When my first boy was 4 weeks old I met a woman who would change my life. Not only did she become my best friend, but she also introduced me to the world of cloth diapering. Granted, at the time she was the co-owner of a cloth diaper service so getting me into cloth diapers likely meant she was gaining a customer, but I was like many moms out there. I wanted to cloth diaper, but I was so overwhelmed by the idea of it that I didn’t do much research until I met her.
After looking into all of our options and exploring the differences in diapering, we did decide to use the service. At the time using a cloth diaper service was the right choice for our family. If I could have continued doing it, I would have. However, they made the tough decision to close their doors just 3 weeks after I found out I was pregnant with our second baby.
Having used cloth diapers with our first son, neither my husband or I wanted to go back to using disposables. We loved the ease of our service, but we really loved the other benefits of using cloth diapers. Mainly, the environmental factors, keeping chemicals away from our child, all the money we saved doing it, and the early potty training benefits.
But I had never washed my own cloth diapers, and since my son was 6 weeks old and over 12lbs when he started wearing cloth diapers, I had no idea how to diaper a tiny newborn. I was a bit concerned, but I was ready for the task. I am happy to report it has been a whole lot easier than I thought. After purchasing a bunch of prefolds from the cloth diaper service that went out of business, and adding a select few pockets and AIO newborns to our stash we were good to go. Now that Baby D is almost 3 months old, I wanted to share what worked for us when deciding to cloth diaper a newborn.
Prefolds and Covers
My favorite option for cloth diapering a newborn of any size is prefolds and covers. Granted, it is what I had the most experience with since it was all I was able to use with my cloth diaper service, but if you are looking for the perfect fit for your baby prefolds are your best option because they are fitted by you. Even at 9lbs 4ozs my “little” man had some skinny legs. Diapers that were rated for 8lbs + didn’t give Baby D a tight fit around his thighs. Using a snappi fastener and diaper cover I was always able to get a tight fit on baby’s legs no matter how skinny or chunky they are. Prefolds come in a few different sizes, and are one of the most economic way to cloth diaper your baby.
My son was born 9lbs 4 ozs so we use the Infant prefolds with the preemies folded as a doubler for added leak protection. Boys tend to be super soakers, and Baby D is not the expectation to that rule. We always make sure he has a preemie folded in thirds layered in the middle of the Infant diaper before we put it on. When you are using the prefolds, if you child is at the bottom of the weight limit for the diaper you can simply fold the top or bottom of the diaper down and inch or two depending on what is necessary. I use the newspaper fold when diapering my son. However, if your baby has really runny poop you can try the jelly roll which helps contain even more.
I have tried many different covers, and my three favorites are Thirsties Diaper Covers, Thirsties Duo Wrap (I have the most of these), and Bumkins Diaper Cover.
Baby D is 2 weeks old in both of these pictures. At 2 weeks he weighed 9lbs 8ozs.
I loved the Bumkins newborn covers shown on the Right (owls) it can fit babies 5-14 lbs and has a special snap down for the baby’s umbilical stump. The Bumkins covers for newborns cost $9.95.
The cover on the left side of the photo is a Thirsties Duo Wrap. They retail starting at $12.75 and fit babies 6-18lbs.
The cover shown below on the right in celery and in the first picture of this post is the basic diaper cover for Thristies. They come in 4 sizes.
- x-small fits 6-12 lbs (0-3 months)
- small fits 12–18 lbs (3–9 months)
- medium fits 18–28 lbs (9–30 months)
- large fits 28–40 lbs (30–42 months)
I have bigger babies and like the fit of these the best when it comes to my diaper covers. They retail starting at $11.50.
All three covers are available in snaps and Aplix closures. My husband prefers the aplix because snaps confound him. I like the aplix for the ease of use.
My favorite feature for all three of these covers is that they both have the best fit that I have found and double gussets to help contain the poo. This is great especially for breastfed newborn runny poop. With my first son we didn’t start cloth until he was 6 weeks old. In that time we probably had a blowout at least 5 times a week with his poops. Once we switched to cloth we would have a blowout MAYBE once a month. Baby D has been in cloth diapers since birth and in 11 weeks I can count the number of times the poop leaked on to his clothing with two fingers.
All In Ones/Pocket Diapers
There are other options for cloth diapering your newborn besides prefolds. Many families never use a prefold or are intimidated by the folding. If you don’t want to use prefolds, or like me would like a bit of variety in your newborn stash, check out these options.
Baby D is about 11 lbs in this photo
Priced at $11 this AIO diaper will fit a baby 5-15lbs. You can check out my full review of this diaper. I really liked it for the first 6 weeks of cloth diapering my son. It was easy to use, and I was able to purchase a few of them to round out my stash.
Baby D is 14+ lbs in this picture.
This diaper is actually not specifically a newborn diaper, but it was one of the few that fit my son’s skinny legs from day 1. I wish I had purchased more of these to round out my stash, and plan to in the future. I think what I love most about this diaper is that it is so similar to the fit and coverage of the diaper cover wraps that I love. They come in two sizes. Size one fits a baby 6-18 lbs which should work for most babies 0-9 months. Unless you are my baby (who both weighed in at 14 lbs at 2 months and my first son passed 18 lbs by 4 months.) then you will have to go to the size two. The size two fits a baby 18-40 lbs or 9-36 months. My older son only recently passed 40 lbs so if he hadn’t potty trained at 26 months he could have still fit this diaper. The insert is a is pretty cool, it is a two layers of serged microfiber terry insert snapped together with a five serged layers of hemp jersey. That means you have SEVEN layers of absorbency. This diaper costs $18.50 for solids and $19.50 for prints. They are more expensive, but I am loving the two I own and can’t wait to add more!
Lil Joey All-In-One Cloth Diaper
My final diaper choice for cloth diapering a newborn is actually one I haven’t used myself. However, I have heard nothing but amazing things about from everyone who does use them. I did not hear about them though until about a month after my son was born, and by then I couldn’t justify the price as he was already close to 11+ lbs. Lil Joeys are made by Kanga Care Cloth Diapers and have a great inner double gusset. If they look familiar to to you, that is because Kanga Care also makes the super popular Rumparooz. Lil Joeys are for newborns and preemies 4-12 lbs. With the lower weight limit of 4 lbs this is the smallest fitting diaper I have heard of. They come 2 for $29.95. If we are blessed with another baby I plan on purchasing some to add to our newborn cloth diaper stash.
In summary
There are so many great options for cloth diapering a newborn. I recommend getting a mixture of prefolds and pockets/AIOs to round out your stash. Having a variety means that your baby has the best coverage and you can really find what works for you. This is what works for my baby and my family. My husband will only use prefolds because it is what he is most comfortable with. If I am going to be out and about for a while, I like to grab the Thristies because they are a quicker change, but my prefolds and covers tend to give me the best coverage and leak protection.
What did you use to cloth diaper your newborn?
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. (Gotta fund my cloth addictions!) No compensation or products were provided for review. All featured products were purchased on my own. I did receive a Lovely pocket diaper for review, but I since have purchased 3 more with my own money. This is what works for my family.
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Sheri says
Great information! I’m glad I’m past the diaper stage though.
Kelly @ A Girl Worth Saving says
I tried prefolds and AIOs and I like the prefolds better.
Amanda A says
My favorite newborn diapers are the lil joeys AIO and newborn Bum Genius AIO. I sold them all and I really regret it! I should have saved them just in case!
Andrea Kruse says
I cloth diapered my first two and am getting set to do baby #3 this Spring. I love fitted diapers for around the house and am really in love with workhorse dipes that create a fitted right out of prefolds. This keeps the cost low and the skin can breathe. (There are also tutorials to make them online) I always suggest folks try a wide variety or look into sampler packs from cd companies that have return policies. Babies come in such different sizes that no diaper fits 2 babies the same way.
Tesa @ 2 Wired 2 Tired says
I had no idea there were so many supplies that came with cloth diapering. It looks so intricate but it’s wonderful that you are helping the environment by doing so.
Maryann says
i found cloth diapering to be so confusing.
deb says
Fabulous information. I never cloth diapered. They were just the boring white cloth diapers. These ones are so cute.
Liz @ A Nut in a Nutshell says
That’s so nice that the one had a spot for a healing umbilical cord stump. I cheated. I used disposables.
Kerri @SavvyMomNYC says
Such a great post. I learned so much about cloth diapering. And, he is such a cutie!
Lisa says
I could have used this when my kids where little.
Courtney says
I didn’t really get the hang of cloth diapering until M turned about 4 months. Now we’re strictly cloth! 😀
Emily says
Yay for Fluffy Butts!!
Rachel @ Following In My Shoes says
Cloth diapers are always SO cute!
Vanessa: the queen of swag ! says
such a helpful post. thanks for sharing.
Jackie says
I am happy to be past the diaper stage!! We used disposables for convenience and we really didn’t know much about cloth.
Carrie with Children says
What helpful information! Great post
Emily says
Thanks Carrie!
Crystal @ Simply Being Mommy says
I always thought about cloth diapering but it just seemed to hard. You make it sound easy.
Marcie W. says
As a mom who used disposable diapers all three times, I had no idea how the entire cloth system worked until now. Thank you for the great tutorial and handy information!
Emily says
Thanks Marcie!
Jenn @therebelchick says
I can barely figure out how to do a normal diaper. LOL
Meghan @JaMonkey says
I never got into prefolds. I love my FuzziBunz
Emily says
I have not tried Fuzzibunz yet! I will look into it!
Kathleen says
I wish a post like this would have been around when my boys were little, I definitely would cloth diaper if I had the choice to make over again.
Cori says
My cousin tried cloth diapering with her 2nd. She loved the idea behind it, but HATED having to stay ontop of hte laundry! She is now expecting #3 and is already researching cloth diapers again…I’ll be sure to share this post with her!
Emily says
Washing 2-3 days really helped me feel like I could keep on top of it. Of course that means having a few extra diapers in your stash… 🙂 Thanks Cori!
Stefani says
I always wanted to try cloth diapers with my children but never made the swith.
Lolo says
This is so helpful! I love all the fun patterns you can get too!
Theresa says
Thanks for sharing!
Leilani says
I’m so bummed that I sold ALL my cloth diapers a few months back. Had I known I was going to get pregnant again, I would have saved them. I’m spent a good chunk of money on my stash and there’s no way we could afford to replenish it. 🙁
Emily says
There are so many great ways to do it pretty affordably! Have you joined a cloth diaper Co-Op on FB? There are a few great ones! Prefolds are so affordable too. But I hear you!! It’s expensive to start!
Penelope (NYC Blogger) says
Thanks for the info!
Tammy says
What a fabulous post! I had considered briefly using cloth diapers but was admittedly scared about washing all those diapers (!), so I chose not to. If I had a do over on that one, I think I’d go cloth.
Emily says
Thank you Tammy! I was worried too, and am pretty happy we had our service to try out first. I’m glad it’s not as much work as I thought it would be!
HilLesha says
Great post!
Elaina- A Time Out for Mommy says
Great post! I cloth diapered my infant for a week and then quit. They left awful welts on her legs and I decided it wasn’t for us this time around.
Emily says
Oh no! That’s sad! I’m sorry it didn’t work for you. 🙁
TerriAnn @ Cookies & Clogs says
Wow, that’s great to hear the success you have had in using them. Cloth diapers confound me for some reason and I’m just happy that stage is over and done with 😛 Love how everything has all these snaps and holder to make it more convenient to use.
ConnieFoggles says
Cloth diapering has come a long way. I’m over that phase, but will be a grandmother in August. We’ll see how my daughter feels about cloth vs. disposable.
Emily says
Congrats on your grandbaby on the way!! 🙂
Tricia Nightowlmama says
love cloth diapers but I always worry about them being so tight around that tiny little waist. Such a happy little peanut you have there
Emily says
Thanks Tricia. Neither of my sons ever had any issues with that. 🙂 It was intimidating at first!
Ty @ Mama of 3 Munchkins says
Thanks for sharing!
Jenn says
Good info! We love our fluff.
Emily says
What do you mainly use?
Jennifer says
great great post for those looking for more information on cloth diapering!!
Emily says
Thanks Jennifer!
Mindi says
I’m super excited to cloth diaper right from the newborn stage this time around. Pondering if I want to bring cloth to the hospital as well. Did you? I am almost fully stocked for newborn diapers now and very excited about it. I too went with the thirsties covers and a few bummis with a LOT of prefolds. I have a few thirsties AIO and a few fitted diapers that I got off craigslist and diaper swappers. Plus I have one wool cover for night for when baby is a bit bigger. We shall see what I end up liking the most. Right now I even stil like prefolds with Noah who is almost two. They just seem to hold everything in better and stink less. I’m over the stink of microfiber and just started converting all our inserts over to bamboo or cotton. More expensive in the long run but not too bad since I’m doing it little by little.
Emily says
You aren’t lying about stinking less – they are my only diaper not to have stink problems from our wash. We didn’t bring them to the hospital even though we could have. I had no idea how my delivery would go, and I didn’t want to add too much to my plate. I knew my hubs wasn’t going to spend much time at the hospital with me due to our son being at home, so I waited until about 4 days after we got home and settled in. I never bought a diaper though, just used what the hospital gave us. I want to try a wool cover later too!
Elizabeth@Table4Five says
I’m amazed at what’s available for cloth diapering now! We always used disposables for ours.
Shell Fruscione says
Thanks for the break down! I’ve heard some of the terms before but had no idea what they were, like pocket diapers & such.
Emily says
Of course! I had to learn too! So much I still don’t know! 🙂