Baby registry checklist!

[reganne]

Hi! I'm making my baby registry (first baby) and we're planning to cloth diaper for financial reasons. I've been reading and put together some stuff on the registry but I want to know what y'all think about it, especially the quantity per item. I've babysat for a family who used Essembly and I really liked them but the reason I'm doing this is to save money so I'm doing prefolds.
For context we'll be doing disposables for the first 4-6 weeks, there's so many diapers at that stage and I just know I won't be able to keep up with the extra laundry freshly postpartum.

GMD Prefolds: 2 dozen each, sizes small and medium
Essembly outers: 6, size 1
Thirsties hemp inserts: 8 (4 sets of 2)?? size small
Snappi 5 pack

Update: You've all been so helpful!!! I took your advice and here's the updated registry list just because!

Covers: 8 cloth-eez wrap size zero, 7 essembly outers size one

Inners: 24 each GMD prefolds in sizes newborn, small, and medium, 4 each GMD workhorses (no closure) sizes newborn and medium, 8 thirsties hemp inserts

Snappi 5 pack

Spray-pal and a sprayer

 

[logicrobot]

@reganne I love your stash draft so far. It’s got all of the best things IMO. Esembly outers, GMD prefolds, thirsties hemp inserts. Snappis are a must too. Love it all. If I were you though, I’d definitely add at least a 4 workhorses. Or esembly inners if that’s more your thing. They come in handy for overnight. You can go for the newborn ones without snaps. The ones without snaps will last a lot longer (if you end up having a normal size baby) like up to 3 or 4 months and skip right to mediums after that.

 

[fearey]

@reganne My baby was 5 pounds 13 ounces when she was born at 36 weeks and is now 11.5 pounds at 4 months. We started with6 or 10 alvababy newborn pockets, 6 preemie GMD prefolds, several nb size covers from a few brands, and a dozen nb size GMD workhorses/#. When we started with the cloth at home as soon as our hospital diapers ran out, we ordered more alvababy newborn pockets and then eventually switched from their microfiber inserts to the three layer bamboo inserts in nb size from alvababy.

Baby is still not big enough for one size diapers. At 11.5 pounds we have another outer snap we can use, and we’re still buttoning a single rise snap. So I think we have a few more pounds for her to gain before she outgrows these. I wish I had skipped the microfiber inserts with these.

/#half with snaps and half without, we decided to go all no snaps when we sized up to small around 10.5 pounds so we could sent the nb size workhorses to a friend whose baby was born in December….thats about when the reflux made my baby stop gaining weight, but she’s back on track now

 

[keith841]

@reganne Consider putting some cloth wipes on there as well!

 

[reganne]

@keith841 Our apartment doesn't have an in-unit washer so we're going to get one of those little portable ones, I'm basically planning to start with diapers and see how much room is left in there

 

[curiousaboutthis]

@reganne The wipes basically take up no room for ours.

 

[ife]

@reganne The sizes are likely fine but you might want to hold off on deciding sizing until your baby is born and you start to see their curve. Or, keep everything packaged until your baby is born. I’d also hold off on the hemp inserts. You can always just use a medium prefold or double up the small prefolds on the newborn if you want extra absorbency. This might be a bit bulky, in which case maybe you only need a handful of hemp inserts for special occasions.

 

[nowisi]

@reganne I think I would add a few extra covers... those newborn/infant poops are explosive even with the best jelly roll and tight snappi.

But I wouldn't run away from starting at newborn if the main issue was laundry. We started on day three back from the hospital. We had a handful of newborn diapers left and a whole other pack from the hospital but ultimately watching the waste pile up even just after a few days was too much for us and so we decided we might as well figure out how to do the diapers and make it part of our routine right out the gate. It really wasn't bad at all and I'm obsessed with cloth diapering still.

 

[sangotunhienst]

@nowisi I started at maybe 1 or 1.5 weeks with cloth and laundry really has been fine. Preferred to running out to get diapers and spending money on them. We only bought 20 newborn disposables

 

[reganne]

@nowisi Thanks! Also I thought about starting right away but despite being tall adults my family makes teeny babies (my sister and I both had to wear preemie clothes for a month even though we were full term), how hard was it to get the sizing right?

 

[buckeye_momof4]

@reganne We started with cloth the day we got home, using half size flats. Flats and prefolds both work such that you can either fold down the front or back to make them fit. My baby was born 7lbs and dropped down to 6lbs 5oz at his tiniest, and we never had an issue getting diapers to fit.

 

[nowisi]

@reganne I am not sure about sizing for tiny ones since my boy was over 9lbs at birth. I bought newborn sized prefolds becuase I had no clue what size baby we would have but looking back I would have been fine with just size smalls. Prefolds aren't that expensive though... it's the covers that will get ya.

I did purchase newborn sized covers from Nikki's Diapers (clearance), AlvaBaby, GMD clotheez size one, random amazon ones. The Alvababy and random amazon ones were great but out grown in like the blink of an eye. We are still using the Nikki's Diapers and GMD CLotheez size one at 2.5m and nearly 12lbs. I expect we will use them quite a bit longer, maybe another month or so?

I bought the Nikki's Diaper nb ones from clearance and while I don't love them, for the price and size longevity, I feel they were a good purchase. I love the CLotheez size one diapers but I can see that we will out grow them sooner than the Nikki's.

Obviously, if you want to start later and avoid the whole newborn sizing, I totally get that but you can find decently priced covers and start sooner if laundry was the biggest concern!

 

[reganne]

@nowisi That's encouraging! I think I'll add enough newborn sized things to do cloth during the day, and either disposables at night so we don't have to jelly roll at 2am or buy more cloth ones if we turn out to be good at it

 

[pmmobley]

@reganne Commenting to follow this question, we’re planning on disposables for the first week or two because we’re expecting a smaller baby. Our main concern if the “one-size” osocozy covers will work with prefolds on a tiny one.

 

[ggbeliever]

@reganne I like to change baby every 1.5-2 hours then add a few extras (for the times you’re removing a dirty diaper and baby pees the second you put new on) with washing every 2-3 days. Know that hemp inserts can be slower to absorb so can have leaks if baby pees a lot at once and that’s what you have right against them. Also, I swear by my spray pal and spray attached for my toilet. I would throw those on a registry because it makes it way easier. Plus wet bags, all sizes. I use a small one to hold cloth wipes, always have 1 on the diaper bag for dirty diapers, and 2 large ones for at home so I can throw the dirty one in the wash with the load and have a clean one ready immediately.

 

[reganne]

@ggbeliever Oh I hadn't heard of the spray pal ty! Also yesssss so many wet bags honestly even without cloth diapering they're useful so I'm anticipating needing about seven hundred lol

 

[tobiahjude99]

@reganne Yes spraypal is bomb!! The competing brand is SimplyImagine Spray Stand (what I have) - both are great.

If you do add one of those to registry, you'll want a sprayer too - they're all really the same & the same price, my only rec is to get one that has a variable trigger. It's real easy to install, I just used a YouTube. if you are renting, you can take it back out when you leave, it's not a permanent thing at all.

People say you don't have to spray for < 6mo poop but I think it's great to be prepared for the older baby pooptastrophe from the start. And... my baby was an "every few days" pooper & had pretty solid/squishy poops. They were not watery. Like in theory all pre solids poop can dissolve.... But in practice, that does depend on texture, & you may not want to push a portable washer too hard (which I saw you mention in another reply, is your plan)

 

[ggbeliever]

@reganne I have one in my trunk for dirty clothes. Plus I have one designated for swim stuff after the pool. So nice.

 

[reganne]

@ggbeliever Oh I forgot to ask, would it be better to use the hemp inserts as an extra layer under the prefold then? For extra absorbency situations but keeping the cotton as the layer closest to the skin?

 

[ggbeliever]

@reganne Ya I usually place it between layers or on the bottom. I have cotton/bamboo mix inserts I like a lot. Can’t remember where I got them but for overnight I throw that then hemp down in the middle. Works great.