Newborn Cloth Diapers... Cheap!

When I was pregnant, I determined that I wanted to cut down on repeat baby expenses as much as possible, including diapers.  So I planned to use cloth diapers, diaper covers,  and cloth wipes.  Below I will share with you my journey to find newborn cloth diapers... cheap!

When I was pregnant, I researched how big newborn prefold diapers should be.  On Green Mountain Diapers website, the newborn prefold diaper measures 11x11 inches squared when fully shrunk and is supposed to fit babies up to 10 pounds.  I had a hunch of an idea that I confirmed through a forum post to use washcloths as newborn cloth diapers.  So, I purchased two packs of eighteen 12x12 inch squared washcloths from Wal-Mart for $4 a pack!  I took one washcloth and folded it in thirds and placed it inside the middle of another washcloth.  I purchased some snappies to hold it together.  And wala!  It was a simple cloth diaper with a soaker layer.  I decided to sew a bunch of them already assembled, so I wouldn't have to fold that much.  Now I just had to wait for the baby to get here to try them out on him.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to start cloth diapering my newborn till week 3.  We were one week in the hospital.  During week 2, my mother was still helping me and she insisted on using disposables.  So, on week 3 my cloth diapering adventure began when my baby was just 10 pounds.  My washcloth diapers fit him very snugly at 10 pounds, but they did work.  By the end of that week though, I had to go up in size and use regular prefolds with him.  So, Green Mountain Diapers is correct that the newborn size prefolds (which are just slightly smaller than my washcloth diapers) will fit only up to 10 pounds. 

Spending all that time assembling washcloth prefolds was not for nought.  In fact, my newborn cloth diapers made perfect "doublers" for the regular cloth diapers.  They added a perfect soaker layer I could easily add to the prefold diaper to make it more effective.  I still use them now, and my baby is 10 weeks old.  From 3 weeks to now, I place one of my washcloth prefolds in the middle of a regular size prefold and fold the top down over it about 2 inches to make the size right for him.

For newborn diaper covers, I made my own out of fleece baby blankets that I received as gifts.  During the night, I used Gerber plastic pants over my baby's diaper.  These only cost $2 a pair.  In total, to cloth diaper my newborn, I spent about $35 total.  You can purchase my fleece newborn diaper cover pattern for only $6 and make your own diaper covers with no sewing and fancy materials.  Just cut them out!  Get my newborn diaper cover pattern HERE.

Inga Goodwin is a stay at home, work at home mom.