Newborn Cloth Diaper Favorites and Recommendations

We have made it through 6 weeks of cloth diapering! It's a time where many parents don't cloth diaper as it can be tricky. Many fear meconium staining but let me tell you friends it left no stain to be found. Many worry about size as you could have a 5 lb baby or a 10 lb baby and the need would differ but some of the options can work no matter how big your baby is they can accommodate it.  Some worry about the laundry coming home but for us really it wasn't hard at all, just throw it in the wash and press a few buttons. We were doing laundry anyway so it wasn't an addition. Honestly, when I was searching there wasn't a lot out there on the process of doing this. The majority of diapers made are called "one size" Diapers. These claim to fit from birth to potty training with some adjustments of snaps. However, while they claim this most mamas will tell you that these don't fit right away on most babies. The skinny little legs have to chunk up first in most cases. For our little man he came home around 6 lbs 11 oz. Most One Size diapers start between 10 and 12 lbs so none of them fit him right away. I will say looking back the Lalabyebaby One Size possibly would have fit since the leg holes get so small but would have been a huge fluffy butt on my child. So we used newborn diaper options. I've tried to review them as we go which you can see here:

Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5

So to round out week 6 I am going to do an overview of what we liked, didn't like and what I would do differently.

Flats- We didn't use flats but I think if I had another newborn I would want to try this as you can customize the fit a lot more than with a newborn pre-fold, though it does take some extra steps. It was the extra steps that kept me away but now I think it really would have been a great way to go. Flats are generally a large square or rectangle of fabric that can be folded one of 100 or so ways.  This is how your grandparents cloth diapered only we don't use safety pins anymore we use closure devices called Snappi or Boingo.

pre-folds- these are layers of fabric sewn in a manor that they are pre-folded flats. It takes some of the work out of flats but still requires some steps. We used the newborn Green Mountain Diaper pre-folds and Thirsties DuoHemp pre-folds. For a newborn the Thirsties are a little bulkier but they do absorb more. The GMD orange edge worked great until he hit about 9 lbs and then it got tough to get around him. I will also say my son is a heavy wetter so he outgrew the absorbency of these pretty quick on their own with a cover. We mainly used an angel wing fold with a snappi. We did try to pad fold it into a cover (which cuts out a step) but oh goodness is that messy for a breast fed baby. We did this once and never again. We did have some osocozy pre-folds which I would not recommend as a favorite but work. Overall I'm glad we had the Thirsties and GMD and if I did it again I would use both still. We now use both of these to stuff pocket diapers. Pre-folds seem to keep on giving in this way and they clean up really easily.  To close a pre-fold I prefer the Snappi. I think every cloth diapering mama needs at least a dozen of these.

Fitteds- Fitteds are simply an absorbent diaper that does not have a water proof layer on their own. It is similar to the effect of the pre-fold around the baby in that the whole thing is absorbent but you don't have to worry about a fold. These are amazing for a longer duration, like nap time. The whole diaper is absorbent and then a cover is added for the waterproof layer. We used the Ecoposh fitteds, Green Mountain Diaper Workhorses and Kissaluvs fitteds. If I was to skip anything it would be the Kissaluvs. They work but they seem to hold so much moisture to my baby's skin that I did not like how wet he was. We had zero leaks with any of these so from that stand point they are great, however I do think we can only give half of that credit to the fitted and half to the cover. A bad cover over a fitted would change everything.  I would have loved to try the Thirsties Natural Fitted but maybe another time. To close the workhorse I prefer the Boingo. I was able to get a better fit this way but honestly you could use the Snappi. As he moves more i appreciate snaps over using a Snappi as I think I get a better fit this way but the cover really helps with most fit issues.

Covers- These are a waterproof layer to put around a flat, pre-fold or fitted. We have several one size covers which I haven't tried yet so I can't speak on them. From birth the only cover that fit was the Rumparooz Newborn Cover and now at 12 lbs is still fitting with room to grow. The Thirsties Size One is a very popular cover and we love it but did not fit from birth on my little man and did not work for his umbilical cord. It probably could have but was too close for comfort to me. I'm glad we have some of each. The main feature that makes these great is double leg gussets, thats too stops around the legs to prevent leaks. We haven't had a leak with either one and I love them. We did have some Bummis covers but honestly they are tougher and did not like them at all so we don't use them. We had 2 size small and did not try the actual newborn size covers. We also didn't try blueberry covers but I would like to in the future as we are now really enjoying their blueberry simplex diaper.

Pocket- Pocket diapers have the waterproof layer on the outside and on the inside have  place where you can customize the absorbance of the diaper. This is helpful as baby grows and has different needs you can change the insert without having to change out the whole diaper. We are now able to fit into several pocket diapers as he is 12 lbs! I will say I do not enjoy removing inserts from pocket diapers as it is messy so I prefer diapers that do this on their own. AppleCheeks has been the front runner of the pockets as the insert self agitates out and the fit has been amazing. I believe it could have fit from birth but due to his umbilical cord stump we didn't try this until 1 week. However these now are what we use most. We have switched to using the Bamboo inserts from AppleCheeks but initially were using the pre-folds discussed above. This was bulkier but did the job. We switched when he needed more absorbency than the GMD pre-folds as this made up the majority of our options. We only have about 5 of the Thirsties pre-folds.  We have tried BumGenius, Charlie Banana One Size, and Rumparooz G2 pocket diaper as well. The Rumaprooz was the first to fit and I appreciate the double gusset feature but it is really bulky even with just the newborn insert. The Charlie Banana fit's great now and is more trim but I really love the BumGenius 5.0 and AppleCheeks the most so I do not reach for it as often. If I had it to do again I would either just use AppleCheeks or AppleCheeks and BumGenius.

All in One- These are just as the  name implies - all the parts needed, absorbance and waterproof layer are all sewn together. This is helpful for a quick change, making it most similar to a disposable but can not be customized as easily. You can add doublers or boosters (extra layers) if the diaper allowed but it does cause an increase in bulk and may change the fit. Newborn all in ones we tried included: Thirsties all in one, Thirsties natural all in one, Grovia Newborn, Blueberry newborn, Smartbottoms Born Smart, Imagine newborn, bottom bumpers size small and Little Joeys.  From a lot of reading I did I found it was best to try several things to see what we liked rather than buying all of one style which may not work for your baby. I am glad we did this as I learned a lot. I found I enjoy natural fiber diapers much more than synthetic as they are more absorbent but take several washes to get to their peak absorbency. A little more work on the front end but I just threw them in with our normal loads of laundry until they were ready. Favorites of these included SmartBottoms Born Smart, Grovia, Bottom Bumpers and Thirsties Natural All in One. I enjoyed the others but if I had it to do again this is what I would use. The SmartBottoms and the Thirsties Natural were more trim than the Grovia and Bottom Bumpers. They all help up about the same. The bottom bumpers still fits at where these others do not, but they were the last to work with the leg holes. The Natural and bottom bumpers were the only ones of these that did not fit from birth. I will say we had a few Little Joeys (4 total) and I was glad we had these for that first week as they fit his tiny legs and worked with the umbilical cord so I definitely will be keeping those also to hopefully use in the future.  We didn't try the BumGenius Littles as while they are super simple and trim, I read a lot about people's concerns with absorbency and opted to skip them but the BumGenius free times fit him pretty well at about 9 lbs. Now that my little boy is here I am really glad we did since he is such a heavy wetter.   I will say he is now fitting in Blueberry Simplex and SmartBottoms 3.1 and these are surpassing BumGenius Freetimes quite quickly, but if we are sticking to what worked in the first 6 weeks we can't talk about these.

Friends I didn't receive anything from the companies listed, they don't know I'm writing this and they aren't paying me. Some of these were gifts as I registered for cloth diapers and some sweet friends helped provide for our baby.

6 weeks complete but we have no plans to stop. We have loved cloth diapering and using cloth wipes. I would recommend it to anyone as it is much easier than I ever thought, much more cost effective and healthier.

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Week 2 Cloth Diaper Favorites

Week 2 of cloth diapering went well. We are happy with our fluffy butt and as he has been eating pretty much non-stop the diapers have been similar. I would say 1.5-2 hours is what we change, sometimes sooner depending on what he does and what diaper he is in. We have had some funny moments where Fulton decided he liked to wait to use the restroom until either A- we have the diaper off or B- we just put a fresh diaper on. It's made for a lot of laughs but for that second one - I am SO glad we aren't using disposables. Little man can mess as many diapers as he likes I just wash them.

Week 2 Favorites

Little man has grown quite a bit and is still little but not as little.

All in One - We have the most varied types of All In Ones. I've been trying them out and so far SmartBottoms Born smart are still a winner. We have 3 of them and I wait for them to come back around in the cycle. We are also using Grovia newborn all in ones and blueberry all in ones that are discontinued but we do love them. I won't go on about them since they aren't findable. We also still love the little joeys but now that his umbilical  has fallen off I think that Smart Bottoms and the Thirsties Natural All in One for Newborns is perhaps a close second. Friends. I can't tell you how much it absorbs it's amazing. So far natural fiber totally wins. We do have some Thirsties all in ones newborn that we had some trouble getting a good fit in the legs when he was smaller but now at 7 pounds 10 ounces we are doing much better with these but they don't absorb as much and aren't as trim. If I were to do it again I would skip the regular all in ones and go for the natural but we still use them.

Thirstiest all in one natural on a 2 week old newborn.

SmartBottoms Born Smart in Sprinkles on a newborn

Pocket- We tried apple cheeks size 1 this week and I LOVE THEM. We stuff them with the GMD newborn pre-folds and this is amazing. I will say it makes for a fluffier butt so some of his clothes don't fit as well but it absorbs! A great mid afternoon diaper when he seems to do a good amount of his production.  I do want to try them overnight but I would need to put him in a bigger sleeper for that.

Pre-folds -  We are using GMD, Thirsties hemp duo and osocozy. I still appreciate the Thirsties for the absorbency and dryness but a few things we have done. I started using fleece liners with the prefolds which has helped baby stay dry and made me feel better.  Definitely like Green Mountain over Osocozy. More absorbent.

Flats- We have flour sack towels but no other flats at the moment. I don't think it's fair to pick a favorite when I've only tried one option and it works for sure. I would say you definitely could do newborn cloth diapering with just flats or prefolds and covers and it would be super economical and easy to clean. I would say if you have people who are hesitant to help you with the cloth journey this would be the options that require a little more effort as far as putting it on the baby. Anything absorbent can be a diaper so don't shy away from the flat option. We haven't purchased any addition flats at this time but could be something to try at some point.

Fitteds- Favorite is still the Ecoposh newborn fitted. So absorbent. They wash great, they don't leak, great fit. LOVE these! My little boy pees a lot and it's amazing how these hold up for the long naps.

Covers- I'm still loving the Rumparooz Newborn covers but the Thirsties size 1 covers are now fitting! WOOHOO! And let me tell you I like where they fit on the legs better as I don't think it is as low and lets move a little more. So week 2 favorite cover may be Thirsties size 1 but only a hair over the Rumaprooz and I honestly think either one would be a great addition to your diaper stash. For the little baby I would definitely go with Rumaprooz.

alright I think that wraps up week 2. I though it would be fun to include a few pictures of him in the diapers. If that helps I can do some more of this in the future.