Confused about cloth diapering options « Back to Group Discussions

[bostonmummy]

Hi all,

My husband and I stopped by a place called the Diaper Lab in Boston yesterday to start getting an overview on cloth diapering. I think I'm pretty clear that I'll just do flat folds rather than the fancier all-in-ones, but I realized after I left that the woman who was showing me everything only told me about the PUL covers and didn't show me any of the wool options. I find it so overwhelming to try to figure out what would be best to have on hand when the baby is born. Do any of you have any favorite wool covers that you use? It just seems to make more sense to use natural fibers all around, but there are a multitude of options that make it confusing to choose. Any advice?

Thanks!

[pregnova]

Hmm, I've never had the opportunity to try any name brand wool covers, so I'd be interested in others responses as well.

 We loved Thirsties diaper covers last go...they were the only ones that never ever leaked on us...but they are made from PUL. I did felt a few wool sweaters last time and sew them up into longies...the same with fleece, and they worked great, but I always seemed to prefer the Thirsties covers. 

This go around, I've knit up three wool covers from a pattern I got from a local yarn store, and I'm planning on knitting a pair or two of longies. If the mood strikes, I might go thrifting for some more sweaters as well. It's just so much cheaper (and surprisingly easy) than buying what is essentially the same thing!

[UnderTheOldOakTree]

We used Bum Genius with ds.  It did not even occur to me at that point that wool was an option.  Also, I did not realize I needed to have something else for the newborn period.  We ended up using disposables for a couple weeks.  This time around I've ordered prefolds and few thirsties covers and I've knit some longies and I'm hoping to make a few wool wraps and shorties as well for the newborn period.  This will be our first experience with wool soakers though.  I'm excited about it and I'm hoping to get either some more prefolds or fitteds and make more wool covers as this baby gets older.  I love all things wool and I can't imagine I won't really love using wool diaper covers.

[Diyan]

I've never had the courage to try wool covers, since my PUL covers work well and wool is so expensive, but I wanted to mention that you might get better responses in the diapering forum than here in the Oct 2012 group :)

[bostonmummy]

Thanks, Diyan. I did post over there. Just one response so far over there, so we'll see if I get anymore suggestions . . .

[Angelorum]

I knit my own tiny wool covers last time.  In the end, I preferred PUL covers for the first couple of months, because washing poop off my wool all the time was stressing me out.  I didn't have enough covers, and waiting until they were dry after washing took too long.  I liked the wool a lot better when ds was older, and usually only pooping once a day, and we figured out how to get that one on the potty most of the time.  I also loved wool over PUL for night time.  And wool longies were awesome for over his training pants when we potty trained.  This time I'm just going to make sure I have plenty of little PUL covers, and I'm knitting some wool rompers to wear as clothing.  They will keep the little one nice and toasty, and help with little leaks. 

[bostonmummy]

Angelorum - this is really helpful. Thanks so much for the tips! I feel like I'm getting a better sense of how I might do this. It's still kind of mysterious . . . I guess it will be until the baby is here and I can actually try everything out. Exciting!

[dogretro]

Wool covers are absolutely wonderful if you use a fitted diaper under them, especially for babies who are not yet eating solids. I have already bought several pairs of nb/small longies (used from Diaper Swappers) and am going to also knit at least one pair. I need more tiny fitteds, I'll see what I can scavenge/borrow when the time comes. I plan to mostly dress this baby in: a tank-style undershirt, long-sleeved white shirt, and a pair of longies. That will be the bulk of the wardrobe for a while, I hope, since it will likely be chilly. I plan on sewing some easy cotton baby pants, too, since we have a good nb PUL stash.

As for brands, I really like Kissa Wool-lovers soakers (my 2-yr-old wears one) and Aristocrats soakers. They are the same design but Kissa is slightly trimmer.

[Vegan Princess]

I never tried wool last time. We used prefolds and thirsties covers during the newborn stage. I really hate prefolds though and we switched to AIOs when she was 3 months old and we moved to a place with our own washer (we used diaper service when she was NB). 

This time around, I'm going to use half AIOs and half fitteds - maybe a few prefolds if everything else is in the wash. I still have my thirsties covers and will use them with prefolds. But I'm hoping to do wool with the fitteds. I hate putting on a separate cover - just an extra step I'd prefer to skip. I got a cute little girlie soaker for free with some dipes I bought off diaperswappers. I'm hoping to get some friends/relatives to make me a few pairs of shorties and longies. 

But like one of the previous posters said - I've def heard wool is better with fitteds for newborns bc of the poop leaking out of prefolds. Every time DD pooped in prefolds, it got all over the cover. The thirsties covers never leaked poo. But I would hate to have to wash a wool cover for every time a newborn pooped! 

Cindy

[Angelorum]

Yes, I agree about the fitteds.  I didn't mention it in my last post, but we were using prefolds, hence the poop problems. 

[onyxravnos]

I've used wool and I LOVE bummi covers. my last boy was a heavy weter so I stuck mostly to the bummis but my first worked fine with full. :) in the summer I like wool as my babies tend to be mostly naked anyway 

[pregnova]

really interesting info because we'll be using prefolds unless I come across a stash of fitteds for the newborn/early babe stage. Good to know about the poop leakage and wool! 

[Angelorum]

I didn't usually have a problem with poop leaking out of the covers, just definitely out of the prefold to the inside of the cover!

[gozal]

I had the same impulse with #1, why use plastic at all if you're bothering to do cloth? Ultimately, though, I went with fitteds and PUL covers, because I simply could not afford enough wool covers. I do knit, but in my cultural background, we don't prepare for the baby until the baby is born healthy. And I was not about to try to knit covers after giving birth, and then figure out how to lanolize them. To be honest, I had trouble enough finding the right covers for my fitteds. Most didn't cover the fitteds I had and they would leak, only because of poor fit. I also had PUL covers with linings, which basically need to be washed after each use (at least to my nose). I am a lot more confident about using fitteds/covers this time, having gotten good advice on covers for my fitteds over on the CD forum. However, as a first-timer I quickly came to the conclusion that if I was going to CD, I would need pockets or AIOs. I bought a very small stash of OS, that kind that grow with the baby (could not afford more than that), washed frequently, and wore those out! So that was my experience.