How Many Newborn Cloth Diapers Do I Need: The Ultimate Guide
How many newborn cloth diapers you need is really going to depend on how often you want to do laundry. I recommend washing them every day, or every other day. That has worked best for us to keep it under control. It’s really not difficult and I’ll share our wash routine with you too!
A quick internet search says that newborns go through about 8 diapers a day, but in my own experience with cloth we definitely need more than 8 diapers even if we are washing them every day.
Factors That Determine How Many Newborn Cloth Diapers You Will Need
Type of Diaper
We personally use newborn all in one diapers that also have a pocket for an extra insert. This guide will cover this type of diaper. If you are using a different type of diaper (like prefolds or preflats) the number of diapers you need will likely be different because of the different factors (like dry time or how many covers and diapers you need).
Feeling Moisture
I found that even using newborn cloth diapers with athletic wicking jersey lining (which helps to pull the moisture away from skin faster) babies will still feel the wetness more in cloth diapers compared to disposables. This means they may want you to change them every time they pee. This can be as often as every 1 to 2 hours (or even more) in the first few weeks. You will also want to change them right away anytime they poop. Don’t worry though, it gets way easier and less often as they get older.
Waiting for Laundry
Washing and drying the diapers takes time and you’ll need diapers to use while they are in the laundry. Depending on your own washing and drying routine you may need a few more diapers if your process takes longer (like if you hang your diapers to dry instead of putting them in the dryer).
Our Wash Routine
We started with a simple wash routine and through trial and error my husband came up with this wash routine that works perfectly for us. The trick is to not use too much detergent or it can get stuck in the diapers but use enough that it gets the diapers clean. We do the extra rinse cycles just to make sure there’s no detergent residue left on the diapers.
The Steps:
- Quick wash on hot without any detergent
- 2 rinse cycles without any detergent
- Heavy duty hot cycle with detergent
- 2 rinse cycles without detergent
- Dryer on low heat
This is what works for us based on our washer, water hardness, diaper load size, and detergent. Everyone’s wash routine will probably be slightly different based on trial and error.
How many newborn cloth diapers you need will also depend on how you plan to dry them. If you will be hanging your diapers to air dry, it will take much longer and you’ll need more diapers to get you through until they’re dry and ready to use agin.
I know a lot of people are worried about putting their cloth diapers in the dryer because the PUL (the plastic outer layer) could get damaged and the elastic could wear out faster but so far our diapers are all still in great condition. We will continue to throw our diapers in the dryer (on low) because it’s quick and easy and makes it so cloth diapers are doable for us.
Wash routines can be confusing to figure out when you’re new to cloth diapers so if you’re just starting out I highly recommend learning about wash cycles from April at Cloth Diapers for Beginners.
Not Enough Diapers
I did some research before my son was born to try to find out how many newborn cloth diapers we would need. We started with 14 newborn diapers and we could just barely make it through 24 hours even when we washed all the dirty ones immediately. My husband was throwing a load in as soon as 7 were dirty and doing a whole wash cycle multiple times a day to make sure there were always some clean and dry ones ready to go. A few times we actually ran out and had to use the disposables on hand while we waited for the diapers to finish drying.
That was not sustainable and it was just too stressful to be needing to do laundry that often and we decided we definitely needed more diapers to make it a smoother process.
The Perfect Amount of Diapers
When my son was a few weeks old we ordered 12 more diapers so we just about doubled our cloth diaper stash. With a total of 26 newborn all in one diapers (with the pocket) and 26 inserts this turned out to be the perfect amount for us.
For the first couple of months we cloth diapered day and night and we would wash a load of diapers once a day and we always had enough clean ones on hand.
Now we have switched to using disposable diapers (Honest overnight) at night and we can get away with washing diapers every other day and still always have clean ones on hand.
Which Diapers Do We Use?
We personally have newborn all in one diapers with pockets and then added inserts. Our newborn AIO (all in one) diapers are from Texas Tushies and Happy Beehinds and our inserts are from Greener Oddysey. They both have AWJ (athletic wicking jersey) liners to help pull moisture away from the skin. The Texas Tushies fit perfectly until our son started to have really chunky thighs and then the Happy Beehinds started to fit a little better. Both still work great though and he’s around 15 pounds now.
I did tons of research on cloth diapers and the best options before our son was born (months worth of research) and those were what I decided on after comparing every type of diaper and different companies. We’ve been super happy with the diapers and the inserts!
Recap
The chart below is just a rough estimate based on my experience using AIO (all in one) newborn diapers with a pocket and newborn 5 layer hemp and bamboo inserts. It will give you a starting point for how many newborn cloth diapers you will want to have ready to go.
| How often you wash | Using Disposables at night? | Minimum Number of Diapers |
| Daily | No | 20 |
| Daily | Yes | 15 |
| Every other day | No | 40 |
| Every other day | Yes | 30 |
