Cloth Diapers

Parentberries
1

Hello ladies,

We are expecting our first child in [name_f]September[/name_f], a boy! We would really like to primarily cloth diaper, though we will probably also use disposables for convenience when we are out and about with baby. I am new to this whole thing and don’t have any friends who have cloth diapered so I am looking for any mamas with experience! I have done a little research and watched some youtube videos that were helpful in understanding all of the different kinds. We live in [name_f]East[/name_f] [name_f]Africa[/name_f], so we won’t be able to easily access various services or switch brands or types partway through. My parents will be coming when baby arrives (from the US) and we are hoping they can simply bring us a good supply when they do come.

So I am looking for advice, particularly involving brands, but any advice you have regarding cloth diapers. I am thinking we will probably go primarily with pocket diapers and that adjustable sizes would make the most sense for us. Potentially starting with prefolds for when he is a newborn. So I’d love any advice you have to offer about brands, experiences, inserts, wipes. Anything and everything!

Thanks!

2

Well, kudos to you for choosing cloth! I have so many thoughts, and will try to say things coherently.

We used cloth for about the first 9 mos of [name_f]Vera[/name_f]'s life, and will probably go back to cloth eventually. For us, it became much more of a hassle once she started daycare, and especially once she started solids. I’ve tried several different types/brands/setups and there are pros and cons to each. I preferred prefolds with covers for at home (easier to clean and no need to prep, plus you can add extra layers easily), but sent pocket diapers to daycare to make things easier on them. If you’re doing cloth wipes, get a wipe warmer, this way they’re already damp and ready to go, plus it takes longer to grow mold. I’m assuming you have access to a good washer/dryer? There are plenty of different blogs around with helpful posts on how to get started. I found it best to have enough for 3-4 full days of diapering (so somewhere in the zone of 30+ diapers?), including two wet bags. If daycare is part of your scenario, you probably need 4-5 wet bags. I really liked the Planet Wise brand, but there are loads of good ones. In terms of diapers, my favorites were the Blueberry covers with [name_u]Green[/name_u] Mountain Diaper prefolds, and BumGenius pocket diapers (but we used cotton/bamboo inserts I got off amazon, the synthetic stuff that comes with them usually leaked for us). When they’re really little and pooping all the time, the covers usually get dirty with every change, but when they’re a little older you can usually reuse the cover and just swap out the inserts. Pocket diapers need to get washed every time. Rockin [name_u]Green[/name_u] detergent is worth the extra cash, they have different formulas depending if you have soft/hard water. If you have other specific questions, I’m happy to try to help!

3

This is going to be super long. It’s an email I sent my husbands coworker. Hopefully it will help as an intro to CD in general and then brands and why we made the choices we did.

My two biggest reasons for cloth diapers were that they are just environmentally friendlier and long term produce less waste. Especially if you plan on having more kids or as said resell your items. And second just fewer chemicals on our baby’s bum.

We used to CD at night when L still needed night time feeds. Now that she sleeps through the night it’s just not practical for one of us to get up, flip her onto her back, change her diaper and hope she is still asleep at the end of all that to prevent a leak. I hate that our current go to isn’t as eco-friendly but I can live with one diaper a day. (Originally we used all disposables because I broke my foot and couldn’t get to our apt’s laundry room and DH only agreed to CDing if he didn’t have to do laundry…lol).

I originally liked the idea of [name_m]AIO[/name_m] as well and know that a lot of people find them easier esp for daycare/baby sitters etc. What’s nice about BumGenius is that they are highly rated in the CD community and by noobs and therefore have a decent resale value. (Esp limited edition prints). What bugged me about the OS version was that you still had to “fold” the inserts but at least that made them customizable. (I think we have two NB BG.)

We have predominantly Pocket Style diapers or Shells with Snap Inserts (BestBottom and GroVia). Most of the rest of what we have are [name_u]Nickie[/name_u]'s Pockets (except for NB L hated how their organic NB didn’t feel dry as a baby. I had to change her out of them after 5 min. Some baby’s don’t care. She hated it - thus we kept the two BGs. So I returned them). I like the Nickis Pockets because they are open in the front and back and make stuffing really fast and easy but also allow for the “works like a disposable” for people who visit and feel a bit weird about having to deal all the folding and covers and multiple steps to change diapers etc.

I’d usually recommend ordering a trial from a company that has lots of brands and lots of types and do two rounds of orders. 1st) Order all different types of diapers. [name_m]AIO[/name_m], Pocket, Fitted with Cover etc. Then sit down together and look at them and go over the pro’s and con’s about each style and what you think you’ll be the most comfortable with. But maybe your mom can do this for you and do an indepth skype date with you so you can get a feel for the different types and differet brands. (We did this through Diapers.com because they let me return everything within 14 days provided in the original packaging. So we put it back together and send it back. lol. But most CD companies do 14 day use and love trials). 2nd) Order whatever styles you like best from a variety of companies to compare which you like best. (We did a 14 day trail through Nickisdiapers.com - they will let you test out diapers for 14 days and then send them back used. You get store credit. There are a ton of other places that do this too. I just like Nickis - and most of our diaper stash is actually [name_f]Nicki[/name_f]'s pockets.)

When it comes to cleaning I’d trust FluffLoveUniversity.com . It’s complicated to navigate through but once you do it works well. They recommend detergents depending on how hard your water is (you can get a test kit on Amazon - easy peasy), how to wash in your particular washing machine (there is a very extensive chart). There is info on how to strip and when to strip… They often tell you to just forget what the brand tells you to do cause it’s a waste of water…lol… and I think they are right. You can also join their Facebook Groups to help with trouble shooting etc. ([name_m]Just[/name_m] a word to the wise… they have very strict rules about what to post and how to post and where to post so make sure to read all that first. But people are really helpful.)

Things to consider for cleaning is 1) how often do you want to wash. (I think I do every other day - but honestly, I also don’t think I rinse my diapers as much as others do/ don’t at all for pee and just get the debris off for poo. Some mom’s wash once a week but I have a feeling that they must fully rinse out every diaper right after use.) It will also depend on how large your stash is. Let’s face it you gotta wash if you run out! But be careful on this I have online CD friends now who have over 200 diapers many of which are NIP (new in package) because collecting prints is sooo addictive).
2) I’d also recommend a sprayer for your toilet (we don’t have a spray guard but many swear by them). 3) And your diaper pail. They stink less with more airflow and apparently grow fewer bacteria. I always wash before we have guests. [name_m]Andrew[/name_m] swears it stinks all the time - I think he’s lying…lol. We used to have a virtually airless system with a lid and laundry basket liner and that STANK when you opened the bin, even if they were all pee and you washed every day. But he says he smelled it less all day. Maybe I’ve gone nose blind…)

Traveling we do a little of CD and a little of sposies. It depends on where we are going to be etc.

We have one on the go wet bag. Because I wash every other day it’s always been fine. If I didn’t have enough space I’d just stuff prepped diapers loose in the diaper bag pockets. And I always carried a few ziplock bags or plastic grocery bags. Babies poop, drool, spit up, peed, and generally are sticky and make a mess. If it’s not your kid it’s some other mom’s kid and they will be sooo thankful for an extra plastic bag to throw that all in. I know mom’s who have 20 but they are also hard core collectors and probably should go to an Cloth Diapers Annonymous meeting or two.

As mentioned in my original email. These are things to consider that are CD myths of sort for people who are pro Cloth. 1) Cloth Diapering isn’t necessarily cheaper. If finances are your concern, it can be cheaper but can also be more expensive. The laundry in our old apt was $2.95 for a heavy dirty wash. The machine was full every 2 days. Washing was MORE expensive financially. 2) If you don’t buy used or resell good diapers they aren’t necessarily enviornmentally friendlier. Most modern cloth contains a plastic PUL layer (unless you do wool covers only. We have a few, I only used them as warm pants…lol). So they don’t just decompose, also fabric production isn’t really that easy on the environment - water use, chemical use etc. (FYI: Fabric can be recycled at textile recycling places - haven’t found one yet… but have bags of stuff to recycle once I’m motivated enough).

Ultimately I feel like I purchased too much new and quality brand and not enough used. The diapers I bought used at $5 a pocket ($2/insert) seem to do just as well. The difference in minimal in most cases and it really just comes down to how you use inserts. Sure you could buy diapers where the PUL (water repellent layer) is broken (not fixable but they work as swim diapers), or the elastic is stretched (fixable - though I haven’t needed to do that yet), even lightly stained is really no big deal if it doesn’t bother you. My off-brand co-op diapers have a cheaper fleece on them but they work just as well given the same inserts and the more expensive ones. If you are interested we can get into the world of 2nd hand diapers and co-ops separately. Cause that’s a whole different “welcome to the crazy of Wonderland” conversation.

And whoops this was really, really long. [name_f]Hope[/name_f] the Bolding helps. (Seriously this might be better in person).

4

I cloth diapered my first born, and I will be cloth diapering my second son, born last week, as well. I tried all different types of diapers, prefolds with covers, pockets, all in ones, and I found I far and away preferred pockets. I felt that he was always wet with prefolds and I didn’t want the urine next to his skin. If you are doing disposables as well, might I suggest doing disposables for the first 4-6 weeks? Newborns are constantly wetting and pooping, especially if you will be exclusively breastfeeding. It just makes it much easier. I have all of the cloth diapers from my first, plus a handful new ones, and I will be starting when my son is about a month old.

I EBF for the first 6 months and the poop is water soluble at that point so no need to dump in the toilet. Once you start solids, or if you use formula, you will need to dispose of the poop first. Some use diaper sprayers, I never did. I bought diaper liners. They are biodegradable and the dirty ones can be thrown directly into the toilet. If they are only wet, they can be put in the washer and as long as you remove them before the dryer, they can be used one more time. Personally I love the Grovia brand, I get them on Amazon and they are about $10 (US) for 200 and more than worth it [name_f]IMO[/name_f].

I would suggest at least 25 diapers in your stash. In the beginning you will be doing a load of diapers a day laundry wise. My favorite brand is Bumgenius (pockets of course), but I also have a good amount of [name_u]Alva[/name_u] that I purchased on Amazon and they work just as well and are more affordable. If you will be returning to work and need to find a daycare, ask them about their policy. I know that here in the US, many places do not accept cloth. I was lucky and the babysitter we found also cloth diapered her son, and was/is fine with it.

I used one large wet bag at home, and washed it when I did the diapers, and had 3 small wet bags for on the go, and the ones you use while the others are in the wash.

I did attempt cloth wipes but it was just too much for us and we decided to stick with the natural disposables.

I would be more than willing to answer any more questions, you can PM me if you want.

5

We are living in a Tokyo at the moment so we went all in on our cloth diaper set up and it’s been great.

We chose [name_u]Green[/name_u] Mountain Diaper’s clotheez flats and the clotheez covers. Other bits we got are snappies and some extra large prefolds which are excellent for changing mat covers. We made our own wipes.

The flats wash clean effortlessly in our tiny cold water washing machine and line dry quickly. Folding them is not hard and we can customize the fit as she grows.

The clotheez covers are a “true size” cover, so there are 4 sizes available. I know there are covers that will adjust from large newborn size to potty training, but they are going to have a lot of unnecessary fabric when the baby is little. Also, your going to wear them out more quickly. We like the true size because they fit well and we are planning on using these diapers for a few kids so we don’t mind investing in the multiple sizes. The clotheez covers have the nicest and softest material! And I like that they only come in white. The prints were stressing me out unnecessarily. They are also some of the cheaper quality covers out there.

I do recommend starting cloth from birth because it isn’t hard and it’s better to just jump in. Yes you do need a newborn set up, but it’ll pay for itself because you use so many diapers! I recommend 36 newborn or half flats a pack of snappies, and 4-6 covers.

I read a lot before I decided on our diapers, and I think you can avoid a lot of potential washing issues by sticking to natural fibers (excepting the cover part). It seems to me tha the simpler the diapers are the smoother your experience will be.

6

Thanks for the advice, ladies! Lots of good info! We do not currently have a washer/dryer and will be hand-washing for now, though a washer may eventually be in our future. I am hoping to wash every morning, to help keep ahead of the stash and make sure we have clean, dry diapers for little one. Luckily, I will be at home for the first 4 months and my husband does tourism work and so he is usually home except for when he goes on trips, then he is gone 3-10 days at a time. Daycare also won’t be in our future (at least not until baby is potty trained and starting nursery school), but we may eventually have a worker in our house to help with cleaning and taking care of baby (kind of a maid/nanny combo).

We actually already have a built in sprayer in both of our bathrooms as it is very common here (some people prefer to wash themselves vs wiping). I will have to look into some of the other brands you mentioned. From my other online research, I am leaning toward mostly [name_u]Alva[/name_u] pocket diapers, but with a bit of variety in styles and brands mixed in. [name_u]Alva[/name_u] seems to have very positive reviews online, but are way cheaper than most of the designer brands, which considering that much lower salaries/cost of living here, is always good when we buy things from the US.

Right now on our registry, I think we have about 30 prefolds (of a few different sizes & materials), 3 newborn covers, 6 one size covers, 24 one-size pocket diapers, 2 one-size fitted diapers, 12 pack of bamboo liners, 12 pack of flour sack towels, 3 wet bags and a 5 pack of snappies. Anything you think I need to add or anything there that is really unnecessary and I really don’t need?

Thanks again for all of the help ladies!

7

Newborns (at least mine) poop constantly. If you’re planning on using cloth from the very beginning, you’re probably going to need more than three covers. I found in the beginning that the poop was very runny and kind of got everywhere, so if there was poop, the cover and insert needed to be changed, just about every time. I loved bamboo liners and loved how they added absorbency without too much bulk. I liked the flour sack towels for their ease of washing, and that they can be used either with a cover or inside of a pocket diaper, but didn’t find them absorbent enough (even with added layers) to use much past 6 mos. I’m not sure with the systems you’re planning to use that you’ll even need the snappis.

Maybe plan to have a bucket for soaking? You wouldn’t want to soak the covers, but I’ve heard of some people who soak their inserts after use and before washing. It might cut down on some of your washing time since you need to do things all by hand.

8

I cloth diapered with my first daughter until she was potty trained (just before age 3) and plan to cloth diaper with my son who should be born any day now. We used disposables at night, on long trips, and sometimes just for pure convenience, but otherwise used cloth diapers for everything else. By the way, cloth diapering got easier as she got older. It was so much easier to use cloth diapers for a two year old than an infant.

Sounds like you have a good start to your registry. Here are some suggestions for you, and options if you want to save some money or just buy fewer items. Overall, the number of items you selected sound pretty good. I would suggest adding one more newborn cover. If you are wanting to save money, you could probably get rid of all the one size covers and prefolds above size 2 and still be fine. I never had any of those with my daughter and we were fine.

Here’s a breakdown on my experience with the specific things you have on your list:

Prefolds: I had 2 different sizes of prefolds I planned to only use at the beginning with the newborn covers. My daughter had such skinny legs that we ended up having use prefolds and newborn covers for about 7 or 8 months because the pocket diapers were too big around her legs and leaked. [name_m]Even[/name_m] then, we never used anything larger than size 2 because by then we switched to pocket diapers. My favorite brand was Osocozy (I think we used bamboo type).

Newborn covers: You’ll probably want at least one more newborn cover. I had 6 last time around, but really only used 4 primarily since the other two tended to leak (again, my daughter had skinny legs). I preferred the Rumparooz [name_m]Brand[/name_m]. The other brand I had ([name_f]Imagine[/name_f]) was cute, but not particularly good quality.

One-size covers: I didn’t use any of these beyond the newborn stage. If you want to save money, you can probably drop these entirely, or else drop the pocket diapers entirely. They both fulfill the same need. I liked that pocket diapers were very convenient. If you were to get individually sized covers with the sized prefolds, I understand that combination is supposed to fit individual babies a lot better, but it does require buy more diapers.

Pocket diapers: We used primarily pocket diapers once she outgrew the newborn stage. We tried many different brands and discovered that most of the cheap brands aren’t worth the money. We had our best luck with Kawaii [name_u]Baby[/name_u] (if you buy directly from the website, not from Amazon, you’ll get better deals and free shipping with a large enough order). I see that you are planning to order Alvas. We had a number of those as well, and they worked fine once my daughter was older (18-24 months), but didn’t work at all when she was younger. Our problem with [name_u]Alva[/name_u] was that they had rather large leg holes and constantly leaked until she was big enough to fit them. Kawaii fit her when she was quite a bit smaller (around 8 months). So if you think there is any chance your baby might have skinny legs, consider a different brand. (Most of the moms I know who cloth diapers were able to use [name_u]Alva[/name_u] at about 6-8 months, Kawaii a bit sooner). Another suggestion for any brand of pocket diapers: skip the velcro diapers. Snaps seem to last longer and we had trouble with the velcro diapers scratching my daughter’s skin regardless of how well I tried to keep them fastened and away from her legs and tummy.

One size fitted diapers: Are these here simply to have a couple of options that are convenient? That would be a good reason to have them. Otherwise, I’m not sure they are necessary since you are planning to use pockets, or even a combination of pockets and covers with prefolds.

[name_m]Bamboo[/name_m] liners: I never used diaper liners. I know some people like them, but since we were using pocket diapers, I never felt they were necessary. They are pretty important if you are using diaper covers with microfiber prefolds/inserts, but otherwise can be skipped unless you have another specific reason I don’t know about. (I’d especially suggest skipping these since you are washing by hand; it just sounds like you are adding extra things to your laundry).

Flour sack towels: I never used these either, but almost everyone I know who uses them says they are amazing. We generally just layered the inserts for the pocket diapers, and when those weren’t absorbent enough, we just started adding in the prefolds we used when she was a newborn, though that did create very bulky diapers. I’ve considered using flour sack towels for the new baby, but haven’t gotten around to buying any yet…maybe I will when he’s older.

Wet bags: 3 wetbags is a good number. We had 3 wetbags too. I used a small one going around town, and 2 large ones I alternated to keep the dirty diapers in at home. That was we always had one available, even when I was washing the diapers.

Snappis: you should be fine with 5 snappis. I think we had a few more, but they were never really necessary.

Good luck with the cloth diapering!

9

Use them and love them. We predominately stick to prefolds - super simple learning curve, customisable for fit, and dry quickly.

10

There are lots of arguments on both sides but I’m going to offer the less popular opinion.

My girlfriend was a nanny for four years and she hated dealing with cloth diapers for a lot of reasons. Firstly, the cloth doesn’t absorb all the moisture so it’s the equivalent of holding a wet, urine-filled cloth to their body for hours, which can make rashes more likely. (The girl she nannied for had rashes way more frequently when using cloth diapers, despite them being changed 10-12 times a day.) It also doesn’t ultimately save as much money as people think because you still have to buy twice as much laundry detergent to wash them over and over, so you’re doing laundry constantly. You’re also using a lot more water than you’d otherwise be using, so the environmental impact is still basically the same.

It really just depends on your lifestyle and your priorities I guess. Cloth diapers sound like such a good idea but they can be an unbelievably frustrating nuisance too. I think your idea of doing both depending on what makes sense that day is a good system. I know people who have tried to do exclusively cloth diapers and they were very, very miserable about it. ([name_f]Imagine[/name_f] traveling an hour to go to an aquarium with the baby and you have to change the cloth diaper when you get there. Now you have a poop-filled bag with you for the rest of the hot day. Yikes.)

I also want to mention that there are some great, environmentally friendly disposable diaper companies out there. The Honest Company comes to mind, and there’s a good Swedish one too (can’t remember the name).

Good luck either way! I hope you find what works for you :).

P.S. I know some people who used cloth diapers during the day at home and disposables while out and about and overnight, which seemed to work okay for them. I think balance is key.