Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Cloth Diaper Update

Well, we've been cloth diapering ever since Elliot was eight weeks old. Here's how it's going so far!

What I've Learned:
- Everyone told me to try a little of everything before making any big purchases. I SHOULD HAVE LISTENED! After only a week, I hated stuffing pockets and knew that there was absolutely no way I could handle a whole stash full of pockets. I ended up selling a TON of my pockets and all my all-in-ones on Diaper Swappers. This worked out pretty well but I did end up losing some money.
- When it comes to pockets and AIOs, you get what you pay for. Rumparooz, which are my absolute FAVORITE, also happen to be pretty darn expensive. $23.50 for solid colors and $25.50 for prints- that's $5-$7 more than the two most popular and well known pocket brands, BumGenius and FuzziBunz. BUT it is worth it. The fit is AMAZING, especially for a one-size diaper. The colors are vibrant and beautiful. The fabric is SUPER soft and stretchy. The aplix is top quality. The inner gussetts? Ingenious! Can you tell how much I love these diapers? I started off with only six, but now I have twelve. I just love them!
- "Classics" never die. There is a reason why prefolds are still so popular. I, too, was one of those people who "scoffed" at those old fashioned or ugly diapers. That is, until I tried tucking a trifolded Zabi Baby prefold into my Flip & WeeHuggers covers. Easy and fast... diapering perfection! They're soft and absorbant, and they wash and dry so much easier than synthetics. I'm also a lot less paranoid about staining a $2 prefold vs. a $25 diaper.
- I do NOT like all-in-ones. They take FOREVER to wash and dry, and they're pretty bulky.
- HE Front Loaders + Cloth Diapering = a giant pain in the butt. Rinse, rinse, rinse people! These machines are designed to use less water but that is not ideal for cloth diapers, which start to stink and/or repel if the detergent is not fully rinsed out. Aaron and I are going to be buying a new washer and dryer soon and let me tell you, they definitely will not be front loaders.
- Cloth diapering is EXTREMELY addicting.

What I Love:
- RUMPAROOZ, FLIPS, and WEEHUGGERS.
-JoeyBunz hemp/organic cotton inserts and Zabi Baby unbleached cotton prefolds
- Disposable liners- these are a must have! Formula poop is NASTY! With these, I can just flush away the poop. :) Perfect.
- We have NEVER had a blowout in our cloth!! {We had several in sposies}
- Smiling every time I change Elliot's diaper. Seriously. How can you look at something so CUTE and not smile? I can't wait for summertime! I think Elliot will be crawling around in just a t-shirt and diaper a lot ;)
- Not ever worrying about running out of diapers, smelling a stinky diaper genie or pail, throwing away $ on disposables, or putting paper and chemicals on my son's bum

What I Hate:
- Stuffing pockets {with the exception of Rumparooz}. It's seriously annoying.
- Microfiber. Yuck! I now use mostly natural fibers {cotton/hemp}. The only thing I use microfiber in still are my Flips- I use the stay dry inserts for overnight. I use hemp/cotton inserts in my Rumparooz.
- SNAPS. Diaper changes took too long, and they never fit my little guy right. I'm an aplix girl!

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My Lovely Stash:
- 12 Rumparooz pockets
- 6 WeeHuggers size 1 covers
- 5 Flips covers
- 12 JoeyBunz inserts
- 12 Zabi Baby prefolds
- 16 Flip stay dry inserts

We ♥ Cloth Diapers!
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17 comments:

  1. Love your stash! I hate stuffing pockets, I'm in too deep now though with a ton of BG--but building up a nice stash of Best Bottoms LOVE the way they fit on my son and love that they are a snap in liner. I know what you mean with the front loader... kill me! I had one at our old house before we sold and I prayed the man who bought our house would buy our washer/dryer too.. he did! Now we have a full size with a super setting... loving this !!!! I know what you mean with the AIO too... I too hate that they take so long to dry, but I am hopefully selling my 3 BG AIO soon on Diaper Swappers. love that site!

    Good luck.. are you going to participate in the Great Cloth Diaper Change April 23rd? Look into it :) www.greatclothdiaperchange.com

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  2. those are really cute! I just couldn't go it. I comend anyone that does....but we totally use disposals....

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  3. I love cloth diapering too. It's definitely one of the best things that we've done. I'm happy with my Bum Genius diapers, but I am so sick of stuffing pockets. I agree with you on snaps too. Those are definitely not for us. We tried a snap fuzzibunz diaper from my SIL... the fit was not as good as ours and C is at that age where the quicker the diaper change the better.

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  4. I always love reading what works for other people :)

    Since I don't have a baby here yet, I've just been building my stash and adding a little of everything. I have some AIOs, a few pockets (OS so they won't fit for a while anyways) as well as fitteds/covers and I bought one Weehuggers to try (with their insert and with prefolds)

    I also love diaperswappers, it's great that you can resell the ones that don't work for you!

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  5. i concur on microfiber & AIO's.

    i got a ton of BG 3.0's with alex- i recently tossed them all out because:
    1. microfiber sucks
    2. the Aplix = crap
    3. they become un-waterproof. yeah awesome. great.

    $500 down the drain.

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  6. Love seeing so many other cloth diapering {or future cding} mamas! I know most people love BumGenius but I just didn't like them. I sold all of mine!
    Dana- I didn't think I could do it, either. I thought it would be so gross until I learned more about it and tried them out.
    Allison- YES! That's exactly what I should have done. Everyone likes different things so don't buy a whole stash until you're sure.

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  7. T.bird- what are you using now?

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  8. So glad for this entry. It is something I have been considering for babies in our near future. Reassuring to hear how great it works for you.

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  9. so, so, sooo glad to see a CD update from you! We're making our big purchase this weekend for Gavin and the new baby and I was feeling at a complete loss as to what I'd like. I might take a few of your opinions when I make my order! I love your stash too, so cute!

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  10. Thanks for this! I also want to cloth diaper my kids who don't exist yet. :) I guess I'll have to see what works best for us. My good friend loves cloth diapers, but I can't for the life of me remember what brand she likes. I like your blog!

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  11. This makes me want to get out all the diapers I have for the new baby and post them! :P

    We prefer fitteds over here. I find that snaps are great once the kiddo learns how to undo the aplix. :)

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  12. i really really really wish cloth diapering had worked for us. parker leaked & blew out of them all. the. time. FAIL.

    we had a little of everything too... now they're sitting in the dresser drawer. unused. SAD.

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  13. I love this post. We are about to embark on cloth diapers for our youngest and our new baby in november. I am so excited and I read this post over and over to learn all the lingo and decide what brand(s) to go with. Thank you for sharing.

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  14. I'm so glad this post was helpful to so many people! I'll be sure to do more cloth updates as Elliot grows and our stash changes {IF it changes}

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  15. Your stash is so cute! I'm starting to hate snaps too! They're awful for the "inbetween" snap sizes. I'm thinking about selling all of the Thirsties covers and inserts I have. I ordered 12 Sunbaby 4.0's and I loved them so I ordered 12 more since they're so inexpensive. I have 7 Alvababys I hate! I'm looking to build up my stash with other brands because I'm addicted to cloth diaper shopping.. lol. Oh and I completely second the front loading washer. HATE IT!!!!! And the European models take almost 3 hours to do a prewash and extra rinse.

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  16. Okay, you're officially an enabler! I just bought two Rumparooz to try out haha! I found a good deal on them, only used once and so I figured why not try them? ;)

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  17. Are all of your Weehuggers prints? I get terrible leaking with our print Weehuggers and might try a solid, but I hear the solids are stiff feeling. If you have any solids, do you find them stiff?

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