Cloth diapering for 2010

Update: One of Kelly's friends read the site yesterday, recognized Kelly (not her real name) and her situation, and is going to help. Yay for K! (And congratulations!)

I got questions from Sharon and Jenny about cloth diapers. And it's been a long time (2006!) since we did a cloth diaper post, so I thought it was time for another. (Read the ones from 2006 here: part 1 and part 2.)

Here's the rub: My life is fantastically diaper-free, so I'm not up on the latest. For those of you with no experience with cloth diapering, or who remember it from the 60s or 70s, yes, there is "latest" in cloth diapering. I blame the internet, because it enabled work-at-home moms to make and sell cloth diapers, and everyone's always trying to come up with something better, so the improvements have been truly rapid.

One thing I absolutely stand by from my original posts: Cloth diapering doesn't make you a better parent than disposable diapering. It is, however, way cheaper in the long run.  (And is arguably better for the environment, depending on where you live and how you wash.)

When last I left cloth diapering, some people were still using a system involving prefolds and covers. Read about it  in "The most common way" here.

But more people were switching to pocket diapers with cotton, hemp, or microfiber soakers. Read about them in "Pocket diapers" here. I was a pocket diapering mom, and loved it for the ease (two extra loads a week, no soaking, no special cycle or anything) and the cuteness (there are some adorable pocket diapers out there).

The most recent innovation when I exited the scene, was the one-size pocket diaper, which featured a snapping system that took it from fitting a 7-pound newborn to a 35-pound toddler. This was amazing, as it meant you could use the same 2 dozen or so diapers for 2-3 years. Bumgenius was the only big company making one-size pocket diapers, although there were tons of WAHMs making them.

So what's new, people who cloth diaper? If you were starting out now, what would you buy and how much would you get? (I stand by my recommendations for washing, and my love of the PUL diaper bag.) Comment, please. (And if you put the http:// in front of a URL the website will make it a clickable link automatically, if you want to recommend specific sites.)

Oh, and while we're at it, are there any innovations in environmentally-friendly disposables? I loathed gDiapers with the intensity of a gazillion suns (worst of both worlds, because I had to keep buying the liners *and* keep washing the covers, and I never touched so much poop in my life as I did with them, and then they were condescending when I asked if there was some magic secret to getting the liner to stay in place). But has someone else come up with something noteworthy?

Comments

[Cobblestone]

The Advice Smackdown is doing great commentary on cloth recently. She converted her toddler when #2 came along and she's darn near gleeful about the whole thing.

http://www.alphamom.com/smackdown/2010/02/a_year_in_cloth_diapers.php

[Andrea]

We use BumGenius and LOVE them for all the reasons you listed. They have new colors now and have changed the design slightly (for the better) but are basically the same. We used prefolds and covers when my son was a newborn but switched to the BGs around 4 months or so. He is 29lbs now and they are still awesome.

[HereWeGoAJen]

I use BumGenius 3.0s, but I think I would buy the new CottonBabies (makers of BG) Flip system if I were starting now. It wasn't out when I bought mine, but it seems like it solves the (very few) problems of the BG. Of course, I haven't tried them yet.

[Elizabeth]

We use cloth (prefolds with covers and pocket diapers, mostly BG) during the day for the baby.

Both boys (3y and 5m) are in a disposable overnight. I used 7th Gen for the big boy and liked them, but there's some more green options out there now.

Natural Choice is our favorite and we used Earth's Best, too. The EB are cheaper but the tabs don't stick to the outside, so you can't make a nice neat diaper ball. This sounds dumb, but if you're changing the overnight diaper that's likely poopy, too, the sealed-up diaper ball is key.

[beate]

We use a combination of FuzziBunz and prefolds + covers. The latter are cheap and great when you are prepared to change frequently. The former work particularly well for outings, at night, and in daycare settings.

A lot of the fancier diapers can be purchased second-hand for a decent price (http://www.diaperswappers.com, http://www.myuseddiapers.com). That's how I acquired a large stash of small-sized FuzziBunz. Granted, they didn't work as well as the new ones, but we've gotten a lot of mileage out of our preowned FuzziBunz and they probably have some life left in them for another newborn or two. It is a good idea to observe the manufacturer's washing instructions religiously, specifically by choosing the right detergent and using only a tiny amount of it. (Contrary to the manufacturer's instructions, we just do one wash/rinse cycle, which is perfectly sufficient.) Most importantly, never ever use rash ointment with fleece diapers. It will ruin the diapers.

I never messed around with liners, didn't find it necessary at all.

Once you're comfortable with cloth diapers, there's no reason not to use cloth wipes as well. No need for fancy wipe solutions--we just use water or coconut oil. Very simple.

[JCF]

We have been cloth diapering since our first baby was born 2.5 years ago (we now have a 1 year old and a baby due this summer). The information I'd add:

1. It isn't as much work as you think it is going to be, nor is it as messy or gross as you probably think.

2. Get a diaper sprayer for your toilet like this one: http://www.amazon.com/bumGenius-Diaper-Sprayer/dp/B0019HXQLS

3. Yes, you really should use one of the "approved" cloth diapering detergents. We learned this the hard (stinky) way. We really like both Rockin Green and Country Save (both are really inexpensive per load).

4. One size diapers are great, especially if you have multiple kids in diapers at one, like we do. They won't, however, truly fit a newborn, even though they claim to. If you want to cloth diaper from birth, get a newborn sized option until the baby grows into one-size. We use newborn prefolds, a Snappi, and XS Thirsties covers. It is cheap, easy, and stops leaks and blowouts.

5. I've tried a ton of stuff over time (partly because it is fun!), but if I had to buy a whole new stash:
-I'd stick with my newborn system as above
-Half BumGenius pockets and half Fuzzi Bunz pockets, just because I like the variety of colors and patterns, and both are great diapers and/or...
-The new Flip system by Cotton Babies (the same company that makes BumGenius). They are easy to use, economical, and have all of the benefits of the BumGenius pockets (in my opinion).

[mickie]

We have cloth diapered since my son was born 16 months ago - with the one-size Bum Genius. They are awesome!! They really have grown with him, and the pocket lets us customize the absorbency for night (he is a HEAVY wetter) with hemp sheets, etc.

Since he started with man turds, we also use the flushable liners during the day to make poop cleanup a little less gross, and really like the Kushies brand.

[KatieV]

We have used several one-size options (including BumGenius) and also FuzziBunz (a sized option), and I prefer FuzziBunz (FB). The FB size mediums fit my son from 6 months and fit my daughter until she potty trained at 2 years+. So the size has LOTS of give. I also prefer snaps over velcro; the velcro is easy for baby to remove (after a few washes anyway), and it gathers lint and can stick to other stuff when you wash them.

[HappyMama]

For economic reasons I bought the plain Chinese or Indian cotton ones that you fold. I had no problem with folding them, but drying them took more than one dryer cycle, so I'm not sure how economic they were after all. It would be fine if one lived in a warm dry climate and used a clothes line.
I ended up using a lot of disposables, but decided that early toilet training was the truest path to saving money. Baby is now turning two, and uses a disposable pull-up for naps and night time, and we often throw away the pull-up because it's gotten grubby and lumpy from frequent use, not because it's gotten wet.
If I were starting again I would buy the quickest-drying cloth kind you can get, and ones that you can pull up and down without having to lie the baby on her/his back (to make using the potty easier).

[Laurie]

I took your advice Moxie and used the Cricket fitted diapers and the covers she also sells. They were great! I never had any problems with leaking and very few instances of diaper rash. He outgrew the smaller ones sometime after his first birthday and I was going back to work so we switched to disposables. I'm hoping by the end of the year diapers will be a thing of our past as well.

[songbird]

I will say that pockets and fleece of any kind absolutely did not work for us. We do prefolds and covers (Thirsties Duo, very nice) but microfiber and fleece eventually repel. As a WOHM I would rather switch to disposables than strip, ever, so prefolds it is. They always come clean and never need stripping. We use disposables when the baby is on antibiotics and having diarrhea so that diaper cream does not affect the diapers, but I think even the cream with the cod liver oil in Desitin would come out of prefolds with a few washings.

[mothergoose]

Not cloth, but more eco-friendly. I use Nature Babycare disposables. Compostable, biodegradable, chlorine-free. I buy from dipers.com (free shipping).

[nej]

Both my babes have been in CDs since day 1. With E I got really into it - I paid some really good money for some absolutely beautiful fitted diapers. I loved laundry day. The diapers were so soft and fluffy and so super cute. But matching inserts to diapers and whatnot got to be time consuming and then when we got pregnant with B, I purged all my fancy stuff and simplified my stash.

With her, I've combined cheap with easy. We started her off in CPFs (chinese prefolds) with Thirsties covers. They're super cute and while I don't like aplix for a few reasons, it is easier than snaps. She quickly outgrew the Thirsties covers and so now we're in a larger size CPFs with Motherease (ME) airflow diaper covers. As soon as she outgrows those, she's going right into her brother's ME Sandy's. If I had known then what I know now, I would have gone full Sandy's and airflow covers from day 1.

Also, check out The Diaper Pin. It's a great resource and there's a huge wealth of knowledge (is that redundant?) but the mommas on there are a bunch of enablers so watch out or you'll find yourself buying a $35 diaper just because it's cute! :)

Oh, and for overnight, Holden's Landing makes Bedbugs that have stood the test of toddler, so we're very loyal to her.

sorry no links but I'm nak and typing one-handed.

[Ashley]

I have been using mostly BG 3.0 since my son was 3 weeks old (he's now almost 8 mos.) I really like them, but the laundry tabs wore out almost immediately and the hook and loop closures are therefore already shot. I'm planning on converting them to snaps within the next few weeks (as soon as my snap pliers and snaps arrive!)

I also have one Fuzzi Bunz one-size and one Happy Heinies one-size. The HH is OK, and I really like the FB. If I had it to do over again, I would probably go with the FB one-size as the go-to instead of the BG. They're trimmer, more adjustable, and have snap closures instead of velcro.

And, just to make things confusing, I'm going to throw out there that I HATED the "diaper friendly" detergent. Country Save made my diapers dingy and smelly (think: very unclean rodent cage) after only two months. I switched to Tide powder six months ago and everything is clean and stink free. (Fortunately for me, I bought in bulk so I have, oh, 300 lbs of Country Save in my basement.)

[the milliner]

We're in month 20 of cloth diapering for DS, and this is what I've found so far:

-My preference is for pre-folds with fleece liners and covers, hands down.

-We have 18 prefolds & liners, and 12 covers. This amount works well for us, and we do a diaper wash about once every 3 days. When DS was younger (& I was on mat leave) we got by with 12 and 12, I think.

-We tried pocket type one size fits all diapers (BumGenius), and I hate them. The system is fine (i.e. the pocket concept.) But they always seem to leak and the pre-folds pretty much never do. Perhaps the newer versions work better? Dunno. I know people who swear by them, but they didn't work for us.

-We tried the all in one type of cloth diaper with snaps. They pinched DS thighs too much, so we didn't continue.

-We use a very gentle diaper soap (Claudia's Choice http://www.claudiaschoices.ca/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2_11 ) that they sell at our cloth diapering store. Always worked well for DS' sensitive skin. It's recommended to wash new diapers, liners & covers 3x before the baby wears them for the first time.

-For dealing with the poop, we basically scrape off the liner into the toilet. I used to pre-wash the poopy diapers in the beginning, but now after all poop is scraped off, I throw it in the diaper bin & wash as per usual. Haven't noticed a difference (other than maybe eventually staining the liners over the long run). Drying in the sun does a lot to get rid of stains and we try to do it in the summer.

-Adding dryer balls to the dryer helps keep the diapers soft & fluffy without having to add fabric softener to the wash, which you don't want to do.

-Fairly early on, we switched to disposables overnight to minimize night wakings due to a wet diaper, and because the disposables can hold more for longer and still keep DS dry. We tried many combinations of cloth overnight so he would stay dry enough, but when it got to the point where his butt was raised off the mattress way too high (due to all the layers), I pulled the plug.

-For disposables, we use Moltex ( http://www.moltex.de/englisch/index_englisch.html ). Love them. Very gentle on sensitive skin, and they hold a lot of liquid. DS can go 12+ hours overnight and they hold up. And, they are as eco-friendly as you can get for disposables (as far as I know). They used to be made with unbleached cellulose, but, if you can believe it, the world ran out. So now they are 100% chlorine free white.

-We tried other 'green' disposables (7th generation & PC Green Diapers http://www.presidentschoice.ca/LCLOnline/products.jsp?type=details&brandId=100004&productId=20006 ), but found that they didn't hold as much for overnight. If you're doing more disposables during the day, where you'll change more often, I highly recommend the PC Green diapers (if you're in Canada...not sure if they're available in the US). They're SO much cheaper and do a decent job for shorter periods (2-4, maybe 6 hours).

-We also use the disposables when travelling or when going out on longer outings on the weekend.

-When DS was first born, the prefolds & covers encroached too much on his belly button, so we used disposables until the umbilical cord fell off.

OK, I think that's all I got!

[bethp]

I love the idea of the bum genius -- i know lots of people who loved pocket diapers. Happy heiny is another good brand, mom-owned. Personally, I don't like that fleece fabric, so opted for cotton/wool. Another newish option is bamboo, which is naturally antibacterial, breathable and sustainable.

we used motherease cotton diapers with wool covers, which i loved. they have the same snap system that makes them usable for most of the baby's diapering years (although we used newborn prefolds for our very small newborn).

and WOOL COVERS ARE AMAZING! Wool is breathable and naturally antibacterial, so it literally cleans itself. When wet, you just let airdry. You only have to handwash them (with lanolin soap, no rinse) when they start to smell a bit, every two weeks or so...you can get wool in velcro covers, pull up shorts, or pull up pants, which makes things SO easy in cooler months! And they are really cute, to boot! The brand I really loved was Disana.

We washed all of our diapers with Charlie's Soap (http://www.charliesoap.com) which is all natural and works great - a little vinegar in the rinse neutralizes the pee...

We did use disposables (Tushies - all cotton, no gel) at night and when out for long periods. It was just easier for us. We also started to dabble in Elimination Communication - which sounded nuts at first, but ended up fitting in so seamlessly with cloth diapers. The book I read was Diaper-free baby by Christine Loh (I think?) - which advocates doing it full time or just some of the time - which is so flexible and forgiving, and made it easy to try. My son took to it really well and it worked great for us - he really never had anything but breastfeeding poops in the cloth, at six months he started pooping in the bjorn little potty, and since 10 months (he's 2.5 and in underwear now) we've had less than a dozen poops in diapers.

[Annika]

I'm on my second baby in cloth. We actually like prefolds the best! I have and use PUL covers but vastly prefer wool (I knit my own soakers and longies). We do love pockets for travel and nighttime. She's in size small Fuzzibunz because the BumGenius one-size are still huge on her (she's at least 12 pounds). I also love fitteds (again with wool or PUL wraps). I really prefer to have her in cotton most of the time, and would rather not use the pockets at all.

[Fakey]

We do Chinese prefolds and PUL covers at home, pockets (an assortment of brands and styles) when out and about, and Nature Baby Care disposables at daycare. We use our outgrown infant-sized prefolds to stuff the pockets, which is even more economical.

We recently switched to Charlie's Soap for all of our laundry and it is fantastic.

We never got a sprayer. For the transitional poos (the peanutbuttery ones that happen when you start solids, before they become big kid turds), we got a pack of 100 rice paper liners. They are washable and reusable a few times, so the one pack lasted us about 8 months, which was all we needed. The big kig poos just roll off into the toilet.

My favorite part of cloth diapering? CLOTH WIPES! They work soooo much better than sposie wipes, and you just wash them with the diapers.

[TexanHolly]

I'm on baby 3 around here. Baby 1 was in cloth, prefolds and covers and I sort of hated it. Baby 2 was in throw away diapers. And this time I LURVE cloth diapering. I'm used prefolds and covers when she was teeny tiny, then purchased some used Fuzzi Bunz from Diaper Swappers. They're super. But folks, lemme tell you the following thing:

I purchased the diapers that this baby will wear from 6 months through potty training (around 20 months around here) brand new for $110. Fo' real.

They're an ebay brand, and from China. But seriously, that's the last money I will spend on diapers. And my cloth wipes? I made them for less than $10.

Cloth diapering is a lot less gross than you might think. And less work. And less money, potentially.

[Erika]

I've been using BG one-size pockets and like them well enough, for the most part. Started after the umbilical cord fell off and she's now 18 months. My one beef: I can't smell when she has a poopy diaper. Sounds great except that sometimes she ends up sitting in poop for longer than I'd like her to - yuck. So after we went disposable while traveling for the holidays we decided to stay with disposable until she's able to tell me she's pooped or I can see signs when she's pooping. We're almost there and I CAN'T WAIT to go back! Something about those cloth diapers really keep the smell contained (because believe me, when you open that bad boy up there is definitely some stink).

I had the issue with velcro tabs not sticking to the laundry tabs when washing and the diapers would get all tangled up together. My solution was to buy a roll of sew-on velcro at Joann Fabric and cut it into pieces. I keep a jar on the changing table and before I throw the dirty one in the pail I attach the velcro piece. Then it stays on until I'm ready to use it. It was a VERY easy, cheap solution that seems to be working well.

One more thing about stripping. I have well water (with a softner that doesn't seem to work real well) so our water hardness varies quite a bit. That makes it tough to get the detergent amount right (I use Allen's Naturally). But when I need to strip I found that BioKleen Bac-Out works well to get rid of stinks.

[CaliBoo]

I'm a happy user of the Bum Genius 3.0 system, but found that it fit my skinny minnie better from about 12 lbs+. Before then I had a grab bag of brands/types, which was great to try them out but hell to match up the pieces/parts. One caveat on the BG 3.0's is the elastic at the legs gave out, so I've had to replace it after ~1.5 years of steady use.
Couple of misc points - washing: sometimes you have to try a few things to figure out what works. We have very hard water, so I have to up the soap enough for it to actually work, and sometimes use vinegar (some diaper sites say absolutely not). I use an HE machine, so extra rinse cycle is usually in order. I found that sun-drying worked on BF poop stains, but once solids were introduced (blueberries! ack!) I do have to use OxiClean or the occasional chlorine bleach. Rinse well, then rinse again. I tried a "natural enzyme" cleaner, and it gave my daughter horrible burns, I ended up having to literally do a triple wash to get it all out of the diapers and promise her a pony to get her to put diapers back on.
PUL bags: awesomeness! lots of new styles that can hang over doorknobs, zip closed, etc. Go right in with the diapers for washing.
diaper cream: anything with zinc oxide, cod liver oil or silicone will gum up fleece. I found Northern Essence Diaper Rash Salve and love it. (note, it is not vegan if that's a req for you)

[Moxie]

OMG--bamboo! Never even considered that as a diaper fabric, although I'm wearing a bamboo scarf I knit myself right now and love the way it feels.

I love how things have stayed exactly the same but are totally different in cloth diapering.

[iris]

Someone else mentioned these, but I also loved Nature Babycare--they are enviro-friendly disposables that WORKED really well. Pricey, though. Buy from diapers.com.

Also liked bumgenius one size, although after 18 months of use, they really started to smell and I had to replace the elastic on them.

Also, get a small potty (baby bjorn) and set your kid on it at each diaper change. Getting them used to using a potty makes such a difference when potty training.

[Sara]

I used bumgenius for my son because: 1) I had it in my head that pocket diapers were a lot simpler than prefolds (verdict: when it comes to squirmy toddlers, true) 2) I like that they are one size and I don't have to keep buying them.
I chose them over fuzzi buns because I heard that fuzzi buns tend to leak in skinnier babies. However, the velcro in the bumgenius is not holding up very well, and apparently the leakage issues people had with fuzzi buns were only in the older versions of the diapers. Since fuzzi buns uses snaps instead of velcro at the waist, I would recommend people considering the two brands to go with fuzzi buns.

Also, I want to put in a plug for elimination communication. If you set your baby on the potty a couple of times a day (after naps is the easiest), eventually you will catch some pees and you can reinforce it with praise and continual dialog. It ends the environmental debate about diapering and is how my son was diaper free (during the daytime) at 15 months.

[Shanna]

Haven't bought cloth diapers since late 2008 (when my now-three-year-olds needed to bump up to larges for overnight), so I don't know about the latest hot thing. But I do want to throw this out there - do not automatically assume you will need disposables for overnight! In fact, the thing that got us to switch TO cloth diapering (all pockets, btw) when the kids were nine months old is that my son would routinely leak with disposables overnight - but after a little trial and error with pockets, we found solutions that work great for each kid. Sure, they have enormous butts at bedtime, but we had far fewer overnight leaks with cloth than disposables.

[juberzilla]

My sis sent me her cotton kissaluvs for the newborn phase and they were really great. Used them with Superbrite covers. Then I went to Motherease covers with Bamboo Sandy's with hemp liners. Still using at 15 months. Also using Bum genius 3.0 with microfiber inserts.

From 6-9 months, the Bum Genius took a break. They couldn't handle the poo-splosions and I had to seriously rinse the hell out of them to get them to stop smelling. Now they are my faves again.

Rinsing the hell out of the diapers makes them work better. I have a front loader and use powder on warm/warm, pre-wash, second rinse and then send them through again with no detergent. That works. All my diapers look almost brand new as long as I stick them in the sun every once in a while.

I don't overnight in cloth. My little guy is a super-soaker and I couldn't figure out how to pack him well enough to not have to change him. Keep in mind that he was nursing 3-4 times per night until he was over a year old. Only started sleeping through two weeks ago.

Even in disposables, I had to go up a diaper size to hold him for the night. So I'm the exact opposite of the Shanna, above.

[Nikki]

My best advice: different things work for different families, different babies, different ages....you get the picture. I really think new cloth-diaperers should buy "a little of this and a little of that" at first, to try things out.

We started out with prefolds and covers, which worked great and were cheap. We did run into some problems really early on with the diaper rubbing on the cord stump (and then the scab on the navel) and causing some bleeding, and of course they are really bulky on a newborn - but that didn't bother me or the baby!

We also had a few different pocket diapers (Swaddlebees and BG 3.0's), neither of which I was crazy about for a young baby. They both leaked - but again, this is only MY experience, there are many people out there who love their BG's. However, I had originally planned to go with only BG's and almost bought 30 of them second-hand. Sure am glad I didn't do that before test-driving a few of them.

Then I won a size small FuzziBunz in a prize pack from the local cloth diaper store and we haven't looked back. We gradually started picking up FB (if you watch, you can find them on sale) and just as we had enough for a full stash (10 or 12), she had outgrown the prefolds anyways. We're now into size medium FBs and I expect them to last until potty-training.

For our family, the FBs worked better. You can go a little longer between changes because the fleece keeps the liquid away from the bum. They fit DD's thighs better than BG (and so they don't leak). They're easy-peasy to put on, which is nice with a rolling, thrashing 8-month-old. And they're really cute, which actually matters more to me than I ever thought it would.

For our next baby (please!!), I'll probably buy a pile of XS FB and skip the prefolds altogether. Or maybe not. We'll see!!

[Nikki]

One more thought.

We were given about a bajillion of those little baby facecloths for baby shower gifts. That's what I use for wipes, and faces. (Yes, the same ones for bums and faces. I figure they are WELL disinfected with my wash routine.)

I don't have a warmer. I don't use wipes solution. I just grab a cloth and wet it under the bathroom tap before each diaper change. And to be honest, now that she's a little older, I don't always even do that when it's just a pee. I just take off the wet diaper, put on a dry one, and Bob's yer uncle.

Maybe I'm lazy, but it works for us, and I am all about not making unnecessary work for myself!

[Christene]

We've done cloth dipes (BG3.0) *until* I was getting up 3 times a night with a soaking wet babe (and since dd slept with us, we had to clean up a lot of things). I bought bamboo liners, double/triple stuffed, lined the bed, it was not making me happy and the liners weren't working.

So we bought a whole bunch of gdiaper inserts only. We lay them inside a stuffed BG dipe for the night only. Dd hasn't pooped at night in a very long time so it was just to catch tinkle. And you know what? I've been sleeping with a dry babe ever since. In the morning, I do have to flush the insert but the BG liner is the same as what I use during the day so all is well. I worked it out to be .37/night=my sleeping all night. So worth it!

In the spring, we'll start composting them outside but for the winter, I don't feel bad about flushing them. They say they'll break down in 50-150 days. And I sleep now. All night long. Thirty-seven cents worth of sanity!

I also love our new side loading washer: it seems like there is less wear and tear on the dipers and we ended up with a fancy one that can program the prewash, the regular wash and an extra rinse all at once.

Also, I got a cool hanging doohiky from Ikea, it looks like a hanger but instead of one plane it's many, with little clips on each plane out in a circle. Maybe to hold kid's art work? The clips hold the BG liners but not with such teeth that it goes through the PUL lining. It is hung right above my washer, so I just take out the liners, hang them to dry, the liners go in the dryers and everything gets put in the changing table all at once now.

I love cloth dipes!

[CaliBoo]

I forgot to mention the cloth wipes - yes yes yes they work so much better than the disposable ones. My favorite ones have terry on one side for really grabbing the gunk and smooth on the other for the delicate jobs. I have found that anything with polyester in it does not do a good job, but cotton, bamboo or wool blends are great.
Also, I do like the convenience of having them already moist and warm from the wipes warmer (this one: http://www.princelionheart.com/site/n_bc_0231.html)
Anyone have any experience with washable training pants? It's getting to be That Time for us, and I was debating whether or not it would be worth it to invest in some cloth trianers vs doing the pantiliner in the underwear trick, courtesy of ParentHacks.

[Amom]

I've used the FuzziBunz since my now 2 year old (birthday this weekend) was about 4 months. He fit into the medium size then and still does, so it's been amazingly cheap for us. Now I'm going back and buying size small for the upcoming second. We use them almost exclusively; my mom will pop on a disposable when she's out for longer jaunts but the giant pack of disposables will likely mostly be given away.

I use a vinegar rinse almost every other wash and that eliminated any odor issues for us; use Allen's Naturally detergent, and exclusively line dry the dipes, sometimes machine dry the liners.

We use an Aristocrats wool soaker and triple stuff the liners at night, and while he's got quite the padded booty, we deal with only an occasional leak (and more the makes the t-shirt edge of his jammies slightly damp variety).

I live in a desert climate and struggled with the cloth vs. disposable option because of the water issues. We switched to cloth when we got an HE washer, and I feel really good about the decision. I had to use disposables during a hotel vacation recently, and I just hated it. Although diaper stuffing nights aren't my favorite! (We do the diapers twice weekly and I try to time it with the two nights of television shows I like!)

[daniko]

I agree with the earlier post about how different diapers work for different babies and families... for instance I like the Bum genius diapers. I got mine from the retail store 'well-loved' so it was a good deal. But another baby I know had lotsa of problems with them because she was a petite thing and they leaked poop like crazy. Babies really need a little fat on their thigh so the elastic stretches and holds everything in. My son is in the 95% so we didn't have a problem with that. Recently went with the hemp insert bc ds is quite a heavy soaker, and I am very happy with them.

If I had to do it over again...

As others have said, the newborn phase is hard because they are so tiny. I had just prefolds and covers then and still couldn't use them for a few weeks (and as I said my son is a bruiser). I thought then the economical thing to do would be go disposable until he fit into them. But really, when they are that little they poop constantly and if your buying those pamper newborns it is ridiculous. I would go through a box in 4-5 days, and they are like $20+. So I might try kisaluvs size 0 next time.

[akeeyu]

Okay, here's one for overnight:

Fitz-Hume is a hard drinking, hard peeing baby. What's more, she tends to KIND OF hold it overnight, then let it all out in a massive woosh that will overflow any fleece stuffer, which sucks. They're very absorbent, but not quickly.

Solution: Flip cover (good for babies with skinny little legs, really holds in the...everything, and is one size fits all), two fleece stuffers (like the kind from Bum Genius--you can buy them separately), a Chinese prefold (it absorbs quickly, then wicks to the fleece), then a fleece liner. It holds EVERYTHING all night.

Seriously, we're talking twelve hours of pee.

Oh, and by 'fleece liner' I mean a piece of fleece the size of a folded prefold that I cut out of a big piece of random fleece. You can just buy some or cut up old blankets. Milbarge is one of those babies who cannot stand even ONE DROP OF PEE in her diapers unless she has a liner. It'll be awesome when we're ready to switch to underpants, but we're not even close, and it sucks ass.

When your velcro wears out (and it will), you can extend the life of your diapers by buying some soft doublesided velcro tape (craft store) and slapping it over the worn out tabs (think 'duct tape'), as long as they're the overlapping tabs.

You don't need a fancy PUL pail liner, just a giant pillowcase-type sack that you can sew out of old sheets, if you like. Put your pail outside once a week to air out for an hour, and you'll be fine. Yes, the PUL liners are super neat, but they cost the earth and can capture dirty water in the rinse cycle, which...ew?

For everyday pail freshness, skip the fancy deodorizers. Just put two drops of essential oil on a wipe and toss it in.

There is NO MAGIC BULLET with regards to wraps or detergent.

Country Save is made within 100 miles of my house, and since using it, we haven't had to strip ONCE. I tend to think part of the reason it works so well is that it jives with local water. Maybe it doesn't work so well with hard water?

If a detergent isn't working for you, move on.

The girls use two different wraps and always have, because they're two different shapes. Putting Milbarge's wrap on Fitz-Hume is like diapering her with a collander, and Milbarge hates Fitz-Hume's.

If a wrap isn't working for you, try another one.

[akeeyu]

Oooh, we have those IKEA clippy hangers, too. Shape of an octopus. LOVE THEM.

[kelli]

We use Earth Baby (http://www.earth-baby.com) in the SF Bay Area. They deliver and pick up/compost the Nature Babycare compostable diapers and wipes. It's a great service if you live in this area.

[Pippi]

I hated bumgenius. HATED. They would have only worked if I had stripped them every week. We have really soft water so it's really hard to get detergent out -- and I don't use much! I use prefolds and fitteds. They are easy to clean and really not hard to use at all. I like prefolds best because they're more durable and easy to wash and dry, but fitteds were great when she was squirmy and now I use them like training pants. She can pull them up like underwear but I can unsnap them if she poops.

It's really hard to know exactly what will work for you before you try, but here's my advice. From talking with friends (lots and lots of people cloth diaper around here) it seems like diapers made of synthetics (pockets and AIOs usually) are easier to put on, but more fiddly to clean while prefolds/fitteds are a bit more fiddly to put on but dead easy to wash. Also, if you're going to diaper more than one kid I think it's worth it to buy new when you find what you like. I got some great deals on some used diapers but they're not going to hold up well for #2. I've also heard that one sized diapers often (though not always!) give out after one kid so if you're going to diaper more than one buying sizes might not be such a bad idea.

[Erin]

I have to join the bumgenius love. We're really happy with them, and they've worked beautifully for the nearly 2 years they've been on our son. I also hated gdiapers even though I wanted to love them, for all the reasons Moxie said.

We use disposables when traveling, and now at night sometimes because we were having leaking problems. My husband bought an attachment that fixes to the toilet (but not the one the BG people sell - something much cheaper at Lowe's) and it sprays all the poop off. Then we throw them in the bin (and the wet ones just go right in). When it's time for laundry, we do a prerinse with diapers alone, with no detergent but vinegar (vinegar is a natural antimicrobial). Then we add the rest of our clothes with a small amount of non-scented earth-friendly detergent. Doing it together makes it seem like less work.

Before I started I didn't think it was possible to do cloth diapers without a service. But I find it super easy, really. Of course none of this would work with most daycare, which won't let you use them, as far as I know. But our nanny and babysitters have always been game. Bumgenius are super easy to use.

(We also used kissaluvs when DS was really little and they worked pretty well - but we wanted to avoid a system where we had to keep buying the next size up.)

(Sorry if this double posted - it didn't seem to be working)

PS We do use a non-chlorine bleach (a teeny amount) on the bumgenius every 5-6 months or so, and that makes them sparkling again. The velcro is starting to wear, which makes me wonder if the snap version holds up better. But we're still hopeful that these will do for #2.

[Erin]

PPS We use 7th generation non scented detergent with the diapers/clothes and have never had a problem.

We also use Weleda diaper cream occasionally (though he rarely has rash thanks to the cloth), and it's never created a problem with the diapers, either. FWIW.

[AmyM]

I knew I was going to have a small baby (6 lb) and bought preemie sized prefolds and PUL covers. We used Snappi Fasteners to hold the prefolds in place. We later used the small prefolds as doublers in our larger prefolds. We mostly used PUL covers for our first, but switched to wool covers for our second and LOVED them. We also used hemp doublers. At night we used a larger prefold and a fleece lined hemp doubler with a Disana wool cover. Finally, we had some fitted cloth diapers with hook and loop closures, which were basically for my mom's benefit. I think we had a total of 3 sizes of prefolds and PUL covers and got the most use out of the largest size. I only needed one size in the wool covers. It was virtually free to diaper the second kid and I was able to sell everything after we were done. Oh and I'd like to second the vote for cloth wipes- much better than the diposibles.

[Cloud]

I've used gDiapers a bit with both girls. I think they work better on bigger babies. We had a lot less trouble with them on Petunia (who is in the 90th percentile for weight) than Pumpkin (who is in the 15th percentile for weight).

They've upgraded the gPants and liners since I first bought them (almost 3 years ago now). The new ones wash better.

I've never used cloth, so can't help there.

[Cloud]

Oh, a couple more things on gDiapers- (1) the wet ones really do compost OK. It takes a while for them to break down, but they do eventually break down. (2) I never had the poop escape the diaper with them, whereas poopsplosions up the back are pretty common around here when we're using disposables (which are required by day care). You're right about having to was the liners, but that never bothered me. I'd just give them a quick rinse and then put them in with our regular laundry.

I'll have to check out some of the other more eco-friendly disposable ideas here. Cloth makes no sense for us because of the day care issue and because we live in a place that is perpetually short on water.

[Ewokmama]

My son is 3.5 so I think I'm slightly out of date on this but I have mostly relevant info here:
http://ewokmama.com/index.html/2007/09/17/diapers-pockets-aios-vs-prefolds/

[Stephanie]

I'm loving this! We're expecting our first this summer. We both agree on cloth diapering, but my research (hours spent online) has me leaning toward Bum Genius and FuzziBunz. And my husband's best friend said "gDiapers" once and now he's convinced it's the only way to go.

[Jessica]

I use gDiapers and love them. They are so easy to use. I have not had any problems with them at all. I also love how the tabs are in the back because my son was starting to pull at his tabs on other diapers.

[Amber]

We love our gDiapers with cloth inserts (we use preemie prefolds)! We only use the flushable refills for poop times - our kids are predictable (never have I touched poop in all my 4 years of diapering my babies) :-) They have saved us A TON OF MONEY and anyone will use them, even my husband. They wash totally clean and free of odors...unlike every polyester pocket and all in one diaper we've used. I think you should give those another try, they give you a travel/poop option for flushing AND a cloth option with no stinky polyester! And their customer service has been FABULOUS!

[Amber]

Should just add one more comment, I was selected as a reviewer/tester for Fuzzibunz & BumGenius....although they did not leak, they BOTH built up urine and poop odors which could NOT be removed with ANYTHING over a couple months. They became useless and nasty. Stripping, vinegar, nothing helped. If you have hard water, as MOST of the USA does...I would avoid synthetic cloth diapers like those brands like the plague, you will inevitably have stinky diapers that take much more effort than they're worth!

[Yara]

I love g-diapers.
If g-diapers had not been invented, I'd have used disposable diapers on all my kids.
I sadly did on my oldest (and feel horrible about it) and switched to g-diapers when the store was out of chlorine free disposables in my 2nd daughters size.
Yes, I had to buy inserts. Back then, they were a smaller company & at one point were 'out' of liners (there was a few days wait before theyd ship them) and my local store was also out! So, not having many left, I decided washing diapers couldn't be so bad. I was washing covers & inserts. What more was the actual diaper?

I began by finding a cloth insert that fit into the g-diapers I already had. I bought about a dozen Babykicks hemp inserts in size medium, that fit our medium g-diapers perfectly.
I slowly switched to 100% cloth.
One day my husband realized he had not had to buy diapers in months, and he was happy & hooked on cloth.

I think g-diapers are a great option. I use them when we travel.
On our Maui vacation, the maids in the Ritz Carlton hung up g pants every morning in the bathroom to dry (I'd laid them out, not realizing such a fancy place had a clothing line in the bathroom)

As for poop- I never had problems with the g-diaper inserts. Never.

[Sarah]

different things work for different people. gdiapers now has a cloth insert, and i love it! very few explosions, and when we travel i use the flushable inserts which saves on having to buy disposables.

[Sabrina Williamson]

I am a huge fan of gdiapers. My son has been able to wear the M/L size now for coming up on 10 months(talk about savings)! We are also almost 100% cloth. We only use the biodegradable inserts when we travel. It's nice and easy to toss them and not have to carry around wet diapers. I really enjoy having that option. I also must say that I have never had a poop blowout or even a diaper rash on my little monster! No kidding. Not to mention that they are super styley and the company has great customer service!

[Jay]

If I were starting over (and I hope to be, soon!) I would do the same as I eventually found to love with my son. OS fitteds (WAHM only, I never really found love for the major brands) and fleece soakers/shorties/longies. We never used PUL covers, and most of the time he went coverless at home.

We love bamboo for diapers. Absorbent AND soft.

Definitely also recommend the PUL wetbag for going out and about. It is a lifesaver!

And use GOOD detergent. You'll know really quickly if you used the wrong thing, and stinky dipes (and red bums!) are NO fun. I used and will continue to use Lil' Outlaws (from http://www.liloutlaws.net) and she also makes Rump Rub which is a CD safe rash balm that is incredible. (it all smells TDF too!)

Yeah basically I wouldn't change anything.. I started with pockets and AIOs, tried a little of everything, and toward the end we found our groove with WAHM fitteds. Mostly OS so I have a lot saved for the next baby. Great value in cloth! :)