Cloth Diapers: Rachel’s Definitive Recommendations
Before the babies were born, I did ludicrously exhaustive research on cloth diapers, changing my mind many, many times about what I thought the best options would be for us. Now that Matt and I have been using cloth diapers on Julian and Eloise for about nine months, my opinions have crystallized about the single best, most effective, and most economical diaper system. I find myself moved to offer these opinions up to others who might want to skip the research and go with one extremely smart person’s* recommendations. So here they are: (Suggested quantities are estimates for ONE baby.)
The essentials:
18-24 Cloth-eez prefolds (hands down the best prefolds)
5-6 Thirsties covers
3 Snappis fasteners
3-4 BumGenius one-size pocket diapers
The advantages of this system are many. In spite of their plainness compared to much more elaborate diapers, prefolds have many benefits. They are cheap; they are every bit as effective (if not more so) than the fancier options; they are very easy to use after a day or so of practice; and they are a breeze to care for. When paired with Thirsties covers, they are about as good a diaper option as you can find.
BumGenius diapers are incredibly effective and absorbent, and we have had very few issues with leaks overnight. Because they’re one-size, they should last from birth to potty training. Presumably if you had a good bit of money to spend (though still less than the cost of disposables!) you could do an all-BumGenius stash, and I know plenty of people who do this. I just kind of hate stuffing pocket diapers.
One huge advantage of this set of diapers is that they can all be bleached. I know some people aren’t fans of bleach, and I suppose it’s something to avoid if your baby has very sensitive skin, but it has never bothered our babies and an occasional bleaching really rejuvenates a diaper stash.
The optional splurgy bonuses:
3-4 Thirsties Fab Fitteds or Kissaluvs fitteds (for friends and relatives intimidated by prefolds — pretty foolproof)
2 Sposoeasy all-in-ones (for the diaper bag)
Neither is necessary, but both are nice.
The accessories:
-Diaper pail (this one works great)
-2 pail liners (we use these)
-2 wet bags (for the diaper bag; we use these)
-24-30 cloth wipes (Thirsties work great for us)
-Spray bottle (for wetting wipes)
-Baby Bits wipes soap (one box will last months)
-Strip of velcro loops (optional, for hanging covers to dry — put it on the underside of a table or shelf — possibly Matt’s best invention ever)
-Toilet spray hose (for dealing with non-breastmilk poo)
-Diaper detergent (we use Country Save but I’m not convinced it’s the best; many people like Charlie’s Soap and Allen’s Naturally, but I haven’t tried either (yet); consult this list)
-RLR laundry treatment (use every couple months to remove detergent build-up from your diapers — the number one cause of stinkiness)
-California Baby calendula cream (use this or another product on this list for simple diaper rash — for serious diaper rash, use serious diaper cream with disposable diapers for a day or two)
And there you have my unsolicited opinions. I hope this is helpful to someone. I’m always happy to answer questions — I think after I convert 10 people to cloth diapers I get a toaster oven.
Julian and Eloise say: We love our cloth diapers!
*Everyone knows this is a joke, even if I don’t use an emoticon, right? I’m trying to wean myself off them.
Filed under Baby Stuff | Tags: cloth, diapers, gear, howto | Comments (14)14 Responses to “Cloth Diapers: Rachel’s Definitive Recommendations”
Leave a Reply
Thank you for your post!
I read your other cloth diaper posts and I was looking forward for an update!
I am glad you stuck with prefolds since I have read about a lot of people who love them at first but do not like them as their babies are growing.
I would like to know which size(s) do you use now and/or in the past.
Thank you!
Oh and by the way, I know that you probably already know that but your babies are so freaking cute!
We use prefolds and thirsties (and snappis) and love love love them. We’re actually using disposables this weekend b/c we’ll be on vacation w/o access to a washing machine (and I really really don’t want to drag home a suitcase of stinky diapers on the airplane!) and I’m disgusted that I have to use them. It feels SO wasteful (and expensive!).
Rachel, you know how much I love you, but I must VIOLENTLY disagree with the Thirsties recommendation. We cannot stand them, and find that the three that we have begin smelling strongly of urine after only two hours or so. Perhaps we are doing something wrong with them? I am a big big fan of the Imse Vimse diaper covers or the Bummis Super Brite covers. I am however intrigued by your diaper pail recommendations — Thanks!
Julia, you need to strip your covers! Try the RLR stuff I linked above. We liked the Bummis Super Brites too. I think they’re very similar to the Thirsties. We never liked the Imse Vimse covers — they didn’t fit our kids right.
Jenn, we use disposables when we travel too. I wouldn’t say that we are disgusted about them, but using them always does remind us that we strongly prefer the cloth for lots of reasons.
Coccinelle, we generally followed the size recommendations given by the manufacturers. We used extra-small when the babies were born, and switched to small around 10 pounds or so, and then switched to medium around 15 pounds, give or take. We still have a couple months in mediums, probably, and then we’ll move up to larges, where we’ll be for a long time (since babies slow down their growth as they get older).
We used prefolds on one of our babies (newborn Green Mountains with Nikky covers) for the first couple of months. I really liked them in general and agree that they are low-maintenance, but the poo usually stained the leg openings of the cover (though it rarely made it outside of the cover).
The last month or so we are using BumGenius diapers exclusively for both babies, and I have to say that I love it. They are super easy (even for grandparents and guests), and it is fun to coordinate the colors with their outfits.
We are using both the organic all-in-ones and the 3.0 pocket diapers.
BumGenius diapers are certainly expensive, but if you search Craigslist and look other creative places, it is sometimes possible to find them for a reasonable price. We got our pockets from Diapers.com, which gives a discount for your first diaper order and for referrals (which means that we referred a bunch of people who all bought us diapers…). They have free shipping as well when you buy >= 3 diapers.
Anyway, I know we already told you all of this Rachel, but I just had to share with everyone else!
OH, and if anyone is having a diaper rash problem caused by acidic poo, I just HAVE to plug browned flour. The cheapest, best thing we ever discovered. It cured our son’s diaper rash after 6 weeks and multiple other failed products.
http://www.ehow.com/how_4556527_cure-diaper-rash-naturally.html
One other cost-saving recommendation. We bought all our prefolds used (Craigslist and co-worker). It seems like it is pretty easy to get basically new prefolds and covers for cheap because people start out with them and then often regress to disposables (or move on to fancier cloth diaper systems)!
We got the BumGenius all in ones and LOVE them. When Caleb got bigger and was peeing significantly more at one time we found we were getting leaks. We wrapped the insert with a prefold and have not had a leak since. I didn’t know about stripping the diapers though thanks for that!
We are still using prefolds and thirsties, with a few “fancy” all in ones and pockets. My new favorite is the Imse Vimse organic all in one that I got on sale from diaperlab.com
And we totally stole your velcro idea, thanks for posting that!
We started out using Planet powder detergent, which I liked, but it was hard to find. I switched to Country Save and hated it, but of course had bought a big box thinking there wouldn’t be any difference…Finally worked through the huge box and are now back to Planet. Our diapers don’t stink as much with the Planet.
So I’m expecting my first in January and I’ve been doing a lot of research about cloth diapers. Everyone seems to plug prefolds with covers as the economical option, but if you have to buy more 2 or 3 times when baby moves up a size, doesn’t that actually become more expensive than if you just bought the one-size bum genius to begin with?
Good question.This (choose “complete checklist” from the drop-down menu) and this are good breakdowns of the cost of different diapering systems (that second site has an absolute treasure trove of cloth diapering information under its “Diapering Basics” section — I highly recommend it).
Basically, 18 of our favorite prefolds (somewhat more expensive than most) costs about $50. So, three sizes worth of those is $150. Six covers is $66, and three sizes worth of those is about $200. So that’s $350.
Eighteen BumGenius one-size diapers would run you around $310 — obviously not TOO much difference in price, but yes, the prefolds actually come out more expensive. However, it is kind of a lot to expect that even a well-made pocket diaper would last for two years — and probably well over 300 washings. So I think you’d find that you’d have to replace some or even most of them at one point or another.
That said, it’s true, with one-size diapers, the cost difference isn’t really so great that you shouldn’t go with that choice if you think it would work best for you. One-size pockets work incredibly well.
Question regarding bumgenius diapers… We’ve been using cloth-eez and thirsties on our twins, but I’m going to bring on the bumgenius for overnight (and maybe more often if we like them). When they are wet, do you put the insert in the pail and leave the cover to air-dry, as you do the thirsties covers?
Bridget,
No.. with the pre-fold + cover situation, the cover doesn’t get directly peed on, and it’s entirely waterproof (or at least non-absorbent). When wearing a BumGenius, your kiddo pees directly onto the diaper which has some “wicking” action onto the insert, to be sure, but still. It’s peed-on cloth. Into the pail it goes.
Gotcha. So if we wanted to go all-BG, how many covers would you recommend for twins? And how many inserts?
Well, again, because with BumGenius and other pocket diapers you wash the covers with every diaper change, you need as many covers as inserts. Generally pocket diapers are sold with 1-2 inserts; BumGenius comes with a regular insert and an infant-size insert that can also be used as a doubler for overnight. If you want to full-time diaper twins with BumGenius, I’d buy two dozen.