How many cloth diapers do I need?

So, you did all the research and all the money math that tells you cloth diapering will save you money and stress of where you’re gonna get diapers if the store doesn’t have them today.

But now you need to figure out how many of the darn things you actually need.

You are going to need at least 1 cloth diaper for every 2 hours through the day, and 1-2 cloth diapers for overnight.

Also keep in mind that newborns poop all. the. time. so you will probably want to keep a few extra cloth diapers around during the newborn stage.

If you are interested in learning more about newborn cloth diapers check out my article ” Best newborn cloth diapers: Top 3, my experience and pictures”

How many cloth diapers do I need per day?

I typically figure 8 cloth diapers per day, per kid, times however many days you want to go in between washes.

So, I have 3 kids in cloth diapers, that means every day I need

8 cloth diapers x 3 kids = 24 cloth diapers per day.

But, while I do wash my cloth diapers everyday I don’t like only having enough cloth diapers to last 1 day.

The amount of cloth diapers that seems to work best for me is

8 Cloth diapers ready for today per kid.

8 Cloth diapers in the wash per kid.

And 8 cloth diapers drying per kid.

So, 8 cloth diapers x 3 kids x 3 days = 72 cloth diapers for 3 kids.

Now if you are comfortable with having less than 3 days worth of cloth diapers, you don’t have to buy that many.

If you are putting all your cloth diapers in the dryer, you may not need as many cause they wouldn’t take as long to dry compared to if you were hanging them out to dry.

Another factor you will want to consider is how old your baby is, if they are a newborn you’re probably gonna want more like 12-15 cloth diapers per day.

If you have a kid that is close to potty-training you could probably get by with maybe 4-5 cloth diapers per day.

How many cloth diaper inserts do I need?

Having around 1-2 inserts per cloth diaper cover/ shell is a really good place to start, then if your baby needs more absorbency you can buy a few more.

Also you will need to have a few extra inserts to put in an overnight cloth diaper.

However, the number of inserts you need will vary depending not only how many cloth diapers you have, but also how old your baby is and how much they pee.

Some babies could probably go all the way to potty-training with just 1-2 inserts, while other babies may need more like 3-4 maybe even 5 inserts per cloth diaper.

Also the more absorbent your inserts are, the fewer you will need.

If you are using microfiber inserts (least absorbent cloth diapering material) you will need more than if you were using hemp inserts (most absorbent cloth diapering material).

If you want to learn more about cloth diaper inserts check out my article ” Cloth diaper inserts: What are they & which are best?”

How many cloth wipes do I need?

The awesome thing about cloth wipes is that they clean up poo way better than disposable wipes, so you don’t need as many cloth wipes as you would disposable wipes.

I would say your gonna want around 2-3 cloth wipes per cloth diaper so 48-72 cloth wipes.

While that may seem like a lot of wipes if you used the same equation with disposable wipes you would get

8,760 disposable diapers from birth to potty-training x 3 disposable wipes per diaper = 26,280 disposable wipes.

If you take the average disposable wipe at $0.02 a piece, and times that by 26,280 that’s $525.60 for just disposable wipes from birth to potty-training.

All of a sudden $83.70 for 72 Grovia wipes or $71.70 for 72 Cloth-eez birdseye wipes doesn’t seem so bad now does it?

How many cloth diapers do you need for part-time?

Cloth diapering part-time can mean different things to different people.

Not cloth diapering overnight?

If you are only cloth diapering during the day and using disposables at night then you need 1-2 less cloth diapers per day.

So if normally people need 8 cloth diapers per day, you could either just stick with 8 and have extra just in case or you could instead buy 6-7 cloth diapers per day.

I would still recommend that you get 3 days worth, so 7 ready to go, 7 dirty and 7 drying for use tomorrow, 7 x 3 = 21 cloth diapers.

If cloth diapering overnight seems really scary to you check out my article ” Good overnight cloth diaper: How to stop leaks for dry jammies”

Not cloth diapering out-and-about?

If you are only cloth diapering while at home and not when you are out-and-about, then I would still get 8 cloth diapers per day.

Because some days you may not go anywhere and you want to make sure you have enough cloth diapers.

Not using cloth diapers at daycare or with babysitter?

If you are only using cloth diapers when your baby is with you then the amount of cloth diapers you need can seem pretty hard to figure out, however it’s actually really easy.

First, figure out how many hours your baby will be at daycare or with baby sitter.

Since this can vary greatly depending on your work schedulable and stuff like that, I’m gonna just go with 6 hours for this example.

So, you are supposed to change your baby every 2 hours, so if your baby is in disposable diapers for 6 hours a day you need 3 less cloth diapers per day.

8 cloth diapers – 3 = 5 cloth diapers per day baby is in daycare.

However you might still want to have 8 cloth diapers per day to use on your days off when baby is with you all day.

Resources

Link to Grovia wipes at Grovia.com

Link to Cloth-eez birdseye wipes at Greenmountaindiapers.com