burp cloths

[pamxch]

Hi, looking for some advice on baby burp cloths.

What size and shape burp cloths are recommended? I am expecting my first baby in September.

I made a contoured burp cloth from the New Conceptions free pattern: http://www.newconceptions.com/free.htm

Then I showed it to my husband, putting it over his shoulder, and he said, “Can’t you just put a towel over your shoulder?”

Does the contour shape make any difference? Would I be better off just adding decorative fabric panels to cloth diapers to use as burp pads? Any opinions would be welcome.

Thanks,
Pam

[vtmartha]

I found that plain cloth diapers worked perfectly.  I didn't even decorate them.

[ruthc]

Hi Pam,

I am due with my first in 8 weeks - yikes - and I also looked at the shaped burp cloths.
They do seem a bit small and you can bet the baby puke is going to go all neat into it, but I think it might be handy for when you are out and about without taking up lots of space in your bag.

I will probably make / buy a few of each and see how I get on.

There is some good advice on this thread

And we have a baby talk thread going over in Chatter.

[BeeBee]

Yep, MarthaV, back in the day  we just used cloth diapers.  Smaller pieces of fabric could be, um, missed by some of the more, um, energetic episodes  .  And they give you room to fold over and use another piece and/or wipe something else up with it.  And can be cleaned the same as other laundry.
Note to new moms:  if you're NOT breastfeeding, DON'T wash the baby's white shirts, etc in bleach.  The bleach reacts with the iron in the formula and causes a permenent yellow stain.  Just the opposite of what you were attempting to accomplish.  Not sure about breastmilk, likely not an issue.  Oxyclean-type products don't do this. 
Now, back to your regularly sceduled spit-up discussion.

[pamxch]

Thanks for all the input! I think I might make one more, adding some width to the New Conceptions pattern to see if it feels more substantial, then find some other projects to work on. The baby sling from the other discussion sounds like a good one.

Pam

[judith]

Burp cloths just have never made any sense to me - considering their purpose, I don't understand why anyone would put the effort into just sewing them, let alone embroidering them. But I'm from the cloth diaper generation and we just slung a clean one over our shoulder. Frankly, I think that small handtowels would work as well these days.

But this has me wondering - if someone receives a fancy decorated burp cloth as a gift, do they actually use it or do they just put it away?

[fzxdoc]

I had tons of embroidered burp cloths and loved them when my DD was a baby.  I liked the way they shaped around my neck on the one side and because they were often made of quilted flannel, they stayed put.  They looked nicer than diapers, to my eye, when I was out in public with my baby girl. Plus I guess I'm just an accessory type of person, and having baby accessories was a lot of fun! 

I also had cloth diapers for my baby daughter because I didn't want her to start life by contributing unnecessarily to landfills.  So no disposable diapers for her!

Kathryn

[Martha Domke]

Over the years, I have made dozens of burp cloths as gifts.  Since I often made baby bath towels and wash cloths, I made "coordinating" burp cloths.  All I did was cut out the terry cloth to the size, and also a piece of baby-print cotton.  I used bias binding around the edge.  Of course, I wasn't sewing like this when our 3 were babies, so just used whatever was handy.  Those were the days before disposables.  Had a diaper service for DS.  Good thing, too.  DSis moved in with her 2 that were still in diapers.  I just doubled the order.

[ruthc]

Well I now have a baby to burp and in the end I was very lazy and just got two packs of terry cloths from Ikea - they are about facecloth size and cost around 2 euros for ten.  No idea how much they would be in dollars or sterling or beans or whatever you are trading in, but they are cheap as chips, do the job and easy to launder too.

Holding off on using our cloths nappies, DH is proving harder to train than the baby!

[bern]

I recently made a flannel baby quilt for a friend's first grandbaby - I took my leftover flannel fabric scraps and made them into burp cloths and attached a small gathered baby wash cloth on each end for cleaning baby's face.  They are functional and I had the left over fabric so why not use it.  I got the idea for attaching the wash cloths because someone had given some like it to my daughter when she had her first baby and I found them very useful. I agree cloth diapers and/or terry cloth would work just as well, but they are cute.
Bern

[Sewterrific]

Hi! I'm just repeating what my daughter has told me. She's my expert, after three babies ! She liked the curved neckline burp pads the best. She said they covered front of her blouse, shoulder and arm better than any diaper. And she liked that the burps made from flannel didn't seem to take as long to dry, especially when compared to some diapers that have the extra absorbing pad in the center of the diaper.
 When the third baby was expected, she placed her "order" for the curved burp pads. Just a mother's and grandmother's opinion!  Chris

[Deebird]

I found a pattern to down load and print for a burp cloth. It is shaped like a large peanut. I used pink and white striped flannel on one side and pink giraffe print on the other. My daughter then had it monogrammed for her baby, due in 3 months. I dont know if it will be of value with baby spitup in large amts but it is sooo cute..A piece of light weight flannel was sandwiched between the flannel pieces and then sewn in 1/2 in seam around the outside. Then using scissors make little cuts all around the burp cloth. When it is washed it will make a cute fray edging. Planning to make another one for a pregnant neice.
soon to be grandma aka DeeDee

[WendyW]

When I had my first baby, I bought plain cloth diapers to use as burp cloths, and hubby's grandma sent me several terrycloth burp towels (with bias-tape edging sewn on by hand). I quickly fell in LOVE with those terry ones. After several washings, the flannel diapers no longer absorbed the spit-up. It just flowed down and soaked a lower part of my shirt. The terry cloth quickly absorbed, no matter how many washings they went through.

I soon made a whole stack of them by buying inexpensive towels, cut in quarters and bound with bias tape. When my third child came along many years later, I just bought a large bundle of terrycloth "shop towels" from the automotive department. They worked just fine. They were more of a square shape instead of the rectangle or peanut shape and I actually liked that better because they also protected the upper arm. 

[datcat23]

My standard baby gift has always included burp cloths ....... and yes I am quite aware that a terry nappy or even a tea towel does just as good a job, but in essence the burp cloth is a fashion accessory, rather than a totally practical item.

i have made two types ...... the first i tried was a stitch and turned, and based in size on a fat quarter quilting fabric on one side, with coordinating flannel on the other.  (sorry i don't have a photo of this one, but they were very popular with the mum I made them for)

the second type is the peanut shape style ..... and again this has been very popular.  I have made them in flannel, t-shirting, terry and the latest set .... bamboo french terry and cotton huck, with quilting cotton panel and bias edging.   I make them with a matching big bib and it makes a great coordinated set. 


Pink bib and burp cloth by Datcat, on Flickr

[Back2Sew]

Adding my two cents here --

When my kids were little (20 years ago) I liked the kidney shaped burp pads better than just the cloth diapers over the shoulder. I felt they stayed in place better and my kids had incredible aim for finding the uncovered areas. My niece had a baby and was asking if there was anything better than just a towel over the shoulder and I told her they have shaped burp pads. She likes them much better. As with all baby stuff -- use what works and is easily available.

Didn't know about the bleach reacting with the iron in the formula. Very good tip!

[SnugglesMom]

datcat
those are beautiful!

I love to make burp cloths somewhat triangular shaped, because they can be worn as a scarf/ bib too. So far I have matched them with nursing dresses I made for myself.