Prefold or fitted? And which brand? HELP!

[aumismommy]

After a good amount of research - and trying gdiapers and bumgenius - I have decided (mostly lol) to take the plunge into CD'ing and trying some wool soakers (from bumby for now since they are not $$$) then adding in some other covers to see what we like.  My question now is prefolds or fitteds?  And which brand?  I'm curious to know what some other CD'ing mamas think as I am overwhelmed by chinese, indian, 4x8x4, organic, sizing, material of fitteds and snaps, velcro etc!!!  I definitely am drawn to prefolds because of low $$$ but am concerned about getting them on my suuuuper flippy floppy 6mo DS, and cost is what I'm worried about with fitteds.  Help....

So - fitted or prefold?

Brand?

[cristeen]

For my money, its always fitteds.

The best buy is going to depend on your babe's shape and how much they pee at once. For a heavy soaker and good long term value, a OS like goodmama is good if you can find them used for a deal. My guy was really tough to fit and a heavy soaker as well. Pfs dont work for us, many fitteds didnt either. And its always snaps. Hate velcro dipes. I have 1 brand of velcro dipe in my stash that i love and i put up w the velcro. I just found out they've released it in OS w snaps, i bought replacements for that part of the stash that same day.

As for cheap wool, i swear by babyology for nighttime. And pipers closet is my other fave. She'll custom make her wool wraps to your babys dimensions, and theyre cheap. Never had a leak in PC. Her fitteds are also good, but i dont care for the internal soakers, they take too long to dry.

[clovergirl]

If you are going to be using wool for a cover, I'd recommend fitteds over prefolds.  Mainly because prefolds don't hold poop in like the elastic on fitteds can, which means you will have to wash your wool covers more frequently.  While some wool can be machine washed, most needs to be hand washed and hung to dry, which is time consuming.  Personally one of my favorite things about wool wash that it could go long periods without washing, so getting poop on a wool cover really annoyed me!

As for as brands of fitteds, there are lots of options out there that won't break the bank.  You may want to look into one-size fitteds as you will probably be able to use them longer and they are usually not that much more expensive then sized fitteds.  Hope that helps! 

[chel]

i agree that fitted are best as keeping poop in.  i love gmd workhorse.  i got snap to keep my options open, but prefer to just snappi over the snaps.  works great with hardly any leak.  they are also amazing at how much pee they hold.  they are my go to diapers when out and about.  though i do find i have more stink issues with fitted than prefolds.  at home prefolds are the first i grab after my dd's morning poo.  until then it's fitted.

[WifeofAnt]

Does anyone have experience with 'contour' diapers?

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by WifeofAnt 

Does anyone have experience with 'contour' diapers?

Little good.

Unless you're fastening contour dipes in some way, the poo is free to escape.  And it does.  All over the cover.  Maybe slightly less than with a trifold PF, but still far too much for my taste.  Although now that we're dealing with solids poo, I'm back to using contours and I'm fine with them.  But so long as the poo was liquidy, I hated them. 

[treeoflife3]

Personally, I LOVE prefolds and flats and rarely have poo escaping out (I'm good at getthing the twist fold on tightly enough and I'm pretty decent now at the jelly roll) but I also like keeping fitteds on hand.  They are quick and easy when kiddo doesn't want to change her diaper and I find them easier to deal with out of the house.  I'm always a fan of having multiple types of diapers on hand though.  I also have some pockets and really want to find a good aio for the really quick days and babysitters (and my husband ha!)

My FAVORITE fitted is the bagshot row bamboo diaper because it is an OS with no velcro or snaps so you can get the best fit possible if you can use the pins or snappi well.  However, they are HARD to buy new so you have to search for them used usually.  They have a narrow crotch though which is perfect for my chunky thighs girl.  My favorite prefolds are GMD and I also have GMD's medium flats which are the bulk of what I use during the day when we are at home.

I'd get a feel for your kiddo's body type and then ask around for recommendations from people with a child similar to yours in shape/size and try out a few things.  Since you already have a stash of diapers on had to use, you can buy just a few things to try out before you commit to a full stash's worth.  you can buy used at least for the preliminary testing, and will probably be able to resell something if you really don't like it after a few uses.  granted, you probably won't get your full money's worth back but losing a few dollars on one diaper is better than committing to something in full that you end up hating!