I will be completely honest – I did not cloth diaper 100% of the time straight from the hospital. I let the nurses put sposies on Lucy at the hospital, and at night I used sposies. I blame the c-section, drugs and total lack on my part of training friends and family on how to care for the cloth diapers before Lucy was born.
But ever since Lucy came home at 3 days old I have used cloth during the day. Today she is 1 week old and I wanted to share a few photos and my thoughts of my favorite diapers so far.
As you see these pictures, Lucy is less than a week old, 8 lbs and 21 inches long.
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When David was born I bought 1 dozen Orange Edge newborn prefolds from Green Mountain Diapers. Turns out I actually wish I had bought more! Prefolds are the diapers most people are intimidated by because they have to learn how to fold them. As frequently as I change her diapers, they are the most economical idea, and I end up just folding the prefold in thirds and laying it in the cover.
For those of you wondering how a GMD orange edge prefold fits a larger newborn, here is your photo. I did the jelly roll fold. Basically, I put the prefold down, rolled the edges in towards her legs, folded the front under her belly button and fastened with a snappi.
The jelly roll fold is my favorite for preventing blowouts and reusing covers. Tri-folding and laying in a cover is great but as she gets older the big, runny poos will get all over the cover.
Even though she doesn’t look it, she loves these diapers. 🙂
These are the size 1 Applecheeks pocket diapers. I love that you don’t have unstuff them before you wash them – they come unstuffed in the agitation of the wash cycle. I also love the all natural fibers of the bamboo inserts.
As you can tell they are a smidge big on her still, but she will grow into them super quick. I am glad that they are a bit big because she can wear the size 1 diapers longer. I prefer to use them as an all in two diaper because I can use the insert like a prefold. But if a family member is going to change her I make it a pocket diaper so it is much easier for them.
I also use the Nifty Nappy fitteds and pocket diapers. Vilate said her fitteds are truly one size and are made to fit from birth so I was so excited to put her words to the test.
Without the added insert (which Lucy does not need yet) they are super trim! And with Vilate’s folding technique I am able to get a very snug fit. I really did want to try her newborn diapers since they don’t require a special fold and would have been easier for family to put on Lucy. But since I am the only one that really changes diapers around here I went with the one size.
The pocket diapers fold the same way and with her all natural bamboo inserts they are a very trim option. Plus you can use them like all in two diapers – just put the insert on the outside of the pocket and reuse the cover.
Here is Lucy modeling the Rumparooz One size pocket diapers. They also sell Lil’ Joeys for newborns, but I read on their site that their one-size diapers are made to fit directly from birth. I just had to put it to the test!
The photos are proof – they really do fit right away. Lucy has those skinny little legs and there are no gaps. I was also pleasantly surprised by the low rise – they fit under her umbilical chord.
The only thing I don’t like about these is that they are a pocket diaper, so I have to stuff them and unstuff them. But they are super easy for my family to use so they are great to have on hand.
And check out the vertical photo to the right – they are very trim. Lucy does not need a lot of bulk right now since she poops more than she pees and I end up changing her so frequently.
Another one size pocket diaper that claims to fit directly from birth is Softbums. As you can see the legs cinch up super small and it fits her very well in the rise.
But I am not impressed with the bulk. Inside this diaper is the dry-touch mini pod. It has 3 layers of mircofiber terry and 1 layer of fleece. They sell a much trimmer Organic Bamboo Mini Pod, which is just 3 layers of bamboo fleece. I really want those because this is just really bulky on her and she doesn’t need all that absorption.
Besides the bulk I am impressed with how easy they are to use and can be used as all in twos, which are my favorite types of diapers.
All in all, my favorite diaper to use during the brief time she is this tiny and filling her diapers so often are the prefolds. I just trofld them and lay them in a cover and then there is no stuffing and they are super trim. Then for family members to use I hand them an AppleCheeks pocket diaper or the Rumparooz. The AppleCheeks will last her a while and the Rumparooz still fit David at 25 lbs and 20 months old.
Is your NN (I’m assuming it’s a peachy keen pocket) still fitting David? Keeley outgrew hers, and our scale still says 25 lbs, and she’s super skinny. She’s outgrown it in the rise, though. BABY BUTT CRACK! Lol.
I have been using all my Nifty Nappy diapers on Lucy so I just tried them on David. He recently went through a huge growth spurt. He is about 27 lbs, tall for his age and solid around the middle.
The 25lb rule must be correct cause David can’t wear them very well anymore. I cannot snap the hip snaps and they are very low rise. Bummer! I’ll definitely be telling Vilate, thank you for bringing this up 🙂
Good to here about these diapers. I already have rumparooz and love them, they are my favorite and Brighton is still fitting in to them at 2 1/2 years and about 32lbs. he’s almost potty trained though, but they’d fit him for longer if needed. And I’m placing an order with Vilate next month so i’m glad you featured nifty nappy. I lovd the one i got from her but i ruined it by forgetting about it dirty and it got all moldy. i can’t wait to see more from you and your new little one! Congrats again Annie!
I was pleasantly surprised by the Rumparooz diapers. They fit David and Lucy so perfectly. I still haven’t found a one-size diaper that fits from birth to potty training so well. Well, the softbums does but as you can see in the photos you really need a trimmer insert than the one I have or else “hello bulk!”
I need to post mine. Love rumparooz & applecheeks too! I haven’t used many prefolds because my covers are all too big on Mayer. My cousin sent me her stash of kissaluvs size 0. Those are great at night under a pair of fleece jammies.
My NN’s don’t have enough leg elastic to try with a breastfed baby. I have to extra stuff them for Tate. They are about the only thing he can wear at night, so I’m not sharing. 🙂 I think the only reason they still fit at almost 30 lbs is because the leg elastic is gone. I did try Vilate’s fold down technique with our small covers & it worked ok, but velcro still rubbed his cord too much.
The only other os diaper I have tried that fits well
Hit enter too soon. Rocky mountain OS fits well and we’ve had success with flip cover too. I also like the thirsties duo diaper. I am ordering some duo wraps to go with our prefolds. I was thinking the applecheeks would work as a cover but I don’t like the fit with our regular pfs under them. Hope to get on the computer soon to post my pictures. Lucy’s pretty darn cute modeling that fluff! 🙂
What’s the count? How many diapers/prefolds do you go through in how many days?
I am not using cloth at night yet (will start that in the next few days now that she is pooping less at night) so during the day here is my count (I imagine I’ll use 2 more at night until I find a night time diaper I love for her being so tiny, that will be another post!)
prefolds I change the most since I don’t have a stay dry liner and she hates the feeling of being wet. I have 1 dozen and if I used just prefolds that would only get me through one day. Since I use other dipes it gets me through 1.5 days.
I have 6 applecheeks, 1 doz prefolds, 2 Rumparooz, 2 Nifty Nappy fitteds, 3 softbums, and about 4 other diapers I can’t think of right now. So the total count is about 30ish diapers (I know I am forgetting a few). 30 dipes is getting me about 2 days.
I wash every/other day because David is still in diapers and the pail gets full pretty fast. If he was potty trained I bet I could go one more day but every other day isn’t bad.
A week old & Lucy is already a super model.
I also liked prefolds best. We had a large newborn (9 lbs 5 oz at birth). We used Bummis covers with them I also LOVED the Thirsties Duo Diapers for on the go and family members. They didn’t have to be unstuffed which was great with those runny newborn poo diapers. But now she is almost 5 months and 16 lbs and she has already outgrown them (about a month ago). I’ll be passing them on (along with the prefolds and Bummis covers) to my sister who said she’ll try cloth with #2, due in June!
I found that my NN, Rumparooz, softbums, and Rocky mountain all worked but had their own issues that made them not my favorites for the very beginning. My favorite now has actually become my BumGenius 3.0. I even bought 2 more, which is saying a lot because I always try to win my diapers!
Yes! Every diaper has issues and what works for one person will not work for others. I agree with the Thirsties Duo covers, I love how long they last in size. I hope they have improved the aplix because the covers I used with Lizzie got really pilly and almost unusable for Lucy.
Funny you say you love Bum Genius best. 20 months ago I bought 3 brand new BG dipes before David was born. Today, the elastic is going out and my aplix is super pilly, almost unusable. Don’t know what I am doing wrong in the wash to make this happen. I line dry every chance I can (only use dryer if I don’t have time to wait for them to dry.
Thank you for sharing!
thanks for your reviews! most of these I have not tried, except for the softbums which I love and still fits Ethan at over 30 pounds. I have the old style softbums and the inserts I knew were too big for a newborn, but hadn’t researched their new style. my mom is wanting to buy me some diapers and I’m trying to figure out what will work best at newborn, but I also want diapers that will fit well into the 20 lb range.
I appreciate your thorough reviews of these because now I can start searching for good deals on them 🙂
oh and I also love the fact that you have babies with skinny legs 😉 Ethan was also super skinny and I bet most of our babies will be the same way seeing how my husband has a super metabolism lol. Now I can compare how the diapers would fit on our babies. It’s difficult to judge myself on other diaper reviews if they have a chunky baby.
Now I say all that and watch Cole be a chunker!!
Thanks for this. I’m sure it wasn’t easy to find the time with all you have on your plate right now! I plan on CDing from the start with our next baby so its good to see your pics. I was especially happy to see the RAR since I have some of them.
I don’t have any small babies any more 🙁 But I think this is a great review for moms who are looking to use cloth diapers! Plus – Lucy is just about the cutest thing I have ever seen!
My newborn baby goes thru so many diapers, it truly is absurd!
Wow what a great informative post. I should have considered this when my kids were born. 😉
I’m so glad to finally read blog with pictures about cloth diapering! I’ll be a mom for the first time in the fall and I already bought prefolds but I didn’t know how soon I could use them. After reading your post I’m sure I’ll at least try them as soon as I’ll be home with the baby!
Marie I am so glad you found this helpful. I remember how I felt when I first started to cloth diaper my son when he was newborn. Congrats on the new one coming in the fall!! Feel free to email me (annie at mamadweeb.com) if you ever have any cloth diaper questions!
Yes, you certainly can use them as soon as you come home. It is actually pretty fun to cloth diaper a newborn!
Aw these newborn pictures make me want another baby! I also love AppleCheeks and Soft Bums!