CDers come in!

MadameD517

Hi ladies,

I'm just wanting to get some feedback on different types/brands of cloth diapers. We plan to use a one size pocket diaper because it seems to be the most economical/simple for us, does anyone have any feedback on some they like or don't like? I've already read a lot  but I'd like to get some more personal feedback. I see that there is a cloth diapering board but I'm not quite ready to venture out to a national board :-)

Thanks in advance, and don't hold back, I want to know the good and bad! 

SportyMrs.23

We use bum genius 4.0s and fuzzibunz one size pocket diapers.  We mostly have the BG's (24) and just a few FB (3). 

One thing I will say is that BG has FANTASTIC customer service!  Just a few days before our 1 year warranty was up, I emailed them about the velcro being really worn on our diapers, they emailed me right back and I followed the procedure for turning them in so they could look at them/evaluate them, etc.  Anyhow...I sent them in 24 BG 3.0's with velcro and they sent me back 24 BG 4.0's with snaps ( I requested the snaps)!.  They sent me BRAND NEW and an upgraded version!  

Based on our experience, I would go with the snaps since the velcro wears SO bad and rather quickly.

jsugrin

I've used

-Pre folds and covers

-Fuzzi Bunz, sized

-Bum Genius, AIO (size large)

-Bum Genius- One Sized

Charlie Banana-One Sized

 

From my experience velcro sucks.  My BG's are velcro and were used very little, a few months and I just felt like they look crappy.  They still stick but I never felt like the velcro stuck the way I wanted it to.  As far as the one size, IMO, it's a total gimmick designed to make people more interest in CDing because it's not a lot of diapers to buy.  The reality, most one size will tell you that it's 10-30 pounds.  Now you may have big babies, tons of people do but I was not one of them.  Andrew wasn't 10 pounds until he was close to 10 weeks and each of my boys were around the 30 pound mark around 2ish.  

I just recently ordered the Charlie Banana one size because I couldn't resist the adorable construction print and hoped it would help Andrew with wearing a CD for nightime instead of a pull ups ( pull ups are $$$$).  I couldn't even come close to getting the diaper to snap even without any stuffing in it..  Luckily they do fit Cooper so they'll get some use but I don't think for long.

The reality is, even if you are thinking oh I am so going to have my kid PT'd by the time they're 30 pounds both of my boys PT'd before they were two BUT the still need a diaper for nap and nighttime.  Of course you won't have to buy an entire stash of larger sized diapers for sleeping but if you are like me with two kids in diapers at night and another for naps or possibly two for naps (Andrew gave up napping rediculously early) then you still could have an additional investment of 8 or so diapers.

I love, love, love FB.  For us snaps have been a true love. The kids are far older before they can wrangle the snaps off than with velcro.  Some people complain about having to snap all those snaps on a wiggly toddler but with the BG's as soon as they could run out of reach they'd rip them off and then all over we'd go.

I say do a trial once baby is around the 10 pound mark to see what works for you and then there are tons of mama discount sites that have sales all the time so it's a good way to stock up.  Also buy off CL, especially if you want to try a variety beyond the trial time period so you're not spending a ton of money.

As far as laundry, get a good wet bag of pail liner and a medium sized one of out and about.  Doing laundry is no big deal just because you are CDing doesn't mean you can't "cheat" and use disposables at times either.  In fact finding a nightime option has never really worked for us.  I've had my kids stuffed with 7 hemp things and still had them wake up because the wet on their skin bugged them so we're pretty much a Huggies Overnights family.

applepear12

We use prefold, kissaluvs fitteds and BG and they all work really great. I used prefolds and the kissas size 0 during the new born stage. Now that she is over 10 lbs we added pockets to the mix. I originally didnt want to even try pockets but i found some great deals on ebay and had to buy them. Right now im stuffing them with the newborn size prefolds that are getting to small to snappy becuase I only have the larger microfiber pad and its bulky. (new ones come with a newborn insert and a regular insert). I only had velcro  ones till monday when I went to buy buy baby and saw this big beautiful wall of BG. I had to buy a brand new with snaps diaper.

Laundry i think is the easiest part of CD. I hate hate hate doing laundry but I love washing my diapers. Maybe its the excitment about using them again. 

I recommend the following:

If your going to cd from day one use prefolds and covers to save money. ( I like my pockets but LOVE my prefolds)You can include some fitteds. Kissas siza ) are highly recommended  for the newborn stage. I never once had a problem with them.

Get yourself a good wet bag for your diaper pail and one wet bag for everyday you plan not to wash. If you wash every other day you may only need one. I wash every 3 days and have 3 since im always out and about.

I would recomend buying one diaper of each type/brand so you can see what you like. If you can find a store or person that has some i recommend seeing them in person so you really understand all that were talking about.  

altreu

We use prefolds and kissaluvs with Thirsties covers, and FuzziBunz. I LOVE the FB! They are great for daytime use, and we use hemp liners instead of the microfiber (or sometimes in addition to the microfiber) inserts. The hemp soaks up a lot more than the microfiber, IMO. Prefolds are great, but hard to wrangle on a wiggly kid sometimes.

At night we use the kissaluvs with a hemp liner and a wool cover. The wool is amazing! He never leaks, and he will be in the diaper from 5:30-4/5 with a nursing session (or two) in between. The only drawback to wool is that he smells sheep-y. 

ashleyhuney

I used fitteds, prefolds and covers from Mother-Ease with J and fitteds with a prefold as a doubler under wool overnight.  He still wears diapers at night and is a super soaker but the wool works wonderfully.  For #2 I plan on CDing from birth - with J I didn't start until he was 9 months old - so I need a little baby stash.  I'm sticking to natural fibers as much as possible but I did get some pocket Rumparooz and Kawaii's because they are made of TLU which is (lower toxicity) better than PUL.  For the newborn stage we will be going with prefolds and wool covers, as she gets bigger I'll probably be using mostly fitteds or prefolds and wool with the pockets for travel, other diaper changers, etc.

CD board has tons of great advice, they've always been helpful when I've had a question - they are experts!!

ladipale

We LOVE our CDers!

I highly, highly recommend doing the trial from Jillians' Drawers once your baby is about 12ish lbs. I'm glad we waited a few weeks to start CDers, i was so overwhelemd with new mommyhood, I remember thinking "And I'm going to add washing CDers to this?" But after a few weeks, we got the hang of things and started the trial. In the trial, you get to try a bunch of different types of diapers and find what you, your baby and your DH like the best.

We ended up liking FB the best. We have 10 perfect size FB (fuzzibunz). I tried the one size as well, but just didn't like them as much. We use BG 4.0s for overnight with a microfiber and a hemp insert. We also have some BG 3.0s in size small, but I bought velcro, and like others mentioned, I HATE the velcro!

I also really, really like Thirsties fitted and Thirsties covers and we even like using prefolds, but save those for evenings and weekends (we send the pocket diapers to daycare) I never would have tried the fitteds or the prefolds if it wasn't for the trial.

I also got the soap trial and the inserts trial pack from Jillian's Drawers. They are a fabulous company with amazing customer service. FB also has good customer service and feedback.

MadameD517

Thanks for all of the input! We will definitely be getting snaps vs velcro, the velcro sounds like a complete waste. I've heard that the one sizes don't really fit until later so we will be using mostly disposables until LO is big enough for the one size. I do have a few different types to try out but I wanted to make sure I was going for the best option. I had planned on using BG one size until I heard that they weren't great for O/N on heavy wetters. I like the wool idea, I hadn't thought much about it before.

Thanks again everyone, this is all very helpful!