Prefold Diapers--CD novice

[adopted0105]

Hi all!
Well, I'm 38 weeks pregnant with my first baby, and I've been planning to do cloth diapers from the beginning. After talking to a lot of friends who seem to be pros, I've decided to use pre-folds with the Thirsties Duo-Wrap covers. Right now, I'm between two brands (the Green Mountain "cloth-eez" and Diaper Rites), but from what I can tell, they're both pretty well-liked. Even so, I was hoping that some of you who know a little about both could give me some perspective on these two brands. What are the pros and cons?

Also, I'm getting ready to place my first order, but have gotten conflicting advice on how many pre-folds to get. I'm planning to order the small size, and I've been told 2 dozen and 3 dozen.

Finally, how accurate have you all found the sizing to be for the average baby? Does the small size generally work until 5 or 6 months, or have you found this to be inaccurate? Thank you all for reading! I'm excited to begin this adventure!

[SilverFish]

i don't think there's a big enough difference between them to choose. there are very small variations on size, but quality-wise, i'm guessing they're very similar. i don't have either of those, i have a different brand of chinese prefolds (in canada). the sizing is similar to the GMD prefolds. i don't buy what diaper rite says about chinese prefolds not fitting in diaper covers... mine fit perfectly.

now, what size to start with depends an awful lot on what size baby you're expecting. i ended up with a tiny 5lb10oz baby who fit into what GMD calls preemie size, and my sister had a 10lb6oz baby who would have needed small yellow edge from the get go.

honestly, you're not going to end up with the perfect size except by chance. i would probably order at least some in newborn size (so you have a properly fitting diaper for when you go out... around the house, i can't see an issue with a bulky fitting diaper). we have 3 dozen prefolds right now and that is plenty. i wash every two days and pretty much never ever get to the bottom of the pile. i could easily get away with 2 dozen, but i do remember going through diapers a LOT faster with a newborn.

for reference, i have a 16lber in an "infant" sized prefold (12-16 unwashed) which are just starting to get a little snug when i snappi around the waist. i could trifold in a cover for a lot longer though. we will graduate to the next size up next month probably.

[Juliacat]

GMD and Diaper-rite prefolds are both good. So, for that matter, are normal DSQ prefolds, although they may not be as conveniently sized.

Both of my babies needed newborn sizes in the beginning, and my older child was quite large when she potty trained, so she needed four distinct sizes of Bummis Super Whisper Wrap covers, though she was in mediums the longest. My older child went through 10 diapers a day from birth until the start of potty training, so I needed around 3 dozen the whole time (to allow for frequent changes and line drying). My younger child went through 15 diapers a day from birth to 6 months and has been going through 8 diapers a day since then (she's currently 10 months). So I probably could get by with only 2 dozen for her because she just doesn't pee as much. Yet. But I needed 4 dozen in the beginning.

I recommend the snap-closing covers because they are more durable, although I am not one of those who thinks Velcro is evil incarnate.

[chel]

i ordered 2dz orange GMD and 2dz yellow. my dd was 7lb and i ended up using only 1dz orange and sold the other orange. for me, while i liked how the orange fit, the yellow were easily doable.

dd is 8.5 months and 17lb and still fitting great in the yellow.

i do some EC and i'm happy with 2dz. wouldn't want them to sit around any longer between wash days, but i could easily have an extra dz especially if i wasn't EC.

if i had to do it over i would have ordered 1dz red with my original order. the red would have worked great as a changing pad with a newborn and be a great backup diaper now.