I never started out with plans to cloth diaper my babies. I’d actually never met anyone who used cloth diapers with the exception of older moms who had used them out of necessity rather than choice.

That’s why I was so surprised when I started experimenting with cloth diapers with my 2nd and 3rd sons that I actually enjoyed it.

Cloth diapering started out more as a curiosity for me. I bought a few pocket diapers, because they seemed like they were easy enough for me to handle, and started by cloth diapering very part time. I gradually found that cloth diapering wasn’t really any harder than using disposable diapers and I was glad to wash my diapers rather than deal with a trash can full of stinky diapers that had to sit around until trash day.

With a new baby coming in the next month, I’ve been looking seriously at my diapering options and the truth is, I’m a bit intimidated. I’ve never actually cloth diapered a newborn. I started cloth diapering when my youngest 2 were a bit older and all the diapers I own are Bum Genius one sized diapers that are way too big for a newborn.

Can you Save Money Cloth Diapering a Newborn?

Since I cloth diaper not only for environmental reasons but also because I like to save money, I had to really put some thought into whether or not it was frugal to cloth diaper a newborn.

One one hand, newborns go through A LOT of diapers. If you are going to cloth diaper, it seems like that would be a great time to start.

On the other hand, newborns grow quickly. How affordable is it really to stock up on diapers that a baby may only wear for a month or two?

Newborn Cloth Diapering Options

I had previously used Bum Genius one sized diapers, and while I loved how easy they were, they are way too big for a newborn. I have my stash washed and set aside for use as soon as this baby is ready for them, but in the meantime I needed another solution.

The problem is, most of the other options were a bit overwhelming to someone who had only dabbled in cloth diapering. Bum Genius does make a newborn option but for the amount of time the diapers will be used, they didn’t seem cost effective to me.

In order to make cloth diapering realistic for me, especially while adjusting to having a newborn in the house again, I needed a simple solution.

Prefolds and Covers

The most affordable option to cloth diaper a newborn seemed to be using prefolds and covers. I almost ran at the thought of it. I had images of diaper pins and constant leaks but I was determined to find an option that would worked so I started doing my research.

I went on a bit of a cloth diapering shopping spree, probably not the most frugal option, but I wanted to really explore my options before I bought a complete stash. From what I found, two of the favorites as far as covers for newborns go are the Prowraps and Thirsties Duo Wraps.

I found a Prowrap cover used for fairly cheap and was happy to find that it had a notch in the front to make room for a newborn’s umbilical stump. It included gussets on the legs to contain leaks and seems like a fairly usable option.

The prowrap cover will fit a baby from about 6-10 pounds, which is good for the newborn stage but still a bit of an investment for something that you won’t use for long. I kept looking.

 

What I discovered was the great duo system that Thirsties uses in their covers and diapers. Thirsties uses a two step “one sized” diaper system that allows you to use two sizes for the entire time you will need to diaper your baby. Their size one fits babies from 6-18 pounds, which is much better in terms of the investment you are making in the diapers. Most of my babies don’t hit 18 pounds until they are nearly a year old so that’s a great amount of use for a diaper cover that you can use from day one.

Like the Prowrap cover, Thirsties has gussets in the legs to prevent leaks and, even though my baby hasn’t arrived yet so I haven’t tested these out personally, the hook and loop closures seem very well made.

I stocked up on several size one Thirsties Duo Wraps and several packs of Bumkins prefolds (in both infant and preemie sizes) and called it good.

Buy Used Cloth Diapers

Now that I had a good stash of prefolds and covers, I wanted to look into a few husband-friendly options and easier choices for nighttime changes. Since saving money was the goal, the all-in-one diapers and fitted diapers I had my eye on were a bit more than I wanted to spend new. Fortunately, some great options were available if  was willing to shop used.

DiaperSwappers.com is a great place to buy used cloth diapers at a great price. I didn’t personally have much luck on craigslist or other local classifieds but if cloth diapering is more popular in your area you may want to give that a shot.

Buying used and through discount sites like BabySteals.com allowed me to stock up on a few Grovia newborn diapers (since they had a lower price-point than many of the other all-in-one options, and I just couldn’t resist the new peacock design shown below) and Kissaluvs fitted diapers to simplify things when I need to.

Rent Cloth Diapers

I was a bit late to the party on this one but after I had stocked up on a stash of newborn diapers that I think will get me through the first few months, I discovered that several places will actually rent cloth diaper packages to get you through the newborn stage. I found one place locally that would rent me everything I need for 3 months for $100 and give me a $25 refund when I returned the diapers making the total investment only $75. You’d spend far more than that buying disposable diapers for 3 months so that is a great deal.

You can rent diapers online from Modern Cloth, Dream Diapers, Kissed by the Moon, and Nell’s Natural Baby just to name a few.

Resell Cloth Diapers

Since I had already purchased my stash of newborn diapers, renting didn’t make much sense, even though it is a fairly frugal option. If this was my first baby, investing in newborn diapers, despite the initial cost, would be a no brainer. Given that this is my 5th baby, I’m not likely to get as much use out of these as I would have if I’d bought them several years ago. With that being the case, I’m opting to sell my cloth diapers when my baby outgrows them.

DiaperSwappers or Ebay are great options for reselling cloth diapers and with resell values being as good as they are, I expect to get back quite a bit of my investment that I can then use to buy bigger diapers if I need to.

The Verdict

I was worried about the start up cost of cloth diapering a newborn but the cost of prefolds and covers by itself was minimal. Since I wanted a few easier options like all-in-one diapers and prefolds, that upped my cost a bit. I bought diapers slowly throughout my pregnancy so I didn’t get sticker shock and I still ended up spending less than $150 on diapers that will get me through what I’m hoping will be at least the first 3 months. That puts my cost at only $50 a month, which is much cheaper than buying disposable diapers when they can average $10 a package without coupons. I do know people who could beat that with some extreme couponing, but frankly, with a newborn in the house after a nearly 5 year break, I simply don’t have the energy for that.

I’ll turn around and sell my newborn diapers when I’m done with them, which will drastically reduce my overall investment and monthly cost.

I’ll be sure and update you once I determine whether I made the right cloth diaper choices for a newborn but at the moment my opinion is that you CAN cloth diaper a newborn on a budget if you are willing to shop around and stick to some of the more basic options.

photo credit: simplyla via photo pin cc