Cloth Diapers? Let Us Know How That Goes...

Who needs a swimming suit?

2011-06-10T16:26:00.000-07:00

Just a shout out and some pictures!

2011-06-09T22:08:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted on here in forever, but I thought I should, just to let you know I haven't given up cloth diapering by any means... :) We didn't do it for much of December and January, because we were in Provo without on-site laundry facilities in the middle of winter, but it just wasn't going to work out. Katy's in cloth about 75% of the time, and though I've tried to get rid of a lot, I still have a lot of Flip covers (mostly snaps) and inserts, BumGenius pockets (3.0 and 4.0, aplix), a Thirsties wrap and a half dozen Green Mountain Diaper prefolds, and a few other random pockets. (some Kawaii Pure & Naturals she's about to outgrow, a Katydid, an Evolution diaper, etc.) I have to say my favorite right now is a Flip with an organic insert. Trim, clean lines, and oh-so-absorbant!
Jaina is (sort of) potty-trained, or at least hasn't worn diapers in like 6 months, so we just have one in diapers. (She's in pull-ups at night; I tried a few cloth trainers, but my kids are just too chunky for the regular ones I've found and I don't feel like making any... maybe I'll get industrious once we move to Virginia and I have my sewing machine back!)
Here are a few pictures of Katy in her cloth diapers over the last 7-8 months!

4 months-ish - snappied sherpa prefold

5 months-ish, Kissaluv size 1 fitted

Katydid pocket. It fits better now that she's older I think...

8-ish months; BumGenius OS pocket, blossom

BumGenius 4.0 pocket in... can't remember the color name. Light purple. :)

Pretty diaper laundry!

You can't see it, but she's using an unstuffed pocket as a swim diaper. Awesome.

11 months-ish in her new Thirsties wrap over a GMD prefold.

BumGenius rave

2010-09-10T06:55:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about mentioning this for a while. I have tried so many different brands of diapers (and styles) and after about 2 years of cloth diapering, at least 75% of my stash is BumGenius diapers. (BG one-size 3.0 pockets, and the Flip system) I don't know what it is about these, but they just perform better! Not to mention I like the solid, pretty colors, so I can coordinate them with my kiddos' clothes. I try to change often, but I am a busy mommy, and I often forget to do it soon enough. Time after time after time, BG's surprise me with how leak-resistant they are. Sure, we still have leaks, but only when the inner is completely soaked. They really do exceptionally well. The leak-proofness of their new(ish) Flip cover is what convinced me to finally try night-time diapering on Jaina (which I had been afraid of for a year and a half) and I haven't had a single night leak. There was a time between 12 months and 18 months when I thought my kids had outgrown the BG OS fit, but when I picked up CD'ing again (after a 6 month break) Jaina fit pretty well in them, and that's almost all she wears. They have expanded the fit in their new 4.0 diaper (I have one and love it!) and I don't think that will be a problem with Katy. I am so excited to see what new colors they come out with soon. You can be sure I'll be checking my e-mail and cottonbabies website to find out!

These are actually little XS All-in-Ones,
which I loved when Katy was tiny!

P.S. If you look at all the pictures below, Katy is always in either a BG or a Thirsties wrap over prefolds. :) They make up the other 25% of my stash...

So you want pictures of our little fluff-bottom?

2010-09-01T11:42:00.000-07:00

1 week - BumGenius AIO x-tra small

I didn't use cloth quite as much as I thought I would the first 2-3 weeks, (mostly because her cord didn't fall off until that point, and those Huggies Pure & Naturals had the sweetest little cord dip...) but after that we have used cloth on her about 75% of the time. She wears a disposable at night (because why change her and wake her up when the little sweetie almost NEVER poops at night?) and 3-4 during the week if we're going to be out for several hours sometimes. (usually to avoid changing her in some random public bathroom unecessarily). Otherwise she wears a combination of prefolds and covers, pockets, and AIO's, and we change every hour to two hours. She's a cute one!

Thirsties Duo Wrap with snaps (sz 1) over a preemie prefold. 2 weeks.

That is one fluffy bottom...

5 weeks? - BumGenius AIO small

BumGenius One Size pocket

Thirsties Duo Wrap (sz 1) over a prefold

GMD small unbleached pf, snappied

Flip cover over a stay-dry Flip insert

WAHM pocket, babylegs

GMD Chinese prefold (red-edge), snappied

and the same Thirsties Duo Wrap over that. (unsnapped to its largest size)

A Great Article About Cloth vs. Disposable

2010-06-09T14:40:00.000-07:00

About disposable diapers and the environment.
here is the link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennifer-grayson/eco-etiquette-how-can-i-c_b_572807.html

Eco Etiquette: How Can I Convince My Husband to Use Cloth Diapers?
Send all your eco-inquiries to Jennifer Grayson at eco.etiquette@gmail.com. Questions may be edited for length and clarity.
My husband has been fine with the green changes I've made in our household. He doesn't complain about composting, taking canvas bags to the grocery store, or even the vegetarian dinners I make. But we're expecting our first child, and he's drawn the line at cloth diapers. He says it's too inconvenient. How can I change his mind? -Layla

Well, for starters, the cloth diaper argument couldn't be more timely: Last week, I wrote about how the BP oil disaster is compelling Americans to consider new ways to reduce their oil footprint; more specifically, by reducing the amount of petroleum-based products they buy.
Plastic disposable diapers, of course, fall into this category. I regret I didn't think to include them in last week's column, because the statistic is a whopper: Nearly 3.5 billion gallons of oil are used to produce the 18 billion throwaway diapers that Americans toss each year. To put that in perspective, that's more than the amount of crude we import annually from Kuwait.
Need a visual? Picture one of those diaper commercials where someone pours a container of liquid into a nappy to demonstrate absorbency. Now replace the pretend pee in that cup with petroleum -- that's about how much oil (2/3 cup) it takes to make just one disposable diaper.
Of course, relaying these facts to your husband (along with any of the other convincing environmental arguments in favor of cloth diapers, like less landfill waste, water pollution, and destruction of virgin forests) may do little to change his mind if convenience is his priority. We all do stuff that's bad for the environment because it's more comfortable, right? If that weren't true, then 300 million of us would be biking 20 miles each way to work and making home-cooked meals out of the organic produce we planted in our backyard gardens.
So to sway your husband, I enlisted the help of the aptly named Sarah Greenshields, COO of GroVia, which makes one of the most convenient cloth diapering solutions on the market: the hybrid diaper. (Hybrid diapers are essentially Cloth Diapering for Dummies. Gone are the pins and folding of yesteryears: Instead, an outer washable shell fastens much like a disposable diaper; inside, you can attach either a washable cotton pad or an eco-friendly disposable liner to do the dirty work.)
I played the part of the questioning first-time parent (not much of a stretch, as those of you who regularly read my column know); Sarah countered with her case for cloth.

Jennifer Grayson: My mom says she tried using cloth diapers with me, and she gave up after a month, it was such a mess.

Sarah Greenshields: Diapers used to be these big, huge squares that you'd fold into shape, and then you'd use pins, and then you'd get scared that you were going to poke your baby with a pin, and then you'd have to put plastic pants over the cloth diapers. And the plastic pants, they were equivalent to today's shopping bag -- just big and bulky...so what we've done is stripped out all that extra nonsense and made it so, so simple.

JG: But we don't have a washer/dryer in our apartment. Isn't it gross to use laundromat machines for washing dirty diapers?

SG: Not at all. Most laundry cycles are going to finish on at least one, if not two, rinse cycles, so you're cleaning the washing machine out well. Nowadays, laundry detergents are so sophisticated that you don't need to worry.

JG: Don't you have to rinse off the um, more solid matter in the toilet first? I don't think I have the stomach for that.

SG: Even if with disposables, you're always supposed to take the poo and wash it down the toilet, no matter what.

JG: But people who use disposables don't actually do that.

SG: They should. You take the diaper off, you wrap it in a plastic bag, you put the plastic bag in the garbage...I mean, you're making a poop bomb.

JG: But three years of having to rinse off poop in the toilet...

SG: Well actually, your children toilet train much, much earlier [with cloth diapers]. From my personal experience, my daughter started using the toilet all by herself at 15 months.

JG: Why is that?

SG: They do feel the moisture up against their skin. I also think that when you're cloth diapering, it may take an extra minute or two...but that extra time and communication with your child can really encourage the child to become aware.

JG: But isn't feeling that wetness unhealthy?

SG: [With the GroVia hybrid] you have an organic cotton [soaker pad] up against their skin, or you have a corn-based [disposable liner] against their skin. No dyes, no fragrances, no chlorine. Babies who have chronic rashes do much better with cloth diapers. There's a whole thing going on with Pampers right now: Their Dry Max diapers are causing severe diaper rash.

JG: OK, it seems like you win the health argument. What about cost?

SG: On average, a family will spend $70 to $150 per month on disposable diapers. For cloth, it's a lot of money up front, but it's cheaper over the entire time you're diapering. It's about $375 to get your full cloth diaper setup, but you've paid yourself back in the fourth month.

JG: Thanks for giving me the bottom line on cloth diapers, Sarah. Sounds like it's my number one choice (and my number two).

Follow Jennifer Grayson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jennigrayson

My newborn stash...

2010-05-25T14:43:00.001-07:00

is complete, I think! Once the baby is born I MIGHT get some Kawaii Pure & Naturals, and a Thirsties Duo Cover and a few more snappis (gender-appropriate) but otherwise, this is it!

Pretty laundry

2010-04-27T11:18:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we finally started actually having some sunshine and warmer days. I also got some Softbums inserts off Diaperswappers FSOT (For Sale or Trade) with some truly ugly stains, and decided to try out the "dry them in the sun" stain treatment claims... This is how my "clothesline" looked the first 2 weeks:

Pretty exciting, huh?

But it worked! It got all the scary little "someone-else's-stains" right out! I've been trying to hang them out more to save some energy, and take advantage of the nice bacteria-killing, stain-removing sunshine. It's getting a little harder now that our trees have nice big shady leaves growing on them, but my "clothesline" also got an update (mostly thanks to our dryer dying...)

Aren't they pretty? Thanks to a "seconds" sale and the recent BumGenius coupon deal that's been going on, I now have all 9 colors that they make. (The light pink and white ones are inside, not dirty yet, with about 1/3 again as many other diapers... I actually have two pink pockets, but one is mysteriously missing, and I am SO curious... at least I'm fairly sure it's CLEAN and missing. At least, I really hope so!)

Did I ever mention...

2010-04-14T10:49:00.000-07:00

that my diapers smell fantastic these days? The things I've changed (since the evil days of stinky "clean, just out of the dryer" dipes) are:
1. I wash at least every 3 days (even though I usually only have half a load at that point - I'm sure that will change with a newborn around!)
2. I try to rinse the diapers ever so slightly before I throw them in the "pail" (just to make sure they -stay- nice and wet, and to dilute the pee and poo a little) I also spray a little Bac-Out on the poopy diapers, but that's mostly just because, and in case it helps with any stinkiness in the pail. Another thing we haven't had a problem with, by the way. It's in the basement, open to the air, and I never smell it when I walk in that room. I don't stick my nose in it or anything, but...
3. I switched our detergent to Tide Free. Tide isn't recommended for cloth diapers, but there are just too many people that use it and find it to be the best for actually getting everything clean! Jaina hasn't shown any sensitivity to it, (that can happen - I hope it doesn't bother the new baby!) and we haven't had any other issues since I started using it. The powder is supposed to work better than the liquid for most people.

So here is my current wash routine:
Cold pre-rinse. Hot wash/cold rinse (usually on medium) with Tide Free (up to the "1" line or less), extra cold rinse. I sometimes add a little eCover to that last rinse. It is a cloth-diaper-safe fabric softener, and helps keep things squishy. I try to hang my pockets and covers to dry, and put all the prefolds and inserts in the dryer, or on nice days, hang it all outside. The sun is a great stain-remover!

Cloth diaper craziness (and a giveway you should enter...)

2010-03-24T08:50:00.000-07:00

I am having so much fun with cloth right now - I only wish I had a cute little newborn to try a lot of these diapers on! I really need to go through everything I have and SELL some stuff to make room (and money) for the new things I'm getting. My current interests are Softbums and the Flip system. Still waiting for my first Flip cover and inserts, but they should get here this week! I'll be sure to let you know what I think... I got one Softbums cover and 6 inserts used on Diaperswappers.com. It is an All-in-Two, which means it's a cover with a snap-in liner. If the liner is just wet, (or, magically, if poo doesn't get on the cover) you just snap it out and snap another one in. If the fleece liner of the cover gets very wet you can let it air dry before you use it again. Supposedly you can use this thing all day (or even more, if it still smells fine when dry - it sometimes smells a little when wet). I am trying it today - let's see how long we can get it to last. :) Jaina is modeling how trim it is - almost like a disposable! (They have tons of cute colors, I just managed to snag an "oyster.")

You should all enter the great giveaway they're having this month. Find it HERE!

Newborn stash

2010-02-25T10:12:00.000-08:00

I've almost finished my newborn stash, I think. I've got about 8 preemie prefolds, a dozen newborn ones (all from greenmountaindiaper.com - I love them!), 3 XS Thirsties All-in-Ones, 3 flats to try, 5 PUL wraps, 1 tiny adorable fleece wrap, and several fitteds that I've attempted to make myself. Since I don't have a baby to try them on, I don't think I'd better spend time making many more just yet in case they don't work at all...
All I should need now (newborn-wise) are a few snappis and another cover or two. I think I'll wait to see if we need any "pink" or "blue" additions before I order them... As the baby gets slightly bigger, I know I want to try the Flip system from cottonbabies. It sounds great and gets good reviews! If we have a little boy there are also several pink BumGenius 3.0 pockets I need to sell, and I'll probably "need" to buy a few more blue and green... :)

Newborn (and even "small") cloth

2010-02-02T18:44:00.000-08:00

is completely adorable. I've already received all of the stuff I listed before, and it's so cute and tiny compared to the largest stuff I have (which I've been selling off - keeping the one-size and some of the more gender neutral stuff for now, but trying to make a little money to build our newborn stash otherwise...)

2010-01-29T13:11:00.000-08:00

So I haven't really been doing any cloth-diapering in like 5-6 months now. Reilly is potty-trained, and Jaina goes through like 3-4 diapers a day, maybe. I think a lot of my stink issues were from waiting 4-5 days to wash, because I just didn't have enough diapers to make a load until then, plus it got annoying trying to fit my rather chubby Little Miss into all her cute clothes. The comination was not a winning one.
BUT since we're expecting a new baby in June, I know I want to do cloth much of the time (though maybe not at night. we'll have to see how it's going). They just go through SO many diapers, that cloth will make a lot of sense, and if I'm havig to wash every other day, I think things will smell much better around here. So I've been looking through my "stash" and seeing what I want to sell and keep, (which is hard, since we're going for "surprise" on the gender) and figuring out what I need to CD a newborn. Jaina was 4 months when we started, so I've never done this! I wish I knew boy or girl, so shopping would be easier, but it's probably just as well, since I shouldn't be spending a lot of money right now. Or maybe I should be more disciplined about selling and THEN buying. :) I even have it in my head that I might be able to MAKE some smaller fitted diapers. (could be interesting, since my sewing level is still at "beginner") I want to do it all NOW, but it really makes more sense to wait until our little June bug is born and we know what colors we can use. These are some things I've already bought:

Yes, I know, if it's a boy Jeremy won't let me use the flowered one, green or not. I wasn't thinking super clearly, and it was on clearance. At least I could -try- it and see how I feel about the FuzziBunz fit. :)

Cloth smell resolved?

2009-04-14T11:42:00.000-07:00

So, I did a little research into what I could do to improve my diaper smell, and the first thing I tried has actually helped so far. I've been adding vinegar (just random amounts, to random soaks and/or rinses) and things are smelling better around here. So we're back on the cloth bandwagon, and trying to stop buying so many disposables. Actually, I'm hoping to potty train Reilly in the next few weeks? I'll let you know how that goes... I'm scared!

Cloth Diaper Loser

2009-03-16T18:51:00.000-07:00

So... we haven't done many cloth diapers in the last month or two. Since Christmas our kids have been having so much "teething" poo, and I haven't figured out the best water/wash routine in our new place yet. And now we've been in Arizona for 2 weeks. But I'm recommitting to getting it all going again when we get home! Wish me luck... I've got to figure out how to get my diapers nice and fresh-smelling again...

Still at it

2008-11-20T11:42:00.000-08:00

Sorry I don't blog about these much. Nothing too exciting has been happening in our little CD world. We are still using cloth about 75% of the time, though I've gotten a little lazy about it and run out of clean diapers probably once a week at least. :) I am washing about 3 times a week, but the washer is very full! I'm excited to hopefully get Reilly potty trained by this summer. It may not happen, but I think we'll try it after all our Christmas traveling maybe. We'll see if he seems ready. Jaina is outgrowing her mediums, so I might have to do some shopping sometime soon, as I'm selling three of her medium pockets right now.
After about 6 months of this, I've changed my mind about a few things. I'm not as much a fan of the GADs as I was at first. Sure, they seem nice and comfy, but I can't seem to keep them from leaking unless I change REALLY often. (compared to some of my other pockets) Maybe they'd do better if I used the actual GADs insert instead of BumGenius microfiber inserts. Who knows. My favorite diaper is probably the BumGenius one-size pockets, though they don't fit Reilly. Hopefully Jaina will continue fitting into them for some time, because I won't leave the house or put her down for a nap in anything else... Doing well though. Chugging along. :)

New additions

2008-07-30T07:01:00.000-07:00

We've had a really hard time finding diapers that fit Reilly well. The "one-size" BumGenius pockets really only go to about 30 lbs. He's about that, and they DO fit, but they're not very comfortable for him. And we loved our BumGenius Egyptian Cotton fitteds for a while, but they kind of seemed to shrink, and weren't that comfy for him either. And they took too long to dry. So I sold them and bought two of the new Babykicks One-Size Hemp fitteds (slightly used). They're supposed to go up to 35 or 40 lbs, and they fit him really well. I also found I liked the snaps a lot more than I thought I would. They are fitteds, so they technically need a cover, but they also have a pocket. If I put a hemp insert into the pocket, they're great for letting him run around for a while coverless (so his little bum can breathe) without worrying about him soaking through.

The other new diapers we got are Green Acre Designs (GADs) side-snapping pockets. The size large looks tiny, but fits Reilly so well. It's great; they seem more comfortable for him. I like how the side-snaps (vs. front aplix/velcro) don't put pressure on his tummy. And they come in all kinds of cute colors. I already ordered one more for him and two for Jaina. They come in 5 different sizes, so make sure you measure your little one and compare. There are two links on the side now to stores that sell GADs (usually 15.95, with another $3-ish for an insert. Any insert will work, pretty much.). I highly recommend trying them!

Current stash

2008-07-30T05:31:00.001-07:00

At this point I'm washing about every 1.5 days, but I think soon I'll be able to wash every other night. I think I said that before, but I've bought and sold several things since then. I need to make sure I use my prefolds more. I have more pockets now, and they're just so much more convenient, and they seem a little more comfortable for Jaina, who is trying to get more mobile. (Trying, not succeeding so much) Anyway, here is everything (minus a prefold she was wearing, Reilly wasn't up yet!) I have right now, fresh out of the dryer. :)

Does it Save Money?

2008-07-16T09:47:00.000-07:00

So I was browsing and found a cool site : http://www.naturalfamilyonline.com/5-diap/45-diaper-cost.htm . It breaks down the costs of disposable vs. cloth diapering. (just the cost of the diapers themselves)

They based their research on "two of the most popular brands from a store known for its value pricing" and calculated how much a value box of diapers cost, plus how many disposables babies use (on average) at each age, and also figured in how long they are using each size.

With all the math done, this site claims the average cost of JUST the diapers for about 3 years (i child) is $2,694. Is that crazy, or what? If you want to see how they broke it down, check the site.

This site (a little less accurately, I think) says disposable diapering costs about $2800. They base that on 8 changes per day for 3 years at $.32 a diaper. I don't think most of us pay quite that much per diaper, but let's say even an average of $.22 a diaper - $1927. That's a lot of money!

This same site says the same family will spend about $320 to $500 on cloth diapers during a child's "diapering life." That's probably washing every 2-3 days. I wash every night right now, and have spent about $400 so far for both kids. I'm getting close to being able to wash every 2 days though, which would be about right, I think. I just bought some more BumGenius's for Jaina. Now I just need to find some diapers that fit Reilly a little better, and we should be well on our way to just washing every other day. I don't think I'd want to go longer than that, mostly because you don't have to deal with much smell that way.

Cloth diapering definitely seems more economical, even if you factor in the $400 (approximately, of course) it takes during those 2-3 years to wash all your diapers. If you're doing two kids at once, I think that number probably goes down. :) Then there's still the re-sale value. From what I've read (and from some re-sale myself) you can make back anywhere from 30 to 60% of your original cost if you keep things in decent condition. Either that or save everything to use on the next child, and your costs for THAT baby just went way down... Money-wise, it's a win-win situation.

That's all for now. Jaina thinks she needs some attention. :)

How it's Going

2008-06-04T12:17:00.000-07:00

So far, it's going really well! We've been doing it about 3? weeks now. It's not as easy and simple as disposables, but it's not really that hard, either, and we feel better about it. We still use disposables sometimes, like at night (I haven't gotten brave yet) and when we're going to be out and about for a few hours and don't want to have to worry. Of course even then, Reilly does okay in a good pocket diaper. Jaina needs to be changed a little more often. I'm having a lot more fun than I thought I would, and there are so many options out there, and so much to learn, that it's a little addictive. I'm sure Jeremy's tired of hearing about cloth diapers, even though he's excited about it too (and is getting better and better at the prefolds). We're going to Arizona for a few weeks soon, and I plan to use disposables (which we've actually never had any problem with - I love my Pampers!) on the trip and probably about half of the time while we're there.

Some pros we've found:

-Environmentally better

-More natural than all that plastic and perfume

-Will save us money. Eventually. I've had way too much fun getting a lot of diapers and trying all different ones. It will be better than $50-$70 a month on disposables (and I hear the prices are supposed to go up due to all the oil issues?)

-Adds some cute and fun variety to diaper changes

-Actually has helped me feel more connection to the kids - they need me to make sure they stay clean and dry a lot more than when using disposables...

-No, we haven't had more rashes, like everyone seems to think. You're actually not supposed to use diaper creams on cloth diapers. Most kinds mess them up. We haven't had any rash, just a little redness at first when I wasn't cleaning Jaina enough.

A few cons:

-Yes, you do more laundry. I've been washing every day, but I'm getting closer to going to every other day. I don't think I'd want to go longer than that... I really hate smells. It's nice that at least we don't pay for water right now...

-You definitely have to change them more often, and worry about it a little more.

-Some of their clothes don't fit as well. (Our kids are chunky anyway - on skinny babies, I hear they help keep pants up! :) This is actually one of the harder ones for me!

We'll continue to keep you posted! If you have any questions, or if you're interested in trying it, (even part time!) talk to me!

Types of Diapers

2008-06-04T08:30:00.000-07:00

Prefolds

These are normally made out of cotton($1.50 - 3.00 a piece) , or out of hemp or bamboo velour (those last two are more expensive). They require some folding and fastening, with either traditional pins ($0.50 to 1.50 for a set) or with a snappi. (comes in many colors, about $3) Typical prefolds are either Chinese (longer-lasting) or Indian (softer) cotton, and either bleached or unbleached. GreenMountainDiapers.com is considered one of the best place to buy prefolds, but there are many good sites, and buying used (such as on DiaperSwappers.com) is not a problem, either. When you get brand new prefolds, you need to prep them by either boiling them for a while, then washing and drying, or washing and drying them about 3-6 times. After this, they become absorbent and are ready to use. I use these (and Thirsties covers) mostly with Jaina. She's better at sitting still while I get them on right. Below you can see Reilly in a not-so-well-snappied prefold and the progression from prefold (unbleached Indian - I love these!) to cover on Jaina.Fitteds

Fitteds also need a cover to be waterproof. They are shaped like babies (and like disposables) and often use snaps or velcro to attach. Tons of moms like to use fitteds (and covers, under clothes, or when they're out) rather than prefolds, even though they're a lot more expensive. I'm beginning to see why. Tthey are definitely simpler, though many moms prefer prefolds. They are usually made out of cotton and/or hemp, or bamboo velour. You can find them for anywhere between $8 and over $40... (Yes, there are quite a few people will pay $30-40 for certain custom or premium types of fitteds...) Most mass-produced fitteds are between $10 and $18. We have mostly plain colors, but you can get fitteds in all kinds of prints and several kinds of fabric. Below, Reilly is modeling a BumGenius Egyptian Cotton fitted. These are very cool, but they may or may not be making anymore...

Covers

When you need to keep prefolds or fitteds from wicking moisture onto clothes or furniture, you put a cover on. You can keep it simple, with whites, clear, or solids or get lots of fun prints. Instead of PUL (polyurethane laminate), lots of people also use fleece or wool covers; both "breathe" better than PUL, which is kind of plasticky. We haven't tried any, but we'd like to. They say wool is warm when it's cold and cool when it's warm. It's pretty pricey though, even for homemade stuff. We're talking $20 - 50 per item. (covers, shorts, long wool pants, etc). I don't know too much about fleece.

Pockets
Pockets are my favorite for naps, outings, and for Reilly. They usually have some kind of stay-dry liner on the inside, waterproof PUL on the outside. You stuff inserts (or even prefolds) in the pocket for absorbency. They're nice because you can leave them on a little longer without worrying about them feeling "wet," because they're easy to put on (they have velcro-type closures or snaps), and because you can stuff them with whatever you need for different situations. Without stuffing, they also make good swim diapers. (I hear). We have several BumGeniuses that we like, and a couple of Happy Heinys, which we also like. Below, Reilly models a BG on the stairs.

All-in-Ones

An all-in-one (AIO) is a cloth diaper with the absorbent layer integrated into the waterproof outer layer. It goes on in one step. No stuffing, no diaper cover and no folding means that this is the easiest-to-use and quite possibly, the most convenient diapering system you can buy. They tend to fit very trimly. The main reason we don't have any is that they take quite a while to dry. They're also slightly more expensive. People that do daycare often use a lot of these. They're also great for dads and babysitters. Here are some pictures of AIO diapers: (they basically look like pockets on the outside)

Where to Buy

It's hard to find actual cloth diaper stores, but there are lots of online places, and many of them offer free (and fairly fast) shipping, especially if you buy a certain amount. There are quite a few links on the sidebar, several of which we've shopped at ourselves. You can also get stuff used - cloth diapers have a pretty good re-sell value, and there is a very busy website that does a lot of person-to-person sales, with transaction feedback, paypal and everything. You can find it (the FSOT threads) at www.Diaperswappers.com/forum. It's kind of nice to get involved there, because you can re-sell the things that aren't working for you, or try different types of diapers more cheaply than buying new. You can also find a lot of WAHM (Work at Home Mom) wares there. For everthing you can buy in "stores" there's usually a WAHM counterpart. Some of these products are a bit cheaper than the mass-produced ones, and many are more expensive (nicer, more customizable). For many people, diapers are as much art as they are functional. I don't have any WAHM products at this time.

Cleaning Up

2008-06-04T07:43:00.000-07:00

Clean up with cloth diapers isn't really that bad. Sure, sometimes it's gross, but so are regular diapers. It's just not a happy thing in general. Mosy people don't use the "dunk and swish" method (if that was the only option I would NOT be doing CD). Most people use a diaper sprayer:

These attach to a valve behind your toilet, or to the shower, or whatever really easily. You just spray any extra mess off into the toilet. No need to touch anything you don't want to. :)

We don't have one of those (though I might be interested in getting one), but I use flushable liners. They're not that expensive, and you just throw one in every diaper change. If the diaper's just wet, you can throw them in the wash with everything else, and they last 3-4 washes (so you don't go through them too quickly). If the diaper's messy, you just throw them in the toilet. (With most of the mess). Sadly, Jaina seems to have a sixth sense about when I forget to put one of these in... The brand I hear is best is Imse Vimse. The toddler ones are great because I can just cut them into pieces and use one for both kids

Laundry
This can be slightly complicated, but it hasn't been, for me, so far. You just try something that works for other people, and if it doesn't work for you (i.e. if you're getting smelly diapers) you try something else. Diapers are a little picky about which detergents you use on them, as detergent with additives can cause build-up, which will smell. We use All Free & Clear on most of our clothes, but it's not the best thing for diapers, so I've been using Purex Free & Clear on them. Here is one good link about different detergents and how they work for cloth: http://www.diaperjungle.com/detergent-chart.html

I do a cold rinse, a hot wash/cold rinse with 1/4 - 1/2 of the detergent called for, then an extra cold rinse to make sure all the soap is out. If I think about it I do an extra spin at the end, as it cuts down drying time. I also add a little Calgon (water softener, in the laundry aisle) because I think we have really hard water here in Davenport, and hard water can cause build-up, too.

I usually hang the pocket diapers and the covers to dry overnight, and dry everything else on high. Most things can be dried on high, but the tags will tell you, if so. Fitted diapers sometimes take a little extra long to dry, and All-in-Ones (AIOs) would take even longer.