New to cloth diapering, some questions...

[Pogo0685]

My second baby is due in January, and I really want to cloth diaper this baby. I tried with my first but due to a lot of factors it did not work out. I estimate we spent close to $3,000 on disposable diapers with the first and I just do not want to do it again. I have lots of questions.

1. would it be better to get all in ones? or should I start with something like the bumGenius Econobum kit? I was thinking the kit would be better, but as my husband has only ever used the disposables, i was thinking that the AIO's would be the best option. I am looking at the one size fits all ones.

2. has anyone here successfully made their own AIO's? Joann's had the babyville (I think that's what its called) pattern book, I am good at sewing and as long as I have a good pattern I think I would be able to make my own diapers, or is there a better pattern on the Internet, even if I have to buy it that's fine. I tried last time to use some free patterns and they failed, none of the diapers really fit well, and the covers I made did not fit at all. It was very disappointing.

3. has anyone ever bought diapers from e-bay from the Chinese sellers? they have some really cute ones and are really cheap but I don't know if I trust them. 

4. does anyone on here haul their own water? this was one of the biggest challenges last time other than nothing fitting the baby right was we haul our own water and because of this we do our very best to restrict water usage. Our last washer used almost 75 gallons of water per load, now we have a HE machine but I am reading where people say this isn't the best either because there is not enough water in them to get diapers clean sometimes.

Lastly I need to do this as cheap as possible, I plan to need about 30 diapers total (from what I have read online) and I get lots of coupons in the mail from Joann's for 40-50 percent off, plus we have a hobby lobby i get coupons for, and there are lots of very affordable wahm supply stores online. I am just looking for a direction to go in, because I do not want to fail this time!

Thanks for any and all replies!

[skycheattraffic]

My recommendation is to start slow and get a variety of diapers. You may find that you love one and hate another, so it's best not to have too many of one kind until you see what you like.

Flats with PUL covers are easy and cheap since you can always use easy folds though they may not be the best for runny newborn poop. Prefolds are another fairly simple option but it wasn't for me. I prefer my flats for their versatility since I can always use more than one at a time. Flats also dry in no time on a line if that is an important consideration.

I have some fitteds and love them!! I have mother ease and bumboo fitteds and they are easy and work well. I use wool covers which you can sew from old sweaters or knit/crochet. I do go to the PUL if I run out of wool.

I have pockets not AIOs and use them when out or if DH or grandma are changing DD. They are good but more expensive and take longer to dry. I would say get a couple or a few pocket or AIO for the convenience but since you will probably do most diaper changes, I think you can get away with 6 to ten easy diapers and do something more economical for the others. Depending on the size of your newborn, it may be a few weeks before baby fits into the one size dipes. Also, you may be surprised how quickly DH adapts to flats or prefolds :-)

My pockets are glowbugs. They are Chinese made but I find them good quality. I have a bum genius pocket and don't see much of a difference. They sell in packages of 6 or 12 and the prints are amazing. They also have a special print for sale individually if you want to try one before getting a bunch. I had one faulty diaper and it was replaced in a few days with great customer support.

I hope that helps, I need to go to bed so my post may be a little all over the place :-)

[Pogo0685]

Thank you so much for your reply, after reading it I realized what I am looking at are not AIO's but are pocket diapers. I think I will just start with some prefolds at the beginning because I also do not know if its a boy or a girl so I want some covers that are cute and gender appropriate so I will just get a started with a that and then once baby is here I will get some pockets and possibly the next size in prefolds depending how much I like them with some cute covers. Thank you again for your help!

[Monkey pants]

I would say get a few different kinds. I loved flats when baby was small. Ou can do the jelly roll to keep in explosive poo. Flats are great. Kissaluv size o when baby was NB with thirsies covers. Now I have sized fuzzibuns that I received as gifts and bought at diaper swap. I also have grovia AIO and bum genius elementals. Simplex AIO are cool too. I love having an assortment for different times. Snaps are better for me because my 16 mo will remove Velcro diapers. Night time is mother ease one size with boosters and wool overs. Variety is the way to go! If like to sew there are great resources online. I also heard Joann's does not carry good PUL. Dharma trading sells hemp and bamboo fabric. Good luck!!! Oh FYI natural fibers are easier to wash. Microfiber gets smelly and is a total pain after a bit.

[iowaorganic]

I made my DS3 a dozen pockets from Babyville PUL and they are great!  I tend to always err on the side of too much than too little though.  I really like the Diaperkit.com pattern- it fits my babies really really well.  For the pockets I used PUL lined with flannel on the outer and Minkee/ Velour/or Flannel lined with flannel for the inside.  Then I stuff with an infant pre fold.  They are great.  I did some with the cute FOE (which is really simple, easy, and quick) and some with internal elastic.  I made them all with Babyville velcro- which worked well for a couple of months and then fell apart so I replaced the velcro with babyville snaps and am loving that combination.  

Generally though- with the exception of the above mentioned pockets- I use just regular fitted diapers- again the same pattern just made from flannel or jersey.  I cover with Wool primarily or if we are home we don't usually use a cover.  This pattern is not a one size pattern- but can be made very cheaply out of flannel or jersey sheets.  I made 48 size 1 diapers and about the only thing I bought was snaps, elastic, and 12 yards of cute flannel for the outsides- the rest was recycled sheets....  

[Pogo0685]

Thank you for the help, a few more things to think about. I used flannel sheets to make the diapers I tried the first time. I honestly kinda just feel like my sewing is not good enough and that's why they didn't work. I would HATE to make another 50 or so diapers to fail at this again. But I think i might have failed more because of my covers more than the diaper part. I want to CD this baby so bad, but DH will be so mad if I do all this work for nothing, he thinks I already have to much on my plate, but I also don't want to spend $100 of dollars buying diapers, or worse yet $1,000's for disposables. I have really got to figure this out. My midwife recommends using disposables for the first 3 days to a week, just to get in the swing of things and  recover and then switch to cloth if that's what I want to do. I know I want to use natural fibers, but I have no clue what a wool cover is or how to care for it, or much of anything to do with wool. I do want to use pul as a cover though, but I would be open to using wool also if I could find out how to care for them and such. Is wool itchy though? I always think itchy when I think wool for some reason.

[Mama2mc]

I don't love flannel, it didn't work too well for us, we had several leaks, but was fine for cloth wipes. How about cotton/bamboo terry? I've made some diapers using rita's rump pattern (free), and they fit my LO fine (and my sewings skills aren't that good).

If you're interested in pockets, how about kawaii diapers? Those are the ones we have experience with, and we love them. They're affordable too, and you can choose a package deal like these http://www.theluvyourbaby.com/categories/Weekly-Special/ to get a better price. Other options for buying diapers are waiting for sales, buying seconds or gently used, co-ops... I waited till black friday to get most of my stash, hehe. A really cheap option is doing just prefolds/flats and PUL/TPU covers, Imagine from Nicki's has very good prices and quality for those items http://www.nickisdiapers.com/imagine.html

On the washer issues, we don't haul our own water, but we do have very hard water and need to use calgon with each cycle. We have a HE washer too; for all the prefolds, flats and inserts I use a sanitary cycle. For the pockets/shells, covers, anything that has PUL/TPU, I rinse them by hand (I don't like running several wash cycles) and then put them in the washer and run a regular cycle with warm water. I'm not sure why your diapers didn't work, but choosing the detergent that works for you is also important, you want the diapers to be clean, but no buildup/repelling, causing them to leak. We use Planet, but it doesn't work for everyone, others have great luck with Tide, or even homemade recipes...

About wool, we use it mostly for bedtime, over cotton fitteds with a bamboo insert. It's not scratchy, and it just gets softer with each use. Here's a link on how to care for wool http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/lanolize.htm While I really like wool, it's not as cheap, and my LOs are always getting into everything, so I'd feel better if my kids were playing in mud with a PUL diaper on, rather than a wool one .

[skycheattraffic]

I love wool, although I was skeptical at first. I bought a wahm soaker made from old sweaters and it works amazingly well. The mother ease fitted is soaked through and the wool has a tiny damp spot on the inside: bone dry on the outside. I actually found a super easy pattern online for crocheting a soaker and even made one myself! I'm not very crafty so it came out lopsided but it works well enough around the house. The only problem is that I have a super heavy wetter with a very athletic bladder (it sounds like she's power washing the inside of the potty whenever we make a catch lol). My homemade one can leak a bit when she pees so forcefully and quickly so I'm adding an extra crochet pad between the legs to give it a little more oomph. The one I got on etsy is bulletproof. I use it for naps and will start using it at night once I run out of the few overnight sposies I have left.
I haven't gotten poop on them yet and they still smell nice so I haven't washed them yet but care is pretty simple: air dry between uses. Hand wash as needed (often not for weeks) with wool wash and lanolize if they stop working. Lanolizing is super simple too btw, basically a soaking. Dry flat.
If you knit/crochet or sew, you could try to make one to see if you like it. I can't say enough good about wool :-) It's soft, cute, and lets baby's skin breathe. I love my pockets but her skin looks and feels healthier after wearing a fitted with wool.

[iowaorganic]

Well I would say if the flannel isn't working you aren't using enough of it.  I use 4 layers for the body of the diaper and 4 layers for a quick dry soaker pad that then gets doubled.  So there are 12 layers of flannel in my diapers over the entire front to back zone.  Years ago I used the RRP pattern and used their recommendations for how many fabric layers to use and they were horrible.  The pattern probably isn't too bad- but They definitely need more layers.  If I use jersey I used 5 layers in the body and 4-5 layers in the soaker- so they end up being 13-15 layers thick.  If you attach the soaker pad in the back they actually dry pretty fast- about as long as it takes to dry a pre fold.  The other thing that could be holding you back is washing.  I have extremely hard water- so I actually use the same amount of detergent as my regular laundry.  I only use Melaleuca and I use the he detergent, the brightener, and a cap of solumel in my power wash cycle.  Since I have done this I have had the best results in years....  Which is something for having 6.5 years of cloth generally with 2 in diapers at the same time :)