How Many Cloth Diapers Do I Need? – Cloth Diaper Basics

It’s paramount to ask yourself how many cloth diapers do I need if you’ve decided to start using cloth diapers on your baby. Although the question is straightforward, the answer depends on several factors.

Therefore, feeling overwhelmed is something to expect if you are new to using cloth diapers on your baby. Thus, this guide is here to help you understand how many diapers are necessary for your baby, among other helpful tips.

With the information here, your question will not only be answered but you will also learn more about cloth diaper basics for your child.

Factors that Determine How Many Diapers Your Baby Needs

One thing is for sure, parents and children are different around the world. Therefore, your preferences don’t match those of other parents.

Similarly, your child is also different from other children. This means that what might work for other children might not work for your child.

With that in mind, there are different factors that affect or determine the number of diapers you need. Each of the factors has significant effects on the final decision, which means that you need to take keen considerations.

Thus, some of the considerations include:

Your Child’s Age

When considering age, it’s mainly about how often or not your child pees during the day. For instance, newborn babies pee a lot during the day and require a diaper change more often.

However, the number of times most children pee decreases as they grow older. Below is how many times children may pee depending on their age:

Newborns – If your child is barely 3 months old, then you shouldn’t be surprised if they pee 4-6 times during the day. As a result, most parents with newborn babies may change up to 10-15 diapers during the day.

Infants – Infants between the ages of 6-12 months old don’t usually pee a lot and may only need 6-10 diapers a day.

Toddlers – Lastly, toddlers between the ages of 12-24 months don’t really pee a lot. Therefore, they require minimal diaper change ranging from 4-7 times during the day.

However, the numbers mentioned here are just average estimations. As mentioned earlier, all babies are different and that may easily have an impact on the outcome on each age bracket.

Additionally, other external factors might also affect the number of times your baby pees during the day. This means that you may change your baby’s diaper more or fewer times than the average mentioned, regardless of their age.

The Stash Size

Ultimately, you do need a significant number of diapers especially with newborns and infants. Therefore, the larger your diaper stash, the easier it gets when tackling this experience.

Although it might cost you some significant amount upfront, building a large diaper stash can be a great investment. That’s because you will have multiple diapers to change your child whenever you need to.

Moreover, the rotation between the stash will be prolonged, meaning you won’t need to keep washing your baby’s diapers more often. In fact, you can easily use a large diaper stash on more than one kid.

So, how many are enough? Well, if you are using the one-diapering system on your baby, you may need 40-50 diapers in your stash.

Such an amount on your stash can last for several months and you can use it on more than one child as well. However, this mostly depends on your budget, which is actually the determining factor here.

If you can’t afford a stash of that magnitude, opting for a smaller one isn’t a bad idea at all. Of course, this will last you for a few months and requires you to replace your cloth diapers more often.

But if it’s what you can afford, it’s better than having nothing to facilitate your child during this stage.

Laundry

The amount of times you plan to wash your child’s cloth diapers is also another determining factor on the amount of cloth diapers you need. For a better experience, you should aim to wash the cloth diapers at least after every two days.

This way, you’ll have save yourself from a heap of cloth diapers at the end of the week. In addition, washing the cloth diapers after every two days means that you will have enough on hand to use.

Such a strategy ensures that you have enough for the normal days and any other bathroom emergencies that may pop up. For parents with a newborn, they may require about 25 cloth diapers for two days.

This means that they can use 10 of them in a day, while the remaining five come in handy during laundry day. As a result, you save yourself from handling a load of cloth diapers after a long time.

Note that this number can also change depending on several factors, including the type of cloth diapers you decide to use. For example, only the absorbent piece of the Hybrid system cloth diaper requires washing.

Therefore, you might only need a few covers when you use this type of cloth diapers as opposed to using other types. Nevertheless, you’ll have more advantage if you stock yourself with a large stash size of cloth diapers.

The Type of Cloth Diapers

Contrary to what most people believe, not all cloth diapers are made from the same materials. Therefore, the type of diapers you use may determine how many cloth diapers you need for your child.

The most common type of cloth diapers are the all-in-ones cloth diapers. If you use this type of diapers, you will need a completely new one when changing your child. The same applies if you use pocket diapers because both urine and stool pass through the cotton layers to reach the absorbent insert.

But as explained earlier, hybrid cloth diapers would only require you to wash the absorbent piece. Therefore, the type of cloth diapers you decide to use on your baby will also determine how many cloth diapers you need.

How Many Cloth Diapers Do I Need for 3 Month Old?

If you have a 3-month old baby or younger, they are barely past the newborn stage. This means that they still require more diaper changes during the day.

So, if your child is between 3-6 months old, you would need at least 10-15 diapers a day. That’s because most babies around this age bracket may need to relieve themselves at least 4-6 times during the day.

How Many Cloth Diapers Do I Need for a 6 Month Old?

At 6 months old, your child is now past the newborn stage and is now a healthy and grown infant. Therefore, most of them don’t need multiple times to relieve their bladders or rectums.

In fact, most children between the ages of 6-12 months old don’t pee or poop as much compared to those younger than 6 months old. Usually, infants within the 6-12 months age bracket only need about 6-10 diapers for a whole day.

As you can see, the age of your child determines a lot when you need to know how many cloth diapers you need. The older your child gets, the less number of diapers you will need.

How Many Cloth Diapers Do I Need for a 1 Year Old?

So, your child is already about to experience his/her first birthday. And if you’ve been using cloth diapers since he/she was young, changes are bound to happen.

One of such changes will include a reduction in the number of times your child needs their diaper changed during the day. This means that you won’t need a significant amount of cloth diapers for them.

So, if your child is a year old and they are already a toddler, they may only need a diaper change about 4-7 times a day.

What Happens During Diapering Emergencies?

According to Murphy’s Law, what can go wrong will go wrong. Therefore, you should be highly alert because your child can have unplanned bathroom emergencies.

What you need to understand is that emergencies do happen and you might find yourself in a tough situation unexpectedly. The good news is that there is a remedy for this as well.

If you are travelling for your vacation or sick, you need to plan yourself adequately for such times. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you double your cloth diaper stash, not at all.

However, doubling the stash size isn’t an entirely bad idea in this case. But if you can’t, ensure that you at least keep an extra day’s worth of cloth diapers ready for any emergencies.

This will save you both time and money if you are travelling and suddenly out of cloth diapers. So, if you are worried about any diapering emergencies, your best chance of winning in this situation is by planning adequately ahead.

Cloth Diapers Use at Daycare

According to Washingtonpost.com, most women under 18 years with children are the sole breadwinners in their families. Therefore, this forces most of them to leave their kids in daycare centres during the day while they work.

If this is the case, it would be best for these young mothers to ascertain if the daycare facility is willing to use cloth diapers first. After finding one that does accept the use of cloth diapers, you need to decide on the number of diapers needed for your child to stay clean during the day.

One thing is for sure, you will need to leave extra diapers on top of the estimated cloth diapers needed to leave your child in a daycare centre. Besides diapers, things like diaper fasteners, baby wipes, and extra covers should also be provided for a better experience.

What is the Recommended Number of Cloth Diapers?

As you have seen, there are multiple factors that determine how many cloth diapers you need. Among all of them, age is the one that mostly affects that number.

Therefore, there isn’t a standard number of diapers that you are supposed to have during the day. On the other hand, there is a minimum recommendation because you still need to be ready for any changes that might occur.

So, the recommended minimum number of diapers you need should be about 25. This way you’ll have some for the estimated diaper changes and some extra if you are doing laundry.

Remember, you should at least wash your cloth diapers after every two days. By doing this you will create a favourable routine that can even sustain you when traveling.

How Many Cloth Wipes Do I Need?

Aside from the cloth diapers, you also need additional accessories to complement the work of the diapers. Things such as diaper fasteners, covers, and cloth wipes should also be considered together with the number of cloth diapers you need.

So, how many cloth wipes do you need to go in hand with your cloth diapers? The standard recommendation is 48 cloth wipes, but the number will vary depending on several factors.

Like the number of diapers, the number of cloth wipes you need will also depend on the age, size, and laundry. If your child poops a lot, you will need the recommended amount or more just to be safe.

But if otherwise, then even 40 cloth wipes might be enough, especially if your child only poops once during the day. However, you still need to be vigilant and prepare yourself for anything.

Conclusion

So, is there a standard number of how many cloth diapers you need? As you have seen, there isn’t any at all.

What you can only find are estimations and recommendations. The good news is that what we have tackled in this guide is proven and works well.

Actually, most of the information here is from everyday experiences. This means that you might easily find yourself in a certain category in this article’s section.

Remember, all children are different and the number of diapers each one needs will be determined by different reasons. What you need to do is consider the factors that work for you.

You can start by understanding how frequently your child needs a diaper change. This way, you’ll understand how many diapers you need depending on his/her age.

Ensure that you also have backup and extra cloth diapers just in case you decide to travel. Without proper planning and routine laundry, you might find yourself in an overwhelming and disappointing situation.