Branddddd new and would love feedback on my plan!

[deeppeace]

Hi! I’m brand new to this and will be a FTM this spring. I never thought I’d cloth diaper and thought about it at the very beginning of my pregnancy but wrote it off since we live in a rental with a very very small space. Here I am halfway through and I’m really thinking I want to do this! I don’t plan to cloth diaper full time, at least from the start—I more just want to try this out without too much pressure on myself and see how it works for us. It seems pretty straightforward once you get the hang of all of the options and the lingo, so I do feel confident that I can at least cloth diaper while we are at home. I’m okay with using disposables when we are out so that’s my plan for now, but who knows, maybe I’ll change my mind as I get the hang of it! I’m undecided on what I’ll do at night. I was thinking that for the first few weeks we’d start in disposables while we adjust to having a baby and then move to cloth at home.

I’ve spent a lot of time poking around this sub and YouTube and I think my plan makes sense, but I’d love feedback on it! I’m thinking I’d like to do a mix of pockets and fitteds, especially because my husband is most comfortable with these two options, as well as try prefolds with covers.

I have not had a shower yet so would really like to register for cloth diaper supplies! This partly drove some of my choices as I think it’s easier for and more likely people will purchase sets vs individual diapers. Maybe of note? Not sure? is that we do not have Amazon and don’t really use it, so I chose options from company websites, I’m not sure if options differ on Amazon. Here is my rough plan so far:

• Nora’s Nursery 7 pack pocket diapers with inserts
• Nora’s Nursery 7 pack additional bamboo inserts (I read that most of the time one insert isn’t enough and to get extra)
• Esembly try it kit Size 1
• Possibly an extra 3 pack inner and one outer from Esembly in Size 1
• clotheez prefolds—I’d like to use these both as prefolds with a cover and also as pocket inserts.
• either 7 pack of Nora’s Nursery covers or thirsties covers to use with prefolds

Some questions:
1. Do these items seem like a good plan to start with?
2. If using the prefolds as inserts for pockets and with a cover, do I need different sizes for each purpose or will one size cover both?
3. Since I’m new to this, I’m leaning towards Nora’s Nursery for the covers since they are less expensive than buying individual thirsties, and also because of the sizing. If we love this, I’d be open to getting the thirsties and also GWD workhorses down the line, but it seems better to start out with flexible sizing options first? I also think just throwing a pack of covers on the registry is easier.
4. Along that line, would it make more sense to instead get another 7 pack of Nora’s nursery pockets instead of covers, and just use them as a cover? That way I can also use them as pockets if needed? Is it too bulky to do this or is there an issue with using the pockets as a cover with a clotheez prefold laid inside?
5. This may be a stupid question, but can I wash the esembly diapers and the Nora’s nursery pockets and the prefolds and covers all together in one wash or do things need to be separate?
6. My biggest concern with all of this is the laundry and storing of dirty diapers between washes since we have such a small space and can’t just hide them away in a laundry room—our washer and dryer is also in our office where we work. Any advice?

Thank you SO much for any help!

 

[albe]

@deeppeace

1. We are also in a small space (one bedroom basement suite ~ 700 sq feet) and store the diapers in an open laundry basket (similar to this) under our ikea change table which is against the wall in the living room/kitchen area. Our washer and dryer is behind a door in our living room.

During the day I leave the bin half pulled out from under the changing station so it is easy to drop the dirty diaper in. We often have people over for dinner/games and I just tuck the basket underneath the table. We also have a dog and I was worried she would be overly interested in the basket, but she doesn't care. It is important to remember that a good system shouldn't smell

I would highly recommend checking out clean cloth nappies FB group and website for information regarding diaper cleaning. Some things are a little trickier if you aren't based in the UK/aus/NZ but it has been suuuuper helpful for me (In Canada). I messed around with fluff university, cloth diapers for beginners and a couple other programs, but CCN has been really amazing.

Hopefully that helps!

 

[buckeye_momof4]

@deeppeace Others have addressed other aspects of the plan, but I just wanted to throw it out there that for the first few months, day and night diapers are really no different. It’s not until three, four months until a lot of people start having to do something different, or I guess a more concrete timeline is when your baby starts sleeping longer stretches. Of course do disposables at night if that’s what you’re comfortable with, but it shouldn’t matter much for a while if you’re starting at birth!

 

[deeppeace]

@buckeye_momof4 Thank you that’s helpful, I didn’t know that! I’m more than willing to try it!

 

[lionofjudah77]

@deeppeace The first thing that stood out to me was buying additional NN inserts, skip those in favor of some better material inserts that are hemp, bamboo (NOT charcoal bamboo or anything with 'polyester' in the materials description), or cotton. The plan to use prefolds inside of pockets will likely last you quite a while before you need to start using 2 inserts.

To explain a little more, the NN inserts are 4 layers: the two outer layers are bamboo but the 2 inner are cheap microfiber. I like them as a topper over a more absorbent hemp insert but wouldn't use just two of the NN together.

Ok, now your questions.

1 Yes, with the above caveat. That's a good mix of things to try and figure out what you like.

2 There was a size I found to be perfect with pockets (Infant?) but I can't remember exactly, maybe someone else knows the dimensions. Newborn (orange edges) were too small very quickly, in retrospect I would have skipped those. The different sizes are for if you're using with a cover IMO, the larger ones will obviously be more absorbent as baby grows and their bladder gets larger.

3 This plan is fine. I personally didn't like that you eventually had to size up the Thirsties, they're so expensive. I loved workhorses for overnight but eventually switched to preflats which are less bulky.

4 You can use pockets as covers but I only do it in a pinch if I don't have a cover handy. The double gusset on covers do make a difference, you'll especially want that to contain the runny newborn poops.

Yep, throw it all in together. I just separate after washing: anything with PUL is air dried while everything else goes in the dryer.

6 Were you planning to get a diaper pail? I highly recommend the largest size Dekor with their cloth liner bags. (If cloth doesn't work out just switch to their plastic bags and use it like a regular diaper pail.) That will help contain things in your small space while dirty.

Hopefully that helps. I have an almost 2 year old that we've clothed almost exclusively since he came home from the hospital. Everyone has different experiences and opinions so you may get a wide array of answers.

 

[deeppeace]

@lionofjudah77 Thank you so much, this is so helpful.

Are there any brands of hemp/bamboo inserts you’d recommend over the NN?

Yeah, it seems you need a lot of sizes of thirsties and I’m not sure if I’m ready for that! I just want to figure it out haha.

The pocket vs cover makes sense—I’ll definitely get covers then.

I was torn on the diaper pail—I’ve seen so many people say it’s important to leave the can open instead of closed so I wasn’t sure if I should use an hamper or open garbage can instead. Do you leave the pail closed? Is it fine?

 

[buckeye_momof4]

@deeppeace We left everything closed ish (lidded trash can with wet bag, so still had ventilation) for months. It only started to be a problem around eight months, when the pee started to get really concentrated and smelly. I personally really like a wet bag system since you can just invert the bag in the washing machine, toss it in after, and go, but open definitely has its place. If you’re planning to breastfeed and smell is a concern, you can give yourself permission to stop worrying about that—ebf baby poop doesn’t smell.

 

[deeppeace]

@buckeye_momof4 Okay that’s helpful! Thank you so much.

 

[osh]

@deeppeace I’m only about 2 months into using cloth on my LO (12mo) and I can say I was not impressed with Nora’s. The bamboo inserts are microfiber covered with bamboo, which makes them prone to compression leaks—which we had tons of every day. No matter how many layers. I was going crazy!! Furthermore, the covers have a microfiber lining (more compression leak) and the material pilled before baby even wore them.

I am in the process of selling my NN stash (so much lost $) and replacing them with Esembly which I’ve been blown away with so far. No leaks, only organic cotton touches baby, and quality (stitching, etc) is sooo good. Didn’t get Esembly from the start bc of the price, but I wish I had just done it!

 

[deeppeace]

@osh This is helpful, thank you! I know only one person in my life that cloth diapers her 4 month old and she recommended the Nora’s. I’ll definitely add some more Esembly, especially since they’re pricy so make a good gift!

 

[sls2labs]

@deeppeace There’s an Esembly B/S/T Facebook group and a lot of people post their 20% off referral codes if you need them! We’ve been loving Esembly so far.

 

[osh]

@deeppeace It could be that they’re a good option for smaller babies! I wonder if different diapers work better for different stages/sizes? Someone more experience than me could probably speak to that!

Also, yes, you can totally wash different brand diapers together. I’ve had no washing problems by mixing NN and Esembly in the machine!

 

[deeppeace]

@osh This is a good theory but it made me laugh because her 4 month old is almost 20lbs, so definitely not a small baby but different things work for different people for sure! I think that’s part of why I’m a little overwhelmed, there’s really no way to know if this will be a good plan until after the fact lol.

 

[osh]

@deeppeace Oh, that’s amazing and so funny. There’s so much trial and error with babies. You’re totally gonna figure it out though. We all do! It’s just usually someone’s wallet that suffers.

 

[deeppeace]

@osh I know!! I just keep telling myself it’s an investment! I’m hoping people decide to buy things for cloth diapers as a registry gift, though I’m not too hopeful because I think they’ll think it’s weird. Lol.