Today I’m sharing “if I knew then, what I know now” thoughts on cloth diapering, as we’re expecting our second baby in the spring. This time, I feel like a cloth diapering professional, and am even more prepared to have a smooth and successful cloth diapering experience from the very beginning.
I plan to start simple again, but make some changes to the routine I created when I was new to cloth with my son. For starters, I won’t be using a wet pail. Using a wet pail seemed like a great idea (especially for using prefolds), but soaking my diaper covers in a wet pail of a vinegar water solution relaxed the elastics on my small covers. The reason I used a wet pail was because I was concerned about my unbleached prefolds getting stained (don’t ask me what I was thinking). This time around, we’re ditching the wet pail, sticking with the dry pail, and saving ourselves the hassle; you live and you learn, right?
While I am still a huge fan of flats and prefolds for cloth diapering during those early newborn days (they’re easy to clean, quick to dry, and an inexpensive option when you’re going through 18 diapers a day), I’ll be adding some newborn all-in-ones (AIO) this time around. There are many reasons why newborn diapers come in incredibly handy, and for me, having a small baby and other [non-cloth experienced] caregivers are two great reasons.
Some of you may be familiar with the whole guestimating baby’s weight in the womb trick, and now that my son is here, I can honestly say that I’ve never heard of a case that was spot-on. My first-time pregnant, gullible self was convinced that I was going to have a nine pound baby, so much so, that I only purchased zero to three month clothing to start; imagine my surprise when we left the hospital with our little man weighing a hair over six pounds! Thankfully, I had purchased a dozen preemie prefolds, as they were a godsend for cloth diapering our little guy; while the preemie prefolds fit, our covers were a little big. This time around, I plan to have newborn-sized AIOs on hand, in the event we have another little baby.
Newborn diapers are also great to have on hand for caregivers, other than your partner and yourself. I remember how intimidated some family and friends were, when faced with changing a prefold. Save yourself the trouble, and buy some newborn diapers with velcro enclosures, you’ll thank me later!
Apart from the wet pail and lack of newborn diapers, I wouldn’t change much about my cloth diapering routine from the start. I got into cloth diapering in an effort to save money and produce less waste, and kept my routine very simple as a result. If you keep things simple, you can’t go wrong!
What did you change about your cloth diaper routine, if anything, the second (third or fourth) time around?
Contributed by Lauren
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