Talk to Me About Diapers

My son has been in the Nicki's Diapers unbleached Chinese prefolds since 5 months of age. Before that we had a diaper service that used prefolds. He seems to do well with them, although before he started solids we had quite a few diaper blowouts. I don't know if all-in-ones would have worked better for him, as those were a little expensive for us so we never tried them. My son is a skinny guy, and the prefolds with a Snappi seem to work just fine.

A.:

go to bellybum boutique... 447 N. Lincoln/ a) the owner knows a lot about cloth diapers and has a great selection and b) there is a class there you can take to learn more.

P., RLC, IBCLC
Breastfeeding and Parenting Solutions

It's good to try a few different. I recommend buying 2-3 BumGenius and a few others to try.

I really liked visiting local stores with diaper I could touch and feel. There's Be By Baby in Chicago and Tink Tinks in Evanston. Check out the retailers section on BumGenius and Fuzzibunz sites to see if there's retailers more local to you.

I like Fuzzibunz and BumGenius pocket diapers. I like Goodmama and Bamboozle fitteds and I'm looking for a few others to try. I like flats and Green Mountain Prefolds as back up if I'm not on top of the laundry.

diaperswappers.com is a great site for trying diapers. I try to buy diapers that have just been washed or hardly used. Otherwise, it's hard to tell if they're good diapers because someone may have washed them in the wrong detergent or the elastic is worn.

Have fun! I am so happy I decided to use cloth.

There is a great lady in the area named Ann. She has tons of kinds of diapers set up at her house so you can see all of the options. Her website is www.lovebugsco.com. Check it out!

I used MotherEase diapers on both of my girls. I didn't like the thought of velcro maybe scratching them when they were babies and my husband didn't want pins. MotherEase uses plastic snaps. They are awesome! I used the same diapers on both of my daughters and I would use them again if we choose to have another. I used their "one-size" diaper and toddler diaper when they got bigger. I found this very economical. Their "one-size" fits from 8 lbs to I think 30 or 35 lbs. You just fold the diaper differently as they grow up. It was very easy once I figured it out. I know they offer samples on their website. I would recommend getting a few samples of different kinds & then seeing what works best for you! Good luck with your choice. Feel free to contact me with any other questions about cloth diapering! We have almost 5 years experience between our 2 girls.
Jen

I use bumgenius 3.0 one size and I love them. They are really easy to use, basically the same as a disposable diaper. I have never had an issue with leaks, we use the infant insert along with the regular size insert at night. I also have motherease onsesize and I don't like them as well.

Congrats on deciding to use cloth! The best advice I have is to try some before you buy a whole bunch. Most diaper companies will send you a single diaper (or a diaper and cover sometimes) for pretty cheap so you can try it out. IME, diaper fit definitely depends on your kid's shape. You can find helpful reviews at www.diaperpin.com

Personally, I decided on fitted/onesize diapers for my kids, and I went out and bought a bunch of of Motherease Onesize diapers before my son was born. Turns out, he was really skinny and they never fit him so I ended up getting some others, but hung on to the onesizes. When my daughter was born she was really fat and the Onesizes fit her just great. So my main advice is try a few before you purchase a whole stash. I know Motherease, for example, has a deal where you can get a diaper, doubler, and cover all for something like $15 to try them out. Other companies may have similar. Incidentally, I have heard good things about the BG 3.0's.

Oh one other word of advice - prefolds are cheap, effective, and versitile. But know that if you go that route, YOU will probably be doing all the diaper changes. Your husband, baby sitter, and friends won't have a clue what to do with them. If you get fitteds or pockets or all-in-ones you will not have much trouble convincing others to use them.

I use BG, and have for 14 months. I love them. I've bought a bunch of other diapers, even way more expensive ones, but I love my all-in-one, one size BG. Easy, easy, easy.

If you want to try out a bunch of diapers, go to Jillian's Drawers. They will let you test out diapers: http://www.jilliansdrawers.com/

A few things about BG: if you use butt creams, you will get build-up and the diapers will leak. So you handwash the diapers in Dawn, rinse them a bunch of times in the machine, and you are ready to go. Also, BG recommends throwing a little bleach into a load once a month. I highly recommend it, as the diapers will get a small build-up of odor. I typically just put my diapers through a cold rinse, hot wash, extra rinse, and they clean up nicely --minor stains, no worse or better than any of my other diapers.

Also, if you decide to buy some BG, I highly recommend getting the 3.0. My stash is mostly 2.0 --got them cheap right before 3.0 came out --and they do have some leak issues at the front if you use them overnight. The new model has made adjustments to correct for this --though I still use a 'spose at night.

I LOVE my BG diapers! I have the 2.0 and have been using them for 17 months now. My girl is chunky, so I can't give you any advice on what's best for a skinny baby. The one thing about one-sizes is the velcro tabs will start to wear after a while. We first noticed this around 12 months, but it's still not really that bad. I recently contacted the manufacturers (Cotton Babies) and they sent me a bunch of replacement tab kits free of charge. Now I just have to get around to putting them on. Kind of a pain, but worth it to me not to have to buy diapers more than once. Good luck in your new eco-friendly choices!

hi,

i have a 1 year old and i've used prefolds and fuzzi bunz. love the prefolds for the first 3 months (b/c you go through so many diapers and its cheaper to have prefholds than all in one diapers like fuzzi bunz) and while i still use prefolds during the day, i use fuzzi bunz at night.

i would just make sure that the diaper you get is easy to dry in dryer. some all in one diapers take forever to dry in dryer b/c you can't remove liner...i'm not sure of the brand name...

I have a six month old son as well, and we've been cloth diapering exclusively for about two months. We started out with prefolds and covers, but I wasn't very good at folding and fastening while holding on to a squirming little one. Now we're on FuzziBunz size medium, and they're awesome. The snaps are so easy to fasten and are adjustable depending on your little guy's leg and tummy size. My daycare doesn't mind that we use cloth diapers because they're so easy to manage (just as easy or easier than disposable, I think.) I bought mine at Be By Baby and took their cloth diapering class - highly recommended!

Forgot one thing: we use disposables at night because the cloth diapers didn't lock the moisture away as well, and he ended up with a stubborn mild rash.

We have had the best luck using Fuzzi Bunz. They are favorites because they are adjustable with snaps (versus velcro which can wear out or get gunked up with fuzz, etc) in both the waist and the leg. They are easy enough for hard-core sposie users (aka- grandma!) to figure out, and come in lots of cute colors and patterns too.

You can find them reasonably priced on ebay and diaperswapper.com if you don't mind used. I have heard sometimes you can find them on craigslist too.

Another great thing about them is that you can put as many inserts into the pocket as you need. For example, as my daughter was a heavy wetter at night, we would put 2 inserts for nighttime use and set the dipe to a looser setting to accomodate the bulk. As she wets heavily now, we always put 2 inserts in (and sometimes 3 at night.)

If you're interested in buying used, I have some smalls and also have some fitteds (but no covers) that I was thinking of getting rid of.

We have used fitteds and covers as backups (there is a phase somewhere around 8 months where it seems like you are changing diapers constantly again- the poop changes and flows- not to be gross, but UGH!)

I think you can find reviews of diapers at diaperpin.com and there is the discussion board at mothering.com as well.

I have had 2 Bum Genius diapers (one in small and one in medium) and they were not my favorites, though my husband liked them best. He wasn't the one holding her when she peed through them though!!! I'm not sure why she leaked through them, but she did. To give you perspective, she did have chubby thighs too, so I don't think that was the issue with her. I have read of people having problems with the PUL on them (having holes) but apparently they have pretty awesome customer service and will help you out if this is the case.

Good luck and feel free to contact me if you need more info. My "baby" is 18 months now and we're still cloth diapering- it's been quite an adventure! :)

M.

I love bum genius for my son! They're easy to clean and use. My sister tried to use a diaper service with pre-folds and she ended up switching to the bum genius instead.