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Once you’ve gone through all the cloth diaper options and finally settled on starting cloth diapers, it can be daunting to figure out just what you actually need.
Do you really need every single diaper and accessory? How many diapers DO you really need? In this post, we break it all down for you!
Starting Cloth Diapers – What Do You Need
How many Diapers Do You Need
Most people wash every other day so we will base this list off of that.
- 12 Diapers per child per wash day. (if you want to wash every other day then you need 24, if you want to wash every 3 days then you need 36) Since this is an every other day list, you would need 24 diapers.
What 24 diaper equals in each style:
Flats/Prefolds – 24 flats/prefolds with 6-8 diaper covers and snappis or diapers pins for fastening
Fitteds – 24 fitteds with 6-8 diaper covers
Pockets – 24 pocket diapers with the 24 inserts that go in each diaper.
AI2’s – 24 inserts with 6 shells
Hybrids – 24 disposable or cloth inserts with 6 shells
AIO’s – 24 diapers
Sized Diaper Note: The amount listed above refers to one-size diapers. If you are buying a sized diaper system (small, medium, large, etc) then you will need 24 diapers/day in small, 24 in medium, 24 in large.
Newborn Note: Depending on what type of diaper system you go with, you may need to buy a few newborn specific diapers. Many one-size diapers do not fit newborns even though they say they fit at 7 lbs. (Personally, my GroVia’s fit my newborn babies once they were about a month old, I think they just need time to get a bit of fat on those skinny chicken legs.) If you decide to go with a sized diaper system then you’d want to see if the smallest size will fit your newborn. Otherwise, plan on getting at least a few newborn diapers to last your baby for a few months.
Other Cloth Diaper Necessities
- 24-36 Cloth wipes
- Cloth wipe solution or just plain water
- 2-6 Doublers/Boosters – for adding absorbency to diapers.
- Diaper pail with 1-2 diaper pail liners OR 1-2 hanging wet bags
- 1 wet/dry bag (for when you are out and about)
- Cloth diaper approved laundry detergent
- Cloth diaper safe diaper cream – my preference is coconut oil.
That is it! That is all you NEED. Now there are of course some luxury items…
Cloth Diaper Accessories that are Nice to Have But Not Necessary
- More diapers, shells, covers. All you need are the basic 24 but it helps to have more so that you put less wear and tear on the diapers or just in case you can’t get to the laundry in time.
That sounds simple enough right? It really and truly is. Give cloth diapering a try if you have not done so yet; you will not regret it.
I just picked out some cloth diapering supplies to buy on my blog : http://blueberrysquash.blogspot.com/2012/01/cloth-diapering.html
I am a new follower, thanks for your tips! I am aiming for the collection of 24 as well.
just couldn’t leave your website before telling you that we really enjoyed the quality information you offer to your visitors… Will be back often to check up on new posts.
Thank you for writing this post! Well the whole series actually. It's a HUGE help!
I'm glad you are providing all this information. I cloth diapered my children– I don't even want to think about how many diapers would have ended up in landfills if I'd used the plastic ones! Bonus, it helps with potty learning for the child to be able to sense that they are wet, which they can't really with the commercial diapers.