I am looking into starting to use cloth diapers for my 7 month old daughter. I have ordered a few bumgenius one-size diapers, but was wondering if anyone could give any input on this brand or other brands they like/dislike. Also any tips, hints, pointers, advice on cloth diapering in general would be greatly appreciated. Thanks ladies!!
I don't know where you live, but there's a great store in Eastown called hopscotch they have all the best cloth diapers and lots of help... even a class on cloth diaperind. Good Luck
I second Angela on the fuzzibunz, and pocket diapers in general. I was introduced to fuzzibunz by a friend who loves them. They're so easy to use (really not much more work than disposables) I have another friend who has used several different types of pocket diapers, and doesn't have any complaints about any of them.
I used the thick, padded in the middle cloth diapers from Target with plastic pants. They are not expensive, and really easy to use. I had a diaper pail with Borax in it. I would plop the poop in the toilet and soak the diapers. I would also soak the diapers the night before I washed them in the washer with borax. After three kids, they still look great. They were much cheaper than some of these more designer diapers and so much better for the environment too than disposables. Good luck. Don't let others discourage you.
i have used a variety of cloth diaper systems. with the one-size diapers, sometimes they leak more around the legs, depending on how well they fit your baby. our favorite system is: organic unbleached cotton prefolds with imsy vimsy covers. the covers contain poop the best (i also tried pro-wraps, bummikins, and motherease). the prefolds really wick moisture away well, and are super soft. sometimes, though, they will shift inside the cover. my daughter is a sound sleeper and heavy wetter, so i am still trying to figure out the best system for overnight. the best, so far, has been a prefold with a super-absorbant doubler or an eco-baby grow with me diaper, all within an imsy vimsy bumpy cover.
use very little natural laundry soap (i like Biokleen b/c it contains grapefruit seed extract, a natural antimicrobial), do an extra rinse with vinegar to help remove any soap residues and to keep the diapers soft. we also use a lot of salve on her sensitive skin. either we make it with olive oil, beeswax, and calendula flowers, or we use some made by green wisdom (http://greenwisdomherbal.com/) (soothe-it salve), or motherlove (www.motherlove.com), and lots of calendula oil from weleda (http://usa.weleda.com/index.aspx)
we purchased our diapers at www.gogreenisland.com
a great website for cloth diaper advice is www.diaperjungle.com
good luck!!
We use cloth diapers and love them. My son was 1 years old when we started using them. We use Fuzzi Bunz and purchased them at a store in Ann Arbor called Tree City Diapers. We had tried a few other brands before the Fuzzi Bunz and were very frustrated because we were having problems with leaks.
We purchased 15 diapers, 15 additional liners (Fuzzi Bunz come with one liner), 1 diaper pail, 1 diaper pail liner, 40 cloth wipes, 1-4 oz. solution bottle and 1-8 oz. solution bottle, 2 wet bags and one wipey bag. I think we spent a total of $350.00.
The Fuzzi Bunz are a pocket diaper which means that you insert a liner for absorption. We use 2 liners in each diaper during the day and 3 at night. My son is a heavy wetter. When he poops, we just drop the poop in the toilet and the diaper goes in the pail with the others. They have snaps and are adjustable. My sons diapers fit from 15 lbs to 35 lbs and we will be able to use the again with our second child. They are very cute, we have all primary colors, camo, baseballs, soccer balls.
We wash the diapers every other day and use the Shaklee Fresh Laundry Detergent. Since we only wash every other day, a 32 oz. bottle lasts us 2 months. You have to use special laundry detergent, because the chemicals in regular detergents will strip the diaper and cause leaks.
To wash we put the diapers, cloth wipes, dirty wet bags and pail liner into the wash machine, run a cold rinse and then wash with 1 oz. Shaklee Laundry Detergent on Hot. Then dry on low heat without any fabric softener or dryer sheets.
It really isn't hard at all and once you have a system set. My family totally tried to talk me out of it and thought I was crazy, but now they see how easy it is and how much money I have saved. Not to mention the environment, this year I saved approximately 2,920 diapers from sitting in our dump!
Let me know if you have any questions!
ANGIE
