We recommend to change a cloth diaper every two hours. This prevents your child from having urine against the skin for long periods of time, with the risk of redness.
The more absorbency there is in the cloth diaper, the less wet it becomes when the child pees. If there is only one small insert in the diaper it immediately gets wet from front to back. If, on the other hand, a diaper has a lot of absorbency- a pee becomes centered where peeing is. So the number of inserts is really important, according to how often the diaper needs to be changed.
Of course, the diaper must always be changed as soon as there is poop in it.
Transition phase from disposable diaper to cloth diaper
If you have just started on cloth diapering and have previously used disposable diapers, be aware that there may be a transitional phase where the diaper needs to be changed extra frequently. Disposable diapers are very absorbent – they also absorb the natural moisture from the skin, so the baby starts to produce extra moisture to compensate. This means a cloth diaper gets wet more quickly during the transition phase and you have to expect to change more frequently. Maybe every hour for a start and later every two hours as normal for cloth diapers.
Brand new diapers
It is important to know that brand new diapers do not achieve the maximum absorbency level before the inserts have been washed about 8 times. Therefore, new diapers need to be changed more often than old diapers. Read more in our guide brand new diapers.