Congratulations! The little one is on the way and there are lots of things you need to prepare for. Things like your baby throwing up all over you. Yay! Sounds like fun, right? “So, how many burp cloths do I need to get ready for feeding Baby?“
I’d recommend starting with about 10 and see how you go but be ready to get more if you can’t get to doing the laundry as regularly as you hoped or your baby goes through more. Read through to consider each factor for your situation.
How many feeds per day?
Most babies feed around 8 – 10 times per day. But every baby is different and you’ll get used to your little one’s needs soon. You may or may not need a clean one for every feed. Sometimes Baby might not throw up anything and you can sneak it back into your gigantic baby-gear bag ready for the next back patting session. But whether you’ll need one for each meal or not comes down to the next question.
How much burping will my baby do?
Once again, your baby is unique and wont necessarily adhere to statistical averages. That makes it tricky. You’ll have to figure this one out once your baby is in your arms and blasting artwork all over your front or back. Soon you’ll get a gauge on how many burp cloths actually get messed up per day. At this stage, without knowing, you could make a conservative assumption and then stock up on more later if needed.
Laundry Frequency is related to how many burp cloths you’ll need.
How often do you think you’ll be able to do the laundry? Remember, that as a new mom, you’re going to be adjusting to tons of new things. You’ll be doing a super-human effort as you’re keeping Baby fed, comfortable and trying to keep the house running. Hopefully you’ll have some support. If you’re not sure how much support you can get, it might be a good idea to start asking friends and family for support. Here are some other new mom tips.
For the sake of argument, let’s say that Baby actually messes up around 5 burp cloths per day. See the table for example figures.
| Burp cloths actually messed up | Washing frequency | Burp cloths needed |
| 5 | Daily | 5 |
| 5 | Every second day | 10 |
| 5 | Every third day | 15 |
| 5 | Weekly | 35 |
So how many burp cloths do I need?
Assuming you can get to the washing every second day or so if needed, I’d suggest starting with around ten and then see how you go as you get to know your little one. But be ready to up the number of burp cloths in your inventory. You may find your baby burps up more regularly or you realise you can’t get the washing done as often as you’d hoped.
Don’t worry, you’ll be amazing and you’ll adjust along the way as you learn your baby’s routines and individuality. You’ll probably mostly get standard budget-friendly ones, but you may want a couple of special ones to take out too. If so, see my unique and personalized burp cloths for bubs.
