Are you looking for affordable cloth diapers to save some money? Are you working on a tight cloth diapering budget?
Look no further, this post is for you.
I firmly believe that cloth diapering can be done on any budget. If you are in a financial crunch, then cloth diapers are the best option for you because they can save you a ton of money.
That being said, there are so many various brands out there in the market, that one can get easily confused not knowing what will best suit them.
Some diapers cost more than 50$(each), and there are ways you can buy a whole cloth diaper stash with the same money.
There are a lot of CHEAP cloth diaper brands out there. But not all cheap diapers are made alike.
I want to help you to find the best deal, so you don’t get stuck with a cheap diaper that wears out, leaks and leaves you with a miserable cloth diapering experience.
Newborn poop around the clock. You may feel like you are spending your entire day (and night) feeding and changing your newborn.
Newborn babies go through anywhere between 8 to 12 diapers a day (some even more).
Can you imagine using disposables at this stage?
You will quickly go through 2 or 3 boxes in a month, that’s 50-70$ in the trash.
Cloth diapering through the newborn stage is also eco-friendly, think about the hundreds of disposables poisoning the landfill!
In our grandma’s days, newborn cloth diapering means using flats, pins, and plastic pants.
But, there are so many modern options now – pockets, fitted, AIO’s , you name it.
If you are in a tight budget and want to save money, I would suggest any of the below three ways
Newborn Cloth Diaper Rental – Many cloth diaper retailers have the option of renting cloth diaper packages. Some even have it designed for newborn babies. You will get two (or three) days worth of diapers, which you can wash and re-use through the newborn phase. They might charge weekly or monthly depending on their set up. At the end of the trial period, you can choose either buy the diapers or return the diapers.
Used Cloth Diapers – Used newborn diapers are usually in excellent condition, as they are only used for a few months. Some even sell their diapers for a deeply discounted price because of stains. If stains don’t bother you, you can snag these diapers for a steal and remove stains with these techniques. Always remember to wash and stripe used diapers for safety.
Prefolds/ Flats & Covers – If you can’t get on board with used diapers, there is another budget-friendly option – Flats or Prefolds and Covers. Flat diapers are made of a single square cotton fabric that can be folded is many ways and wrapped over your baby’s bum. Some even use Snappi or a diaper pin to hold the flat in place. Flat diapers need a waterproof cover to go over them.
Prefolds are an improvised version of Flat diapers. Prefolds rectangular diapers with layers of cotton fabric sewn together. They also need a waterproof cover to keep them from leaking.
Inexpensive Newborn Diapers :
Cheap Newborn Flat Diapers:
All these brands come with 6 flat diapers a pack except BumGenius Elemental Joy ( you can buy these single). Flats can be made of cotton, bamboo, and even hemp material. The absorbency of the diaper differs with the material – cotton being the least ( yet adequate) absorbent and hemp being the most absorbent. Likewise, cotton flats will cost you less when compared to bamboo or hemp.
Cotton prefolds are the most popular because they are the cheapest and offer great absorbency for a average wetting child. Here are the best affordable prefolds available.
Both flat diapers and prefolds need a waterproof cover to go over them to prevent leaks. When looking for a newborn cover, I highly recommend buying one that has double gussets. Newborns have runny poop, so double gusset covers will do a better job in keeping the poop contained.
Most of these covers come with a snap closure except for Rumparooz (comes with velcro option). Velcro diapers are easy to put on, and they are great for other caregivers.
This is an amazing deal for the products you get. You get 2 newborn diaper covers, 6 prefold diapers, 6 stay dry liners and a wetbag to store dirty diapers, all for just 49.95! You can also buy individual covers and prefolds using the link above.
One Size Covers:
Once your baby is out of the newborn stage, you can switch to either one size covers or get sized covers and sized prefolds.
From a budget perspective, it makes more sense to go with one size covers. One size covers usually fit from 8 lbs to 35 lbs. For most kids, this should last till potty training.
Not everyone likes to use flats and prefolds, some like the design and customization of pocket diapers. Pocket diapers have a waterproof cover, and the inner lining attaches together leaving a pocket opening at the back or front to stuff the inserts. Most of the affordable pocket diapers come with microfibre inserts. I don’t like microfiber inserts for older babies as they don’t hold much of pee. But, there are great to start out and switch to cotton prefolds once you save some money.
Yes! You can use prefolds to stuff cloth diapers. There’s a handy cloth diapering tip for you!
Best Cheap Pocket Diapers:
Elemental Joy (7.55$)- Best Budget friendly option!! The best part about Elemental joy is it doesn’t come with a microfibre insert. It comes with a cotton flat. Another huge plus is there is an option to buy the pocket diapers individually (without the insert).
Nicki’s OS Pocket – (12.95$) – A great quality diaper with an economic price point. Nicki’s diaper comes in both velcro and snap closure. It has a waterproof outer, an inner colored fleece lining, a pocket opening on both front and back and a one size microfibre insert.
Imagine Pocket Diapers (13.95) – Another great affordable option that fits babies from 8 to 35 lbs. Comes with a microfiber insert as well.
All in One Diapers:
AIO diapers looks very similar to disposable diapers except they can be washed and reused. They are ‘ready to go’ diapers, meaning everything comes assembled as a single diaper and there is no need to fold or stuff inserts. For this reason they usually have a higher price compared to pockets or All in Two’s.
I tried my best to find and put together the cheapest All In One’s I can find in the market.
Wool is considered another high end option. But wool covers last for many diaper changes than PUL covers. So when you calculate the cost per diaper change, it might actually work out cheaper than using PUL covers. Also, some babies are allergic to PUL . In such cases, wool is an excellent option for a cloth diaper cover.
Another huge plus is wool is 100% natural and eco -friendly. Here are a few affordable wool covers that have great reviews online.
You must have noticed that I did not include many diapers that sell ridiculously cheap on Amazon , Ebay or in Alibaba websites. I have only included diapers that are sold through trust worthy cloth diaper retailers who have been in this business for years.
Why? Because I am not sure about the quality of diapers these “no name” brands sell. These might be made of cheap PUL that leaks after a month. Could be bad elastics that relaxes within a year or they might even be following unethical practices to offer such a low price. When you order these diapers you don’t know what quality diapers you get, their customer service is non existent, and in most cases there is no guarantee.
I understand that how it is tempting to buy these diapers in an effort to save money. But what if you don’t like these diapers? what is they are flawed and damaged? There is a good chance that you lose all your money when you opt for these diapers.
Instead when you buy the diapers listed above from a local retailer, you get what you see, there is no surprise. You can get in touch with the retailer incase of any damage or seek help to trouble shoot cloth diaper issues.
Let’s Recap:
Are you convinced that cloth diapering is not expensive? Using the diapers listed above you can even build a cloth diaper stash for less than 100$.
Let’s wrap with with the best cheap cloth diaper list.
Thank you so much for taking your time to do this!! My daughter just turned two. I?m so tired of buying expensive diapers. I think she may be close to potty training but maybe not. She pees a lot at night. Her diapers are very full in the morning. What cloth diapers would you recommend for her age and to prevent leaking and how many do you think is necessary? Thank you so much!!
Hi Taylor, to suggest a better night time solution, I need to know what you are currently using. If you have a heavy wetter then fitted diapers usually work well. If she soaks through them, I would opt for a wool cover over a fitted. Let me know what you are using now and I can suggest you a better solution.
I am pregnant and not sure where to start with cloth diapers and nobody I know has really used them. I would prefer to have plenty of aio but I am not against using some pocket diapers, I would just prefer the simplicity of aio. Could you give me some advice on how to get started?
allnaturalmothering
on December 14, 2019 at 6:18 pm
HI Becky!Congrats! It’s great that you want to try cloth diapers. Pockets and All in one’s are a great choice for beginners. There are a lot of videos on how to put cloth diapers on babies. Are you planning to use cloth right from the start? If so, you would need newborn size or size 1 cloth diapers to start with. To get started – buy a few different sizes and brands and see what works the best for you. Think of how you are going to store dirty diapers and how often you will want to wash them. I do have a lot of cloth diaper FAQ’s answered through my blog posts, but you can email me if you have any specific questions.
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Thank you so much for taking your time to do this!! My daughter just turned two. I?m so tired of buying expensive diapers. I think she may be close to potty training but maybe not. She pees a lot at night. Her diapers are very full in the morning. What cloth diapers would you recommend for her age and to prevent leaking and how many do you think is necessary? Thank you so much!!
Hi Taylor, to suggest a better night time solution, I need to know what you are currently using. If you have a heavy wetter then fitted diapers usually work well. If she soaks through them, I would opt for a wool cover over a fitted. Let me know what you are using now and I can suggest you a better solution.
I am pregnant and not sure where to start with cloth diapers and nobody I know has really used them. I would prefer to have plenty of aio but I am not against using some pocket diapers, I would just prefer the simplicity of aio. Could you give me some advice on how to get started?
HI Becky!Congrats! It’s great that you want to try cloth diapers. Pockets and All in one’s are a great choice for beginners. There are a lot of videos on how to put cloth diapers on babies. Are you planning to use cloth right from the start? If so, you would need newborn size or size 1 cloth diapers to start with. To get started – buy a few different sizes and brands and see what works the best for you. Think of how you are going to store dirty diapers and how often you will want to wash them. I do have a lot of cloth diaper FAQ’s answered through my blog posts, but you can email me if you have any specific questions.