Cloth diapering a newborn

Good news! It isn't as hard as I thought it would be. Bad news! It's as stressful as I thought it would be. Let me explain...

First of all I found THE BEST place to rent diapers from. Yes, rent. For a mere $10 a week I have 25 diapers to use.  I love that I don't have to commit to a long rental period because my babies grow so fast and I'd waste money if Elsa outgrew them too early. Melissa at The Green Baby Store has been amazing to work with. She knows her stuff and knew all the right questions to ask to make sure I had the diapers that worked best for our family. She had my box all ready to ship so that when I emailed her on the night Elsa was born, she was ready to ship my diapers the very next day.  Being a holiday weekend I had to wait an extra day for them to arrive, but there they were on Tuesday when we got home from Elsa's very first outing (the library).

I love having a variety of diapers to chose from depending on the time of day and where we are going.  I've learned how to use prefolds, pockets, AIO's and fitteds.  The best part is that they ALL WORK and it didn't take long for me to get the hang of using each kind.  Of course I've become partial to certain ones - hello Bum Genius AIO!!!! If it weren't for the rental program I wouldn't have had the opportunity to try BG. They are pricey, but now I know they are worth it.

The fit for a newborn has been wonderful. I can't recommend using newborn sizes enough! My Happy Heiney stash for when she's older would NEVER have fit on her right now. (I have a couple of Happy Heiney's in my newborn stash and am thrilled to know that they work and that I prefer the velcro over the snap closure since that's what I purchased a few months ago off of Craigslist.

So what is stressful about it?  The washing and more specifically the drying part. I'm air drying everything so it takes a while and I'm always worried that I won't have the thicker diapers ready in time for the next outing.  Prefolds dry fast, but they aren't nearly as thick and I have to change her way more often - not something I want to deal with when we're out and about.  So far I've only had to change one cloth diaper in the middle of the night and hopefully that trend will continue. It's not very easy to change a diaper on the bed, not to mention the risk I'm taking every time I do it - even with a towel under her.

Are you considering using cloth? I'd love to answer any questions you might have!