Cloth Diaper Recommendation - Don't Want to Break the Bank but Want Ease

others have pointed in the right direction. Here's my addition-

1) I don't have an issue with staining. My sister was AMAZED that my diapers are white. If they get a stain I put them in the sun. The sun kills germs AND bleaches stains.

2) I sometimes find them smelly when the child pees but that happens when there's a residue build up. I know it's time to strip the diapers when they smell. A little vinegar in the rinse and double rinse it will remove the soap build up. I like a few drops of tea tree oil in my daily rinse cycle (and always use a cold soak, hot wash and double rinse.) TT oil kills germs and smells nice.

3) I spent $5,000 on disposables before I started cloth (always wanted to go with cloth but didn't know anyone who used it.) I used cloth with two toddlers and then my last baby from infancy and I LOVE it. But I'm downsizing and my baby is 3 so I'm selling my prefolds and many of my covers. :( Email me ____@____.com and you might be interested in buying some of mine cheap. I believe they are from Gren Mountain you can see them here http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/diapers.htm

Many of them were never used as I bought them for a subsequent pregnancy which didn't make it. They are AWESOME. I have a lot of covers too. http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/bummis.htm

Yes, they get expensive. I love this site for buying used http://www.diaperswappers.com/

I have also a few cloth diaper answers.

Here is a great link discussing the different types: http://www.diaperjungle.com/cloth-diaper-types.html
This website also has detergent recommendations, etc.

So, the best deal are prefolds with covers. But, if you are looking for ease, that may not be the way to go. That's what I use and they are "easy", but my husband prefers the one-size Happy Heinys that we have for my older son. However, I wash them and stuff them, that's why they are so "easy" for him. :)

For the best deals, check out Craigslist. You will find moms on there who didn't use the diapers or used them twice. I don't know if you care about getting used diapers or not, but you will find the best deals on there.

In my opinion, cloth diapering is all about routine. Once you get into your routine, it's easy. Saves you money, is earth friendly, and keeps all of those nasty disposable chemicals off of your baby.

Good luck.

Take a look in my answers. I have several answers with lots of cloth diaper info answering most of the questions you have.

If you want to go prefolds def use greenmountaindiapers.com They are the gold standard! But if I had it to do over I'd go all one-size pocket diapers in snaps. Bum Genius or Thirsties Duo. You'll need hemp liners for nighttime, a wet bag for days (I highly recommend the Bummi wet bag) and a wet bag to line a small garbage can with a lid (for holding the diapers till laundry time).

To address Allison H-if they leak or smell then you don't have quality diapers, they haven't been properly prepped or they haven't been cared for properly. You have to use a diaper approved detergent and then only a tablespoon or it can cause repelling issues. I had one exclusively breastfed baby blow out once I switched to cloth. I had them all the time with disposables. And they will leak if you don't change often enough. You have to change more frequently than with disposables. Totally different animals and once you get past the learning curve they are just as easy and waaaaay more cost effective.

Prefolds and snappis are by far the easiest, and most durable make sure you buy a commercial type/diaper service quality of prefold if that is what you want to do. www.alltogetherdiaper.com has some awesome unbleached indian prefolds which will stand the test of time. Then get a bummi wrap for a cover. Thirsties also makes a great cover. Washing correctly will help keep stains at bay and also drying them on the line will help them work better longer. Using a dryer can bake in hard water deposits. NEVER buy Gerber Prefolds! These are not good diapers! Burpcloths are all they are!
There are many diaper patterns out there is you are handy with a sewing
machine as well. Stay away from the AIO's(all in ones) they are hard to clean and dry. There are tons of different pockets to choose from, try sticking with a natural fiber when choosing a soaker material for the pockets.
Velcro is great for the first year maybe when the baby is really easy to change but once they are toddlers go with snaps.
How many is based on preference, how often do you want to wash. Usually three dozen is a good number to start with diapers and maybe a dozen covers.
I use soapnuts and oxclean for my diapers. Charlies soap is another good option for washing them. Stay away from all commercial detergents because the enzymes and brighteners stick to the fibers and can cause buildup and residues that will repell.
Keep some Dawn dishwashing liquid and RLR Laundry treatment onhand to help strip the diapers of hard water buildup.

Gdiapers are reasonably priced because you buy a couple of the pants with liners then you can buy a bunch of cloth, and they're very cute. You can even use regular prefold cloth diapers in the pants instead of the gcloths which are more expensive. I think all-in-ones are the best but they are definitely more expensive. If you go with gdiapers than 4 pants and 18 cloth inserts are good to start, you will just do a load about every 2-3 days. I have a dry pail, just throw the soiled cloth in a trash can lined with a wet bag. When its time to do laundry just throw everything including the bag in the wash. I just wash them on hot, dry on medium. I don't do any special soaking or pre-wash or rinses. I also have a diaper sprayer on my toilet which I think is a must-have, for spraying poop off the diapers. Without it you have to try to get the poop off just by swishing it around the toilet which gets very messy.

I've been using gdiapers for about 3 months now, and I've had some issues with leaking, but I think its partly because I have a boy who sleeps on his belly, so sometimes he leaks up out the diaper. He also pees a lot and soaks through most disposables also. I have a friend who swears by bumgenius all in ones, she says they never leak. Whatever you pick, good luck!

I agree with everyone about the prefolds being the most cost efficient and are pretty easy. We are on our second child using them and really like them. So to just add one other little tip, we buy the Gerber plastic pants and use those as diaper covers. The are like 3 for $5 or around there at Babies R Us. Its nice because they are cheap and the seal everything in so there is almost no chence of a blow out or any kind of leaking. The only thing is you don't want them in the dryer, jsut air dry them, but they dry in about 20 minutes. And you can reuse them so don't need too many. However, the only place I have been able to find them is Babies R Us.

I can recommend going to greenmountaindiapers.com i was sent there by someone and it answered a TON of questions. My second is due in 2 weeks, and we decided to do the cloth diaper this time around as well. For me, I chose to get the pocket diapers as i think they will be the easiest for my husband as well. i do have prefolds and can use the pocket diaper as a cover if I want to try that out during the day when i am home. i have heard though as they get bigger the pockets are better, as you can have it all ready to go and can switch quickly. Since they will start squirming, no problem.

For a deal on diapers look on craigslist. you may not find a ton of people offering them, but you never know. Where I live, there is about once a week someone posting their cloth diapers up for sale. you can also try ebay. I purchased about 3 dozen pockets on ebay for about $3 a diaper and that included the inserts for them. Which is EXTREMELY cheap.

If you want to use prefolds, you can look into a diaper service around you, and see if they are selling any at all. They will sell them after so long in use, and most times they still have a TON of life left in them.

A lot off the places to buy diapers online also sell seconds, so you can always look into those as well. The seconds would be a diaper that was just stitched a bit off, or wasn't cut as square. No difference in function but because of one reason or another they won't sell at the normal price. Those will sell out quickly though.

i plan on using cloth as much as possible. i do have disposable and will use those only when needed. Such as maybe a baby sitter is coming over, or if he seems to leak a lot at night, i might go that way. I plan on disposable though until after all the meconium is out of him. my daughter it took almost a week before she had her first poop, and i heard that it doesn't come out of the diapers easily.

zgood luck.

I remember feeling exactly the same way!!!!

In our house I use the prefolds pretty much exclusively and DH uses the fitted with a cover or the all-in-ones (AIOs are basically an outer waterproof layer and an inner absorbent layer(s) sewn together). The AIOs are the easiest for those that are intimidated, since you put them on pretty much as you would a disposable. They do tend to take longer to dry though.

The least expensive route is to buy prefolds and diaper covers. Some people are a bit daunted by this (I guess they think that folding them is difficult), and in some cases, with runny breatfed poop, you do occasionally have a "blow-out"--but I've seen the same happen w/ disposables on breastfed newborns. If you can figure out how to fold a towel a couple of ways, you can use prefolds... This is the site I used for directions on various folds--it's really not hard:
http://diaperpages.com/pf_folds.php.

For covers, and good priced prefolds, call the ProRap company. Ask them about ordering "seconds" (these are products that may have very slight cosmetic glitches). I got 8 covers for $4.50 each, and I was very pleased with them & the prefolds I bought from them (no seconds available for prefolds when I ordered, but their prices for prefolds were still really good).

Other options:
If you have anyone who can sew and wants to gift you something for the new baby, (or if you can sew yourself), you can sew up some fitted diapers pretty darn easy. I used & liked the free Mama Bird pattern; there is are several others out there, as well, like the Rita's Rump Pocket. You can also sew covers out of old wool sweaters (google that; I don't remember exactly how it's done, but it's not hard either! :)

And don't be afraid to ask around--when I was expecting, I posted that I was looking for cloth diapers on Freecycle (www.freecycle.org) and got 6 newborn prefolds and 12 AIOs (homemade fleece ones). I was so excited. If you don't get a response to that, you might be able to more easily get a response to a posting on sewing supplies (flannel, velcro & elastic are the basic materials for most homemade fitted diapers). You can order the PUL (material used for the outer waterproof layer of commercially made AIO) and make your own AIOs or covers, too.

I've also bought some used fitteds and covers from www.myuseddiapers.com. For used prefolds, see if there is a commercial diaper service in your area, or nearest metro area--they will sometimes sell their slightly stained (but clean) prefolds at a discount, since their customers usually want pristine looking prefolds.

If you're not sure what kind(s) you want to go with, you could try one of the "starter" packages that have a couple different kinds to try--usually they have some prefolds, some fitteds and a couple of AIOs, plus a couple or three different covers to try. A friend of ours did this before deciding.

A lot of the brand manufacturers have information on sales/seconds on their websites or you can sign up for info on sales/seconds through their email lists. Kissaluvs does this (via email list), and I'm sure others do also.

There is actually a book published on cloth diapers, which I got from the library. I think it's called "Diaper changes" by Theresa Rodriguez Farrisi. It covers a lot of the different options and talks about the costs and has some resources listed in the back.

I went the most economical route - 12 prefolds, 12 flat folds and 6 diaper covers (mostly Thirsties Duo - 2 velcro and 2 snaps and a couple of wool covers that were on sale). I usually use a snappi, but have found that it really isn't absolutely necessary. This method is easy and cheap.

I purchased most of my wares at greenmountaindiapers.com . It is a pretty informative website. Also, checkout http://diaperpin.com/diapers/diaperpages.asp to read reviews on diapers, covers, etc.

I usually throw all the dirty diapers in the wash and put it on a short cold wash/rinse cycle (to rinse away debri and urine) and then put it in a long cycle with hot water, high quality detergent and oxyclean. I let the covers air-dry to increase their longevity; although, sometimes I just hand-wash and air-dry the covers. Wool covers require special care.

i'm tried a few... and hated them.. sorry.. It's so much easier to throw the dirty diaper out... the cloth gets so stained after a while, they leak, they smell... you have to buy inserts, covers.... I just couldn't handle it.. sorry.. maybe you will have a better time with them.. good luck..... I know the throw aways are bad for the environment... but they are easier for me..