Happy New Year friends,

We wish you all a very Happy and Healthy 2012.

Recently our friend Maria of Change-Diapers.com gave birth to a baby boy (Congratulations again Maria) so I thought she could give great advise on a newborn baby diaper stash. We have seen this question before and are delighted to have Maria's input. Thank you again Maria, and all the best with your new baby!

Newborn Diaper Stash

The question, “How many cloth diapers do I need?” is a common one, and there isn’t a “one size fits all” answer. The easiest way to determine how many diapers you need is to figure out how many diapers your baby uses per day, then multiply by how many days you want to go between washes.

I began my cloth diaper stash very gradually, to minimize the impact on my budget. This means I was washing a lot, and I constantly felt under pressure to hurry up and get the diapers dry and stuffed. You really can’t expect diapers that are being washed and machine dried every day, to last through potty training, especially not for more than one child. (Imagine what your favorite pair of socks or undies would look like if you wore and washed them every day for 2 1/2 years!)

Once I had over 20 diapers, I felt far less stressed about keeping up with the diaper laundry. Personally, I feel the minimum number you should have is two-and-a-half days worth of diapers. So, if your baby uses 10 diapers per day, 25 diapers would allow you to wash every other day, hang shells dry (inside or out), and have a few to get you through until you get the diapers folded and put away.

Having more diapers means you can wash less often, however, I don’t recommend going more than 3-4 days between washings. Not only will diapers be more stinky and harder to get clean, but if you have a week’s worth of diapers to wash, you will have to do multiple loads anyway! If you overload your washer, you will have a hard time getting the diapers clean.

One benefit of having more diapers is that with a larger diaper stash, each diaper goes through the rotation less often and will sustain less wear-and tear. No matter how many diapers you have, I always recommend having some “backup” such as a few prefolds & covers if you are a pocket mama. I say from experience that when you think you’ve got it all figured out to get the diapers finished before you run out of clean ones, your child will dirty three diapers in a row!

Since cloth diapering a newborn, I recommend having even a few more diapers in your stash (not as expensive as it sounds if you are using prefolds & covers!) Having a newborn (and all the laundry a newborn entails!) is overwhelming enough without having to worry about diapers. Newborns are also notorious for dirtying one diaper after another, no matter how long you wait to make sure they are finished! Last night (as of my writing) I changed 6 diapers in 6 hours!

I used to be able to wash diapers, dry them, stuff them, put them away and have a clean laundry room for a day. Not so anymore since diapering two! My laundry room is in a constant state of chaos (see the first photo, that’s tame!) but I’m OK with that. Saves me a step.

Is there a “magic” number in your head that is the perfect number of diapers?

About Maria:

Maria writes the popular blog, Change-Diapers.com  She is married and the mom to a 6 year old girl, 2 1/2 year old boy and now a new baby boy.  Be sure to visit Maria at www.change-diapers.com and her facebook page at facebook.com/changediapersblog