How To Adjust a One-Size Cloth Diaper for a Newborn

Having a new one in the house is full of confusion and all things new. Even for myself who already had three boys prior was finding that I had forgotten a lot in the past four years including how to put a cloth diaper on a newborn.

Not to mention that in four years the technology of cloth diapers has changed making the diapers more absorbent, easier to wash, quicker to dry, stain resistant, and super easy to adjust.

So while everything has become easier I still had a few mishaps while trying to figure out how to use a one-size bamboo cloth diaper on a newborn. A newborn with no butt, skinny legs, and a tiny waist.

Here is how we adjusted our favorite Toronto cloth diaper for use even while the cord was still attached.

One-Size Cloth Diaper on a Newborn

The Lil Helper cloth diapers have three rise settings. For the smallest setting take the male snaps and secure them into the lowest row of female snaps. This reduces the amount of material that comes up over the belly.
 

While looking at baby with baby’s feet to your right and head to your left, secure the far wing first. This is the wing with the cross-over snaps. You’ll secure the leg snap by snapping the male snap into the female snap furthest in.
 

Secure the male snaps into the female snaps on the top row. By bringing the snaps in you’ll make the waist nice and snug. I skip a snap with the snap on the tip of the wing creating a buckled fabric.
 

This buckling helps keep the material up away from a healing cord. Even if the fabric is touching the added space allows for air flow.
 


Now you’ll secure the wing closest to you. Start with the leg snaps first then use the cross-over snaps on first wing to secure the waist snaps to. This gives a nice snug fit that even the most explosive of newborn poos will not get past. Yes, that’s right no poo up the back!
 


A few last tips from me to you. Try using only gowns, t-shirts and non-crotch snapping items. Not only does make diaper changes easier it also allows for air to get to the healing umbilical area. For this particular one-size diaper it has a All-In-Two design with two different sized snap-in liners.

I only use the small liner allowing the diaper to be less bulky for the smaller baby. Since he is changed almost every two hours we never have issues with leaking. In fact the Charcoal Bamboo Cloth Diaper with the small liner only is usually dry to the touch as the material is crazy absorbent.

Since these are a All In Two (AI2) design I often just unsnapped the liner and replaced only that part in order to get more use out of the diaper shell. In the “Buckled Fabric” photo above you’ll notice the white fabric and the gray fabric. The gray is the inner lining of the Charcoal Bamboo Diaper shell and the white is a Bamboo Cloth Liner. So it’s nice to mix ‘n match!