You can start out with a few cloth diapers to test if you like to use them. This way you have the opportunity to get used to cloth diapers with your little baby before you decide if you want to invest in more.
There is a difference between how many diaper changes a newborn baby and a larger child needs.
Newborn:
A newborn baby can easily have up to 10-15 diaper changes a day, so it takes many cloth diapers to keep up with washing and drying. We recommend about 27 Natural Newborn cloth diapers for the newborn baby if you need to use fabric full time.
Full-time use:
When your child is about 6 kg at 2 months of age, it has about 7 diaper changes a day. Now your child is big enough to fit Elskbar’s Natural Snap-In cloth diaper. We recommend that you buy around 21-24 cloth diapers to use full time. This is calculated on the based on the fact that you wash every second to third day.
However, reservations must be made for the length of the drying time. It can vary greatly depending on snow, rain, or sunshine – or whether you use the tumble dryer or not. The longer the drying time, the more diapers are needed. Read more about washing and drying cloth diapers in Elskbar’s guide on how to wash cloth diapers.
Part-time use:
If you choose to use cloth diapers part-time you don’t have to buy a lot of diapers. Doing cloth diapers on part-time, for example, can be using cloth diapers in the day time and disposable diapers at night time or cloth at home and not in daycare or out and about. You can also just use cloth diapers when you are in the mood for it. It is a really good solution for many cloth diaper parents. You can start by buying maybe 5 diapers and slowly add more until you reach about 10-15 diaper which is an appropriate number for part-time use.
The more diapers the less wear:
If you choose to have a small number of diapers you should be aware that they are worn out much faster than if you have many diapers in rotation. Use and wash wear on diapers so it may not necessarily pay off to buy just a small number of diapers.
And remember:
Cloth diapers should not make you stressed or make you feel guilty if you just don’t have the energy to use them. You have to have the passion and it should give you value and joy. There is nothing right or wrong – you set your own rules and what suits you and your family best.