Lincoln's Umbilical Cord Cloth Diaper Stash Review

It's been three weeks since I had Lincoln and it's so exciting to finally get to break out his diaper stash that I've been slowly building for the past nine months.  Being the type of person I am, I had to try out everything I could get my hands on.  That left me with quite a big newborn stash to test out.  Unfortunately Lincoln was born a bit larger than I had expected.  He's a half pound bigger than Riley, and over a pound larger than Reagan was.  That's a boy for you.  Luckily he was still small enough to fit into his cute itti bitti diapers that I'd been looking forward to putting on him for so long.

If you've been following our story, then you know that week one was a bit hectic for us.  We got his circumcision done at 2 days old.  Meconium lasted for what seemed like forever which led us to find out it was actually blood.  That landed us in the hospital only to come up empty handed and no answers.  That being said, we used disposable diapers for the first week of Lincoln's life.  Unlike most cloth diaper users I didn't have any problems using the disposables.  We didn't have any leaks.  We didn't have any blowouts.  We didn't have any rashes.  I would like to note though, that in the first week, Lincoln was not a heavy wetter and he didn't poop in great quantities.  None of this swayed my choice though.  I was sooooo excited to use cloth. 

Come one week old I couldn't wait any longer.  I just had to break out the cloth.  I put him in a Lil' Joey and couldn't believe how cute he looked.  After that I didn't look back.  It was cloth from here on out.  I realized really fast how little of my stash I could use while Lincoln still had his umbilical cord stump.  I didn't have too many diapers that would go down low enough.  Luckily I had bought a small stash of prefolds for emergency situations and if I hadn't added those in, I probably would have had to use disposables even longer.

Now that Lincoln's umbilical cord stump is gone (it fell off just shy of two weeks), I wanted to share with you all the diapers that we were able to use on Lincoln during those first days with his cord still attached and how each of them worked for us.

(Qty: 3) Green Mountain Diapers Cloth-eez Prefolds - Size: Newborn Orange Edge
Prefolds worked great for the umbilical cord stage.  I could fold them down as far as I wanted to in order to get them under the cord.  I did a mixture of both the angel wing fold and the jellyroll fold.  Both worked very well without any leaks or blowouts, but I did like the jellyroll better because I could flair out the front of the diaper so that it wasn't as bulky on my itti bitti baby.  They did take a bit more time to maneuver than my AIO's and fitted diapers, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.  After a few changes I had the folds down.  I also liked how easy they were to clean, how fast they were to dry, and how simple it was to just fold them and put them away.  Prefolds might not be the cutest option, but they definitely are the most economical, versatile, and easiest to clean.

(Qty: 3) Green Mountain Diapers Cloth-eez Prefolds (w/ extended tabs) - Size: Newborn Orange Edge - click here for tutorial 
On these prefolds I sewed on extended tabs to make them last longer before having to move up to the next size.  At this age the tabs aren't exactly necessary since the regular prefolds still fit fine, but the tabs did still make wrapping the prefold around Lincoln's stomach a bit easier.  My only fallback with adding the tabs is that the flannel is not as easy to use a snappi on as the open weave cotton material of the standard prefold is.  If I were to make more of these I will find a new type of fabric to use for the extended tabs.  Next time I'll bring my snappi to the fabric store with me.

(Qty: 8) Upcycled T-Shirt Easy Winged Prefolds - click here for tutorial 
This was a custom prefold design of mine that I created using old T-shirts and terrycloth.  Having designed these before ever using cloth diapers and not having a baby to test them on, I was very surprised at how well they work.  The stretch of the fabric is GREAT!  I love how easy it is to do the jellyroll and I love how nicely they wrap around Lincoln's belly creating a nice smooth fit.  The knit fabric is also very easy to use a snappi on.  They work great with pee and I've never had a leak with them.  Like I said though, Lincoln isn't a heavy wetter, but they would be easy to add a doubler to if needed.  My only problem with them is the area between the tabs and the wings that fold or roll in for the main part of the diaper.  It creates a little opening that poop can slide out of.  Nothing to worry about if you have a nice cover on, but it's something I'm going to look into solving with a future design of these diapers.  Like the prefolds they are economical and easy to clean.  They're not as versatile as a regular prefold, but they are definitely easier to use.

(Qty: 6) Kissaluvs Cotton Fleece Fitted V-2.0 - Size: 0
These are by far my fave nite time solution.  I haven't had one leak with these or one blow out.  I LOVE them.  They may take an extra step more than an AIO or pocket, but I love that I don't have to worry about Lincoln sleeping too long and waking up with a mess all over his clothes.  I love how soft and fluffy they are and that I can get them in different colors (not like you see the colors when they're on him).  I didn't think I would like snaps on a newborn, but these are quite easy since it's only one snap on each wing, plus the umbilical cord snapdown.  I found that even after his cord fell off, these diapers still fit better when the umbilical cord snapdown was still snapped down.  Once in awhile I'll add a fleece liner to these, but Lincoln doesn't seem to mind the wetness so I've stopped adding them.  There's not much more I can say about these.  I love them.

(Qty: 1) Kissaluvs Newborn AIO
This diaper was my fave daytime diaper while Lincoln had his umbilical cord still on.  It's still one of my favorite diapers even now.  I've never had a leak with this diaper and I've never had a poop blowout.  It's simple and easy and that's why I like it.  Once again this diaper has snaps like the KLO's, but it only has one snap per wing so they are quick and easy to use.  I also like that this is a really trim and thin AIO diaper.  This makes it easier to fit under smaller clothes and it's super fast on drying time.  The microfleece interior has gotten kind of pilly, but it doesn't bother me at all.  It's like a well loved sweater or your favorite blanket.  It just adds to the character of it.  I also love the color of this diaper.  These diapers don't come in flashy prints, but at least the colors are nice and fun.

(Qty: 2) Rump.a.rooz Lil' Joey Newborn AIO
When I first got this diaper I thought, "OMG!  This is the smallest diaper I've ever seen!!!"  Brian didn't even think it could even fit on a baby.  To our surprise though, it fits Lincoln perfectly.  Well, almost perfectly.  I have had poop explosions in this diaper.  It's only happened once or twice though so it doesn't keep me from loving this super cute diaper.  The prints are so cute and they have so many to choose from.  Like the other diapers it's a snap diaper with one snap per wing so it's really easy to put on.  It is a really thick diaper though so it takes a little longer to dry, but not an obscene amount of time.  I really like the microfleece in this diaper too.  It doesn't seem to pill at all.  I use it all the time and it still looks brand new inside.

(Qty: 2) GroVia Organic Newborn AIO
This diaper is so cute!  I'm sure you all know by now that I've got a thing for owls though.  This diaper, unlike the other two AIO's has an organic cotton interior instead of microfleece.  I'm not sure if the fact that it's not a stay dry interior bothers Lincoln or not.  Sometimes I'll add a fleece liner and sometimes I won't.  If it does bother him, he doesn't show it.  I do like how it's layered inside.  It still takes awhile for this diaper to dry, but the layering definitely helps with drying time.  Once again this diaper is a snap diaper but with only one snap per wing and I love that about these diaper.  One snap is fast and easy.  I have had leaks and blowouts with this diaper though.  Not sure if I'm just at a size in between snaps, or if it's a flaw.  I'll have to test it a bit longer to find out.  This diaper doesn't technically have a cord snap down, but since the rise is so short it still works with the stump on.  I also like that there are rise snaps so I'm guessing this diaper will last longer than some of the others.  We'll soon see.

(Qty: 8) Diaper Covers
I'll go into more detail on the covers in my overall newborn diaper stash review.  I did not exclude any of the covers during the umbilical cord stage and they all seemed to work equally as well.  All of my diaper covers have interior gussets except one.  Even the one without gussets seems to perform well.  I just don't use the one without gussets at night.  I think it's actually funny that I have so many covers because it's so rare that I get poop on any of the covers that I probably could have gotten away with only three or four covers max.  I used the following covers: Thirsties Cover XS, Thirsties Duo Wrap - Size: 1, Bummis Super Brite NB, Bummis Super Lite NB, Prowrap NB, Weehuggers Cover - Size: 1, and GenY Universal Cover SM.

So that's my umbilical cord diaper stash for Lincoln.  It worked out great for us for the one week that we were limited to only these diapers.  Now that we're free from the umbilical cord it's a free for all on our diaper stash.  I'm even tempted to start breaking out some of the one size diapers just to see if they'll fit yet.  I just hate to lose even a day of use with my newborn diapers though so I haven't reached for my post newborn stash yet.  Right now I'm just trying to bask in the moment of how little Lincoln is.  He'll never be this small again and I'm sad to say I'll never have another little one this small again.  You can bet though as soon as he does grow out of his newborn stash I'll be posting lots of reviews to let you know how they worked out for us.  Till then keep checking back for more Wordless Wednesdays, DIY projects, Reviews, Giveaways, & great information on cloth diapers and other mommy stuff as I keep on keepin' on with my Adventures In Fluff.