Cloth diapering newborn

[mauriciosr]

Hello cloth diaper fam! I have a few questions on the logistics of cloth diapering a newborn. I am still pregnant and have lots of time to figure out and learn more but I am very excited to begin. I am open to advice please!!

I am hoping to cloth diapering from birth. I was thinking of getting 42 newborn pockets from Alva baby. Is this enough for the newborn stage and would the micro fiber inserts it comes with be optimal? I have small packs of disposable diapers gifted to me as well so I am prepared either way in the early days if I need an easy day or can’t get around to laundry.

The alvababy newborns last up to 12 pounds would it’s be okay to have these and then purchase another set of one size pocket diapers after baby is here? I am interested in the Nora’s nursery pockets they are just so cute.

I also would like opinions on buying new vs used. This is our first baby but I plan to cloth diaper all of our kids so I am looking at it as a long term investment. I’d reuse the sets I get now for years to come between all of my future kiddos.

Edit: everyone so far has been so kind and helpful thank you so much!! I’ve had some food for thought and decided against pockets and actually trying to go for some prefolds with covers! I’m loving essemblys so if anyone like those or doesn’t please lmk and I’d love to hear more on how many covers you got as well as how many prefolds to get. I was thinking 8 covers for 7-17 and 8 covers for 18-85 but I’m at a loss for how many prefolds. I’d like to do laundry every three days or so hopefully

 

[33w]

@mauriciosr UGH! I wish I saw your post before I bought NB size Alvababy cloth diapers!!!!!!

We are cloth diapering our second (now three weeks old, maybe 9lbs at this point), and we got NB size for baby two thinking they would help us cloth diaper earlier but as everyone has said here, the leg gap is RIDICULOUS!!! I’m so bummed because we LOVE our alvababy diapers (using our stash from baby 1 for baby 2 they held up great for us!) but these newborn size alvababy diapers are not working yet I found your post when searching for help with them but it seems like the Alvababy NB are just notorious for leg gaps… sigh

ETA- if anyone has suggestions on how to make Alvababy newborn diapers work please let me know! I love our Alvababy one size diapers for when they’re bigger but these NB ones are not working with the leg gap!!!

 

[lifeword]

@mauriciosr I have no experience with essembly, but I do covers and prefolds now. And I definitely encourage your re-thinking about pockets, - I found alva NB pockets to be really terrible with leg gaps.

I was happiest when I had 45+ prefolds/inserts/etc. at that stage, because that removed any real stress of running out while the laundry is running. It's not unusual to use 12 diapers a day, so that leaves you with spares while you're doing your 3 days of laundry. I would have 10-15 covers for the 6-14 pound range because newborn poop can just get everywhere and you might go through 5-6 poopy covers on some days, so it's good to not feel stressed about running low.

 

[soulblaise]

@mauriciosr I wouldn’t worry about newborn diapers! Go straight to a one-size. If you can afford it, avoid Alvababy and get something with athletic wicking jersey, like this:

https://midnightmoonclothco.ca/products/ice-age-os-pocket-diaper

Same with microfibre inserts. Natural fibres are going to last you longer, and with microfibre there’s a risk for irritation if it comes in contact with baby’s skin. Bamboo is quite affordable, and will be soft and flexible for baby, especially a newborn.

Best of luck! Cloth diapering was the best choice ever for our family. We’d never go back!

 

[iarrthoir]

@mauriciosr We do part time as newborn! My favorites are from Happy Beehinds and go up to 20 lbs so it’s a pretty good investment. They also have some that are smaller all in ones.

Alva baby newborn hasn’t been great on absorption so far. The newborn inserts are tiny and I think that’s part of the problem.

 

[iarrthoir]

Adding, that the newborn prefolds are amazing, and we got several covers and that’s been most of what we use as well.

We ordered a couple fitted, like the workhorse, and those are great too.

 

[mebeso_swag]

@mauriciosr For newborn I felt like I was scrambling until I had 30+ diapers. I know a lot of people wait until baby is bigger to start, but mine has skinny legs, which made OS impossible to get a good seal with until later. I think this can vary with brand some as well, but we weren’t able to use OS until 4 months…

We started after we finished the pack from the hospital with NB size. We actually are still using NB AIOs with a booster at 5 months. Thirsties are rated for 14 lbs, and we are right at fitting into both OS and NB now.

We used fitteds with a cover at night. Personally I like changing the cover every time, but those are some soaked diapers. During the day it’s easier to reuse covers. We have some essemblys for when he’s bigger.

I also bought mostly used to be extra green. A lot of people buy a few of several kinds used, then get new when they find what they like.

 

[julius_cyrano]

@mauriciosr I wouldn't worry about newborn diapers - my daughter fit into one size Bare and Boho and Econaps when she was a week old. We had some disposables gifted, and used them for the first few days. I tried fitting her into some Grovia newborn AIO we'd been given and she was already too big! So we started with the one size stash at about 5 days old, and she's still in them at 18mo.

I'm not a fan of Alva, the inserts don't have great capacity, and they are huge, so more prone to leaks even when snaps adjusted down. My faves are bare and boho - the double gussets are amazing!

I'd recommend a stash of about 24 covers + 48 inserts if you're doing pockets, and 40-50 wipes.

 

[mark7871]

@mauriciosr I see in other comments that you’re already reconsidering your plan

I skipped full-time cloth diapering from newborn stage, and instead chose to use the newborn stage as a trial period for cloth diapering with zero expectations. We have disposable diapers, and we also have 18 newborn size AIOs. Cloth diaper most of the time during the day, disposable diaper for nights and leaving the house. Ran out of cloth diapers, whoops! Disposables it is until I catch up. No big deal. It was a good way to slowly get into the rhythm of cloth diaper laundry.

 

[synergist]

@mauriciosr I would personally go with literally any other brand than Alva for the newborn size. Those are notorious for huge leg gaps, not fitting under the cord as well as just lacking absorbency (& very few enjoy stuffing teeny NB dipes). I had a chunky legged NB and they still had leg gaps. If you are set in wanting cloth from birth and overall decide to get the Alva newborns I would recommend buying second hand tiny gpants, clotheez size 0, or Thirsties NB Preemie covers…maybe 2-3 for the very beginning. & We bought a ton of Preemie prefolds second hand for 25 cents a piece and used those for the first couple weeks and after that they make phenomenal doublers/boosters. That would be a cheap effective way to bridge that gap between fitting/not fitting the alvas

 

[iarrthoir]

@synergist Yep! Always leaking and the only way I’ve been able to get absorbency is to stuff it with a prefold lol good thing I only bought 6

 

[homesick7]

@mauriciosr I probably sound like a bot but I am in love with kinder diapers. They are super high quality and really do accommodate super small to very large and their basics are fairly cheap and if you get a lot they give you an even bigger discount. I use covers but their pockets are great too.

I like green mountain diapers muslin flats as inserts because they just wash so much better than inserts. They're super absorbent too.

 

[mauriciosr]

@homesick7 How many covers do you use and how many insertes do you have? Also how old is your little one lol

 

[homesick7]

@mauriciosr My son is 10 months but we have been cloth diapering for 5. I have 36 flats but get through like 24-30 before I wash. I have 12 covers but because he's older I could get away with 8. I also got a microfleece blanket from Walmart and made liners for those days with tummy troubles and times I want him to be extra dry.

Honestly if I could do it again (and if you have a washer and dryer in your place) I would get kinder pockets and the green mountain diaper flats to stuff. That would be the easiest to change and the athletic wicking jersey keeps them dryer. Pockets tend to have larger size ranges too.

Kinder has a basics bundle discount
Gmd has a discount for 15% off if you join their FB page.

It is recommended from most places to get 2-3 dozen diapers as you will be washing more in the beginning and a lot less when they're older.

I like smaller businesses and I like that kinder is so interactive in their discord and their tik tok page. Super great customer service.

 

[mauriciosr]

@homesick7 I just checked out kinder and lovvvvee their cover prices so thanks for the mention!!

 

[homesick7]

@mauriciosr Well if you're still in the market I'm switching to a different system (I still love them) I will be moving out of the country so I need something that will be easier for a portable washer and air drying. I'm selling kinder yellow inserts and 12 covers. Message me if you're interested.

 

[cnea67]

@mauriciosr I started around 6-8 weeks for my oldest with some used cover + prefolds, but switched to pockets later as other caretakers liked them better. I found that the best absorbency and easiest laundry was pocket + flour sack towels + fleece liners. We had 13 pockets + some extra covers (Thirstiest) total, but we also EC, so didn't need as much.

For my second, who is still in the newborn phase, I found that the absorbency was less important as baby poops almost every feed. So instead, I have been using Grovia hybrid shell covers + bamboo inserts + fleece liners. The fleece liners and shell system make the poop much easier to clean. The pockets were a bit problematic with the umbilical cord, so I only use them if out of diapers.

 

[neck]

@mauriciosr I'd probably have the bigger set purchased and ready to go before arrival, since babies grow so quick and there's a little bit of prep you have to do with new diapers (wash and stuff)

 

[mauriciosr]

@neck Yes that does make a lot of sense I keep forgetting they need to be prepped beforehand

 

[kla2]

@mauriciosr We started prefolds and essembly covers after the disposals from the hospital ran out. Been working great for our two week old!! Half new, half used. Planning on essembly inners + outters eventually, with the pre folds as backup.