Cloth Diapering

Since my last post on cloth diapering back in the fall of last year, we have five and a half months of experience under our belt now. Many friends have asked what we use, how to get started, what tips we have. Since I've essentially written the same email many times to different inquirers I thought it would be helpful to assimilate it all here for future reference.

While at home with Heath we use the pre-fold system of cloth diapering. This is the most economical route as the diapers are cheaper and since you don't have to switch out the cover with each change, you have less laundry accumulating. We started off when Heath was a newborn size using the covers made by Green Earth, Thirsties, gDiaper (older cloth cover version- not a big fan), motherease (with fitted inserts vs square cloth). All of these worked as needed, I'm not shouting from the rooftop for any of them.

As Heath has gotten bigger (around month 2) he was able to fit into the one-size diapers that were gifted to us as showers. This allowed us to start using Flip diapers and Econobum, both with their respective pre-fold inserts. Now these diapers I will sing praise for- they have great double snaps, adjustable rises as well as the sides coming in. The pre-folds are super absorbent, especially for an affordable $11 econobum pack of cover and insert. The flip diapers we have are the organic cotton insert and they are extremely absorbent and stay in place better than other prefolds that tend to bunch.

While exploring daycare options for Heath we realized that not everyone was on the cloth diapering wagon quite like we were. Actually, nobody was. But Central's Center for Children was willing to at least give it a go and have a trial period. So with not much wiggle room to work with we opted for the easiest diapering experience to offer them which is an all in one. We found these Kushie all in ones at diapers.com for a great price- plus the 20% discount of being a first time purchaser. We got a combination of the ultra light package and their regulars- there is not a difference in absorbency that we have found, only a different outter material. The Ultra light is like an umbrella material and the regular is more like a heavy plastic tablecloth (the kind with felt backing).

As Heath has continued to grow these all in one school day diapers started to get his onesies wet because they were getting too small for his widening belly and thighs! So back to the research table we went and after hearing high reviews for the BumGenius 4.0 All in Ones we made another investment. They had just rolled out their new designer prints which was an added plus for making diaper changes fun. We opted for the Organic option (vs Stay Dry) because of the more environmentally friendly material and having something natural against Heath's skin. (This is the same company- Cotton Babies- that makes the prefolds we love for Flip and EconoBum). We also chose these new releases because they have snaps vs. velcro which tend to endure longer and are more difficult for babies to un-diaper themselves. These adjustable snaps are meant to fit babies weighing between 7-35 lbs. So lesson learned- we will have these for future Manz baby(ies) from start to finish.

What to Expect has a great overview of the different styles of cloth diapering if you want a one page review- check it out here.