looking for advice re: flats, minimalist newborn stash

[oikophile]

Hi everyone,

I am due w/ first baby in November and totally new to cloth diapering. My partner and I are compulsive energy-savers (very "reduce-reuse-recycle") and line-dry most of our clothes. We are also kind of anti-consumerist, not very interested in fancy prints or amassing a huge stash of diapers based on how cute they are. We want to keep it as simple as possible. It seems like the best choice for us diaper-wise would be flatfolds. I was happy just now to stumble upon this thread full of flatfold love...anyone else prefer flats over the other kinds?

We are set to get three dozen hand-me-down prefolds from a friend, so I'm interested in trying those, too. What else should I have in a minimalist newborn stash? Is it possible to buy flats used or are they usually too worn to resell? I prefer buying used over new, both to save money and just on principle. How many will I realistically need, and how many covers?

Many thanks for any advice you have to offer!

[chel]

3dz prefolds is a decent stash already. Might not need much else,, depending on the size of the prefolds and your baby. As a fellow diaper minimalist, I say 4-6 covers. I use PUL, so very easy to reuse.
Prerfolds and flats should last through several kids

[mumkimum]

I've very rarely seen flats available secondhand, so I'm not sure that I'd depend on maybe being able to find them that way.  With 3 dozen prefolds - anywhere from 6-12 flats in addition to that would be plenty of diapers.  The flats can get used as doublers with the prefolds, emergency wipes (when I've forgotten any) or just on their own - very versatile.  4-6 covers is a great amount, IMO.  If you err on more of anything - I'd do it with the covers over the diapers (as that's what I find more helpful to have more of - diapers, you just wash more frequently, covers may have longer wash/dry times and there may be days you actually dirty all those 6 covers).

IF you think you'd like to use flats longer than just the first year - I've found the hemp jersey flats to be much more versatile than the birdseye (which were better for a young infant in my experience).  I still use the hemp jersey ones with my older dd's cloth trainers - they're a tad stretchier and bigger also and would fit on my younger dd still in diapers if I needed to use them (she's 2.5 y/o).  

[oikophile]

Thanks for the advice, both of you!

Originally Posted by mumkimum 

IF you think you'd like to use flats longer than just the first year - I've found the hemp jersey flats to be much more versatile than the birdseye (which were better for a young infant in my experience).  I still use the hemp jersey ones with my older dd's cloth trainers - they're a tad stretchier and bigger also and would fit on my younger dd still in diapers if I needed to use them (she's 2.5 y/o).  

How would the hemp jersey flats work for a newborn, do you think? I'd prefer to buy one kind and stick with it if possible.

[mumkimum]

The jersey flats were fine as a newborn too - I think I had a bit of extra length that I had to fold somehow before fastening, that's all.  After a month or 2 there was no real difference, it was just more noticeable then and I didn't have to do anything of the sort with birdseye flats that I had.

[Adaline'sMama]

A friend of mine uses flour sacks as flats.
http://www.diaperswappers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1139607

Personally, I used 4 dzn prefolds with 3 covers on both of my kids for the first few months. DD still uses those prefolds. However, as a disclaimer, Ive never had a big pooper.

[Choose2Reuse]

Hi, I haven't used flats, but we exclusively line-dried our diapers for the first six months (no washer or dryer in apartment or nearby laundromat--we handwashed) and have mostly line-dried since.  We use prefolds & covers and really like them.  I hesitated to get flats because it looked like a lot of work folding them up and I didn't think prefolds would take all that much more effort to wash/dry (and we could afford them in multiple sizes, and I figured multiple kids would use them and then they'd become the world's best rags, so it didn't really bother me to buy them).

We have 3 dozen prefolds in each size and that worked really well except for in some really wet & rainy wintertime days...then I ended up ironing some of them dry.  If you have a dryer you can use as backup, 3 dozen will be perfectly fine.

We needed about 6 covers in a size till DD stopped pooping multitudinous times a day.  Maybe you could get by with 4 if you're really good about folding the diapers so poop doesn't escape--I was never that dedicated. :) 

You can buy prefolds used--I think there's a diaperswappers website.  I bought mine new because we intend to have several kids.
 

[Monkey pants]

Flats are about as minimal as you can get. They are easier to clean, either by machine or hand washing, last forever, multitaskers, emergency wipe, paper towel replacer, nursing cover, seat cushion, hand towel etc. plus they dry in minutes on the line in the summer. Www.greenmountaindiapers.com has great ones. Also you can wash them with nearly anything and will never have to strip them like you would if you used microfiber. Good luck mommy!

[kawa kamuri]

I use two dozen prefolds and about ten covers, maybe less. Diapers are completely uninteresting to me, totally utilitarian. 

[Amanda Leigh]

A very inexpensive option is cotton flannel receiving blankets as flats. I had a bunch and they work really well.