Newborn Cloth Diaper Stash for Elimination Communication

Recently, some expectant moms asked for tips on building a newborn cloth diaper stash to use while practicing elimination communication from birth.

If you are new to the concept, elimination communication is a gentle method of allowing a baby opportunities to pee and poop in the potty. Diapers are considered "back-up" in case there is a "miss" and you don't "catch" the pee in the potty.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you click on an affiliate link and make a purchase, I will earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. Thanks for your support!

Considerations for Building a Newborn Cloth Diaper Stash

I love the simplistic appeal of a uniform cloth diaper stash - a single type of absorbency and a single style of cover. However, I have come to realize that it can be helpful to have different styles of cloth diapers for different situations. Here are some considerations to think about when choosing the various types of cloth diapers to include in your newborn stash. It's nice to have:

Non-waterproof absorbent cloth diapers to use at home during the day while learning your baby's signals and natural timing. Without a cover you can tell right away when the diaper is wet and change it to a clean dry one.
Waterproof covers to add over absorbent layer, especially for leaving the house or nighttime.
Snap-down rise that provides room for umbilical stump, especially if cloth diapering from birth!
Option to use at night that is super easy to remove and replace.

Start with Just a Newborn Cloth Diaper Stash

I advise starting with only a newborn cloth diaper stash and waiting to see which types of cloth diapers you prefer and which ones fit well on your baby before investing in larger sizes or one-size diapers.

If you are hoping to receive cloth diapers as baby shower gifts, you could register for gift cards for the bigger sizes of cloth diapers. You may want to create an Amazon baby registry and use the Universal Registry Tool to add gift cards to Green Mountain Diapers or other cloth diaper shops.

I know with my first baby I felt pressured to get everything we needed before our baby was born. I was glad with my second baby that we started with just the newborn essentials and added what we needed as we went along.

Consider Using a Cloth Diaper Service for the First Three Months

A cloth diaper service that provides and washes cloth diapers makes cloth diapering super easy!

A cloth diaper service is especially nice during the newborn phase when babies pee and poop quite frequently (about every 20 minutes) and parents are in a state of sleepless exhaustion. You could do a quick search online to see if there is a diaper service in your area. The diaper service would deliver clean cloth diapers to your door each week and pick up the dirty ones to wash. You would just borrow the cloth diapers from the service, rather than purchase them yourself.

Cloth diaper services are even more eco-friendly than washing cloth diapers at home, since they wash large loads together.

If you live in Southern California, I highly recommend looking into Luludew Cloth Diaper Service. They offer multiple different combinations of cloth diapers and one of their packages is cloth prefolds and fitted diapers. They also offer All-in-One (AIO) diapers, covers, and wipes as options. If you want to save money, you could rent a bundle of diapers from Luludew to wash at home. They also offer their brand of cloth diapers for purchase.

We used Dolphin Diaper Service on Oahu with our first baby. They delivered the diapers via electric car! It was super nice not washing the diapers myself. They only offered prefold diapers and I wanted more options with my second baby, so I purchased and washed diapers in the coin-operated laundry room in our high-rise apartment building. It took a lot of time and I couldn't control the settings the way you can with a personal washing machine. A cloth diaper service is a convenient option if you don't have a washing machine in your home.

I explain all about cloth diaper delivery services in this video:

Consider Buying Used Cloth Diapers to Save Money

Buying used cloth diapers is a great way to save money and the environment. It's really easy these days to purchase used cloth diapers. Almost every brand of cloth diapers has a Facebook Buy/Sell/Trade group. There are also B/S/T groups for elimination communication supplies.

Here are some buy, sell, trade, and swap groups you could check:

For a zero waste cloth diaper stash, you could repurpose used materials. You could sew your own cloth diapers using upcycled fabrics; sew wool sweaters into wool diaper covers; or cut an old flannel sheet into cloth wipes.

My Experience Cloth Diapering and EC'ing Newborns

I cloth diapered and practiced elimination communication with both my kids when they were newborn babies. My son was born in winter 2013 and weighed 6 pounds 15 ounces and my daughter was born in spring 2018 and weighed 5 pounds 13 ounces.

With my son, we switched from disposable diapers provided by the hospital to prefolds and size Small gDiapers gPants at a couple days old. The size Small gDiapers fit him well and sat nicely below his umbilical stump. For observation time, he wore a prefold and diaper belt while laying on a waterproof mat. We started offering the potty on a regular basis when he was one-month-old.

With my daughter, I wanted to try different styles of cloth diapers to figure out which ones were really the best to use as backup for elimination communication. I read as many blog posts as I could find on cloth diapers for EC and watched videos on newborn cloth diapering. At the time, there really wasn't much guidance regarding cloth diapers for elimination communication.

Since I had already tried prefolds, I decided this time to build my stash around Cloth-eez Workhorse fitted diapers in size Newborn. The problem was, my daughter was tiny at birth (5 lbs 13 oz) and the Cloth-eez fitted diapers gaped around her thin legs, so the pee leaked right out the leg holes. Nonetheless, we persevered and cloth diapered from day one, leaky diapers and all! We also practiced elimination communication from birth with her.

Cloth-eez Workhorse Fitted Diaper Newborn with Boingo

I'd like to share what I learned from my experience with newborn cloth diapers and practicing elimination communication from birth to help you create a functional and easy to use cloth diaper stash.

My Dream Ideal Natural Newborn Cloth Diaper Stash for Elimination Communication Backup

Having cloth diapered and EC'd two newborn babies, I now have a better idea of which newborn cloth diapers I would want in my stash.

My ideal cloth diaper stash is also very much influenced by my preference for natural fibers (organic cotton, hemp, and wool).

Even bamboo viscose / rayon is not natural enough for my taste, since it is a semi-synthetic fiber made through harsh chemical processing of cellulose. Bamboo fabric is not as eco-friendly as it is touted to be!

Wool diaper covers are my favorite, for their amazing natural properties. If you prefer not to use wool, you could use Polyester (petroleum-based plastic) diaper covers made with a waterproof layer of PUL or TPU. Instead of a wool puddle pad, you could use an organic cotton pad with a hidden PUL waterproof layer.

My dream newborn cloth diaper stash to use as backup for EC would include:

(24) Cloth-eez Prefolds, organic cotton, size Newborn
(6) Cloth-eez Muslin Flats, organic cotton, newborn
(2) Diaper belts
(6) Newborn Fitted Cloth Diapers (from a mixture of brands)
(3) Babee Greens Classic Wool Diaper Covers, size Newborn 6-12 lbs or Small 8-18 lbs
- Or 6-8 polyester cloth diaper covers, size Newborn
(1) Pull-on wool cover, size Newborn (for wearing with fitted diapers)
(6) Newborn All-in-One (AIO) Cloth Diapers (to use at night)
(60) Organic cotton flannel cloth wipes (one wet and one dry for each diaper change)
(1) Small Wool Puddle Pad to use as a changing pad
(1) Large Wool Puddle Pad to use for diaper-free time and to protect the bed
- Or Komfi Baby organic cotton waterproof mat
Wet bags for home and diaper bag (wool or PUL)

This comes out to 42 diaper changes. My newborns tended to go through about 20 cloth diapers per 24 hours, with offering the potty multiple times per day and changing the diaper as soon as I noticed it was wet. A stash of around 40 newborn cloth diapers should allow for washing diapers every other day.

We will talk about each of these types of newborn diapers in further detail below! You can click on an item in the list above to skip ahead, or read the whole article for all the details.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you click on an affiliate link and make a purchase, I will earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. Thanks for your support!

Newborn Cloth Diaper Stash for Elimination Communication | EC Peesy (2024)

FAQs

How do you position a newborn in elimination communication? ›

Hold your baby under the thighs resting their back, neck, and head on your torso. This is the hold that we use most often...it's so versatile! The classic EC hold can easily be done over a sink, toilet, on the side of a potty, or outside.

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How to do elimination communication with newborn? ›

Classic EC Position

This is the most common elimination communication position and a great one for newborns. It can be used EVERYWHERE. Baby's back and neck are supported by your chest, and baby is loosely held by the thighs and 'pointed' in the direction of the receptacle. For a boy, simply use your finger to aim.

Keep Reading ›

Do cloth diapered babies potty train sooner? ›

Though no studies have been done that I'm aware of, many moms say that babies in cloth train faster and that disposable pull-ups do nothing but prolong the process. Cloth diapers, unlike their disposable-Sodium-Polacrylate-filled counterparts, feel wet to the touch when they are wet or soiled.

Learn More Now ›

Why are my cloth diapers leaking pee? ›

Cloth diaper leaks will happen if your fit isn't right, and if your inserts aren't fully saturated when you notice leaks, that is likely a sign that you need to adjust your fit, or check your insert absorbency!

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What are the downsides of elimination communication? ›

According to Pediatric Occupational Therapist Quiara Smith, another downside is that many children whose parents choose to do Elimination Communication have bowel and bladder issues like constipation, bedwetting, and sensory differences when they are older — mostly during toddlerhood and school-age years.

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How early should I start elimination communication? ›

Elimination Communication (EC) is the practice of identifying your child's bathroom cues early on—often as early as a few days old—to help teach them to use the toilet, not a diaper, for their bathroom needs.

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What is the no diaper elimination method? ›

The elimination communication potty training method is based on the idea that babies naturally signal when they need to go. Once you've figured out your child's cues, you can position them over a potty and make a sound (like a whistle or a hiss). They'll eventually respond by peeing or pooping on demand.

Do cloth diapers delay crawling? ›

One of the most common misconceptions about cloth diapers is that they will cause developmental delays in babies—specifically in regards to rolling over, crawling and walking. Studies have found that cloth diapers do not restrict movement or delay development in babies1.

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How to potty train from cloth diapers? ›

We recommend starting around 18-24 months. If your child is very unsure about the potty, take a break and come back to it in a few weeks. You do not need to purchase pull-ups or any disposable products and can continue to cloth diaper your baby until they are fully potty trained.

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Do you change cloth diaper after every pee? ›

We recommend to change a cloth diaper every two hours. This prevents your child from having urine against the skin for long periods of time, with the risk of redness.

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Why does pee keep escaping newborn diaper? ›

The most common cause of leakage is fitting your baby with the wrong diaper size. So start by checking if the diaper size is right for your baby. Note also that the amount of pee increases as your baby grows. By the time your baby is 12 months old, the amount of pee discharged in a day will be twice that of a newborn.

Tell Me More ›

Why do cloth diapers leak at night? ›

Overnight cloth diapers may leak if they become fully saturated. There is no need to look for special nighttime cloth diapers for overnight periods. To avoid overnight leaks, try adding more absorbency to the diapers you already have!