Am I headed in the right direction with my planned stash?

[buko]

I know this question has been asked a ton, but here goes anyway...

We are expecting our first in March and we plan on using CD back up. In addition to the tons of lurking on EC boards, I got some great advice at the local CD/natural baby store on the best "not-so-absorbent" "EC-friendly" brands and items.

We should both be WAHP by the time baby gets here (probably with DH doing more of the EC/diapering than I will-- luckily he had CD experience with his brother!) and want to try a mix and see how things work out. So we were thinking...

-Prefolds with Snappis (and covers, mostly when out and about)-- or PFs inside covers.

-Fitteds-- I would think these would be even easier and more ideal than prefolds for EC ease... but correct me if I'm wrong! Also worn with covers when out.

-A few BGE AIOs for various occasions and just to try. We are going with the Elementals because the diaper lady said they weren't so super-absorbent that babe would be unaware of his/her wetness.

-I would love to get at least a few pair baby underwear and maybe splurge on some Ecapants, but I might hold off on those until the baby is here.

I have also picked up a few random items at consignment sales and the like-- for example, a few very absorbent pocket diapers (Fuzzibunz, CB) I figured we could use on longer car trips, possibly overnight if nighttime EC becomes overwhelming, etc.

Oh, and I am focusing on items that will fit to the first year or so, but taking a wait-and-see approach for larger sizes.

What do you think? Am I on the right track?

[nstewart]

Originally Posted by buko 

I know this question has been asked a ton, but here goes anyway...

We are expecting our first in March and we plan on using CD back up. In addition to the tons of lurking on EC boards, I got some great advice at the local CD/natural baby store on the best "not-so-absorbent" "EC-friendly" brands and items.

We should both be WAHP by the time baby gets here (probably with DH doing more of the EC/diapering than I will-- luckily he had CD experience with his brother!) and want to try a mix and see how things work out. So we were thinking...

-Prefolds with Snappis (and covers, mostly when out and about)-- or PFs inside covers.

We just did prefolds with Snappis at home, and with covers when out and about.  I don't think you want to do prefolds inside covers at home, because then you won't be able to tell when you've had a miss as soon as it happens.  The prefolds with Snappis were great because I could tell right away when there was a miss, I could get them on and off really fast with the snappi, and they were cheap so I could buy a lot (which is great in the early days when you have lots of misses).  You can buy a "newborn" size which will do you for a good 6 mos (unless you have a chunky baby, my guy was always skinny) and they are handy after your done using them as dipes to wipe up misses, etc.

-Fitteds-- I would think these would be even easier and more ideal than prefolds for EC ease... but correct me if I'm wrong! Also worn with covers when out.

I didn't use fitteds.  I think they are just like prefolds but more shaped, and more expensive.  I don't think you need them but I guess they'd work much the same as a prefold.

-A few BGE AIOs for various occasions and just to try. We are going with the Elementals because the diaper lady said they weren't so super-absorbent that babe would be unaware of his/her wetness.

Handy for out and about, but not more so than a prefold with a cover (yes, I loved my prefolds. lol)  I considered buying some but questioned how easy they would be to clean and how long they'd take to dry in the dryer.

-I would love to get at least a few pair baby underwear and maybe splurge on some Ecapants, but I might hold off on those until the baby is here.

Wait until the baby is here and until you are having few enough misses a day that ECpants, training pants, or undies make sense.  For us, this was around the 6.5-7 mos range, at which point we put the prefolds away and just had training pants.  (I sewed these Tinkle Time Trainers which were obscenely easy to make and much less than EC pants or Hana Anderson, which are both lovely but I was on a budget and it was actually a fun little project.)

I have also picked up a few random items at consignment sales and the like-- for example, a few very absorbent pocket diapers (Fuzzibunz, CB) I figured we could use on longer car trips, possibly overnight if nighttime EC becomes overwhelming, etc.

Oh, and I am focusing on items that will fit to the first year or so, but taking a wait-and-see approach for larger sizes.
 

What do you think? Am I on the right track?

Also, I should add that we didn't do night time EC (we tried, but it wasn't for us) and used sposies over night.  So I am not sure how well prefolds would work if you don't do nighttime EC (because babe would feel when they are wet) but they'd be just fine if you do nighttime EC.

Goodluck!

[seraf]

It sounds good to me. A lovely thing about EC is that it works with anything.

A few things I noticed that you didn't mention that are nice to have:

T-shirts and long sleeved shirts. Around the house (anytime you're not using a cover) it's nice to have the baby in a shirt instead of onesie.

Baby legs or pants are nicer than sleepers. I usually curse sleepers when I have to completely undress a baby to potty.

We use flats (flannel sheets), prefolds andtowels with a belt and fitteds. We use covers or wool longies when we go out. I don't really worry about if they can feel the wetness, because I know they can feel a full bladder, and that's what they tell me about.

I agree not to worry about bigger sizes. You don't know yet if you will have a fat or skinny baby and the growth in the second year tends to be more vertical. So far most of my kids could wear 2t undies around 6 months.

Good luck and congratulations.