Yes, another critique my stash thread!

[onetwoten]

I am 15 weeks, but overeager to make some "progress" on baby prep. I'm starting to look at our diaper stash. I've heard suggestions both ways... not to buy too much at the start, because you never know what is going to work for you, or alternatively, to buy everything you could possibly want, so you're not stuck trying to buy more with a baby in the mix. 

This is what we have so far. Neither DH or I have any desire to use prefolds. I've tried to convince myself, but I'm just not interested in them. I want to use pretty much solely pockets. 

3 newborn fitted diapers- need cover  -  4-10lbs
4 newborn kushies AIO  - 4-10lbs
7 small Fuzzibunz with microfibre inserts  - 7-18lbs
7 small AMP AI2 diapers- 1 insert  - 6-18lbs
6 AMP One Size DUO-  7-35lbs
1 Medium Minkee Preston's Pants with Babkicks Hemparoo Insert  - 13-30lbs
3 Medium Fuzzibunz with Micofibre inserts  -  15-30lbs
1 hemo booster
1 liner
5 homemade inserts

And I just bought 2 dozen microfibre towels to use as inserts as well. They are a bit long though- can I just cut them down to size, or will the edge start to unravel?

I'm ok using sposies for the first few weeks as we catch our breath getting used to the new baby. But I would like to start CD'ing sooner rather than later. By about "8lbs", which I've heard is usually closer to 10lbs, we should have 20 diapers or so. I also have the 7 for the newborn stage, though I need to buy/create a cover for the 3 fitteds. I don't feel the need to buy any other newborn size though, we'll just wait until the small/OS start fitting. 

So advice then I guess. We've got the 20... would you buy a few more OS dipes, or wait until the baby is here and see what fits best? I love the look/feel etc of the AMP dipes, and I do want to use them as they are made in my city-- but obviously only if they work as well as I expect them to. And when I do get settled on a final stash-- how many would you aim for (in pockets) if I want to do laundry every 3 days maybe? 30? 

I can pick up two AMP OS pockets (seconds) right now in green and lime for $14, so I'm tempted to order those. But I'm also not crazy about the colors (silly I know!). I should probably wait until the next time they put the seconds on sale. 

[cristeen]

So effectively, you have:

7 newborn
20 small
10 Medium

Not going to be enough mediums, but you can definitely wait to buy those (and I would recommend it - you don't know what you're going to love and what you're going to hate, and what just isn't going to work for your baby), and you already said you'd be using sposies during the NB period, so you know that 7 NB won't even get you through a day.  20 smalls is questionable IMO.  You're going to be doing laundry pretty much every day.  That being said, again, you have no idea what's going to work for your LO right now.  I went through dozens of brands of diapers with my DS to find one that was reliable for us.  He had very skinny legs, and all the rest would leave huge gaps for poo to shoot out of.  Very frustrating, and not at all what I expected. 

If you do want to round out your stash now, I would highly recommend Rumparooz - I use them on my 40 lb 2 yr old, and have seen them on a 1 week old 8 lber.  The great thing about them is the internal gusset so even if the leg openings don't fit perfectly, the gusset still catches the poo.  Another option would be a pocket that has adjustable leg elastic - don't remember which brand it is that has that, but it's one of the big ones (Fuzzibunz?).  I didn't like the Happy Heiny's at all (although I love the Happy Hempys by the same company - go figure), I just couldn't get a snug enough fit around the leg.  Although looking at the video for the AMP AI2, those look nice - side snaps with separate adjustable leg and waist settings are a requirement for us - I'm just past the sized diaper thing. 

You'll definitely want some more inserts for your AI2s, and the MF towels should never go right against the baby's skin, so those are out.  I tend to have 2-3 inserts for each AI2 cover at minimum.  If they're just wet, I change them, let the cover dry a bit and reuse.  I only wash them when they get poopy or stinky. 

Something to think about when planning to do diapers every 3 days is - how big is your washing machine?  Mine (FL) couldn't handle dipes every 3 days as a small guy, and as a toddler I do it every 4 days, but I have to do 2 separate loads or they just don't come clean.  Doing mostly (OS) pockets, my machine can wash about 12-15 before they just don't get clean.  On average a NB will go through about 18-20 dipes/day (yes, that's almost one an hour).  An infant will go through about 12-18, a crawler might go through 10-15, and by toddlerdom they start holding it longer... I think my 2 yo goes through about 6-8 on an average day. 

Now, you said you didn't want to do PFs, and that's just fine, but have you addressed the need for something to clean up messes?  PFs are great for that (that's their main use around here).  Whether it's spit-up or an impromptu changing pad, or the toddler dumping their cup of water (or peeing on the floor).  They're far more absorbent than a towel.  Even once my kids are out of dipes, I'm going to keep them around. 

I'm going to assume that's a hemp booster - as an infant not usually necessary unless you're using PFs, but for toddlers they're priceless.  I have at least a dozen of them - 1 isn't going to be worth much.  What type of liner is that?  Again, 1 isn't going to do a whole lot of anything for you when you're changing dipes every 1-2 hours. 

HTH

[onetwoten]

Thanks ladies. She's here now and we've started testing our stash. \she gets a few sposies per day still while we're trying to use them up- mostly at night when it's easier not to have to get up and sort the stuff into piles. 

In addition to what we listed above we ended up getting two more AMP OS, two bummis newborn covers and 10 newborn prefolds. We also made about 10 of the microfibre cloths into inserts. All the smalls and OS fit her right now *cheers* which I'm so thankful for-- I've heard of some babies not fitting into OS diapers until 6 weeks or so, but she's fit since about 1 week (two weeks today!). 

We're definitely good for diapers right now, though you're right- once she outgrows the smalls, we'll need more medium/OS. I think we'll definitely end up buying more AMP, I've just been so impressed with them. Right now we're using the prefolds as much as possible with the bummis covers or as inserts with the pockets/AI2s and then the microfibre inserts whenever we run out of the prefolds. She's actually not having as many wet diapers as I thought she would. She doesn't seem to do anything halfway... she'll be dry dry dry, and then all of a sudden have an absolutely SOAKED diaper. But-- it works for me- less changes! lol. 

Laundry has actually been surprising. DH has been the one taking charge of that, and doing laundry every 2-3 days I think (I lose track...) but I went down and did a load last night, and while our laundry bag was almost full, it was barely a small load in the washer. We could -almost- double the amount of dipes we're doing at once. But the good thing is that with how often they're being done right now, we've still got 6-8 diapers/covers left clean, and tons of inserts, so there's no worry of running out in between. 

Haven't been using the boosters/liners at all, since as you pointed out, we have no real need for them now. I've been using kushies disposable liners, mostly just because we have them (got them in a package of diapers we bought used), but I wouldn't say I'll go and get more once they're done. 

Anyways-- thanks again! It's nice to see feedback from those who had BTDT

[cristeen]

LOL!!  I totally didn't notice this was 6 mos old, since it got bumped to the top of the page. 

Glad to know things are working well for you.  Congrats on your little one. 

And my DS was the same way - dry, dry, dry, soaked.  He can pee through a dipe (to hit the floor) like you wouldn't believe.