March 2023 Moms
miss_lynn9
member
Product Spotlight: Diapering
miss_lynn9
member
Each week we'll spotlight a new category of product. Feel free to comment on threads like these throughout your time at the board, not just when they're in their week in the spotlight, if you discover something new OR are new to the board. This week it's.... Diapering!!
FTMs are encouraged to ask questions & STM/+s encouraged to share their knowledge based on experience. You can use any or all the prompts relevant to you below to share info in an easy-to-read format. Pictures/screen grabs, if put in spoilers, are welcome!
FTMs
FTMs
- Do you want to use Disposable, Cloth, or a combination?
- Any brands your looking at?
- What are your goals? I.E save money, go green/reduce toxins, ect.
- Any other questions for STM+
STM+
- Did you use disposable, cloth, or a combination?
- What brand/s do you like?
- pros and cons
- Any diapering accessories you recommend?
- Tips for night sleep
- Tips for preventing and dealing with diaper rash.
- Any other tips you can give FTM.
- Questions about other diapers you're looking at, or struggles your having/had.
Next Week: Cribs, Travel Cribs, bassinets, sleeping surfaces
- Any brands your looking at?
- What are your goals? I.E save money, go green/reduce toxins, ect.
- Any other questions for STM+
STM+
- Did you use disposable, cloth, or a combination?
- What brand/s do you like?
- pros and cons
- Any diapering accessories you recommend?
- Tips for night sleep
- Tips for preventing and dealing with diaper rash.
- Any other tips you can give FTM.
- Questions about other diapers you're looking at, or struggles your having/had.
Next Week: Cribs, Travel Cribs, bassinets, sleeping surfaces
Re: Product Spotlight: Diapering
- Did you use disposable, cloth, or a combination?
- I used a combination of cloth and disposable for the first 8ish months, then switched to disposable because
of leaks.
- What brand/s do you like?
- Disposable I use Racal and Friends
- Cloth I bought some KaWaii baby and my friend gave me a bunch of other ones but I don't remember the brand.
- pros and cons
- I LOVE the Rascal and Friends disposable diapers. I've never had an issue with bad leaking or blowouts. I've had some come poop out the side like around the legs, but barely any. I've never had a leak with pee. They are so absorbent it's amazing. I went on a vacation and bought diapers when I got there so I didn't have to bring them on the plane. I bought pampers and 1. they smell SOOO BAD. It didn't say anything about them being scented on the package. D2 got diaper rash from them, which was also never an issue with R&F. She also leaked that night. I had to double up for sleep. R&F are a little bulkier but it's 100% worth it. They aren't scented, or bleached and are non-toxic which was huge for me.
- I struggled with the cloth diapers leaking.
- Tips for preventing and dealing with diaper rash.
- The R&F diapers helped a lot. Ensuring your not leaving soiled diapers on too long. A good diaper cream.
- I also use cloth wipes in combination with the disposable. I make a solution of water and witch hazel for the
cloth ones which helps with the smell. and keeping away diaper rash. I used the disposable to clean up poop,
then go in with the cloth solution after. If she only pees, then I'll use cloth, not disposable.
- Questions about other diapers you're looking at, or struggles your having/had.
- If anyone was using cloth diapers I'd love to know your tips on dealing with leaks.
With my older boys I used Huggies at first then switched to Luvs. Only time we really had leakage issues was when it was time to size up. My last few babies I have used Amazon's brand MamaBear and really loved them.
None of my kids have any skin sensitivities so we usually just use store brand wipes.
My only real tip for any first timers is do not try to stock up on diapers and wipes ahead of time. Buy a small pack of newborn and a small pack of 1's and then just buy gift cards for the amount you would use towards diapers. You never know which brands will work for your baby, if they will have a reaction or not, or how fast they will grow! Its also a huge waste of space to store so many diapers and wipes and pain to return them.
Also for boy moms don't get sucked into those peepee teepee things. Such a waste. Use a wipe at first if need be, but really just having everything ready ahead of time and changing them super fast is sufficient.
, 💙💙💙💙💙💙
What brand/s do you like?
Pampers swaddlers wound up working for all right up through potty training! Hoping old faithful works for us again.
Pros and Cons
Pro: Convenient. Anyone who cared for her knew how to use a disposable diaper. Plus just being able to toss in the diaper pail, or trash can if out and about. Con: Environmental guilt. Aside from that, none.
Any diapering accessories you recommend?
Tips for night sleep
As she grew, we tended to size up at nighttime vs having nighttime diapers. We usually had one pack of next-size-up waiting, so that helped a ton.
Tips for preventing and dealing with diaper rash.
Dont let them chill in soiled diapers longer than necessary. Especially as a newborn, god I think we changed them damn near hourly. Aquaphor was the thing that did the trick for us. And Dr. Bordeaux’s butt paste. Don’t bother with those weird applicators.
Any other tips you can give FTM.
Always pack a back up outfit or two for baby. They will absolutely blow out on the day you don’t have one. We also kept a go-bag in each car with wipes, diaper, poop bags, and spare clothes (among other items) in the event we forgot to restock the diaper bag. Just having back up with us when we were out of the house was nice assurance.
- Did you use disposable, cloth, or a combination?
Disposable! I thought about cloth but know I hate laundry and the amount of water used for washing them would likely have a similar environmental impact as disposable diapers
- What brand/s do you like?
Ended up with Huggies and luvs. Pampers turned DS bright red wherever they touched. The honest company and other free samples I got always felt wet on the outside to me. I preferred Huggies but you can't beat the price of luvs.
- pros and cons
Pros: can get them almost anywhere.
Cons: cost
- Any diapering accessories you recommend?
Honestly I loved the butt spatula @heytallmama 🤣🤣 kept my hands from getting ointment all over them! I also loved this changing pad cover from target (I think it's cloud island brand) that's wipable in the middle so you can wipe off any poop without having to immediately launder it.
- Tips for night sleep
I used sposie pads to boost once he was old enough to not need changed all night long (aka when he stopped pooping all night and only peed) until he grew into overnight diapers. We went with Huggies again (if it ain't broke, don't fix it I suppose)
- Tips for preventing and dealing with diaper rash.
Change often. I love pinxav diaper cream
- Any other tips you can give FTM.
Don't get married to a specific brand of diaper until you figure out what actually works
- Questions about other diapers you're looking at, or struggles your having/had.
NA
July 4th
- What brand/s do you like? For cloth - We used Mama Koala and Wegreeco off Amazon - I know some people have issues with brands off Amazon but they were cost effective and I wanted pocket diapers. For disposables - We've liked Honest, Hello Bello and Dyper. I figured if I wasn't buying as many disposables I could spend a little more on the ones I felt better about.
- pros and cons: I loved cloth. I didn't have a hard time making it work (disclaimer: I'm also a SAHM, not sure if I would have kept up with it had I been working at the time). It was only a couple extra steps and extra loads of laundry. I found a couple groups on FB that are really helpful that I am willing to share if anyone feels like going the cloth route (or trying again). One pro (for me) of cloth is that I had NO blowouts in cloth, only in disposables.
No real cons to me about either. They both worked for what we needed.
- Any diapering accessories you recommend? None that aren't listed above. Maybe a caddy to carry around all the diapering stuff you need so its in one place. We also used Aquaphor and Bordeauxs Butt Paste for our creams.
- Tips for night sleep: We never clothed for sleep. I just didn't want to try and figure out a good night setup.
- Tips for preventing and dealing with diaper rash: Luckily - DS was not very prone to diaper rash.
- Any other tips you can give FTM. I'd be happy to answer any questions anyone has about cloth diapering. I'm excited to get back to it when #2 gets here.
- Questions about other diapers you're looking at, or struggles your having/had. None
- What brand/s do you like?
I use pampers swaddlers (active swaddlers now that my son is a toddler not potty trained yet). I wanted to like Huggies but they just didn’t fit my son right and they leaked out constantly. we also use pampers overnights for bedtime. I also don’t mind the Target brand!
- pros and cons
pros are that they are easy on and off with the Velcro. And they hold a lot! Especially overnight diapers.
cons is that they stink something awful when you open the diaper genie if you have one 🤣
- Any diapering accessories you recommend?
Diaper genie. The baby bum brush is a must have to save your fingers from nasty diaper cream!!
- Tips for night sleep
Just that I use pampers overnights and to get one size up from your child’s diaper size when they begin to fit in overnight diapers.
- Tips for preventing and dealing with diaper rash.
we love desitin cream, and lotrimin is great to mix in diaper cream for those yeasty ones!
- Any other tips you can give FTM.
try a bunch of sample diapers from your registry gift boxes to find the diaper that works for your baby!
- What brand/s do you like?
- pros and cons
cloth is nice to not create so much garbage, but it definitely is more laundry.
- Any diapering accessories you recommend?
- Tips for night sleep
we always did disposable at night cause I’m not interested in waking up to change a kids diaper who doesn’t need to be up themselves.
- Tips for preventing and dealing with diaper rash.
don’t use diaper cream in cloth diapers!!!! It wrecks the absorbency of the fabric. We switch to disposables for a few days to clear the rash then go back to cloth once they have a happy bum!
- Any other tips you can give FTM.
start in disposables, regardless of what you want to do later. The beginning can feel
overwhelming and you don’t need the added work of laundry/figuring out cloth in the early days.
- Questions about other diapers you're looking at, or struggles your having/had.
@miss_lynn9 we had to experiment some with liners/liner combinations before we got to a good spot with leaks. It also depends a lot on what type of diapers you use (our AIOs are more prone to leaks cause the ‘cover’ part can slip a bit). Finally, I just have to make sure I’m changing him super regularly (1-1.5hrs)!
- Did you use disposable, cloth, or a combination?
We used disposable.
- What brand/s do you like?
I've used so many brands: Huggies, Pampers, Luvs, Parent's Choice. Huggies didn't fit any of my thin kids. They run more short and wide. Pampers were great for overnight and I used them exclusively for my first child. I started going cheaper after my second, and used Luvs. There's a definitely feel difference, but not a functionality difference. Parent's Choice worked for my 3rd kid.
Huggies wipes are the best! It took until my 3rd kid to discover them, but they tear like toilet paper instead of being folded into the next wipe. Can't stand the Parent's Choice or Equate wipes. They leave weird soap residue on the bum.
- Any diapering accessories you recommend?
A diaper pail. We didn't buy one pre-baby, but about 3 days into having the baby at home, my husband said he couldn't stand the smell anymore and bought one.
- Tips for night sleep
Definitely go up a size if you get leaks, and also go expensive if you need. Pampers baby dry worked for a few of my kids.
- Tips for preventing and dealing with diaper rash.
Aquaphor. It's interesting that most people use Desitin, but that says on the tube that it "prevents" diaper rash, not "heals" diaper rash. Aquaphor actually heals rashes once they've begun.
- Any other tips you can give FTM.
Don't buy the changing pad covers that are cloth. It's just another thing you'll have to wash. I use the plastic kind and then spray it down or wipe it with a diaper wipe. I'll throw it in the wash every once in awhile.
It's also nice to keep a bottle of hand sanitizer near the changing area. I hate picking up my baby before my hands are clean.
Did you use disposable, cloth, or a combination?
We used disposable for in the hospital and then we had some leftover once we got home so we used them for night time until we ran out. Then we used cloth until DD was over a year old and switched to disposable when we moved to an area with hard water and the cloth started repelling. I didn't have the energy to figure out how to treat hard water build up at the time, but I'm prepared for this go around.
Cloth: My absolute favorite brand ended up being a cheapie brand from Amazon called babygoal! I loved them. The patterns were cute, it was easy to layer absorbancy as needed, and they fit my weirdly proportioned / chunky girl the best. I ended up LOATHING the expensive Charlie Banana set my husband got. BumGenius was a runner up but babygoal was the clear winner.
Disposable: we used 7th Generation for the hospital/ first week and it was okay but I wouldn't go out of my way to buy it again. Rascal and Friends ended up being our top pick. They fit her well, while most other disposable brands didn't. I also liked Millie Moon from Target.
When we switched from cloth to disposable full time, we had a subscription to a brand called Dyper that we LOVED. It was pricey so we ended up giving up the subscription but the fit was amazing, never ever had a leak issue, and it held smell in great.
I actually don't have many cons to cloth diapering 🤷🏻♀️
I never found it to be much extra laundry. I just threw the diapers in with the baby clothes or with DD#1's load of clothes. It wasn't any extra work until she was on solids. I just brought a wet bag in public so it wasn't inconvenient to carry with us. When DD#1 was born, I was a single mom living in poverty and finding the money for diapers and formula was often an issue. It was soothing to me to know that I would never have to stress about finding the money to buy a bag of diapers, I just had to wash them.
That being said, the big con is the cost. Cloth saves you money over time but it is a BIG start up cost and we had to be very careful about how we went about building our stash. Shopping on Earth day to get coupons, buying from Babies R Us when it went out of business, buying one or two diapers at a time over the pregnancy etc. It can be challenging to make it work financially.
- Any diapering accessories you recommend?
Portable changing pad. Your diaper bag usually comes with one but I'd recommend getting a big / high quality one instead. Then you can change baby anywhere as needed.
I always just changed the baby whenever they got up to eat at night so they were never uncomfortably wet or anything. Use baby nightgowns or the sleepers that have the zipper that goes up instead of down to prevent waking baby too much. With DD#2 we changed all her nighttime diapers with her laying on a heating pad set to low with a receiving blanket over it for the first few weeks because the cold would set her off.
- Tips for preventing and dealing with diaper rash.
Don't leave baby to sit for any longer than necessary. Using fragrance free bath products and wipes helps a lot with prevention.
My holy grail diaper rash cream is Earth Mama Angel Baby Diaper Balm. It was the only thing that worked for DD#1 who had multiple gastro disorders and had chronic diarrhea (instances of diarrhea for 4-5 days every single week). Her poor bum would get so sore that she wouldn't be able to walk. I swear by it now. I know it's pretty expensive, but a little goes a long way. And I almost never have to apply it more than 2 times.
ETA: I knew I was forgetting something. If you're using disposable diapers, good old Vaseline works really well for prevention of rash if baby has a tummy upset like diarrhea. It keeps their little buns from getting chapped (Also, I put Vaseline on and around the kiddos' noses when they have colds to keep their noses from getting chapped with all the tissues). And one of the best things you can do for diaper rash is give diaper free time wherever possible while they have a rash. I'm not sure why it helps but it does.
Dandelion - October 2018
Angel "Aurora" - July 2020
Angel "Sawyer" - May 2021
Angel "Maxine" - January 2022
Angel "Violet" - March 2022
Baby Dove due March 2023