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| so we took a test this morning because my period is 2 weeks late and up pops a plus sign right away. i am having symptomes as well. my only delima here is what am i going to do about diapering 2 children? i have 25 OS diapers which are thinnning a bit after a years use and i do not want to be doing laundry every day. please help! i also have 6 infant prefolds and 2 snappys as well. i do not know the first thing about folding a diaper. should i get more PFS? should i get more OS? what should i do? also what about covers and wraps? i want the least tiring way to do cding immediately post partom. i do not want a disposable touching this new baby whatsoever. |
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Congrats!! That's wonderful news!
Hmmm, well you have a total of 31 diapers that will fit both of them and then 25 that will fit your son. That's really not too bad. Don't forget that there's only so many diapers you can put in a washer at one time. There's not really any point in having double what you have now for example. You could only wash about 2 dozen at a time so you'd still have another 26 to go through, way more than you really need. Regardless of how many diapers you have, if you have two in diapers full-time, you'll likely be doing a load every 1-2 days anyway cause that's about how long it'll take to have a full load.
Really, you could get by fairly easily with what you have. You could always maybe use an extra dozen that fits the little one (or both), that would give you an extra cushion to allow for line drying or just forgetting the diapers in the washer, that kind of thing. When I had the twins I had 40 newborn & small Sandy's and that was enough to even allow me to line dry. And since both of mine were newborns I was going through more diapers than you would with a newborn and a toddler.
Folding prefolds really isn't a big deal. The simplest thing would be to not even worry about the snappis and just tri-fold them, lay them in a velcro wrap and then put the wrap on baby... Tri-folding is really easy since the prefold is alreay divided in three with the two outer sections being thinner than the center one, so they naturally fold quite easily along the seam.
Prefolds are definetly the least expensive way to go (well, actually flats would be even more inexpensive but they're more complicated to fold - might be a challenge for you), they work well and also last well. The only downside is that sometimes runny poop can go off the diaper and onto the cover more often than with a fitted. It's not a big deal but a bit more trouble than a fitted.
I wouldn't worry about the One-Size you have now wearing out before the little one gets here. Most people find that they can easily put a set through 2 children with no problem.
Don't forget that there are surely family members or friends that will want to get you a baby gift for the new baby. You can always ask them each to get you an ME intro pack (diaper, cover & liner for approx $20-$25, taxes and shipping included). Online they can order a One-Size and their choice of whichever size Airflow they want. If you'd prefer a Rikky cover or another diaper, all they have to do is call ME to order it. It's a reasonable price for a baby gift and if 6 people do it you could end up with another half dozen diapers and half dozen smaller covers (I'm assuming you're good with the larger sizes).
Karen. |
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| well we have at least 37 weeks to go before the baby gets here. plenty of time to get diapers. i have a question about the OS. will the baby still be able to wear those cute short and long onesies over such a big diaper? i might just do sleep sacks or something. you know, those sacks that zip up and have sleeves that have a thing to cover the baby's hands? and what about doubling up on furniture and things. should i get a new crib and playpen? i am planning to have baby sleep in the family bed for a while instead of banishing him/her to a crib the first night he/she is on this earth. |
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We had two boys a little less than two years apart. We opted not to get more baby supplies other than about a dozen more diapers. We bought a mattress and moved DS#1 onto that (on the floor) before #2 was born. #2 slept in a laundry basket and then an underbed storage container next to my bed until he started to want to roll too much for those to be ideal, so the crib was empty for about six months, and by then my older son no longer thought of it as his. In the same way, by the time #2 needs a playpen, your older child probably won't, etc. I think the important thing is to make changes before the baby comes, or at least leave a period of time between a change like taking #1 out of the crib and moving baby in, so that there isn't a direct cause-effect relationship there for your firstborn to resent.
Re. your clothing question, we used the OS from 8 and 6.5 lbs, and found the one-piece outfits to be really easy. Overalls, shortalls, sleepers, etc. We had some of those sleep sacks but honestly didn't use them very much. Baby might outgrow the one-pieces a little faster than with a disposable, but I actually found that even with boys of very different builds (seriously, 98th and 15th on the weight charts), that they could wear clothes quite true to the labelled sizes. Many people find that they size up a little earlier than they would with disposables, but that doesn't mean your newborn is going to launch into 3-6 month clothes--just maybe don't count on wearing newborn-size pants, for instance. |
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| ok are there any brand of clothing that would fit well over cloth diapers? mainstream clothing is unfortunately cut to fit disposables, not cloth. |
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Honestly, I only found brand to be an issue with pants. With those it can make a huge difference, but with the one-piece outfits that you often dress a new baby in anyway, for us it didn't much matter. We had mostly the Walmart and Target Carter's brand. I guess I did find that Gerber onesies ran smaller than the Carter's onesies, but I used them both (whatever people gave us!) and just retired the Gerber ones a little earlier.
I did inherit a bunch of 3 mo. pants as hand-me-downs, and those were never used, as they just didn't fit over cloth (or on my chunky son).
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| For what it's worth, I seem to remember having issues with clothing fitting cloth diapered bums only as my son became older. As a newborn, it wasn't really a problem. But then again, we didn't have many cute outfits and stuck mostly to sleepers, so maybe that's why... |
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| we have the diapering sich straightened out for the first week postpardom and unfortunately, my husband is going to do disposables. he is doing it that way only due to the fact that i will be too exhausted to deal with cloth, according to him. he is sticking with cloth diapering ds 1 only bc that is what ds 1 is used to. i sincerely hope that he does not diaper our new baby in those nasty nasty pampers or luvs. when he told me that a disposable will be on our new child for the first week of it's life, i started crying very hard. |
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| You know, I have to say that we used disposables for the first couple of weeks. With my firstborn, it was because I didn't think I could use my OS under 8 lbs, and with my second, it was because he was super tiny, under 6 lbs when he was born. Although I can understand wanting to go all cloth, a week, esp. when part of it will involve meconium, isn't too bad, all things considered. |
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Congratulations! Two is alot of fun 
Regardless of what you want, you'll end up doing diapers every day and a half at least because a diaper pail can only hold so much! So, I would say you have plenty of OS to do both children. I'd just get some more covers. If your husband knows how to wash the diapers, I'd say you can do cloth right from the get go. It's not that much more work (or energy) to put a cloth on the new baby than it would be to do disposable. Right?!? What really is the difference? You just have to wash the diapers one day earlier maybe.
When I brought home our second baby, it was just as if nothing changed. Just another bum to change. You still have to wash the diapers because of child #1.
Good Luck!  |
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| you know you are right about the meconium phase not being kind to cloth diapers. if you dont mind me asking, and if it does not violate the terms of this board, which brand of disposable did u use during that time? did you have trouble with rashes? did your baby reject the disposables like ds 1 did? and finally, did your baby get used to the feeling of disposables and how did he react on the switch to cloth? |
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| he knows how to wash them because he has watched me wash them from when we first started with them. the only trouble that he is running into is rincing the dipes after urination and defication. i told him that he does not have to because bf poop is water soluable, and he says that if we do not rince afterward, bacterial will build up and things. i really do not trust him with diapering our new baby because he will let the baby use a disposable until it has weight to it and is somewhat swolen. i do not like the idea of our child sitting in its own pee! |
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| agreed! i don't like using disposables, but sometimes see the need (when on vacation and no laundry facilities). your DH would have to be completely on board with using CD's. When i use disposables, i stick to either Pampers or Huggies. my children seem to do best with pampers though, not as many blow outs. |
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oh he is fully on boared with cd, but he is going to be taking care of me, and both children and he wants to make it easier on himself and me as well. he told me that a few minutes after i give birth, he will give me a cd and see if i can correctly put it on baby. he doubts that i will be able to, considering that i will be exhausted. and then will be going home between 4 to 6 hours later after baby has established nursing and has taken the first urination.
oh my son did horrible with pampers. he had dry patches all over his diaper area and he coughed and sneezed at every single diaper change. if my husband will be willing to buy them, i will either ask him to get huggies pure and natural, or seventh generation. huggies pure and natural is the only disposable that my son does not reject. he rejects all others. |
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LOL! Unless you're on some serious drugs I can't see how in the world you'd be literally incapable of putting a cloth diaper on correctly. I've given birth three times, had a long epidural birth once (where I essentially didn't sleep for over 36 hours), a quick/intense natural birth once and an early morning c-section once (where I hardly slept the night before) and never would I have been literally incapable of putting on a diaper even a few minutes after birth. Granted I would have been physically incapable after the c-section, but that's only because I was numb from the chest down!! As soon as the spinal wore off I would have been just fine... Why would you be capable of using a disposable but not a cloth diaper? They're not that much more complicated (especially that you've used them before). Yes, you'll be exhausted, but that doesn't mean you suddenly lose your mind and are incapable of basic tasks! In the middle of the night total stupor you might forget a snap or something like that, but you could just as easily do something silly with a disposable. Really if your mind is such mush that you're incapable of putting on a diaper correctly then you'd be incapable of caring for a newborn, including breastfeeding.
Anyway, all that said, if your hubby will be doing most of the changes and the laundry, then a week of disposables really isn't the end of the world. Chances are the next little one will react ok to the disposables, especially with really gentle ones like 7th generation or Pure & Natural (if those are important to you then just make sure you have a pack or two ready before you give birth, that way it's not left to your hubby to make an emergency trip where he may be tempted to buy the first brand he sees at the closest store). And a week will go by sooo quickly, it'll hardly seem noticeable later on.
Meconium staining is a good reason to use disposables at first (especially if hubby will be handling the diapering - he may really not appreciate having to rinse out a meconium covered cloth diaper) as it can permanently stain the diapers. If you were staying in the hospital for a few days it might be different (you'd be in better shape to help with laundry, most of the meconium would have already passed etc...) but since it sounds like you'll be headed home asap then it's not a bad idea.
Overall I personally support using cloth right from the moment of birth (if I had another I would do what I could to make this happen) but if hubby is really that resistant then it might not be worth fighting over. While I disagree that you'd be incapable of putting on a diaper correctly, you may well appreciate not having to handle all diaper changes and not having to worry about keeping on top of diaper laundry for 2 babies.
Karen. |
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Oh, one thought about the disposables. What about using a non-gel disposable like Tushies? Do they still make those? They were cotton fluff inside (maybe with a little paper? not sure) and had no SAP, no gel etc... So while it was fairly absorbant, it wasn't like a mainstream disposable that can go on absorbing almost indefinetly. Your dh may be forced to change more often.
And another good thing about those is that since they didn't have the gel it was easier to tell if baby had urinated. You know how you have to keep an eye on pees for a breastfed newborn, to make sure they're getting enough? Well, that's much easier to do in a Tushies than in a gel disposable (well, even easier in cloth but that's another issue, LOL!). Without the gel to almost mask the pee you can can see even a small pee, you can not only see if baby has peed, you can judge how much.
Either way I would talk to him about checking for pees as a way of monitoring intake in order to encourage him to change the diapers more often. He can much more accuratly count pee diapers if he changes frequently. It's a little more difficult to tell with a mainstream disposable but he can just compare the weight with a clean disposable in one hand and the 'used' diaper in the other to see if there's a difference or not.
Karen. |
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| there is another disposable diaper out there called broody chick. It is made in British Columbia. The store peekaboo bottoms carries it...you can order them online from her store. Don't know much about them, just thought you may want to look into it |
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| hey karen. yes they still make tushies. the only problem is that i heard alot of bad reviews about them only being able to hold one pee and feeling stiff between baby's legs and things. yep i will be headed home fairly quickly because really, unless i am high risk or something, i see no need for a 24 hour stay at a hospital where you would be woken up frequently anyway. thank goodness for midwives and birthing centers and the nice nonmedicalization of a perfectly normal birth hehe. thanks for all of the advice with the diapers. |
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| lol i have heard of those diapers yes. |
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Well, I tried a bag of Tushies and I thought they were fine. They were a bit stiff yes but nothing that I think a baby would actually care about (I think the stiffness came from the fact that the diapers were thicker so not as flexible as typical sposies). Leaks don't stick out in my mind as being an issue (and they were all used for nighttime when the girls were toddlers and we were battling bad blisters at night) so while I can't remember for sure that they 'never' leaked, I'm pretty sure I would remember if it had been a real issue.
I think it depends on which perspective you're coming from - from a full-time sposie user (especially if they're the fairly typical sposie user who gets hours and hours of use out of one diaper) then they could well seem way under-absorbant. But coming from a cloth perspective I didn't think so.
Really since it's only for a week with a newborn I don't think it's an issue. Newborns poop so frequently anyway that I can't see the baby really 'putting it to the test' so to speak. Which actually should make you feel better about the changing situation, at that age dh won't really have much choice but to change frequently anyway. And if they do leak a lot then maybe dh will all that much happier about going back to cloth, LOL!
Karen. |
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