BumGenius fans...

[tiqa]

I just placed an order for 24 one-size-fits-all Bun Genius snap diapers.  I think they're the 4.0 variety.  I have two older kids who are now out of diapers, but we did BG with them for a while when they were about a year and two years old.  (They're 10 months apart and both were in diapers at once.)  I remember having some issues with BG's before, but they were mostly my fault.  I was trying to be too frugal and washed with cold water, not enough detergent, etc.  They were pretty good but keeping up with two kids was too much at the time (and I don't think I had enough diapers anyway back then.)  Soooo anyway I'm starting our newest cloth diaper journey with a little bit of baggage about them already, but I figure it will be the most economical option.

I probably will use disposables for the first few weeks... I tend to make small babies who are normally in Preemie size diapers at first, so def. not even 7 lbs.  I figure once meconium wears off and he/she picks up a bit of weight we can go to the BG's.

My question is... for real... how can I make my experience better this time?  Do I *need* a wet bag etc?  Special detergent?  Sprayer?  I'd rather not do the "save a penny, lose a dime" or whatever the saying is, this time around.

Tell me it'll be OK... and 24 is enough, right?  Oh, I bought 12 extra newborn inserts as well (although apparently these are no longer the stuffing kind of BG that I was used to before... they're all in one piece I guess.  But I think you can still put the extra pad in there for overnight etc even without stuffing.   (???)

[IdentityCrisisMama]

No, you don't need a wet bag and 24 is plenty! I'd skip the sprayer - you don't need it until your feeding solids anyway. Sorry, I'm not familiar with the 4.0s, I guess. Mine are all pockets. Good luck this time around! 

[thefreckledmama]

24 is great. That's what I'm getting, although I haven't decided between 4.0s or Freetimes. I did all different brands and types with my older two that I used cloth on. This is going to be baby #5, so I just want simple and easy.

I know some will disagree, but I believe hot water is a must-at least for the wash cycle. Rarely does a wash routine need an abundance of detergent, and if you don't have hard water, less is usually more.

If you're going to be running around a lot, I would get a wet bag. It's not super expensive, and they're great to have. I never had a sprayer, a few times I kinda wished I did, but I always got by. I have heard there's issues with the sprayers getting water all over, so that's also something to think about.

What detergent to use is always a topic of wide opinion. I used to have very hard well water and the only thing that worked was Tide free. Usually a basic detergent with no softeners or fragrances is recommended, but my friend uses a "regular" commercial detergent with great success. The biggest key with detergent regardless of brand is don't use more than you need, and rinse thoroughly. This might take a little trial and error, but once you get it down, it's easy.

[alaskanmomma]

I don't know much about BG's, we have 2, but aren't my favorites or go-to diapers...BUT, yes, you need special detergent, I GUESS you could pull off using your regular detergent if you rinsed, rinsed, rinsed, rinsed(rinsed, rinsed, rinsed....) the diapers every wash, but I think it would just be easier and cheaper to invest in a diaper friendly detergent. I've heard even Tide works wonders on diapers, so you don't need to necessarily go the $15 bag of Rockin Green or Charlie's, ya know? 

In 4 years, I've never used a diaper sprayer or dunked my diapers off in the toilet. Breastmilk poo is water soluble and completely comes out in the wash, when the kiddos started eating solids I'd just take toilet paper and clump off or shake off poop. Whatever didn't easily come off doing that I'd just throw in the diaper pail and I never had an issue with it not washing off in the washer :). I'd probably invest in a pail liner/hanging wet bag that can hold a good amount of diapers and a small wet bag for trips out(though I know some people just use Ziplocks or grocery bags). 

My typical wash routine is cold rinse, hot wash with detergent, warm rinse, cold rinse... I've not seen an increase in our bills doing this. Sometimes I do extra hot washes just to make sure everything is getting rinsed out, I do this about 2x a month.

[lovemylab]

We have three dozen diapers also the 4.0. We never used the sprayer. I did get a larger wet bag to put in the diaper pail. We got it from amazon.com for $14. But we don't soak them. We do use hot water with the bg soap and each wash we use a bit of bleach. Other wise we noticed we had to strip them very often.