cloth diapering issue...

[♥ms.pacman♥]

so my son is about 3 weeks old and we just started using cloth diapers (green mountain prefolds, snappis & thirsties covers) maybe 3-4 days ago. we wanted to use cloth from the get-go, but the cloth diapers would irritate the belly button area since it would rub against the umbilical cord stump and cause the surrounding skin to get red and irritated (so we just used disposables that had the "notch" in the front).

anyway, once his umbilical cord stump fell off and all, we started using cloth diapers. now the good thing is that they are very absorbent and there are less leaks using cloth (disposables, especially luvs/huggies, would cause pee to leak out everywhere..we were dealing with multiple leaks every day). however, the downside is that these cloth diapers seem VERY bulky, i mean, ridiculously-looking bulky..it is a struggle to get 3/6month-size onesies on him sometimes! more importantly, with the cloth diapers on my poor baby cannot cross his legs at all (which he likes to do often) and cannot even bend over at all, which is a problem when we go to burp him after feeding (we usually sit him straight up and bend him over a little while holding his head and burp him in that position, we found that that method far more effective than the over-the-shoulder method). also, the other thing is that when i try to put him in a infant carrier (sleepy wrap, which is like the moby wrap) it is a lot harder to put him in it with a cloth diaper since he can't bend too much. i almost feel like when he tries to bend at the waist, the cloth diaper digs into his tummy or something. sooo...just wondering if anyone else had this problem?? i am putting it on wrong or is this just how it is? will this become less of an issue when he gets bigger?

and fyi right now we are using orange-edge newborn size and size XS (newborn) Thirsties covers..and actually the newborn size is getting to be too small since my son is about 9 lbs now so we are switching to the yellow-edge size. we decided to use prefolds since that seemed the most cost-effective, plus we use the prefolds a lot for other things (covering changing table pad, etc).

[saleenl]

This probably isn't the answer you want to hear, but we had the same issues. Maybe we could have worked them out but we also had a couple of BumGenius AIOs in our stash and loved them so much that we went out and got more and turned the prefolds into "wipers" (used to wipe up spit up and faces and hands and floors and everything else). The AIOs are *so* much trimmer. Yes, they take longer in the dryer but we're used to it. We had a similar issue with clothing - dd is long-waisted like me and fitting clothes over her torso and a cloth dipe is challenging at best.

Of course, we live in the the same town as Cotton Babies (run by the makers of Bum Genius) so we were able to snap up a ton of seconds and barely used AIOs for $10-$12 each so that made it much less expensive. In addition, we sell back our lightly used AIOs for $5 per diaper which also helps a ton!

[wellyes]

Newborns with CDs have big bottoms . It's normal. I was a huge fan of the BG AIOs, won't be too long before you can use them. They fit almost as trimly as disposables. Dream-Eze and SposoEasy make similar dipes. GL!

[Andi98989]

I was on diaperswappers yesterday and stumbled across a thread about t-shirt diapers. DS is having issues with synthetic materials in his diapers, and I am inept a pre-folds, so it caught my eye. I think we're going to give it a try! There were a lot of people saying that they do this and love it.

http://www.cloth-diapers-made-easy.c...rt-diaper.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL7ZF3jlVgc

[JBaxter]

Jack has always been in cloth from 30 minutes after he was born. Yup you get bubble butt but it is INSANELY cute. I did buy some onesie extenders when he was a few months old but it really hasnt been an issue. ( FYI I bought ONE bag of disposables for him in the past 15 months.) I really didnt find the Moby difficult to master I used one for the first 6 months with Jack too.

[maestramommy]

I have this issue more now because I use a Thirsties AIO pocket (size M) with a lot of stuffing for nighttime, and I can only button one snap on Laurel's onesie. She doesn't have any trouble moving or sitting though. I fasten the dipe below her belly button. If it's too high the cover can't cover well, and I end up with wet clothes at the waistline. I like to have the top flap of the prefold almost an inch lower than the belly button. I save the height for the back, to prevent poop squishing out there.

Laurel is 7 months, using infant size prefolds, a hemp doubler, and Thirsties S covers. She sits up really well. See if you can fasten the diper lower in front.

ETA: just checking your siggie. I should add the disclaimer that I didn't really use cloth until Laurel was a month old. Her stump took forever to fall off, and her butt was so small even premie prefolds were unusable unless I doubled them up. Then suddenly they were too small. It does feel as though she's been in the infant size for a long time now.

[wimama]

After a while you can really grow to love and miss that fluffy butt. Seriously, they might look uncomfortable due to the size of the diaper, but I don't think they mind. Just think how much more comfy that cotton prefold must be compared to a paper diaper. I didn't like prefolds at first with my DS but I really grew to love them over time. I bought a bunch of different pockets to try out and he started wearing them about a week after he was born. They all leaked out the leg hole due to his little chicken legs. Prefolds work great. If we have another baby, the bulk of our stash will be prefolds for the newborn stage.

If it is the bulk between the legs that looks uncomfortable to you, you can try a different fold like a bikini twist. That will makes things nice and narrow between the legs. My personal favorite fold though is the jelly roll. I roll it in quite a bit before folding it up and I can get it pretty trim between the legs. It took me a while and a bit of practice before I could make my fold nice and trim, though.

[maestramommy]

I do a modified version of the angel fold, and it really eliminates the bulk on the belly. I do the angel fold, but when I bring the flap up, I then spread the corners to the sides. This gives a thicker layer for the snappi to grab hold, so I don't have to worry about it poking the baby. And if I have to fold the top flap in, there's only one layer to fold in. It makes for a nice flat front. It was a little tricky at first, but it's very easy now. I get great gussets for the side of the leg, but it still tapers in at the crotch before spreading out. Basically you get an hourglass shape, much like a pocket or AIO.