would probably buy the infant fitteds from Green Mountain Diapers or something else cheaper than Kissaluvs that does the same job. It's only the first few weeks of the baby's life that I feel this way, but time does weird things when you've just had a baby and can make three weeks feel like fifteen years.

[inky leeuhhh]

id do half gmd nb prefolds (orange edge, right?) with tons of thirsties size 1 duo wraps. i say tons because nb poo always got on the cover when dd2 was born and it seemed like we never had enough covers (i think we had 6 or 8?). i'd also throw in some wool wrap style covers (any wool is fine, i just prefer wraps) to help air the bum out when it gets red. dd2 was a constant pooper and often had a red bum.

[Galatea]

I would try some of everything in the newborn phase to see what you like, b/c everyone has different tastes and preferences, and that's what makes horse races. :-)

I own a diaper store so I don't have a diaper budget, either, and this is what I have/like for the NB phase:

Fitteds: Kissaluvs size 0, Goodmamas newborns, Loveybums, sustainablebabyish.

Prefolds: Thirsties hemp PFs, orange edge GMDs, Bummis organic infant

(I really think you should rethink the Snappi thing - they are sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much better than pins. What's your issue with Snappis?)

Covers: Bummis, Thirsties, GEN-Y (esp. the Minkee), Loveybums wool.

Pockets/AIOs: XS FuzziBunz, Bummis TinyFits, Lil Joeys.

For older kids, I really like the FuzziBunz one-size pockets - simple for everyone to use, fit every size and shape baby, trim, and high-quality.

[paintedfire]

Originally Posted by Galatea

I would try some of everything in the newborn phase to see what you like, b/c everyone has different tastes and preferences, and that's what makes horse races. :-)

I own a diaper store so I don't have a diaper budget, either, and this is what I have/like for the NB phase:

Fitteds: Kissaluvs size 0, Goodmamas newborns, Loveybums, sustainablebabyish.

Prefolds: Thirsties hemp PFs, orange edge GMDs, Bummis organic infant

(I really think you should rethink the Snappi thing - they are sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much better than pins. What's your issue with Snappis?)

Covers: Bummis, Thirsties, GEN-Y (esp. the Minkee), Loveybums wool.

Pockets/AIOs: XS FuzziBunz, Bummis TinyFits, Lil Joeys.

For older kids, I really like the FuzziBunz one-size pockets - simple for everyone to use, fit every size and shape baby, trim, and high-quality.

Wow, a professional. I'm honored.

Kissaluvs are really what I'm leaning towards, with some GMD perfolds (probably a few orange and a whole ton of green) for variety.

Getting one or two of all different kinds is a great idea. I can't believe I didn't think of that. Wow, that's a major baby brain moment there.

My Snappi thing is from when I baby-sat a friend's little girl (she was about 8-months-old at the time) and the Snappi gouged the !@#$ out of my hand - right in the webbing between my thumb and my index finger. Four stitches. No joke. So there will be no Snappis in my house.

I'm really liking the idea of wool, at least in the beginning (babe is due in January and we live in Brooklyn), but Thirsties covers are what I was thinking about for when the baby's a little bit older, before the transition to AIOs.

Would you mind very much if I asked you questions every so often? I'm kind of a perfectionist and I want everything to be "just right," whatever that is. I promise not to bother you too much.

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by MyLittleWonders

1. I would recommend the GMD (technically Cloth-Eez) prefolds from Green Mountain Diapers. They have regular, unbleached, and organic and are supposed to be the softest out there. Plus they have a great range of sizes.

I used Bummis and UTN prefolds during the NB stage, and just now at 8 mos bought red edge organic GMD pfs... so far I'm not impressed. The Bummis and the UTN BOTH had thicker center pads, and absorbed way more. I sized up because we had outgrown the absorbency, and I should have saved my money. The GMD organic red edges are no more absorbent than the Bummis infant.

Originally Posted by paintedfire

Getting one or two of all different kinds is a great idea. I can't believe I didn't think of that. Wow, that's a major baby brain moment there.

My Snappi thing is from when I baby-sat a friend's little girl (she was about 8-months-old at the time) and the Snappi gouged the !@#$ out of my hand - right in the webbing between my thumb and my index finger. Four stitches. No joke. So there will be no Snappis in my house.

The Snappi design has changed over the last few years. They used to have a single metal(?) hook on each tab - but now they have a set of plastic teeth. The old ones scared me too, but these ones I'm perfectly happy with - and I've even let the baby play with it.

As for one or two of each, that's what I did. I bought a few of each on DS to find what I loved. Now I have a PILE of dipes I'm selling, but I have a pile that I'm keeping, too. And honestly, my absolutely favorite fitted is Dream-eze. I have a dozen of them in his current size and they're definitely the first thing we both reach for. I'm thinking of selling all the rest of his daytime dipes at this point.

And wool - there are all sorts of brands and styles. We use a lot of soakers/shorties/longies. Mostly Kozy Wool, which we buy through a coop for under $20/pair. I have a few pairs that were hand-knit through a swap, and a few that I knit myself (I learned to knit just so I could do that). For wool wraps, I have SugarPeas and some from Piper's Closet (a WAHM). The SP really don't give good coverage over any brand other than their own. But the Piper's Closet I love - in fact I just PM'd her yesterday to make me some more in a custom size because my little guy is so skinny. I don't have any interlock other than wraps yet - the prices are just a tad high for my taste, considering how quickly his legs are growing.

As for PUL covers, I don't like "wipe clean" inners. I do like the Imse Vimse organic cotton ones, and particularly like their leg gussets, but size-wise they run quite big on my guy (he was still wearing a small at 6 mos). We use a Mommy's Touch OS cover at night since he wears OS dipes at night and we needed the taller rise, and I really like those.

My suggestion would be to determine your criteria. You don't want to do Snappis, then you probably want to avoid PFs. Do you like snaps or velcro? Fitted, AIO or pocket? Sized or OS? Synthetics or natural fibers? etc... For myself, I chose fitteds, snaps, sized, natural, organic. And that's what we went with. I've had to compromise on a few things - the night-time dipes we like are Aplix (velcro), and we use fleece liners in his night-time dipe now that I'm not changing him at night any more. You also need to be able to listen to the babe and change gears if necessary. Some babes are sensitive to synthetics, some are sensitive to feeling even slightly damp. Some babes are hard-to-fit with front snaps or Aplix (like my guy), so only side snaps work well. So deciding on what dipe you're going to buy now before the babe arrives can get a little tricky... which is why I bought a little bit of everything.

[treeoflife3]

For newborns, I'm perfectly happy with some nice prefolds, pins (I love the classic old school look and I have some awesome all metal locking head ones) and wool covers. It is simple, straight to the point and cheap. At that age, they can't try to run away for a diaper change so folding is no issue and the prefolds can have some added cute fabric to make them more adorable if I need something particularly cute on top of the amazingness that is a newborn.

For after that teeny stage, I like OS snappiable/pinnable fitteds (like BSRB, raven tree, NRSS etc) with, again, wool covers. I also like to fill in the gaps with prefolds. I like to use snappi's more at this age though because they start to wriggle and roll more. I'm not the best with pins as much as I love them so snappis are faster and give better results on the whole... much more necessary once they start crawling and cruising. It is true though, snappi's now probably won't cause need for 4 stitches. I let my kiddo play with them for a bit to distract her if necessary (usually when I'm changing her haha)

I do like to have a few snapping sized fittends on hand as well for the easier use while coverless and during the stages where the behbeh fights diaper changes like crazy as well as for babysitters/family/anyone that isn't me specifically haha to use more easily.

Wool is the number one favorite thing though. I don't like PUL much although I'm down for a few thirsties covers, but wool makes me smile. Interlock, knitted, pull on pants/shorts, wrap style... I like wool. It is breathable and works well. Also, it is natural and I just generally gravitate towards more natural options. I'm not a fan of synthetic materials for the most part. Ultimately, I don't care about the diaper underneath the cover that much because we have not had any problems with any of the numerous brands I have tried other than maybe needing to change more often... which really isn't that horrible in my opinion but the cover can make or break me. If the cover doesn't work right, then that just ruins things for me haha