I have several very pregnant friends & acquaintances who want to use cloth diapers and need advice and recommendations. The variety of diapers out there is overwhelming--even to me!--so I thought I'd solicit advice from my wonderful readers about your favorite types of cloth diapers. Please send in your reviews & recommendations: favorite brands and styles, how many of each size you'd recommend, how you wash/pail the diapers, etc.
My initial advice to them, since they haven't yet decided on which kind of cloth to use, is to buy disposables for the first several weeks and purchase one of many different brands & styles of cloth. They can see which kind of cloth diaper works best for them and for their baby, and then buy a whole set once they've done a test-run with at least a few wearings and washings.
Hi, I have been reading your blog for a while and do enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteWe use plain old Chinese Cotton Prefolds around here. I have tried pocket diapers but I don't like them nearly enough to use them all the time. Sure, they are convenient but they are also hard to clean those runny "baby had too much fruit yesterday" poops. They are also the most economical. We use Snappis to hold them together and use the reverse angel fold. For covers I have tried many. ProWraps, ProWraps Colors, Bummis Whisper Wrap, originals, and pants. But my favorites so far are Thirsties. I haven't tried fleece and wool is too expensive for my taste. I love the Thirsties because they don't hold the urine odors like I find the Bummis do. They come in so many great colors and look so cute on the baby's bum! They have leg gussets that are inconspicuous and don't add extra bulk to the diaper. I like the PUL covers the best because they go right in the wash with the diapers.
As for cleaning/washing goes... I use BioLiners when I am expecting baby to poop so it makes clean up easier. If the poop is out of control or I don't use a liner, I have a Diaper Duck. Its a neat little contraption that wrings out the diaper after you have shwooshed it around in the toilet to get the solid matter off. You put the diaper in the duck and squeeze out the excess water. I have a 13 gallon kitchen trash can that I line with a nylon wet bag. I use the dry pail method. I just stick the dirty diaper and cover (if needed) in there. Come washing day when its full or I run out of dipes I put it all in the washer (including the bag). I have switched to Charlie's Soap and it is hands down the BEST laundry soap to use for ALL your laundry! It rinses completely out and your clothes are so soft even when hung to dry in the sun! I put 1 scoop on oxyclean with 1 scoop of charlies in the wash and run a long cold cycle. When that is finished, I use 1 scoop of each again and sometimes if I am in the mood add a few drops of Tea Tree Essential Oil. I run it on the longest HOT cycle with an extra rinse. When it's finished I hang the dipes outside to bask in the sun.
It is so easy and I just love using cloth diapers! We have to use sposies at night because my daughter drinks so much water that she gets the cloth too soaked, but I wish I didn't have to. Overall, the money spent and the minimal amount of time spent caring for your diapers is well worth it!
I am a bit of a cloth-a-holic and found a brand that I love so much, I became a reseller for them and started up a website. We use side snapping pocket diapers from Green Acre Designs. LOL If you want to check it out, I have videos of how to use them, my own washing instructions, and tons more.
ReplyDeleteI wanted it to be a resource for those thinking about going cloth.
http://www.gadbaby.com
I would recommend starting cloth once the kiddo is about 12 pounds or so, they grow so quickly in the beginning they outgrow their first set of diapers in weeks.
belated advice:
ReplyDeleteWe used kissaluv 0s and pul covers (bummis, thirsties) for the newborn stage and both loved them. we had 24 diapers but if i were doing it again i'd get 36. we often ran out and had to scramble to wash. my husband loved these diapers.
for the next stage we are trying a few diff. styles to see what we like. i think it's good to stay open-minded: i thought i would love wool, but i don't like it at all. i thought aio's were dumb; now i see why people love them (we love our bum genius aio's). we are trying a one-sized pocket that i hope we love so i can just buy a ton and not fret over this any longer. if we don't like them we may just go with aio's. for me, simplicity is key.
i love getting used diapers from diaperswappers but i will probably buy all new for the next stage of our stash and either use them until they disintegrate or make good money reselling them. either way it's cheaper than disposables!
i think for washing you should start as simply as possible and only change if it isn't working. some people's routines are so elaborate! we have hard water so we use a water softener (white king, calgon, etc) in every stage of our wash routine. here's what we do:
cold/cold wash w/ softener
hot/cold wash w/ detergent (purex f&c) and tea tree oil
cold/cold wash with softener
we end up dryer drying everything. we are too lazy to separate stuff out.
so far this works really well. synthetic fabrics like fleece and pul seem more sensitive to wash routine changes than natural.
for wipes i love the $1 ones from baby hope's diapers. i personally think that knit and esp. velour are vastly preferable to flannel. i like flannel for spit up rags.