Cloth Diapering From Day 1: Circumcision and Cord Stump Care

Another obstacle people encounter when they decide to cloth diaper from birth is how to successfully use cloth diapers while caring for baby's circumcision and/or cord stump. First, we'll look at how to use the cloth diapers when your baby has a cord stump. Many doctors have different recommendations on how to card for your baby's cord stump, and in my experience those recommendations seem to change every several years! Of course I will suggest finding out what your baby's doctor recommends before following any of this advice.

When we had Emmett, we were told to keep the cord stump dry and it would heal on it's own. Seems simple enough! That meant the only thing we had to do in concern with cloth diapers was to use diapers that sat low enough on him so they went below the stump. The good news is almost all newborn and XS diapers take this into consideration and offer some sort of snap-down or are just cut lower. The diapers that I felt fit him the best when his cord stump was still attached were BumGenius Newborn All-In-Ones, Kissaluv Fitteds size 0, Imagine XS prefolds with Thirsties Duo Wraps or Rumparooz Newborn Covers, GroVia Newborn All-In-Ones, Thirsties Duo Diapers and Rumparooz Lil Joey All-In-Ones. Below are pictures of him wearing an Imagine XS Prefold under a Rumparooz Newborn Cover (left) and Kissaluvs Fitted 0 under a Thirsties Duo Wrap size 1 (right).

The decision to circumcise is obviously a very personal one, so this is not to start a debate on that topic. If you don't choose to circumcise, you have no special care for that area on your little boy (same goes for if you have a girl, no special care!). If you do choose to circumcise your little boy, again check with your doctor to see what they recommend for care. 

Our doctor's instructions were to keep the area moist with a zinc oxide-free diaper cream to prevent it from sticking to the diaper. The hospital provided A&D ointment but I was hesitant to use it on our cloth diapers. If you would like to use the A&D ointment, I just suggest using a reusable or disposable liner between your baby's bottom and the diaper to prevent it from coating the diapers. I chose to us CJ's BUTTer on Emmett's circumcision to prevent it from sticking to the cloth diaper. Normally, I would still suggest using a barrier when using a CD safe cream, but since we were only using prefolds in the hospital with the CJ's, I decided to try without it. Natural fibers are generally more forgiving of washing and if I ruined a few prefolds, I wouldn't have been out much. The good news is the CJ's washed out perfectly and within a couple days, Emmett was healed and we no longer needed to use it!

So if you're still on the fence about cloth diapering from birth, there are two more concerns tackled ;0)