simply cloth question

[anarchamom]

Can anyone tell me the about the simplycloth diapers sold on the ECstore website? How are these different from other cloth diapers? How are they better for doing EC? thanks

[sapphire_chan]

When you EC, you're going to be changing after every pee instead of every 2 hours or however often people who diaper do it. So you don't need doublers and extra wicking and so forth. You can get away with a cheap prefold (but still not the yeechy ones with poly-fiber fill padding) or flat diaper.

The faster the diaper can come down and back up again, the more likely you are to be willing to respond to potential cues and give the baby a potty unity. No diaper at all is great for that, but can get you nervous and pants take a lot more washer space than a dozen prefolds/flats. So instead having a diaper where you can flip a flap out of the way (e.g. prefold belts, ECAwarePants, origami folded flat with the wings tied around the baby's waist), or can pull the diaper down and up like pants (e.g. training pants as diaper, rectangle folded diaper in pull down cover)

Sorry, I'm getting away from your actual question. Basically the SimplyCloth is going to be a really inexpensive cloth diapering method. I'd forgo the prefolds and get Gerber flats. They're like $12/dozen or cheaper and wash and dry super fast.

But the SimplyCover is awesome. Go ahead and splurge on the fancy snaps kind, because babies poop. For us, the small size fit from 3 months (when I started looking at them) and still fit now at 20 months (okay, I don't actually use them now, but they're the same size as the training pants we do use.)

The prefold belts are better for around the house where total waterproofing isn't as necessary. You can also use them in bed with a waterproof pad (I like the Priva ones, do not get the not-at-all-waterproof crib pads that are sold in Babies'R'Us) 32"x36" is a good minimum size to be sure you don't have to fuss about when you roll over to switch breasts. In that case, you'd change out the prefold from a stack near your bed and toss the wet one into the hamper.

I never got the hang of nighttime diapering, everything I tried either looked way too bulky or leaked so I had to change her anyway. And if I'm going to be up in the middle of the night, I'd rather spend 30 seconds at the toilet than 2 minutes (5 if there's wiping) at a changing table. You'll probably have better luck with nighttime diapers since you'll go and get advice in the diaper forum and have actual newborn sized diapers available. If you don't want to EC at night that is.

Um, also about the SimplyCovers, you can change pee only diapers without taking the cover off. The inserts they sell are probably really good for that, but it also works with regular rectangle folded diapers. Pull the cover and diaper down a bit to loosen it off the body, tug out the old diaper, finagle in the new one. It's best, but not totally necessary, to stop walking to do this.

[lisavark]

Also, the simplycloth covers have very stretchy waists, so you can pull them up and down like trainers. This works best with the snap-in inserts, but you can do it with a folded flat fold inside. And the simplycloth covers are definitely the trimmest two-part (i.e., cheaper) system I've ever found. With a flat fold inside, they are as trim as a trainer and look great under clothes.

The other difference is that the simplycloth covers don't have as much room at the waist and hips as most covers, so you can't really fold a prefold around the baby's waist the way you usually would under a cover. Which means that the simplycloth system will not hold a newborn poop in the way a well-folded prefold with a thirsties cover would. This was never an issue for me since I didn't get my simplycloth covers till DD was a little older (four or five months?) and was rarely pooping in diapers. But something to keep in mind if you want them for a newborn...