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[poppylove]

hi everyone,

switching to cloth over here. I needed to give myself a few weeks (which turned into 2 months) of adjustment before the laundry fiasco.

so what are you using? what are you liking? what's easiest for you? I just want simple, and not a whole bunch of clutter.

[Sol_y_Paz]

I also am easing into it...turned into months  Still haven't started but will soon. Mostly not looing forward to so much more laundry.  Also I am sad most clothes don't fit over the cloth - BM stash. 

[sallyrae17]

I'm using prefolds with snappis and a cover. I used them with my first and still love them with my second! I have 24 infant sized prefolds that we're using at the moment and about 8 or 9 covers (mostly bummis).

[Tizzy]

sally - I've loved my prefolds and Bummis covers too! :)

For some reason I ended up buying a stash of Alva diapers and I've just ordered some more.  Love love LOVE! They are super easy to wash and dry, they have really cute prints, they are INEXPENSIVE to buy in the first place, very adjustable up to 35lbs, not bulky at all yadda yadda yadda.

I have no time or desire to stuff them so I just lay the liner part inside the cover, for long naps and bedtime I'll double up by folding an infant prefold in three for a 2nd liner. I have a front load washer now and I add in extra water to my diaper load through the soap dispenser to avoid the stinkies which is a common problem with front loads.

I do a diaper load every 3 days, that includes a few diapers from the 2yr old who isn't dry overnight yet.  I don't rinse or soak or anything, I've always just tossed them into a large diaper pail (now with a PUL liner) and dump it all in the wash.

My first lot of Alva diapers averaged....oh now I'm trying to remember...$6/each including shipping and duty and they arrived in 10 business days.

The ones I'm ordering now are through a co-op so they are $4/each.

[justchanti]

We've been doing diaper service prefolds with snappies and thirsties covers.  We get 60 diapers a weeks.  They are picked up every Monday and Thursday.  This has been a life saver these first few months especially since we don't have a washer and dryer in our own unit.  For night we use diapers from our own stash and have been loving bumgenius elementals as they keep our baby leak free for the night (usually 10-12 hours).   The only complaint with these is that they take FOREVER to dry, but their worth it.  We use one or two a night (we have 12 total)  and wash them once a week (we rinse them out every morning with a diaper sprayer so they don't smell too bad.  We also have 18 flip diapers (organic cotton inserts... we don't use synthetics)  with 6 covers.  We've used these a couple times and find they work really well too.  So far we've loved using cloth!

Edited by justchanti - 10/24/12 at 2:48pm

[LilyTiger]

We've been cloth diapering since 2 weeks with Piper.  I do mostly prefolds with snappis and a cover.  It's simple, easy to wash, quick to dry and easy on baby's butt.  My husband prefers the pocket diapers (similar to Alva's that Tizzy mentioned), so we have 6 of those I got from zulily or something similar.  I like them, but microfiber inserts stink like mo-fos, so I have to do a hot water strip A LOT.  It's super annoying.  But generally I've been really surprised with how little time the laundry takes (with prefolds especially you just lay them on top of each other when they come out and shove them into a drawer... no stuffing or folding or anything).  It's probably added 30 minutes every other day to my laundry total and I usually hate doing laundry. 

For nighttime we do a pocket with a wool Disana cover over it that keeps the bed leak free.  It's a great system.  We almost never have leaks or blowouts in general, so I'm pretty happy with the system overall.  It took me a while to get over my fear, to be honest...  We used disposables at night for about a week or two because I was really freaked out about leaks.  But once you just jump in, everything is really easy. 

For those on Facebook, a friend of mine started a cloth diapering FB page that's great for questions and answers.  A few people from our DDC have already joined, so there are familiar faces.  Feel free to join!  https://www.facebook.com/groups/353822974654830/

[pennywhistle]

We use a service (we don't have a washer & dryer in our apartment, so washing the diapers ourselves just wasn't an option), which provides prefolds.  We use snappies & Flip covers.  It's okay, but I definitely prefer the ease of disposable.  Also, cloth diapers are so much bulkier, and stay wet on the baby's skin.  But then I think about landfills and blah blah blah guilt myself back into using the cloth

[CCoello]

We have osocozy prefolds and thirsties covers. He's been in them since the diapers we brought home from the hospital ran out :)

We have never had poop escape the cover, but we have had urine leaks - though those were mostly due to user error (prefold sticking out, a little penis pointed straight up and basically shooting pee out of the diaper). At 12lbs, they fit him differently than when he was 8lbs, though he hasn't grown out of them quite yet. However, I'm thinking of switching to AIO or pockets when he does. The change frequency should go down in month or two, right??? We have had a couple of snappis snap (now I know why they come in 3-packs), and we have switched him to sposies a couple of times to clear up a rash that required an ointment (we lined his diapers with a cut-up tshirt the first time, that we washed separately, but that was too big of a PITA to do while we living in a hotel). I have wondered if the cloth diapers do CAUSE the rash... we use only charlie's soap on the diapers... I don't really know. We also use vinegar on the diapers occasionally (separating out the PUL, of course).

Anyway, good luck! Penny, I feel guilty every time I throw a disposable away too :)

[monkeyscience]

We also use Osocozy prefolds and Thirsties covers. We have Snappis, but I never use them. The cover holds the diaper in place just fine. We've been in cloth since about the end of week one or maybe two? We have switched back and forth between cloth and disposables a lot in that time, though, due to traveling. I have had a pee leak once, MAYBE twice with cloth. With the disposables, especially as a newborn? ALL.THE.FREAKING.TIME. Poo also seems to escape is CD covers less often than a disposable, too. Unfortunately, poo pretty much ALWAYS escapes the prefold and gets on the fabric at the leg gussets of the cover. So we end up going back in to sposies every few days when we run out of covers. (We only have 4.)

I still would really like to do EC, but I'm still feeling scared to try, for some reason.

[CCoello]

Hmmm. I think I might buy a 20-pack of Alvas off ebay when he outgrows the prefolds/covers we have.

[Veritas Vitae]

Originally Posted by pennywhistle 

We use a service (we don't have a washer & dryer in our apartment, so washing the diapers ourselves just wasn't an option), which provides prefolds.  We use snappies & Flip covers.  It's okay, but I definitely prefer the ease of disposable.  Also, cloth diapers are so much bulkier, and stay wet on the baby's skin.  But then I think about landfills and blah blah blah guilt myself back into using the cloth

We're using Osocozy flats and Thirsties covers, with disposables at night, and when we go to the gym, since Q goes to childwatch. I prefer the ease of disposables too, and how trim they are compared to the cloth (and flats and covers are one of the trimmest options), especially now that it is cooler and I've got Q in pants.  When it is warmer, I LOVE the cloth, so cute and the trimness doesn't really matter.  I also guilt myself into using the cloth.

We haven't had problems with stink, the flats wash and dry soooo easily.  We do a prewash on cold, a wash on hot, and two rinses, all in our HE frontloader on the extra water setting.

[monkeyscience]

Well, crap. I just looked up the size range for my Osocozy prefolds, since they've seemed like they're getting a tiny bit small... 7-15 lbs. Baby Bird was 13.5 lbs a week and a half ago. So it's not my imagination that they're getting smaller. I can't afford/don't want to buy a whole new round of prefolds so soon! I definitely thought I'd get more than 2 or 3 months' use out of them. I REALLY just need to get brave and start trying EC. Especially because he seems to have started fussing if he is wet. Why must my baby be so monstrously huge?!? Anyway, I guess I wouldn't buy as many prefolds the next size up - I have 3 dozen infant prefolds, and I've only ever used them all up before washing once. I run out of clean covers way before that!

[LilyTiger]

monkey, some of the moms I've talked to say they just do newborn and premium size prefolds -- they skip the infant size altogether.  We have newborn and premium and even when she was a newbie we could fold down the top of the premiums and use them in a pinch.  So you might want to just invest in those.  We're getting to the point where newborn size prefolds fit her perfectly without any folding, so we probably have another month or maybe even two or three with these fitting.  She's a little less than 12 lbs now.

[rebecca10]

Pennywhistle-- as a compromise, you could look into using compostable diapers and a composting service like EarthBaby, which we are lucky to have in the Bay Area. Diapers that are actually composted may not be quite as good as cloth for the environment, but they are certainly a lot better than throwing plastic into landfill. While I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit on this thread that we don't use cloth, we've been super happy with the compostable diapers and EarthBaby.

We haven't started ECing with this little one, but did a low key version with my older daughter starting at 12 weeks and it was amazing. So worth it. Looking forward to starting with the baby soon.

[pennywhistle]

Rebecca, you are a life-saver!  My husband has a horrible time with cloth diapers and pretty much refuses to use them.  Since he'll be in charge full-time of child care when I go back to work in 3 weeks, this is PERFECT.

[rebecca10]

Originally Posted by pennywhistle 

Rebecca, you are a life-saver!  My husband has a horrible time with cloth diapers and pretty much refuses to use them.  Since he'll be in charge full-time of child care when I go back to work in 3 weeks, this is PERFECT.

Oh, I'm so glad it's helpful. My husband is the same way. In fact he flat out vetoed cloth. So it's been particularly nice to have an alternative.

[CCoello]

Okay, so I wanted to update with the results of an experiment I just performed:

I ordered an Alva diaper to test it out ($5! that's it!). It is much larger than my fuzzibunz one size elite, but it has more snaps, so you can make it small (not that any of us have teeny newborns anymore). The inside feels cheaper and thinner, but the outside PUL feels about the same as the fuzzibunz. The biggest difference is the insert. The FB insert is smaller, but made of "nicer" material. The FB also comes with 2 inserts, while the Alva only comes with one (larger) insert.

I decided to test their absorbency, so I came up with the following experiment: I submerged each diaper in water (no squeezing, just gentle submersion) for 60 seconds. Then I let it drip dry for 60 seconds. I then measured the water it held (by seeing how much water was left in the bowl).

Surprisingly, the Alva insert way outperformed, holding just over a cup of water, while the FB insert only held 2/3 cup! Now I feel more confident about ordering a larger stash - maybe 20 Alva - for when Armie grows out of the prefolds we are using now. I guess we can continue to use the prefolds as extra inserts for overnight. BTW the prefolds hold about 1 1/3 cups - and he can fill them to overflowing in about 6 hours.

When he does start sleeping through the night, will he pee less? Do I have a "heavy wetter" on my hands?

[LilyTiger]

We just switched over to all pockets (Kawaiis) from prefolds and I'm a little sad.  I liked prefolds.  They felt sort of traditional.  And they just seemed easier for some reason.  Oh well.  I like my Kawaiis a lot so far and got them for something like $7 a diaper, so it was a great deal.

I'm not sure about the heavy wetting thing.  Some days Piper is almost dry when she wakes up and other days she's soaked.  I can't figure out what the variable is.  But we put a Disana wool cover over the pockets at night, so if there is any leakage the bed stays dry.  It works well.

[eh bien]

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Edited by eh bien - 12/4/12 at 1:43pm

[monkeyscience]

Still haven't gotten to EC yet. LO is growing out of his infant-size prefolds. And he totally soaks them at night. The last several nights, I've had to change his onesie after both his first AND second wakings. I can understand (though am still totally annoyed) the first one - he sleeps 6-8 hours. But he'll sleep 3 hours or less the second time around and still soak through diaper and cover. I have mostly liked my Thirsties covers, but the inner gasket elastic isn't holding up nearly as well as I would like. We can't really afford anything besides prefolds, though, so I think that's what we'll stick with. I did get one used fitted (a Kissaluv) on DiaperSwappers just to try it out. I like it all right, but it is BIG - hard to squash it into his diaper cover. And he's soaked that just as thoroughly as his prefolds. And they are way, way too expensive for us to afford a whole set of them.