Seeking Cloth Diaper Recommendations

I have cloth diapered all of my children (4th baby in diapers now) and am still using the prefolds I bought when my first was born. I bought 24 of the Chinese cotton prefolds in the infant size (green stitching) which they wore until about 5-6 months old, and 24 of the premium size (blue stitching) which they wore until potty trained (ages 2-3). I used prorap covers with my first. I liked them, but had to replace most of them after 1-2 children. This last time I bought the Thirsties duo wrap and Bummis super brite, they are very similar, I probably like the Thirsties a little better. I have four of the Snappi fasteners to close the diapers, love those, and would definitely recommend them. I have used the flushable liners for solid waste, but mostly use my fleece liners and just rinse them in the toilet for solid waste. I just went to the fabric store and bought a yard of fleece and cut it into strips, I cut them pretty big to completely cover the inside of the cotton diaper. The fleece helps reduce moisture on his skin and makes the solid waste clean-up easier. Plus if I need to use and diaper rash creams I can with the fleece liner (you can't use most of them straight against the cotton).
Cottonbabies.com is a great website to buy from as well as a great resource for all of the "getting started" questions. I deviate a little from their recommended washing routine. I do a cold rinse. Then wash in hot with about a tablespoon of a free and clear detergent and about 1/2 C baking soda in the wash and about 1/2 C white vinegar in the rinse. Then tumble dry, I lay/hang in the sun in the summer a great way to whiten and freshen. I thought about getting a sprayer to attach to the toilet for solid waste but worried about my older kids playing with it and making a mess, so i never did, but think they sound like a great idea.
If you have a cloth diapering store near you that is a great way to get introduced to cloth diapering and it might help to see things in person before ordering. Hope you find a system that works for you. Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions.

Hi there,

I never use disposable liners, so I'll leave that to the other moms. But I've cloth-diapered 2 kids now, and love it!

Check out clothdiaper.com for their prefold and cover packages. They come with Bummis Super Whisper Wrap covers, which I love. They are good for babies with larger thighs. I've heard they work just fine with disposable liners, and they're pretty sturdy and cost around $12 per cover (pretty economical). You may want something a bit more breathable at night, though. There are a bunch of different wool covers out there, or you may want to think about an AIO or pocket diaper for nighttime only. Or using one of the covers from a hybrid (cloth/disposable) system such as GroVia, Flip, or g-diapers.

I use unbleached prefolds (need to be prepped first -- wash w/ detergent and dry at least 3-4 times before use), but the stains don't show up as much.

And I highly recommend using a cloth diaper detergent such as Eco Sprout or Rockin' Green.

And fleece liners (very inexpensive -- check out sweetbottomsbaby.com) are a good way to keep the moisture off of your baby (and in the diaper).

Best of luck!
R.

Call a service in your area-you will be surprised how inexpensive and wonderful and easy they are!

I really like Magic-Alls by baby beehinds (or something like that ) you can get them off of Amazon and they are about 13.00 each. They are completly all in ones, no stuffing and they are shaped similar to huggies. You will deffinatly be able to use cloth diapers on more than one child, but when your baby is a newborn it will be hard to find an all in one that will fit. For that, you will want a diaper cover (any brand) and some small flat diapers. I got mine off of Amazon and I used the Snappie to secure the diaper. Good luck!

You could start potty training your daughter? Do you have a potty seat? If not, get one, with some potty books, and start teaching her where pee and poop go. She is at the perfect age to introduce the toilet. In fact, I introduced the potty to both of my kids at 16 months and both were fully trained (including night) before their 2nd bday. The only way to teach them to care about being soiled is by teaching them about it. There is no better time then the present to start teaching them about being wet and dry.

With that said, I am a big fan of All in ones. Love them, love them, love them. I used mostly Bum Genius with both of my kids.

I use GroVia, and really like them. Check out their website or PM me for more info if you want.

Hi! I cloth diaper my son who is now 19 months. We have cloth diapered him his whole life. I also switched my daughter over to cloth when I started to potty train her when she was 2 (she is 3 1/2 now and been off diapers for over a year). I personally LOVE the Thirsties diaper shell/covers and I currently, use the Thirsties DUO Snap Closures size 2.
http://www.pinstripesandpolkadots.com/products/pc/viewPrd...=
There are other brands that function the same and look very similar but vary in price. That site, PinstripesandPolkaDots is actually a really good source to see what is around.
I went with snaps because the ones with velcro tend to loose their hold after washing them several times. They are adjustable in size so as your little one is able to wear them for longer. Although for your new baby you would want some size 1 covers.
As for the diapers themselves, I LOVE my prefolds. I will say I did get a good deal on mine because I bought them as factory seconds off of
http://www.clothdiaper.com/ I mean really, they were for my little guy to poop in so I didn't care if the color was a little off, or the seems weren't perfectly straight. For the type of cloth diaper I got the Indian Cotton diapers in the Premium size. We have used them from the time he was about 2 or 3 months and still use them. Before he was 2 or 3 months (and he was kind of a big baby 9lbs 3oz at birth) the Premium size was just too bulky to work for him, so we used some of the cheap birdseye thinner diapers made by Gerber.
Hope this was helpful!! :)

I also just decided to start with cloth for my 2nd baby coming in 3 weeks. I think I'm set to go. I'd be happy to answer any questions and give you unbiased information from my research. (I too think services are way expensive!!)
I'd also recommend this store in South Elgin, IL called "Fluff Envy". (www.fluffenvy.com) Justine runs the website and store and is just so very helpful!! She'll show you the different options available and how to use each one. She's very patient too! It really helped me to go talk to someone and actually see the diapers in person.
Another great place is www.diapershops.com They have awesome information, guides, and tips. There is a facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/diapershops) as well with a great community of moms who answer all my questions patiently, even the silly ones they see all the time. They also give great recommendations. Not all diapers will work on all babies since they are so different. I asked on the facebook page for diapers that work well with really skinny babies with skinny chicken legs and got good recommendations. :)
I will say it seems best not to invest in a whole stash of diapers until you know what will fit best on your baby.
For my newborn I decided to go with fitted diapers and waterproof covers since that seems to work well on all babies. I rented them from another website, www.itsybitsybums.com (only $75 for 3 months use plus a cash refundable deposit) since they don't wear newborn size very long. Then I've ordered a one of each in Grovia, Flip, Econobum, Ones & Twos, and some others recommended, to try once the baby is bigger and will fit into those kind. Once I know if I have a skinny baby or a chunker I'll know what will work best. :)
Good luck!!