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Cloth diapering a newborn doesn’t have to be difficult. You will likely need more cloth diapers than you would with an older infant / toddler. Why waste money on disposable diapers when you can start saving money right from the start? The cost of buying a newborn stash doesn’t have to be overwhelming, and many of the things you will buy can be used as your baby grows. So, what do I need to cloth diaper a newborn, you may be wondering. Well, here you go.
Cloth diapers. Shocker, right? Okay, but seriously, how many diapers do you want for a newborn? I would recommend having around 24 cloth diapers to start out with. You will likely be changing that perfect little person every 2 hours on average. Add to that that you have a newborn, you probably will not want to be washing diapers every single day. Having 24 will allow you to wash every other day.
Which cloth diapers you choose will be a personal preference, probably based on your lifestyle, family size, and budget. I prefer using newborn cloth diapers, but if you are only going to have one child, buying a newborn cloth diaper stash may not fit in your budget. There are ways around that. You could buy used, borrow, do a newborn diaper rental program, and order when there are free diaper coupons for newborn cloth diapers. These aren’t as common of coupons, but they are out there.
You could also use one size cloth diapers. I will share in another post my reasons for my choices, but my favorite one size cloth diapers for newborns are SoftBums, and Fuzzibunz. Buying one size cloth diapers to use from the start can save you money as well as last you longer than a newborn stash would.
Wet bags. I won’t lie to you – I’m a bit of a wet bag addict. I use them for lots of other things, so I love having a bunch on hand. Having a large wet bag for storing dirty diapers helps cut down on the smell in between washings. I also recommend having a few small or medium size wet bags for on the go. Perfect for storing dirty diapers while you are out, or if clothes are spit up on. Even when your kids are out of diapers, I bet you are still finding use for these. I also have a small wipe size wet bag for carrying our wipes in.
Cloth Wipes. Again, personal preference. Not everybody who uses cloth diapers uses cloth wipes. I was hesitant, but once I started using cloth diapers, I found that having to still walk to the garbage separately to throw the wipes away wasn’t working for us. Being able to set the used cloth wipes inside the diaper or wet bag every diaper change was so much easier. Plus, I kept forgetting and washing the disposable wipes. Thirsties and Itti Bitti cloth wipes are my favorites.
Wipe Solution. If you are choosing to use cloth wipes, you will want a wipe solution unless you make one of our own. There are plenty of options for this. There are sprays that you can use and just spray on the butt during a change, or spray on the wipe and then use. You can use cubes which you dilute before using and the solution usually lasts for a day or two. You can also buy liquid solution that you just add to water and mix which also lasts a few days. My personal favorite is Balm Baby Juice Those Wipes.
Diaper Rash Cream. There are plenty of cloth diaper safe diaper creams out there. My personal favorite is CJ’s BUTTer. The important thing to avoid in diaper cream when using with cloth diapers is fish oils and petroleum. Some also say to avoid zinc, but many people have used it without any problems.
Cloth Diaper Safe Detergent. Which detergent is best is always a debate, and the answer to which detergent and routine is best will likely vary based on your location, washing machine, etc. I use Molly’s Suds and occasionally use Tide.
These are the things you will likely want to have to begin cloth diapering your newborn. While the only absolutely necessary thing is to have cloth diapers, the rest of this list is handy to have one hand, but can also be added as you continue in your cloth diapering journey.
Keep your eyes peeled for a few posts on cloth diaper reviews for newborns. This will be my second baby being cloth diapered from the start and I am excited to see which diapers we end up loving this time around.
Did you cloth diaper your newborn? Are you planning to cloth diaper a newborn? What items did you find handy?
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Thanks for the helpful information!
I am having my baby in November, and I do plan on using cloth diapers!! This is a great list. I was worried about the diaper cream, because I have the Honest brand and it contains zinc oxide. I will just have to use liners to keep my diapers safe !!! Now I have to figure out how many diapers I have because 24 is a lot 🙂 Thank you!
I hope the last few weeks of your pregnancy go smoothly! You can definitely get by with less, you will just have to wash every day.
Pre folds and liners for the first month helped!
Just influenced a friend to try cloth! her baby was born just a few days ago. This is a great summary of what she needs, so I’ll just share a link to this page.
Yay! Way to go. I love when I get a friend to start using cloth.
I wish I had cloth diapered the first month but I only had two newborn diapers :(. I realize now that my baby was so big I probably could have used the os diapers! I’m trying to get my friend to cloth diaper so I’m going to pass this link along to her and loan her some diapers!
I like coconut oil for rash cream. You definitely want at least 24 diapers if you are full time cloth diapering a newborn.
Thanks for the helpful information. We plan on cloth diapering once our baby can fit into Thirsties size one duo wraps because of the cost of newborn diapers but maybe with our second we’ll look into newborn diapers or the one size diapers.