By the time my second bundle of joy entered the world I was beginning to hear rumors of woman (my age and younger!!) using cloth diapers. What??? Why?? So after smiling a somewhat sarcastic, “why-would-anyone-in-the world-do-that” smile, I proceeded to buy and continue using my nicely packaged, easily disposed of diapers. At this point I admit there was this subtle nagging in the back of my mind that I quickly dismissed.
However, by the time I became pregnant with my 3rd little guy I couldn't ignore it anymore. I started calculating in my mind how many diapers per child I was disposing of and then multiplying that by the number of kids I wanted to have (at this point we want 6). So even though I had given into convenience with my first 2 it was time to make a change!! But what did that mean? Where does one go from here?
Well, I decided to take this desire to Wal-Mart and see what they had. I loaded two Gerber pre-fold diaper packages into my cart and went on my way. My friend introduced me to the Snappi, an amazingly wonderful invention that eliminates the nightmares of your baby screaming only for you to find out you had pinned their flesh into the diaper. http://www.snappibaby.com/
Now for diaper covers. I started with the Bummis super whisper wrap covers; which, by the way, I highly recommend.
Since then I have searched cloth-diapering websites and tried several different styles and brands. For those of you new to the cloth diapering world there are close to a zillion choices out there. My son is over a year now and I am always on the quest of the perfect cloth diaper. As a reality check you do have to change cloth diapers much more often than disposables but using cloth makes you feel as if you are doing something wonderful for your baby and the environment not to mention your savings account.
So what would I recommend? Well, my little guy is a heavy wetter. I have found a normal prefold (a bit bigger than the ones you get at Wal-mart) has worked very well, especially combined with a flat -fold at night. I bought some Mother-Ease diapers off craigslist and although I really like that they are not bulky my son seems to fill them up very quickly so I always use a liner and need to change them more often. My new favorite was a gift from Etsy. It is a contour diaper that is not bulky and exremely absorbant. I always grab these first. They are wonderful. www.turnanewleafinc.etsy.com
I have not yet entered the world of the All-in-One. I really like having the diaper cover. It seems to eliminate any leakage (in fact the only time my son has leaked is in a disposable diaper). I have both the Thirsties Diaper Cover and the Bummis Super Whisper Wrap and like them both. I have found 4 suits me well for both the newborn stage and the bigger stage. So check out these websites and strongly consider switching yourself. If you're not completely convinced yet start small. Get some cheap ones from Wal-mart and one or two diaper covers and try it for a month and see how it goes.
Here are some of my favorite sites:
http://www.diaperjunction.com/
http://www.babycottonbottoms.com/
And if you're extremely ambitious you can try to make some yourself. They really aren't hard to make at all. I used an old flannel sheet and made about 8. This website is extremely helpful.
http://mayna.livejournal.com/198548.html
Need help folding your pre-fold or flat-fold, check this one out:
http://www.thediaperhyena.com/diaper_folding101.htm
5 comments:
now does it work?
Here from facebook, case you're wondering. :)
I am switching with this baby and have started using them on Adelaide because it seemed silly not to, what with all the cloth already on hand.
I'm on the other side of your spectrum though... refuse to do the prefolds and covers. :) I have several bumgenius 3.0 one-size pockets and several more bumgenius one-size all-in-ones. I LOVE THEM BOTH. (I also have two GroBaby's that I haven't really tried yet b/c they need to be prepped. Those will probably wait for the new baby.)
My fave CD blog is http://www.theclothdiaperwhisperer.com/
Hooray!
Thank you for posting this, Mary! I was planning to call you soon to ask what you would recommend. We have decided to use cloth diapers but really had no idea where to start. I found some Babyland diapers on E-bay and ordered them. As soon as they come I will wash them and see how they hold up. They are kind of cheap so I checked out a bunch of reviews and found some negatives (leak if you don't change them every 3 or 4 hours but I'm already used to changing diapers every 2-3 hours from working in daycare, and that they fall apart in the washer) but found a lot of positive reviews as well. They are one size fits all but not all in ones so I'll have to look into getting covers. Do you bleach your diapers? I know it's not very good for them but we're hoping they'll last for at least a couple of kids. Anyway, I still might call you. Talk to you soon!
Moriah,
I'm glad to hear from someone using the AIO's. I am definitely not opposed to them and am hoping to have the most convenient, perfect cloth diaper by the time my 6th little person comes around :-) Glad to see the CD blog.
Irene,
That's great!! I would love to talk. I don't know a lot about all of them that are out there but I can show you what I have. At this point I do not use bleach and I plan to use them for as many kids as possible. All mine are holding up great right now. I will share some more sites with you when we talk.
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