Cloth Diapers - Circle Pines,MN

Hi L.,
You've already received a lot of good advice, I'll just tell you what worked for us. We have a variety of diapers: prefolds and fitteds (kissaluvs) with bummis and wool covers, fuzzi bunz pocket diapers, one size pocket diapers (bum genius and haute pockets), and all-in-ones (thirsties and bum genius). across the board, the bum genius one size diapers fit the best and leak the least. all of the diapers have leaked at some point, probably user error or just an extreme load. but the bum genius are the best for overnight and i think they're the best on the wallet in the long run because you just need the one size. good luck and feel free to contact me if you want more info

I'm using Motherease airdry one size - they are supposed to be good up to about 30 pounds and come with extra snap in liners for overnight. (I use disposables at night though) I tried the motherease on the recommmendation of friends and found them second hand on craigslist. I have about 20 which works great. I bought extra airflow (med & large)covers from the actual motherease site because my daughter outgrew the small covers quite quickly. so far no problems with diaperrash.

My son almost always leaked at night in cloth unless we doubled him up and then I felt it was super bulky so we do a disposable at night and cloth during the day. I use prefolds with a cover mostly but we have about 8 all in ones that my mom made us (there are great patters online if you sew!) that are for my husband or babysitters b/c they go on just like a disposable. I would suggest a prefold and cover at night b/c they seem to leak the least of all cloth i've tried, and just double up the prefold if she leaks. Good luck!

My son is 22 months old and we get through the night best in BumGenius. He doesn't leak out of those. We can't get through on Happy Heiney or Mudpie Babies or anything else we've tried. I don't even double stuff my bG's!

The next best thing, though, is something made of fleece. I used those for my dd who we the bed until 4. Fleece is amazing! I found it used on diaper swappers, I don't know what brand it is and can't find them to buy new. It is an Apron Strings brand, but her website is gone.

we love our bum genius, but still use a disposable overnight. I did not want to spend the money to figure out an overnight solution. I am interested to see what other moms are doing!

Sunshinediapers.com also has a test drive package and you get a store credit for most of the price of the test drive to purchase the diapers you decided on. You can also ask her to include certain models of diapers so that you get to try them out. Hope this is helpful to you.

Yes, it definitely is a matter of personal preference and how much money you are willing to spend on them. For the most cost effective reasons I chose pre-folds with a nice cover (I prefer the Thirsties). If I had the money I would try some one size like the Bum Genius (my friend uses those and LOVES them, she used to use Fuzzy Bunz but changed as her daughter grew and grew and now doesn't regret dishing out more money for the Bum Genius one size diapers). You could try getting a couple diapers of a few different brands that you have researched (I looked at diaperpin.com to find what other moms rated for the covers I chose). Ebay may be a way to get a few different brands for pretty reasonable. or many websites that I found when I was researching sell sampler kind of packages.
Hope this helps, but don't stress over it, if you are determined to do it (and believe me it's not as icky/scary as I thought it would be) any cloth diaper you go with should save you money in the long run, especially if you use them with more than one child.

I use bum genius for my son and I love them. I have not tried any other cloth diapers so I cant help you in that department. I like the fact that you can adjust them to the size they fit them and at night I just and an extra insert for the extra absorbencies. They also are great for big blow outs, never have had any problem with leaking in that department. We paid about 110 dollars for 6 of them, but was well worth the money. We buy a big box of disposables about once a month and they have saved us a ton of money on diapers. Good luck with finding the right ones.

hi L....

i started cloth diapering my daughter at about 14 months....i've tried

swaddlebees all in ones
fuzzibuns
bum genius

hands down...bum genius with two liners (the two that they come with....a big and little one)
are the best for overnights....

i like fuzzi buns because they seem really comfy, but i like my bum genius the best....

i didn't like all in one's at all...takes too long to dry and i leaked both times i used them on her....and that wasn't even while she was sleeping....

any questions about cloth diapers...you can contact me personally if you want....

____@____.com

good luck and i was happy to start clothing after so many disposables, so i support your decision....better late than never!

I would check out this local Des Moines mom...at http://diapering.wallypop.net/
she was very helpful for my cloth diapering needs.
K.

This is a tough question to answer because everyone has their preferences. From a cost perspective, a good quality prefold diaper will give you the best value. You will still need to buy covers, of course, but not one for every diaper. With fitted diapers the choices are endless if you are ordering on internet, but I don't think you need to feel committed to trying just one brand. Visit Peapods in St. Paul and buy a sample of couple different diapers to try before committing to a major purchase. For nighttime I preferred a prefold diaper with a thick fleece doubler added in.

Another cost saver is to buy used or to join a diaper buying cooperative.

Another excellent site for information is the cloth diapering discussion forum at mothering.com

That is a really tough question. I also would recommend trying a few different kinds to find which work best for you. For my oldest I use one size Happy Heinys (about $19 per diaper) but for my youngest I use prefolds or fitteds and wool. I've tried Fuzzi Bunz and didn't have very good luck with them, they leaked and/or wicked pretty badly so I sold them. My youngest can't wear the HHs because he gets too hot in the polyester fleece and gets heat rash so he needs the breathability of the cotton prefolds. I have heard great things about BumGenius but I've never tried them. As far as nighttime goes, you typically will need something a lot more absorbant since you will not be changing the diaper every 2 hours like during the day. When my youngest was an infant he was a VERY heavy wetter so I had to buy diapers specifically made for over night, called a Very Baby Simply Nights. Now that he's a little older (18 months) I just us one of the HH stuffed with 2 inserts instead of 1 (how he can not get a heat rash in that all night I will never know) as I do and have done with my 2 1/2 year old since the beginning. If you're wanting more cost effective then you should go with prefolds. I order mine from www.greenmountaindiapers.com and LOVE them. I use the brown edge and have for a very long time. One of the reasons prefolds are such a great investment is because they do fit for such a long time. Also, once you're done diapering they make great dust cloths and car washing rags. A great resource for tons more information is www.diaperswappers.com. It's a natural parenting community and everyone there is very helpful. There is a diapering forum where you can ask any questions you have. Good luck! Once you start cd'ing you won't be able to stop, I'm addicted for sure!

How about a flushable/cloth diaper combo, check out g-diapers.
kinda cool idea, no washing, no trash, just throw away an inner liner, kinda like a maxi pad idea.

I would change the brand of disabable diapers. I have 4 children the first 2 were in cloth diapers all the time a nd the last 2 were in disabales. The kids in disables had far fewer sore bottoms than the kids in cloth diapers. Not to meantion the extra work of washing cloth diapers. When my son got to the point where he was leaking out of the disabales I would put a maxi pad in the diaper overnight to add absortion for overnights. It works, or go to the next size.

I agree, just get a few you think you might like and try them out! I'm newer to cloth diapering, i wanted to start with my oldest, now third kid i'm finally doing it =) Every time i would research there is just soo much info out there it got overwhelming, so we finally just decided on the basic prefolds and love them. We went to Peapods and got a lot of help.

L.-
Hi. good luck with your research. I have been cloth diapering my son for 9 months now and use several different types. For stay at home/change every 2 hours or so I use a prefold and bummis whisper wraps (simple/easy/cheap). For away times I have some bum genius or other pocket diapers that I stuff with a joey kick hemparoo hemp doubler and microfiber liners. For overnights I fold one of the doublers mentioned previously in thirds to place up front, then a prefold also in a fuzzibunz. I think the fleece keeps them feeling dry. He does not leak. If you have any questions feel free to email me. I've done a lot research about laundry soaps, etc.... Good luck again and congrats on your decision to try cloth. I feel like I'm doing good for my son ("natural") and also the environment by not putting waste in the landfill. I do an extra load of laundry every 2-3 days.
Check nikkis diapers, sunshine diapers, mothering dot com, diaperswappers, there are lots of info sites, but it can get very overwhelming.

I used the prefold diapers which you can buy anywhere. Fastened them snugly with old fashioned diaper pins and then used either vinyl or nylon diaper covers. I tried to wash the covers separately from the diapers, as they do absorb the odor otherwise. I found it worked very well. The other styles are convenient, but if your goal is to save money, you will spend a lot to get set up, plus as your child grows you'll need larger sizes and with the prefolds you can keep using the same ones. You can even buy used diapers and covers online .I always used disposable diapers at night because my kids would get so wet and wake up in cloth. I just needed the sleep!

What will work best depends on your child. Not every cloth diaper fits every child well, so you may have to try a few to find the right diaper for her. For nighttime, I have found that using a hemp doubler, or an all-hemp diaper was necessary to prevent my daughter from soaking through at about 18 months. I finally chose Happy Hempy pocket fitteds and wool covers, and it has worked out very well. I only use all-in one diapers for outings, they can be harder to get clean than other types of diapers. During the day, I primarily use prefolds or fitteds with wool, and sometimes without a cover at all.

There is a website jilliansdrawers.com that has a cloth diaper trial program. I havn't personally used it as i live in a rented duplex and the washer/dryer here sucks and i dont want to attempt using them to wash cloth diapers. But once we get our own house and washer/dryer i plan on trying out cloth(if we still have a little one in diapers that is!).
The trial program looks kinda neat. You pay a set price and they send you several differnt brands of diapers to try and you decide what you like and send back what you dont after a 21 day trial. Anyway, Good Luck!