CLOTH DIAPERING A NEWBORN (NEWBORN AIOS)

I have found that most cloth diaper companies recommend their one-size diapers for babies 8-35lbs. For this reason, many people choose to use disposable diapers on newborns for the first few weeks or until they reach the 8lb requirement. However, many companies do sell cloth diapers made specifically for newborns (approx. 6-12 lbs). As I said, we chose the Grovia newborn AIOs, but lucky for us friends of ours let us borrow a few Blueberry (formerly Swaddlebees) and BumGenius newborn AIOs and gDiapers to test out along with the Grovias I purchased.

We started off exclusively using the Grovia newborn AIOs. I must admit, we had
some issues with leaking when we started cloth diapering. Weston weighed in at 6 lbs, 14oz when he was born (I’m not sure how since I am quite sure I ate 6lbs, 14oz of food a day), so he was a small fry. He also had a VSD and was put on a diuretic almost immediately to keep the fluid in his lungs to a minimum --so he was constantly, CONSTANTLY peeing. I know newborns pee a lot…but this kid was just, like, leaking pee. We were constantly changing his diaper and since his diapers were leaking, also his pants. We were just not happy with the Grovia newborn AIOs.

After some experimentation we found that placing a gDiaper newborn insert inside a BumGenius newborn AIO was THE BEST combination. No leaks. Not one. Not even overnight. The second best option was using the Swaddlebees. These contained almost everything, although we did have a few leaks, and I wasn’t a fan of their closure. The third best option was placing the gDiaper newborn insert in the Grovia AIO (few leaks, but more than I would have liked). I do know that Grovia has since redesigned their AIO, so the absorbency/leaking problem may be solved- if it was even an issue for anyone else. It may also be the case that had Weston not been on a diuretic that these would have worked just fine, but there is no way to tell!

Once we figured out the magic combinations cloth diapering our teeny little newborn was easy as pie! We just had to make sure we had the ones we used most washed and if we didn’t, that we had a large pile of newborn pants ready to go.

If you are thinking about cloth diapering your newborn, I highly recommend the bumGenius newborn AIOs, but you will likely have to experiment to find out what works best for you.  Your baby won't be in newborn diapers for long, so its best not to spend a lot of money on newborn AIOs because you probably won't get your money's worth. I find the Grovia and bumGenius brands to be pretty affordable. Or, see if you can borrow different types of diapers from other cloth-diapering families or try your luck purchasing a lot on E-bay or Craigslist.

If you have any tips or tricks for cloth diapering a newborn, please share them in the comments!