New to CD

rmm17

Due to some budget issues i have decided to switch to cloth diapers.  My LO is 8 months old but i plan to have several more children.  On the advice from a friend, i purchased a flips day pack (2 covers, 6 inserts, $40).  I know this isn't enough but i'm trying to be budget conscious.  Our cotton babies store had a econobum starter pack for $50 (3 covers, 12 inserts, and a wet bag).  Would this be a good choice? I know that econobums aren't as nice but i thought it would be a good way to build a bigger supply of CDs. 

What do you guys recommend? How many covers and inserts/prefolds do i need?  Are prefolds a lot harder to use than the flips inserts?

lylipad

I am due in Feb so I have no real experience using CDs. From the research that I have done I have decided to use all-in-ones and pocket diapers, for me I think the (perceived) ease of changing the baby will work best for us and anyone who volunteers to babysit. I also like the descriptions of how to clean them, no soaking... I have read that it is good to try a couple of different brands and styles so I am stocking up on a small variety and will use CD's and disposables at first and then transition when I find what works best for me. Seeing as how you already have a baby I would just start phasing them in and buy a couple more kinds I say a 3 or 4 pack of Bum Genius on Amazon for about $50 today. BTW I have a BG and a Grovia and just ordered an OhKaty so I could play with them before buying a lot of them.

tokenhoser

My guy is just about 5 months old. We usually use about 6-8 diapers during the day, and then 1 overnight. I try to hang things to dry and wash every second day, so I need about 3 days worth of diapers (~24).

If cost is an issue, I highly recommend buying used (check your local Craig's List, the Swap Spot and this board on the bump, the forums on diaperswappers.com and hyena cart). Or look at Kawaii pockets - that's almost all I use, and they're very nicely priced. I buy from here but you can also get them here or here. 

I also bought some hemp inserts to use with 1 microfiber overnight. For me, that stopped the leaks and was waaaay worth it.

GHBEA

I use a variety of AIOs,and prefolds.  I have Fuzzi Bunz not my favorite so I have been slowly selling them and trading them off.  I LOVE Blueberry the most.  The pre folds I just use at home.  I also just started to attempt to make my own covers then hope to make AIO's.  

If you don't mind used there are many places on line you can build a stash from.   

jjoli

I love our flips, but if you are going for the budget friendly, bumGenius products are not the way to go.

My favorite diaper in which I recommend to everyone for price and also they are just awesome are Kawaii Original Crossovers they come with two very absorbent inserts they are a pocket diaper.  They are about $7 a piece.  which is hard to beat.  We have 16 of them and I love them!

theluvyourbaby.com

Also another budget friendly diaper that I like (it is also a pocket) are Sunbaby's.  They are $60-$78 for a dozen.  I like these too. We actually just sold ours to a friend who wanted to cloth diaper (and our stash was getting kind of big : ) ) and her baby is 9 months old, she loves them too.  And she has a chunky baby and I my daughter is skinny so they fit a wide variety I know that.

sunbabydiapers.com

They are super easy to use and wash and I like pockets because you can extra stuff them as baby gets older for extra absoerbency.  

We didn't switch until later (12-13 months) and I won't ever go back.  Once we get pregnant with number 2 we will have to get a newborn stash since the one size diapers won't fit (including the flips) a newborn.  But I am not worrying about that until I get pregnant and then I have several months to buy a newborn stash.  I would only worry about the child you have now and your stash will change around with more kids eventually.

Hope that helps.

hispenguin

DD is almost 7 months old. We've been cloth diapering since she was about a month old. After researching the different types of CD's we decided on pockets. I started out with BG's, Happy Heiny's and some Best Bottom (AI2's). Now I have 24 CD's and they are all BG's and Blueberry's (the bamboo ones). Even my family that hates CD's doesn't mind using the pocket diapers when changing DD.

If you can try a newborn trial package. I wish I had done this instead of buying a few different kinds, bc now I have to sell some off.

itsalovething

We've been using the Flip system since our little guy was 5ish weeks old.  (We started with prefolds/covers for the newborn stage.)  We really like the flips.  We've purchased way more than we need, but it's still more cost effective than disposables.  We have 12 flip covers, 42 organic inserts and 12 stay dry inserts.  We use the organic during the day and stay dry at night.  We wash every 3 days.  Our guy goes to daycares, so it's important for us to always have a few extra on hand.  We've spent less than $600 on this whole stash.  (I've also seen Flips on Craigslist, which would help with some of the cost).  This should last us through potty training, so it's a darn good investment, if you ask me!

 To answer your other question, I think using prefolds/covers are about the same amount of work as the flip inserts. 

BrendaLou1969

The econobum's are decent.  Not fabulous, but decent.  I don't think they would last for more than one child. I have about 4 of their covers I bought as seconds from cottonbabies.com and they do the job.  However, if budget is the true issue, I would buy some more flips covers and some regular GMD prefolds.