Sunday, October 5, 2008
A question for the mommies out there ...
I know many of you are using the cloth diapers. I am ready to make that decision (okay, I made the decision) and need to start buying. I've talked to a few of you regarding your choices of the diapers you ended up using, but I want to get them all here in one place. If you use cloth diapers, can you leave a comment on what kind you ended up liking the best and where you got them? Thanks!
25 comments:
I HIGHLY recommend just buying a starter pack from an online place that gives an assortment. One thing you don't hear often enough about cloth diapers is the baby's body shape makes a HUGE difference on fit and different diapers fit differently. What worked for Bliss perfectly did not work for many of my friends kids. The starter packs will five like 4 or 5 different typesin2 sizes or so and really help. I always strongly advise in buying a lot before your baby is here.
It also depends on if you want all in ones or covers and inserts. I like covers and inserts and with those you can buy inserts early and just a few different covers to try.
I love bumgenius one size. We got them from www.nickisdiapers.com
We use a combo of indian prefolds and thirsties and bummis covers (I like the thirsties better); and also bumgenius one-size. My favorite are the bumgenius, of course, but they are expensive to start up with. We're building our stash of those a few at a time, and filling in the gaps with the prefolds and covers, which really do work fine. Washing is easier than I thought it would be. You can get everything we have at www.cottonbabies.com, although we got a lot of our stuff at a store we have locally.
I've written a few posts, with tons of links to the sites I used and types I use. I have one post full of pictures. Here's the link to all my posts here:
http://mrsspock.blogspot.com/search/label/Cloth%20Diapering
Basically, I have mostly chinese prefolds with Thirsties covers, but also bought some Kissaluvs fitted diapers (those require a cover as well), some Fuzzi Bunz pockets (I like these, they are trimmer and cute, but not the workhorse the prefolds are), a few ebay AIO (I did NOT like these- didn't absorb squat), and some Bumgenius 3.0 AIO (I never ended up using these- I'm planning on selling them). I also use wool at night or if J's butt gets red. I LOVE my Little Beetle wool products. I have a few wool pull-on soakers, but just really prefer the ease and softness of the LB velcro and snap style soakers. I use wool at night and have never had to change his sheets in the morning. I think my wool wash bar will last the next 50 years, because I only wash my wool every 3-4 weeks. It airs out nicely every day. I have washed my Wahmies pail liners and wet bags every other day for 5 months and they still are in prefect condition with no leakage.
I went with the BumGenius 3.0 simply because they are one size diapers. I didn't want to have to deal with buying 3 different sizes and spending double or triple the amount of money as he outgrew a size and moved on to the next.
Also, most everyone I talked to who CDed recommended the BGs. I figured I couldn't go wrong.
I would have experimented a little more and tried other brands too, but we switched late in the game (he was almost 9 months old by the time I "discovered" how easy cloth was).
I have heard that Haute Pockets tend to give off a water vapor, so they feel wet. I had 2 people tell me this, so I ended up cancelling my order for them. However, someone else might have a different experience with them.
I ordered from www.nickisdiapers.com and the diapers shipped free. You get a discount as long as you order at least a dozen. They come fast (2 days). She's in Wisconsin, which was reason #2 for me ordering them! :)
I wish I had a little more advice for you, so I apologize for that. I can only speak for the BGs. I like them. I have only had one or two leaks and both were times when he had the diaper on for a tad too long.
I change him every 2 hours (unless he poops) and I do laundry every 3 days. I have 24 diapers to work with.
Hi Nancy,
I use cloth diapers at work (I'm a nanny) and my favorite, hands down, are the BumGenius ones. We've used regular prefolds, FuzziBuns, and one other kind (but the name escapes me), and the BGs are over and beyond the best. The other kinds just do not, IMO, wick enough moisture away from the baby's butt. They just stay moist, which then makes the baby wake up after the first drop of wetness (which means no sleep, which means crazy grownups). And the others all leak like crazy...to the tune of all new clothes about once an hour. Sheesh.
You can buy some BGs that are supposed to work for the entire life of the child - which is great for being cost effective. And they just came out with new, brighter colors. And you can get BGs at Target!
When I first started CDing at work, I was all gung ho. After a couple of weeks, I thought, this is nuts! No way will I do this with my kids. But the BGs have totally changed my mind. I will definitely CD with my kids now.
I am very very very happy with the BGs. I highly highly recommend them!
One thing...you probably already have done this so ignore me if you have. Did you check with your daycare provider to make sure they will work with cloth diapers? I have read that some places don't. Hopefully they do. It's really just as easy--they can put the diapers in a wet bag for you, which is just as easy as throwing away 'sposies.
Hi - congratulations on your impending birth! I used cloth diapers (except when we traveled) for 2.5 years - we went the diaper service route. It was actually pretty inexpensive in our area, and most places you just put a bag out every week and they leave a nice fresh bag in its place. We live in the BOONDOCKS, but we were able to have my husband take the offending bag to work and leave it under the car trunk. The delivery guy just took nasty bag and left the good one in the unlocked trunk. Worked for us - I also used liners to help with wicking away the wetness - they just go on the cloth to keep baby's skin a little drier (ours were paper based so we could burn them after). Good luck!
We used cloth diapers, but we ended up getting a diaper service. It was great. We didn't have to wash or rinse. They provided this great diaper pail that didnt' stink, they also provided the diaper covers. The only thing that we had to buy were some diaper fasteners. We didn't use pins. We used these y shaped rubber things that looks like you would use on an ace bandage.
Hey Nancy. I love reading your blog. I was on JSO around the same time you were tho I didn't post that often.
Anyways, I prefer Thirsties. I love how soft they are. I have a few BG but I got a size large and Cale is almost outgrown them already. Other than that they are pretty nice also.
And if I am feeling really frisky I just grab a prefold and a cover since we have a few really cute ones.
Molly on the parenting 1 year old board uses cloth and is very knowledgable (SP?) in this department along with quite a few other ladies.
Well the ones I use for Peyton are part cloth, part disposible. They are called g diapers. They have a cloth outside, but have disposible inserts. They take less time to break down and you can even flush the inserts. They are great because you don't have to keep washing the pants unless they get wet or soiled. I had some issues with leakage until I got use to them. Now I don't have any problems at all. I love them and recommend them to anyone. I think the website is gdiapers.com They have some really cool patterns. Most organic stores sell the inserts in their stores. I get mine at Wegman's food market.
Amy
I could have sworn you were anti-cloth. What changed your mind? (or maybe I'm thinking someone else)::shrug::
Nancy--I read regularly, but rarely post-usually cuz somebody has already said what I would say. However this comment will be the first--and I feel pretty strongly so I figured I'd share. I use bum genius pretty much exclusively--I prefer the one size with inserts-but do have some of the all-in-ones that I use on occassion. We have also used fuzzi bunz, but they don't come in a one-size so when she outgrew them, we just got more bum genius. The only unexpected problem we had was that all the cloth we had were too big when she was born (she was 7lbs 1oz) so we ended up using disposables for about 3 weeks before they fit. We now exclusively cloth diaper and wouldn't have it any other way!
Julie, I was against them because I had no idea the leaps and bounds they have made in this area. I'm not anti-disposable and I will use them when I go out and at daycare if I need to, but at home, I fully plan on trying to do my part and use cloth.
About the boob job - I did get one. The picture I took was just the pre-boob job pic I took before surgery. It was just last year! Or actually, shit. 2 years ago. Holy hell. time flies.
Hats off to you.....
I cannot imagine having to wash nappies on top of everything else!
(environmental bandit here, gulitily creeping away from the comments section)
J
Great post and question Nancy. If I was to have another one I would be interested in the cloth diapers too but I used regular with the girl. Great feedback!
Heather
I'm so glad you asked this question as this is something I've been looking into as well. It seems the BumGenius ones are very popular - do let us all know what you decide to go with!
I'm using mostly prefolds w/snappis, and either proraps or wool soakers for covers. I also (for Scarlett) put a fleece strip between her & the diaper so it wicks the moisture to the prefold and she doesn't feel wet. I don't do that for Matthew because I want him to feel wet. I started out with prefolds because I wasn't sure we'd stick with them, and I didn't want to spend a lot of money then decide to go back to disposables.
Once I was sure we were using cloth, I went to http://www.jilliansdrawers.com/cdcm.html and ordered the try it package. That gave me a wide variety of options so I could see what I liked. I really liked the BumGenius because I could use them on Scarlett & Matthew, and it's one size. (I use the same prefolds on them too, but need different covers.) If I had been confident that I would stick with it, I would have gone with these from day 1. BUT, I'm glad I didn't too, because I really love my wool covers! This is why I started knitting!
There are a lot of versions of trial programs out there, I like this one because it has a good variety and it's inexpensive. A lot of other places advertise trial packages but you buy it, so you're stuck with whatever is in it whether you like it or not.
I was overwhelmed when I first started researching, but the trial package I got included prefolds & fitteds (which both need covers), and AIOs (all in ones, pretty much you use it just like a disposable), and pockets (you stuff the pocket with liners for absorbency) so it gave me a good exposure to different types. For Matthew I also LOVE my kushies - they are an AIO but have a pocket that I can stuff for extra absorbency at night time.
Clear as mud, right? The easy answer is BumGenius one size - but I like variety. And I love my wool! ;)
We use the Bum Genius one-size. I ordered them from cottonbabies.com. I absolutely love them! I wish I had known about them with Ella, but oh well. The diaper sprayer is a must have too!! We have 27 diapers and I do laundry twice a week.
As far as body shape we are a family of tall and slender babies and they fit him really well.
I LOVE our cloth diapers and just got a friend of ours using the same ones. She's very happy, too. (As happy as one can get when talking about changing diapers, I suppose.)
When we were first home from the hospital, we used disposables for a week or so. We were so tired and the first few days are so gross that it's worth it as far as I'm concerned. We then switched to Chinese Infant Prefolds 4x8x4. Get about 36 of these. My daughter wore these for a few months before moving into the Chinese Premium Prefolds 4x8x4 which she was in for quite a while. We got 48 of these. Both can be found here http://store.naturalbabies.com/store/WsDefault.asp?Cat=PrefoldedDiapers
Then, you need covers for them. Velcro and elastic legs are WAY easier to use. You do not want to mess around with pins in the middle of the night if you can avoid it. We used pins for a while before discovering that they weren't necessary at all. The covers can be found here http://store.naturalbabies.com/store/WsDefault.asp?One=2699 and I would recommend the Bummis Industrial Super Whisper Wrap. Get 4-6 newborn, 6-8 small, 6-8 medium, 6-8 large. We didn't order any X-Large, hoping that she would be potty-trained by then (and she was!). She outgrew the newborns quickly, but they needed to be washed more frequently when her stools were looser and got into the cover.
This is who we registered with and ordered from: http://store.naturalbabies.com/products/ If you notice that there aren't a lot of sizes available, you can email Colleen and she'll let you know when to expect more in stock. There is another site that we ordered a few covers from when she was out and we needed to get them, but I'm not remembering the name right now.
We have a tall trash can in our bathroom next to the changing table (which I would also recommend if you do cloth--much easier to stay organized--ours is a cheapie from IKEA and is PERFECT for what we need). We put the dirty diapers in there and then wash them as we start to run low (usually on covers). We do a cycle in the machine on cold with some baking soda. We then wash them on hot with half the amount of laundry detergent that you usually use (we use All Free & Clear for everything in our house). Then, you dry them. It's as easy as another few loads of laundry a week!
Hi! I found your blog when I was doing a cloth diaper search on google. I run a cloth diaper store and actually have a sampler pack, like some of the posts have talked about. You can see it here: http://www.simplewondersdiapers.com/diaper-packages.htm#clothdiaperpackages
This gives you a taste of different styles of diapers, sized and one-sized. It is very true that some diapers fit chubby babies better and others fit really slim babies better. I whole-heartedly agree with the other posters that trying a variety when you first begin is great.
Please let me know if you have any cloth diapering questions.
check out this website TODAY!!! It has a link for the bumgenius diaper for $12 each
http://babycheapskate.blogspot.com/
www.lemondrops.blogspot.com is selling her diaper stuff if you are interested. I have a link to her blog on mine if the above address doesn't work.
Nancy- thanks for this post! We have been toying with the idea of cloth diapers especially since DH will be staying home to raise the baby, and working very very part time. Financially it made sense, but all of my friends with kids thought we were totally nuts and have tried to talk us out of it. I plan to use a lot of the feedback from these ladies to help with my decision making.
We use prefolds from www.greenmoutaindiapers.com (these are our workhorse diapers and amazing in everyway) and various organic bamboo velour prefolds from boutique, work at home mom shops that can be found on www.hyenacart.com
As far as covers, we use wool exclusively. PUL gives Quinlon a rash and fleece stinks. Plus, I am a knitter so wool is my love anyway.
www.diaperswappers.com is a good place to get a LOT of CD info and you can buy used if you are comfortable and save money when just trying things out.
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