Many cloth diaper mamas use disposables on a newborn. And I’m not judging. 🙂 They only stay in those small sizes for a short amount of time; is it worth it to invest in cloth diapers?
That depends on two factors:
What kind of diapers are you using?
and
How many children will be coming after this one?
If you are using a one-size diaper, such as the bumGenius, which lasts from 7-35lbs, and you gave birth to a baby that weighs 7lbs or more, then you would be wasting money to buy disposables. You already have something on hand that works for you baby!
If you are using prefolds and covers, this is how your math will work: The cost of 24 unbleached infant chinese prefolds (my prefold of choice) is $36. Five newborn velcro covers (of the cheapest variety, they won’t wear them long enough to warrant the cute ones) total $44.75. If you plan to continue using prefolds, you will already have pins and/or snappis, if not, the most you’ll spend is $6 for two snappis. Which brings your total to $86.75. And most online stores will give you free shipping when you purchase that much. Personally, I shopped ebay for the covers and snappis and saved probably around $20.
According to Amazon, newborn Huggies diapers are $0.30 per diaper. I looked up Luvs, too, but they were actually ten cents MORE expensive per diaper at Amazon. Pampers are three cents cheaper per diaper. The average infant uses 8-10 diapers per day (especially the breastfed ones!), which comes to $2.40 to $3 per day, using the Huggies’ price. It would take you 28 to 36 days to reach the price you would have spent on cloth. If you use disposable diapers for less than a month, then you will be saving money.
Unless you plan on having other children, because your infant cloth diapers will be in almost pristine condition for successive children, making the need to buy additional diapers unnecessary, thereby multiplying the margin of savings. You will only be able to use disposables for 14-18 days before you start spending money you otherwise wouldn’t have, if you have just one other child.
Of course, the covers I directed you to are only good up to 10lbs. You will need to buy 4-5 more in the next size, adding another $44.75, before they reach that 15lb marker where they tend to sit for awhile. Again, take advantage of ebay for these covers! Odds are you can get all the covers you need, from 6-14lb, for around $45, which means I don’t have to redo my math. And I don’t want to redo my math.
If you intend to use sized pocket diapers, such as FuzziBunz, then it is cheaper to use disposables in the beginning. Twenty small (7-18lbs) FuzziBunz would total $339. I have never seen the financial sense in buying sized pocket diapers. 🙂
This post is long enough, so I’ll save my Cloth Diapering an Infant – What’s Best? for tomorrow!
I found that Bumgenius didn’t fit my newborn, even though she was 7lbs. it wasn’t until about the 9lbs mark that we could put them on her. Baby Kangas started working around 8lbs (for us). I had some newborn prefolds, but we still chose the more expensive disposable route for a month or so. I know in my head that using cloth diapers is not harder than using disposables, but with all the stuff we had going against us at first I couldn’t fathom using all prefolds at that time. Not to mention my hatred for prefolds. he he.
Maybe we should just all look into EC and forget diapers all together?
Glad you’re not judging! 🙂 I’ve totally only been using disposables. BUT, I got mine for less than 5$ a pack a few months ago when those awesome coupons came out and CVS had a sale w/ ECB’s. Plus we were given about 4 or 5 packs from family, friends, and the hospital. And my one size BG’s are way to big for her even though she was born at 8lbs. 4oz. I figure at about 10 pounds they’ll start fitting better. Plus I still need to buy a pail liner. And pail. Oh, and a sprayer! (was hoping some family member would buy them, but no such luck 🙂
We used disposables for the first 2-3 weeks with our daughter not because of cost but for convenience. We already felt overwhelmed enough nevermind having to rinse and wash diapers every three days. We plan to do the same this time around. We used Bumkins pocket covers with Snuggleup diapers (we’re going to use some prefolds this time around) and the diaper covers lasted us a long time. We bought a few extras this time because we got a cheap deal but the newborn covers fit our girl for at least the first 6-9 months and the small covers fit from then until about a month ago when we started potty training! We’ve definitely gotten our money’s worth!
Glad for the link to the cheap prefolds though – thanks!
In my disposable diaper stash, my average cost is like $0.07 per diaper, thanks to drugstore deals.
What do you do about those first few days of meconium poopies? Seems like those would ruin cloth diapers, or at least be really really tricky to get out.
If we end up moving to a place with a washer/dryer, I do think we’ll give cloth diapering a try!
What are pocket diapers?
Donielle — Our 2nd was 8lb3oz at birth, and it didn’t seem like our BGs would fit him – so I waited until he was over 9 lbs. to use them. But — I realized then that if I had used smaller inserts (preemie prefolds, or even a washcloth!) and folded the back and front in before putting them on him — they would have worked. Oh, well, live and learn. So – just put smaller inserts in them and fold in the front and back and you can use them on a smaller baby! 🙂
I used disposables on both my girls for the first week until the meconium was gone. They were also both very small (under 7 lbs) and we were using preemie diapers. After that we use prefolds until the small ones don’t fit anymore. I bought one size dipes after my first was around 6 mos and still need to fix some of the tabs so I haven’t pulled them out for the 2nd yet. I do also have some small FB’s that I like for nighttime.
My oldest is now just in a Snap-EZ trainer at night (which are awesome!) and I’m attempting to do some part time EC’ing with the little one. Any diaper I don’t have to wash is a success!!
Well, 4 years ago when I was about to give birth to my twins, Fuzzi Bunz was THE way to go for me. I knew I was not going to use anything that I had to fold and then use something else on top of that (i.e. prefolds with covers and the like). Safety pins were out of the question, and I wasn’t aware of the snappis, but that wouldn’t have made much difference to me anyway. So after doing a ton of research, I settled on Fuzzi Bunz. Of course there were no BumGenius or Baby Kangas back then, or any one-size grow-with-you kind of cloth dipe (that would have probably been my choice).
We had that same debate, about whether having the newborn size would be worth buying in cloth or not. We took the advice of our friends (who introduced us to Fuzzi Bunz in the first place) and did NOT buy the newborn size. We ended up using disposables for the first 5 weeks or so, and I think we still came out better off since we got so many diapers for free or super cheap. We had no idea if we were going to be able to have anymore children either, so that was another factor.
The choices available now for really cool cloth dipes are amazing. It’s hard to believe how much things have changed in the diapering world since just 4 years ago. But what’s best definitely varies per family based on many different factors. I am looking forward to using my cloth again once we get moved.
I would actually recommend using disposables for about the first week with a newborn. I think there is a certain level of convenience that is nice, especially if Dad isn’t too hip on washing the diapers and Mama is resting like she should. For us, though, the real reason was that we found the bulkier prefold/diaper cover to irritate our son’s umbilical stump and cause a small amt of bleeding. Nothing life threatening but can make baby more prone to infection. Disposables can more easily be folded down to avoid the umbilical stump.
After that first week or so, I completely agree that cloth diapers are better than anything else!
~M – Pocket diapers are diapers such as the bumGenius and FuzziBunz which have a pocket where an absorbent insert is placed. The outside of the pocket diaper is typically made of waterproof PUL material and the inside of a suedecloth materieal that allows moisture to pass through, but remain dry on baby’s skin.
Nancy, I completely understand why you did what you did – there were no other options at the time! And now! Wow! I feel blessed to be CDing in this age of convenience and choice!
Steph – I’m trying to remember what we did for the meconium. We didn’t start cloth with our oldest until she was 6 months old because we had yet to be introduced to the concept! With Benjamin, I think some got thrown in the washer un-rinsed and the ones Gammy changed were rinsed (she’s very thorough). We also were using up the sposies we were given from the hospital. I say “given” because I was under the impression they were included in the room and board fee… they weren’t!
Kacie – if you can get diapers that don’t leak that cheaply, more power to you! For my husband and me, our choice to cloth diaper is as much about reducing waste as it is about saving money, so we would still opt for cloth! 🙂
Vika – You definitely need to take into account the amount of help you can expect that first week! This post is about what’s cheapest, not what’s best for a recovering mama! 🙂 Luckily I have a very supportive husband who, with a little instruction, would be more than willing to throw the diapers in the wash for me. Plus, I usually have grandmas visiting as well to make my live even easier! If I didnt’ have all that, convenience would have to win out over frugality!
Oh, and Vika, the prorap brand cover has a notch for the umbilical stump. It’s one of the reasons we got that brand. That and it’s the cheapest! (Besides the plastic pants… which, given the poopies we’ve experienced, scare us…)