Which diaper is our favorite? Which brand? These questions have been coming up frequently in recent conversations. The answer is not simple. To us, each different diaper meets a different need (fit, absorbency, comfort) so it is too hard to have one favorite. Instead I will tell you which we use and why.

Matty’s Stash
Matty was using bumGenius 3.0 AIO’s exclusively and these worked wonderfully on him. They were trim and never leaked. We’d use the extra doubler at night and he always woke up dry. We never had any issues with Velcro or elastic wear ‘n tear. Now, at 2 ½, he’s in pull-ups. This is not a budget or environmentally friendly option, but don’t worry, I’m making some fleece (Batman and Wall-e) training pants this evening. I’m planning to use organic cotton and prefolds as a sewn in doubler with more fleece lining on top. More on that later…

Mila’s Stash
With Mila I loosened up a little and decided that all of my diapers didn’t have to be the same brand (I can be a little obsessive) and I’m so glad I did. First in her rotation we have about 12 fitted Kissaluvs (we use homemade fleece and wool covers or Bummi’s Whisper Wrap). Those are the first I reach for and my personal favorites at this stage.

Next is a Swaddlebees fitted. I love the soaker on this one, it adds a little bulk, but it’s great for overnight and still has an excellent fit on her tiny butt. We have one Thirsties AIO (she outgrew the others) and I like this one better than Matty’s OS (one size). It’s much trimmer on such a tiny baby. They don’t tend to be as absorbent as my others so if I’m planning on having her in it for a while I add a doubler… or sometimes two.

Then we have some Happy Heinies pocket diapers. They’re great for outings or going to Nanna’s house because the actual change time is just as quick and easy as ’sposies and you can customize absorbency depending on what you ’stuff’ it with. We keep some prefolds around for laundry day (and Kyle prefers them) and gdiapers in case I’m too sick to do laundry or if I need to squeeze Mila into an almost-to-small outfit.

Other thoughts...
I’ve found that water resistant covers work best for us and they seem more comfortable than a lot of PUL covers (all though a lot of PUL’s are very good quality and can be very cozy – not stiff at all) and I love the fitteds (partially due to the fact that I don’t enjoy stuffing pockets). These are just my personal preferences now. As Mila grows and starts getting taller other brands will fit just as well or better. I am very anxious to try some bamboo fitteds and wool skirties or longies.

I found a really cool pattern online for the fleece soakers I’ve been making, http://katrinassqs.blogspot.com/, I’m a novice and the few problems I’ve had were not due to the pattern but my absent-mindedness and unwillingness to thoroughly read directions… Including cutting time I’ve gotten to where I can turn out 1 for every 15-20 minutes. So if you’re crafty (or even if you’re not) then you may want to give it a try.

Any time you are talking or reading about cloth diapers online you are bound to come across some words or abbreviations you’ve never heard. We’ve compiled a list of these words so that these otherwise baffling terms will now (hopefully) make sense!

AIO  - All-in-one Diapers
AI2 -  All-in-two Diapers
AP  - Attachment Parenting

Aplix – a brand of hook and loop closure (similar to Velcro but much softer)
BF  - Breastfeed
BG  - bumGenius brand
BSWW  - Bummi’s Super Whisper Wrap
BTDT -  Been There Done That
BTW  - By the way
BNIP  - Brand new in package
CD  - Cloth Diapers or Cloth Diapering
CPF  - Chinese Prefold
Crunchy -  Living ‘Green’ or Eco Friendly
DD  - Disposable Diapers or Dear Daughter
DH  - Dear Husband
DS  - Dear Son
DSQ -  Diaper Service Quality
EBF  - Exclusive Breastfeeding
EDD  - Estimated Due Date
EC  - Excellent condition
EUC  - Excellent used condition
F&C -  Free & Clear (detergents)
FLer  - Front loader washing machine
FS -  For sale
FSOT -  For sale or trade
FYI  - For your information
FB  - Fuzzi Bunz
FMBG  - Full Moon Baby Gear
GAD  - Green Acre Designs
HH  - Happy Heinies
HE -  High efficiency (washing machines)
ITA  - I totally agree
IPF  - Indian Prefold
IMO  - In My Opinion
ME  - Mother Ease brand
ISO  - In search of
KWIM -  Know what I mean
LMK  - Let me know
LO  - Little one
LC  - Little Caboose brand
NAK  - Nursing at keyboard

OS  -  One size
PUL  - Polyurethane laminate
ROTFL -  Rolling on the floor laughing
SAHM  - Stay at home mom
SEZ  - Snap E-Z brand
Touchtape  -   a brand of hook and loop closure (similar to Velcro but much softer)
TLer  - Top loader washing machine
TTC  - Trying to convieve
WAHM  - Work at home mom

Shopping for cloth diapers can be overwhelming whether you’re new to cloth diapering or you’ve been doing it for years. There are so many types and brands of diapers and they come in a huge assortment of fabrics it is hard to make a decision. It’s great to have a lot of choices, but shopping should be fun, so we’ll try to take the guess work out of it for you by breaking it down.

Here are the basic types of cloth diapers:

Bum Genius AIO

All-in-ones (AIO) are very easy-to-contoured diapers, thus making them great for babysitters, grandparents, daycares, or even dad. They use snap or hook and loop (Velcro) closures and consist of a waterproof outer layer, absorbent hidden layers, and a soft inner layer to keep baby comfortable. Some people use AIO’s full time and some just keep a few for convenience. If you decide to use them full time be sure to stock up and have plenty in rotation because frequent washing can reduce the effectiveness of the waterproof outer layer.

All-in-two (AI2) The AI2 is basically the same as the AIO except that the absorbent soaker is not attatched to the diaper, it must be layed in the diaper. The point of this is to shorten drying time.

A Happy Heiny's Pocket Diaper

Pocket Diapers have been around for about a little over a decade, making them the newest type of cloth diaper. They use snap or hook and loop closures and consist of a waterproof outer layer and a soft inner layer. There is an opening at the top which creates a pocket between the two layers and you stuff it with a doubler or even a prefold. These are nice because you can customize the amount of absorbency you want.

Kissaluv Fitted Diapers

Fitted Diapers are just that – fitted. This quality makes them great for newborns and hard-to-fit babies and for containing runny poop. They come with snap or hook and loop closures and are made of absorbent fabrics but do not have a waterproof layer so they require a cover.

Prefolds

Prefolds are rectangular and divided into three absorbent sections, the middle section being the most absorbent. Sometimes prefolds are defined as 4-6-4 or something similar, this is describing the number of layers in each section. Prefolds are the most economical choice but also take a little more learning time. They require diaper pins or a Snappi.

Contour Diapers

Contour diapers are pretty much modified prefolds. They’re hourglass shaped and have no elastic. You can use a snappi or diaper pin to fasten contour diapers. There is no waterproof layer so they will require a diaper cover.

Waterproof diaper covers are usually made from PUL or some other sort of laminate and can use snap or hook and loop closures. They keep access moisture from soaking through the diaper onto clothes.

Water- resistant diaper covers (also called “soakers”) work to absorb extra moisture from the diaper but still keep your baby’s clothes dry. These are our preferred covers, especially for night time.

These are Snappies

Snappi is a closure method for prefolds to substitute diaper pins. They’re rubbery and shaped like a “T” with claws at each point. We have several of these and they work wonderfully.

Doublers are also referred to as soakers or liners. They are absorbent pads that you lay in the diaper or cover for extra protection, a must have for heavy wetters or night time.

How Many Cloth Diapers?

When we started cloth diapering I did a little research on how many cloth diapers you should keep in your stash. We were tight on money so I decided to scrimp and buy less than the average recommendation. I wanted to hold out and buy some cuter, more expensive diapers later on so I figured I would just tough it out and do a lot of laundry. That didn’t work out very well and I ended up getting peed on a lot and having to make some emergency trips to the store for disposables. We slowly built up our stash and now I keep some gdiapers around for emergencies.

If you can’t afford to buy all of your cloth diapers at once, start with one day’s worth at a time. This way your disposables will last you longer so you should have some extra money on your next pay day to invest in a few more cloth diapers. Just keep working towards a full stash and before you know it you’ll be cloth diapering full time.

When deciding how many diapers you’ll need you want to take a few things into consideration…

How often do you want to do laundry? Every day, every other day, or every three days? You shouldn’t store wet or dirty diapers for more than three days. They can end up with gnarly stains and smells that may never go away and the urine breaks down the fibers, shortening the life of your diapers. We have about 18 diapers for our 3 month old, plus a few prefolds to use while the others are in the washer, and these will last us a good 2 ½ to 3 days. Our daughter is not a particularly heavy wetter though, which leads us to our next point to consider.

Is your child a heavy wetter? Our son is an extremely heavy wetter. He’s always gone through a ton of diapers per day and there doesn’t seem to be much we can do about it. Obviously if your child is a heavy wetter you will want to have more diapers in your stash than we have in ours. If you don’t know whether your child will be a heavy wetter, you can keep several infant prefolds in your stash. This way if it turns out you don’t need all the diapers you can use the prefolds as doublers for your other diapers or even for an older sibling.

How old is your baby? This makes a huge difference in the amount of diapers you will need. Newborns are peeing or pooping every time you turn around and since their diet is exclusively fluids they tend to have more “blowouts”. Toddlers tend to require less diapers as they get older and their bodies prepare for potty training/learning.

Newborns – we recommend a stash of 24-36 diapers. This should hold you over for 2-3 days. If your diapers require covers you should have 1 cover per 4-6 diapers, but for newborns I would recommend more because they tend to poop on the covers. So for this stash we would recommend 8-12 diaper covers.

6 to 12 Mos. – Most babies in this age group have started sleeping through the night or are at least sleeping for longer periods of time, therefore requiring less frequent diaper changes. We recommend 20-30 diapers, laundering every 2-3 days.

12 to 24 Mos. – By this age babies are typically eating more solids than breast milk or formula, so again there will be a decrease in the amount of diaper changes needed. We recommend 16-24 diapers, laundering every 2-3 days.

Potty training/learning – Usually during this time you can cut back to 8-12 diapers, laundering every 2-3 days.

Aside from diapers you will also want to invest in a diaper pail (you can store diapers in a dry or wet pail), 12-24 doublers, and since you are doing laundry anyways you may want to get 2 -3 dozen cloth wipes. Remember that these are only guidelines. Combine this information with your child’s specific needs and your preferences to come up with the right number of diapers for your stash. Don’t be afraid to buy too many, having a larger stash means that each diaper is used less in rotation and this will lengthen the life of your diapers.

When we were pregnant with our second child we were trying to find ways to cut corners cost-wise. We’d thought about cloth diapering before and decided to investigate further. Aside from saving money we found that there were a lot of other benefits to cloth diapering… and a lot of reasons to stay away from disposables.

Cost of Cloth Diapers vs Disposables

The cost of disposable diapers is roughly $2,694.54 per child.  Each child is unique, so the amount and frequency in which your little one eats, sleeps, poops, and pees will affect how much money you will spend on disposable diapers. Depending on which size your baby is currently in, disposable diapers range from $0.22 – $0.45 each.  When using cloth diapers, the cost is upfront, but  the diapers pay for themselves within about 6 months. After that, diapering is pretty much free.

Consumer Report estimates that the most inefficient washer and dryer system (sounds like mine!) costs approximately $0.78 per load,  more efficient models cost about $0.44 per load. So when you get past that six month mark your only cost with cloth diapers will be running your washer and dryer every 2 to 3 days plus the cost of detergent.

If you want to get more specific with your cost calculations, we like this cloth vs. disposable calculator that breaks down the cost!

http://www.cutofcloth.com/calculator/Calculator.asp

Rashes and Health Concerns

We all hate when our baby ends up with a diaper rash and there are so many causes of diaper rash that it’s hard to pinpoint the cause! Chemical and dye allergies, prolonged wetness, lack of air circulation, and soap can all contribute to diaper rashes.

Disposable diapers have plastic, dyes, scents, sodium polyacrylate, and dioxin. Sodium polyacrylate has been linked to toxic shock syndrome, allergic reactions, and is harmful and potentially lethal to pets. Dioxin is a carcinogenic chemical, according to EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) it is the most toxic of all cancer-linked chemicals.  It’s banned in most countries, but not in America.  Some dyes and dioxin are even known to cause damage to the central nervous system, kidneys, and liver. Disposables contain Tributyl-tin (TBT) – a toxic pollutant known to cause hormonal problems in humans and animals. Problems reported to the Consumer Protection Agency regarding disposables include, chemical burns, noxious chemical and insecticide odors, babies pulling disposables apart and putting pieces of plastic into their noses and mouth, choking on tab papers and linings, plastic melting onto the skin, and ink staining the skin. Those convenient plastic tabs can also tear baby’s skin if the diaper is not put on right.

The Convenience of Cloth Diapering

Cloth diapers have come a long way since your mama was using them. Now there are many different styles to choose from. Modern cloth diapers fasten with snaps or velcro and even prefolds don’t require diaper pins (we like Snappies). Switching to cloth can be a little awkward at first, but once you get the hang of it, it’s easy.

Consider this; currently it is 41 degrees outside, both of my children are napping, and the diapers are in the wash. Isn’t this more convenient than bundling up my babies and waiting for the cold car to heat up so I can haul them off to the store and spend 20 some odd bucks on disposables? You tell me…

As far as laundering goes, the hardest part for us was choosing a detergent. The rest is a cinch. With two small children and a husband I do a lot of laundry anyways so adding diapers to the load made no difference. I simply soak them with baking soda, turn the washer on when it’s convenient, rinse with vinegar, and dry. It doesn’t take long and it’s not hard work. I love the shock when people hear that we cloth diaper. “You wash their diapers?” Unless you’re washing your diapers by hand (which I’ve done) I’m pretty sure you’re washing machine is doing most of the dirty work. All you have to do is choose the settings and add detergent.

Scared to use cloth diapers while traveling? Don’t be! All you need is the basics; extra diapers, wipes, and a wet bag (for wet or soiled diapers and wipes).  If that doesn’t work for your family, there are more options than just cloth or disposable. When we need to run out and don’t want to pack a bag, we just grab a gdiaper. These hybrid diapers are cute as a button and have a flushable insert.

Environmental Impact

Roughly 5 million tons of untreated waste and 2 billion tons of urine, feces, plastic and paper are added to landfills every year. It takes around 80,000 pounds of plastic and over 200,000 trees a year to manufacture disposable diapers for babies in America alone. Some disposable diapers claim to be biodegradable; for diapers to decompose they must be exposed to air and sun.  This is unlikely to happen while sitting in a landfill so you can count on those diapers sitting there for the estimated 500 years before decomposition takes place.