[ursusarctos]

I have a couple of questions for you btdt mamas.

The first is about diapers. After wading through miles of cloth diaper sites, I think I am going to buy these. Nice and simple. My mom is bringing diaper covers left over from when we were babies. My question is, how many prefolds do I really need? These come in two sizes, 8-15 lbs and 15-40 lbs. Do I need equal amounts of each´size? How much do I need to get through, say, one day? We are planning to do EC but I still want diapers as backup and/or in case it doesn't work out. Has anyone done EC, and if so, how many diapers did you end up needing?

The second is about baby heads in pelvises. Is it normal for it to feel like the head is flattening my bladder when I walk? It actually feels like it is directly pressing on it, nipping it (maybe against my pubic bone?). It's like constantly feeling like I have to pee, except that my bladder is empty. It's definitely not a UTI. Is this just how it feels when the head settles into the pelvis?

 

[Beckily]

Yup! The bladder sits under the uterus and between the uterus and the pubic bone, so that sounds exactly right.

 

[ursusarctos]

Thanks Becky Yay for your anatomical expertise! I always think I should learn more anatomy, but then I just... don't. lol

 

[Italiamom]

Couldn't have told you much about the anatomy, but that's why we're all grateful for Becky!

If you were not ECing, I'd say to estimate 12-15 diaper changes per day in the first 6 months. It gets less and less after that. Granted, I had a LO who would NOT tolerate being wet at all. But honestly, changing them when they pee, even a little tiny bit, is best for the bottom (and more in line with EC). I haven't done EC, so hopefully other mamas will weigh in there. If it goes really well for you, maybe just 6 diapers per day? Maybe EC will go great and you'll only need one or two! I hope that's the case, it would be awesome!!

As for the numbers to have, I'd suggest 2-3 dozen of each. Which might seem like overkill to a lot of mamas, but here are my reasons:

A) Having more saves on wear because it saves on laundry. You launder them less when you have greater numbers of them around. When you save on wear, you ensure that you can use them through 2 or 3 kids.

B) You can really never have too many prefolds. They are the greatest spit rags, milk rags, pee rags, you name it.

C) Prefolds are usually pretty easy to sell again if you don't want them.

D) The smaller sized prefolds may not be your "main" diaper for that long, but they're great as doublers, and I swear I use prefolds for things other than diapering EVERY day.

I will say, though, that the price on those prefolds is outrageous! In the states you can get a full dozen, shipped, for that same price.

 

[sarahmck]

I don't know those particular prefolds. I personally think that the ones from Green Mountain Diapers are the best, but if your mom is coming from the UK then that's a more difficult option.

I think that two dozen of each size is sufficient. I did EC from 4 months with my last child and it didn't make a big dent in the number of diapers that I needed since I wasn't super hard core. I caught basically all poops but only about half the pees. It certainly made doing diaper laundry more pleasant and kept my diapers looking less stained, though.

 

[ursusarctos]

Ok, 2 dozen. That makes sense - better to have too many than be constantly trying to "save" them. And I can totally see them being useful in other ways.

Italiamom, those really are expensive I know. I just don't know what other route to go. I think all the prefolds are imported here and the Green Mountain ones, while they look great, would probably cost an arm and a leg to ship to Finland (for example, I just bought a Moby. It was slightly cheaper to get from the company website, but the shipping would have been 32 bucks! So I bought it from Amazon UK instead for a fraction of the shipping). These were the most conveniently accessible ones with the best reviews. I guess I could still check around though.

 

[sarahmck]

If you haven't already, it might be worth contacting the Green Mountain woman. Although it's an enormous web site, I think it's actually just a home business. I know she officially doesn't (or didn't) ship overseas, but I have a friends who have contacted her with special shipping requests and she has accommodated them. It might work out to be a similar price since her diapers are cheaper, and they really do seem to be widely agreed upon to be the best. I know I'm very happy with them. I haven't had them shipped internationally, though. I've always managed to order them to coincide with an American visit or visitor.

I own two dozen each of the orange edge, yellow edge, and brown edge ones, and that was enough for one kid (I used something else for my first child) from birth to potty training with them still in fantastic condition. I haven't been over to her site recently but mine were from her cloth-ease range, or similar.

 

[ursusarctos]

Well my mom is actually coming from the US, but a week before my due date so I sort of wanted to get diapers before then. But maybe it would be worth it to just use disposables for the first week if the baby decides to come early.

 

[sarahmck]

If you can get her to wash the newborn ones for you before she comes then I would totally go with the GM diapers. All she'd have to do is wash them a few times according to the extremely thorough directions on GM's site. You're very unlikely to be more than a week early with a first baby (average is 8 days late) and it's nice to avoid getting meconium on brand new diapers anyway. Yes, it's nice to have them and be able to admire them, but getting the best ones is for half the price seems even better to me.

 

[ursusarctos]

You're probably right. My main reason for wanting them early was to be able to wash them and get everything all prepared and organized well before the dd (my mom is extremely busy so I wouldn't count on her being able to wash them that many times)... but I could probably sacrifice the diaper part of that for the sake of cheapness. There are some biodegradable sposies here so those would do if baby was early (can you tell I'm hoping against the statistics here?

)

 

[synepona]

I wouldn't have *only* 2 dozen, at 10-12 changes a day, that's having to wash EVERYTHING while you ahve a naked baby every 2nd day! 36 total diapers is my minimum in any size range. I wash dipes every 3rd day. However, if you're using a combo of PFs & other things, then 1doz of fitteds/pockets/AIO, plus 2 doz PFs would work really well.

Two dozen might work in large sizes, as you get down to 6-8 changes a day eventually ...

I have some of those Bummis in the preemie size, and they are basically the same as the 'Chinese Diaper Service' PFs I had with DS. I do find that the center portion is sewn on center, but the actual thickness is off center, which may present a small challenge to putting them on well.

If your mom is bringing the covers from when you were young, I'd have her check that any elastic is still working ... elastic breaks down over time, and from lack of use. Combined with the exposure to urine & the heavy duty washing that diapering items get, I'd be concerned that she's going to arrive with a stack of covers you can't use! I have covers & diapers that were only used since DS, and then for 2 or 3 other children, and stored in between when not in use, so they are less than 5 years old, and the elastic is not fuctional at all in them. That would be a major problem in a newborn-exploding-poop phase, and I always like a really GOOD gusseted cover over a PF to catch anything the PF misses! (especially during the learning curve of which PF fold fits your baby's tushie best).

 

[ursusarctos]

Hm ok, thanks Rochelle. Perhaps if I get 3 dozen newborn and 2 dozen of the bigger sizes then. I have a few random other diapers (non-prefold) but not really any substantial stash. The diaper covers my mom says are like new (they are actually most if not all from my youngest brother so only used for one kid) and she has cloth diapered 4 kids so I trust her judgment on this one.

 

[Chaika]

On the head/bladder issue...in my childbirth class last weekend, the instructor had two diagrams showing the anatomy of a pregnant woman. In one of them, the baby had dropped and, sure enough, the woman's bladder appeared to basically be flattened! On the plus side, her stomach and intestines had a bit more room...always a trade-off

 

[Beckily]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ursusarctos

Thanks Becky Yay for your anatomical expertise! I always think I should learn more anatomy, but then I just... don't. lol

I always think I should learn all sorts of things, but I've tended to just stick to anatomy I've taken it about 7 times, from different angles (super basic, sports medicine, pre-nursing, anthropology/evolution of different hominids, massage...). The guidance counselor guy at my college-I-might-someday-finish said I needed to stop it

So you're very welcome!

 

[sarahmck]

We usually do diaper laundry every second night at the beginning and two dozen newborn diapers never left me in a pinch. If we missed a night and went to three days then it would get tight. I guess I don't change 10-12 times per day. I must change more like 8-10 times. Also, EC ought to help a bit with that (although I wasn't ECing with my newborn) because if you do catch a pee at every change, which you generally do, then there's less pee left over for the next diaper.

 

[elevena true]

on the ec issue.... i did ec with my soon to be middle. i was not hard pressed in the beginning-- just didn't know so much at that point. we basically had a lot of naked time (and naked time would often end up on a prefold, so the diapers were still being used in case of a miss), and i would give her the noise anytime she actually did pee. i didn't try to start catching pees/poops until she was about 7 months old, and then we ended up catching a whole lot of things in our little potty. she was basically diaperless for the whole summer and early fall, and we had some we had some clothes that would cover her unless she squatted to use the potty. maybe a thin cloth snappy when we went out, and a back up, but she would usually stay dry/make some sort of potty sign. the sign for toilet really helped!!

as far as our diaper stash, i had a pretty eclectic collection left over from dd1 and i didn't buy any new ones for her. we definitely still used diapers (in the first months, i never even considered trying to catch her pees and poops, so we had different needs then, but i totally agree with a pp that mentioned wanting tokeep baby as dry as possible at all times...i have always been neurotic about that), but i did not use nearly as many as with dd 1. especially once i started catching pees and poops.....so, while it is nice to be prepared, especially with astronomical shipping rates(!!), i think you might find that you use less diapers while ec ing.

 

[Italiamom]

This is the website I got all of my prefolds from. She's also really easy to work with, but you might see what her shipping rates to Finland would be like as well: http://weebunz.com/shipping.php