Aaaaack! The diaper world swallowed me whole!

[BirthFree]

Or at least it felt like it!
I was perusing for some new diaper options for the new baby (I've used Motherease and their covers for 2 babies, and Fuzzi Bunz for a while (never fit either of my boys right)) - thinking maybe wool covers/longies with chinese prefolds (and maybe some ProWraps if needed) or something... so I head to ebay (and the diaper forum here) just to look -

OH.MY.GOSH - I don't know which way is up. What do the initials mean? How can I guess inseam for a baby that isn't here? Do I need pins? How many longies/covers/diapers for a newborn? Is it better to buy only one stage at a time? More? What is a good price? Is all wool created equal? Agghhh!

I'm not a cloth virgin but oh man, I am out of my league! Well, maybe I shouldn't have been so surprised, looking for maternity clothes (online) can kind of get to me after a while. Still... I'm headed off to make some tea.
~Julie

[rebeccalizzie]

LOL, welcome to the club! I had the same thing going...I finally started sewing my own so I can have whatever I want without destroying my budget!

I'm pretty much going with fitteds and covers, and a few AIO's for the diaper bag. Prefolds don't interest me at all, so I may regret it but the only prefolds I got I'm converting to prefitteds. I got the cuddlebuns pattern because everyone raves about bikini cut cuddlebuns!

[JenMidwife]

Hehehe, I feel the same way! I'm slowly, SLOWLY starting to figure things out (& have started dabbling on the TP). I'm finding the thing about baby's size really annoying too (I wish I knew if s/he was going to have chubby thighs or a long torso!).

[Sailmom]

OH.MY.GOSH - I don't know which way is up. What do the initials mean? How can I guess inseam for a baby that isn't here? Do I need pins? How many longies/covers/diapers for a newborn? Is it better to buy only one stage at a time? More? What is a good price? Is all wool created equal? Agghhh!



Hee, Hee! I have been there with my dd - so maybe I can help you out. You can generally find out what the initials mean in the sticky in diapering about abbreviations (or maybe it is on the tp - can't remember). As for inseam, how tall are you and your partner? Your other children? My dd is medium height and skinny and is just now in a 9 inch inseam at 19 months. Every babe is built differently, though so you may need a longer rise or shorter depending. There are many wahms that will do customs to the specifics of your babe's measurements, so you may find it easier to do longies once yours is here. You can always cuff an inseam and they will grow into it - dd could wear her long longies from last year this year uncuffed. She is also tiny, though and will potty learn before ever needing a large sized diaper. You may find it easiest to have infant prefolds trifolded in a pul cover like a bummis super whisper wrap - bsww (cheap, easy and they last forever), and you don't need pins or a snappi for that. I personally never could get the hang of prefolds - but they can be the staple and mainstay of a money conscious stash. As for fitteds, for the nb and small sizes, go for used on the tp. You can get them much cheaper and since babes aren't in them as long, they will usually be in good condition. I had a few one size diapers like the cuddlebuns, muttaquin or sos, but don't like them because I have such a small skinny babe - find them too bulky. But this can be a great way to save money and extend the life of the diaper. I spent very little on newborn diapers and almost went straight to mediums where I spent the bulk of my money as that is where she has been since she was 4 months old. I couldn't tell you what a good price is as I have spent way too much on diapers in the last 2 years... but I would think anything new under $16 would be a good price. If you knit - get started on some basic newborn and small soakers - cheap outlay as far as money goes and you can decide if wool is for you. All wool is not considered equal. Spend a little extra on nice soft wool like merino or bfl (blue face leicester). I got a few things with dd that I never put on her because I thought they were scratchy. You want minimally processed wool hand knit as the natural lanolin will still be in the fibers. You probably want to decide how many newborn dipes to buy by deciding how often you want to wash. For every other day - you will need at least 24 diapers - probably 36 though. Count on 12 diaper changes a day and I always used prefolds for catching spit up and wayward breast milk!

How's that for a book? Feel free to pm with any other questions. I have an opinion on everything!

[nfbmom]

After three babies in cloth I think I've finally decided on a system that both dh and I can be happy with. I'm going to buy newborn dipes and fairly cheap covers and then by OS and wool covers for the rest of the time. The OS seem so big and bulky for a newborn so thats why I decided to still by the newborn. Then I just have to buy the OS and two or three of each size of the wool covers.

Dh was always so confused about the different types of diapers. He was always putting a diaper on inside out or backwards or wouldn't stuff a pocket diaper. I figure if he's willing to use cloth diapers the least I could do is make it easy for him.

The only problem is that I'm finding myself nearly pulled in by some really darling diapers! Lots of really cute soakers, though!

[Karah R]

We've been using cloth for awhile now (started with CPF's (chinese prefolds) and prorap covers with a diaper service w/Kaia, started building my own stash for Carter last year) and I agree, there's a LOT of info to process at first!

My DS has a nice stash of pockets, AIO's, and fitteds/wool, but for a newborn, we're going to largely do prefolds and proraps/bummis (i never used pins or snappis even when we used the diaper service and never had a problem), but also have a few fitteds (I think we'll try to find some Kissaluvs on Ebay) and a few pockets and AIO's for out and about/naptime/bedtime. My DH loves the Very Baby AIO's, so we'll probably splurge on a few of those-but I'm going to try to not spend very much on the newborn and small stuff since he or she will not be in them that long.

[2 in August]

Oh yes!

I didn't use cloth with my dd at all. My only experience had been ages ago working in a day care with the pins and rubber pants and well honestly touching somebody else's kids pee soaked dipes was gross even with gloves when I was younger.

Now though I've heard about how great the new CDs are so I did a search and oh my there are so many possiblities it is really overwhelming. A lot of them sounded like they weren't made for tiny babies. I did find one that had a preemie size. Not sure that I'll have another small baby, who knows this one could be much bigger but I got so confused. I just really hate the idea of hauling home packs and packs of pampers and huggies, I don't even want to think about how much more expensive they are now. Although I know that getting a stash of CD will be costly at first too. My mind is reeling, lol.

[Karah R]

You'll spend less building a stash of cloth diapers than you would sposies, especially if you buy gently used :wink and then you can resell them/trade them, and it works out MUCH better than sposies money wise.