We built our stash on bumGenius 3.0s and 4.0s, FuzziBunz, and a few odds and ends diapers that we picked up free through all this shipping. I didn't plan ahead for what to do for a newborn, knowing full well she wouldn't fit in these right away although we'd been assured otherwise by other cloth mammas. I'd actually came up with a wish list of some covers and inserts just for newborns, which would have cost right at $100, but could be used from birth through at least a few months... but I decided not to invest in them, hoping we'd fit in these a little early:
A shot of the inside--note how it just looks like a regular diaper for the most part--no weird folding, folks! Rest assured!
Well, when Claire was born (at a whole 6 lbs, 13 oz) I started to worry because most guides say these one-sizes (which is short for one size fits all--these diapers go from birth to potty training) start right around 8 lbs. And at the rate we were zipping through disposables, I saw that I'd have broke about even with my purchase of newborn cloth if we didn't do something. So after her belly button fell off, almost immediately, we wet through a couple of our disposables and had a mini-blow out situation. I was getting quite frustrated--disposables are supposed to be BETTER, right? Isn't that what I keep being told? So I threw a bumGenius 3.0 shell (no insert) over her disposable just to contain the mess and low and behold, it worked. So that got me thinking. I decided that even though she was barely back to her birthweight (we had some issues, see older posts) and no where near 8 lbs, we'd give it a go. I used the newborn inserts, and dug through some of my inserts from our "well-loved" sale adventure to find some thinner ones and we got started.
Since some of my 40 diaper stash are actually "well-loved" (used, if you will) diapers, I've had to do some work to make sure that the diapers had a tight fit for her little booty. Our new diapers have been the best, but since we don't have a ton of newborn inserts, it's silly to just keep trying out diapers once we have about 20 that work for us already in rotation. I've not had any trouble with blow outs since, nor have I had any leaking to report (although a few times we've had the diapers on wrong, so that's kind of our fault, not the diapers).
What I can report is that I love cloth!! I used disposables for almost 3 weeks, and she's one month old Friday, so I'd say I gave it a fair shot for both kinds, and although disposables might be easier (not that much easier, seriously), the cloth has not been the hassle that everyone has promised. I wash diapers about every other day (since really, you shouldn't let them sit longer than that). We've had some issues with changing formula that I've gone back for some disposables just because I knew the kind of poo I was in for and I did NOT care to look at it longer than I had to, but her poos in the cloth diapers are really easy to deal with. We DO have the diaper sprayer (which has a learning curve... we've sprayed about everything thing in the bathroom including the dirty diaper) and disposable liners which have made clean up a breeze. Smell is not an issue. We use Country Save laundry detergent and I have some Rockin' Green which I plan to use about once a month once we really get going just as a good deep clean, since it also removes any detergent build up.
Claire got a diaper rash (almost immediately, I might add) from disposables, which I spent a lot of time and extra diapers trying to clear up. However, I've not had any of those issues with the cloth. I'm still really evil-eyeing the Pampers Dry-Max, since when we switched to Huggies, and then cloth, the diaper rash cleared right up.
So there is happy Claire in her bumGenius 3.0. It's actually not on all that well, since I was mostly concerned with her crying at the moment and trying to get the picture, instead of worrying about fit (see? Parent failure, not diaper failure!) We've started using regular inserts instead of newborn inserts for overnights, but the fit is actually pretty good. We are appreciating the hook and loop (fancy for velcro) instead of the snaps right now, simply because we can get them a little tighter and it's pretty hard for new diapering parents to master snaps in a timely manner at 2 am.
I just wish more parents could try these diapers out! Once you realize how easy it is to do and keep up with, I don't see why more parents don't take this route. Besides, her big fluffy bottom is so cute!
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