Cloth diapering a newborn in the hospital?

[amyhulen]

We are due with our 3rd DD in 3 short months and I am determined to keep her out of disposables from day 1. Does anyone have experience or advice on cloth diapering in the hospital? I am pretty sure this hospital like so many others automatically puts disposables on the newborns. I would prefer to keep the exposure to chemicals to a minimum. I have already purchased a whole set of preemie prefolds and covers to use during her first few weeks/month and will be sure to take some fleece scraps for those first poops.

Also might I be judged harshly for bringing my own baby wash for her first bath after birth?

Are these the types of issues that should be covered in a birth plan? This will be (hopefully) planned birth experience.

[octobermom]

We started cloth at around 12 hours old.. I'd intended on jsut using sposies while in the hospial figured fine they pay ohh well, however the sposies (NB pampers) were huge so I put her in the preemie AIOs I brought for the rest of the time. No one objected no one cared I did all the diaper changes they jsut wanted to know if she wet a diaper and if she'd passed any stools... I went home after a day so I didn't stay long and because my milk wasn't really in at the tiem I didn't need many diapers.. She woke to nurse every 3 hours at birth so that was her changing schedule till my milk came in..

here is some encourgment...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...h/100_1563.jpg

Deanna

[Marissamom]

I think it is something you want to put in your birth plan, just in case you're unable to do the first diaper or something so that the nurses know. I don't think they'll have a problem with it.

[DreamsInDigital]

I did it with DS4. When they were setting up all the baby supplies I just handed them a cloth diaper and said "We prefer to use these instead." Nobody batted an eye, and the nurses complimented me on my cute diapers.

[Hattie'sMama]

My first daughter was just born 4 weeks ago and we used cloth in the hospital. It was not in our birth plan, but since my husband and doula knew we were using cloth and the nurses knew that the baby was to come to me immediately, delay the birth procedures(eye ointment, etc) and never to be removed without a parent present, it was no big deal. They immediately put her on my chest and after a few minutes someone asked about putting a diaper on her. I said we brought our own, my husband grabbed one and we stuck it under her while she laid on me. We brought a wet/dry bag and just collected the dirty ones in there for the 2 days we stayed at the hospital. The nurses didn't have any reaction one way or another.

[nadia105]

Ds2 was cloth diapered from the get go in the hospital. I always hold my babes for quite a while after they are born, and it was no big deal to just put cloth on instead of the sposies that were there.

My one piece of advice is to make sure that you have enough dipes with you. I had maybe 6-8, and I was planning on leaving 6 hours after the birth. The birth was longer and harder than I had anticipated, and we stayed for 24 hours and I ran out of dieps right before we left.

[mylilmonkeys]

You can actually refuse the baby bath altogether, especially if you are planning early release. It's beneficial to refuse for a number of reasons, most especially, they cannot put an unbathed baby in the nursery. The newborn scent is important in the physiological reactions after birth. You can spot clean anything that needs it.

[amyhulen]

Wow,

Thanks for all the great stories ladies. That is exactly what I was hoping to hear.

Octobermom, Where did you find the preemie AIO's? We are looking at a baby girl in the range of 6-7 pounds max. Her sister was 7.3 at birth (full term) and I had NO cloth at that time so I was forced to use preemie disposables until I could get some contours sewn up on the quick. Right now I have some Thirsties XS and they seem huge compared to my preemie prefolds. I am considering adding snaps to shorten the rise a bit just in case.

Mylilmonkey,

I had no idea I could refuse the bath and I will definatly be putting that in my birth plan as well. I have an awesome friend who is also a doula so she will be watching over me and the baby like a hawk which will make things so much easier. I definatly am not comfortable with the idea of my newborn going to the nursery even with all of today's anti baby stealing technology, besides if the baby gets upset I have two ready and willing boobs for comfort.

[Artichokie]

We had a hospital birth with our DD. We cloth diapered from the beginning and refused the bath. We changed every diaper. Other than the heel prick and pedi newborn check over, she never left the room and no one held her other than me and my dh. I went with her for the heel prick and newborn check. We refused everything else and she was never out of our sight.