Diaper stash for new baby? Recommendations...

I always recommend that you get as many dipes/training pants etc as you would need for regular diapering. Try to figure how many days you are OK before needing to do laundry and make sure you have enough to last that many days of all misses. The main deterrent to EC is stress, so if you're gonna be stressed over using up all your dipes in one day, make sure you have enough for 2 Lots of people use prefolds just under baby's bum, so those would be really handy and their pretty inexpensive. The other thing to keep in mind is that newborn pee a LOT, and you'll be so concious of wet dipes that you'll probably change more often than if you were full-time diapering.

Personally, I am planning to have some aio's for going out of the house, a few night dipes/covers (as I am not planning to attempt night-EC and want to be covered) a bunch of tiny training pants and fitteds to use without covers around the house and some preemie and infant CPFs for lying nakey baby on. I'm sewing most everything myself, so I use very little soaker padding, and for any dipes that I buy, I request only 1 or 2 layers in the soakers since I don't need a lot of absorption.

The best thing is that you might need a lot to start out for the first few months, but as they get older and you get more in-sync, they need fewer and fewer. By the time my son was 1, we just had about 6 trainers to use at home and a few going-out/night pants (we used 'sposies for most of those until about 18 mo) I don't think I ever had more than 8 pairs of pants at a time after that first year and lots of times those would last at least half a week or longer

bottom line, get whatever will keep you from getting stressed and only worry about the first 6 mo to a year for now.

I don't do All In Ones. They're expensive and they don't tend to work as well on a newborn. I do like them for an older baby to keep in the diaper bag. I'd ideally have 6 of them to be used exclusively in the diaper bag (DD is 6.5 months old).

For a newborn, I'd go with 3 dozen infant 4x8x4 prefolds. These are so versitile that you'll use them even after they're outgrown. I put them down on the floor or a changing pad and hold DD over one to pee when the potty chair isn't handy (or when we're in a public restroom). I also use them as doublers sometimes.

Get an assortment of covers to try out. Once you decide which one(s) you like, you can stick with the "good ones" when you get the next size up. I suggest you try Bummis Super Whisper Wraps, Proraps, and a couple of others. The Bummis are my favorites.

Get a couple of Snappis to fasten the prefolds on when you're not using a cover (you don't need to fasten a prefold when you are using a cover. see this page). I use a Snappied prefold during the day when we're at home without a cover. That way, I can tell as soon as DD is wet, if I miss a cue, but she doesn't make puddles or, worse, piles poo on the floor.

I also like to use my favorite fitted diaper without a cover during the day. My favorite is Sweet Peas flannel snap diapers, but everyone has their own personal preference. For me, it's a nice balance between absorbancy and trimness, and it fits my DD well. Since I don't have a bunch of AIOs to use when we go out, I use Sweet Peas with a Bummis cover.

Our DD is 6 weeks old and we started from birth (BTW, the meconium did not stain our dipes!). While I wouldn't consider ourselves "successful" EC'ers, I'll let you know what is working for us. I wrote a bit about my stash in another thread, but here's a detailed account:

24 Infant 4x8x4 CPFs
15 Regular 4x6x4 CPFs
8 WAHM-made fitteds (mostly one-size, 2 newborn size)
PUL side snap covers - 2 in each size, various WAHM-made
2 Snappis
4 pins (I thought I'd use them, but I haven't)

Our system is to not put dipes on DD. We hold her over a prefold at home during the day and she sleeps on top of them at night. We did diaper laundry EVERY DAY the first couple of weeks, because, as someone said, newborns pee all the time after your milk comes in. Even if the CPF just had a small wet spot, we washed it. We're just getting to the point where we can go 3-4 days between diaper laundry, but now they smell

We use the fitteds and covers when going out, although I also take some CPFs and a Snappi. I put the diaper cover in the car seat, not on her. I can't imagine how hot she'd be in a diaper AND cover after being used to having nothing on her bum all day. Plus, we change the diaper as soon as it's wet anyway, so she really doesn't have a chance to get her clothes wet, although I take a spare t-shirt out with us. It's strange to see all the red marks on her legs and bum from where the diaper was smashed against her BTW, when we went out the other day we went through 4 dipes in 2 hrs and could have used more (we re-used the outer part of the Liz's Cloth, which wasn't too wet) - ECing was a bit off that day!

I didn't get AIOs and don't think I need them (I would have only used them for outings), for the reason that I change her when wet anyway and I want to know when she's wet.

I'd like to get training pants/undies, but it's hard to find ones that small. I think www.toddlingtots.com may custom make them, but I'm not sure. I plan to use the fitteds we have as pull-up type pants when we get to that point.

So if you don't want to do laundry everyday in the beginning, and you'll probably be tired and not wanting to, I would agree with the previous posters and get A LOT of dipes - I'd suggest at least 4 doz of whatever you plan to use. Seems like a lot, but you'll need it if you plan to either hold your baby over a prefold or change her every time she wets. For the same reason, I wasn't really looking for anything super-absorbant. I don't really know why I got two kinds of CPF, but one kind would probably do.

Well, here's what we did:

We had diaper service for the first 6 or 7 weeks, and we used 80 diapers/week the first 2 weeks, then we started washing the "pee only" dipes at home (shh, don't tell the service!) and used about 50/wk. We had the prefolds (instead of contour) and we bought 5 small velcro covers. When at home we used pins with the prefolds (they were thick flannel, so the snappis wouldn't work). And we used disposables at night (still do!) and when we went out. The Dritz diaper pins were better than the ones you usually buy in baby departmnts, and we poked them into a bar of soap to store them and lubricate them.

I didn't like the service's prefolds, so i was happy to get my own! We got 2 dozen chinese prefolds, and we use them with snappis at home and with covers when out - they're nice and compact in the diaper bag, and so versatile! I also got a dozen 2nd hand fitted velcro diapers (cost ~$20). i use them alot (nak) b/c they're easy to whip on and off, even if i've only got my lap as a changing surface. I got 3 knit polyester (no PUL) covers that fit to 20 lbs. made by Chummies. They're not totally waterproof, but they keep other fabrics (my shirt, the carseat) from getting wet, and I can still tell right away when he's wet. i also bought about ten 2nd hand flannel liners b/c the fitteds are pretty threadbare and that way my shirt or pants only get a little damp spot instead of a big wet spot. i've also discovered that thin old terry face cloths folded in thirds work well as liners.

i am now working on sewing my own velcro fitteds using the granolababy EC pants pattern (can't remember the url, but easy to find on google). they're really nice and trim and totally easy to make - i only have basic sewing skills - you just have to have a sewing machine that can do a zigzag stitch. i'm planning to make 6 to 8 prs. i might even try to make ds (2 mos) some sort of pull-on training pants, but i haven't yet figured out how to potty him with pulled down pants.

We wash diapers with our other laundry and average about 1 or 2 loads a day for a family of 4. We have enough diapers to skip a day, and we could now easily get away with only 1 dozen prefolds.

best wishes!
-lori