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!
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!
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!
ReplyDeleteGood luck.. are you going to participate in the Great Cloth Diaper Change April 23rd? Look into it :) www.greatclothdiaperchange.com
those are really cute! I just couldn't go it. I comend anyone that does....but we totally use disposals....
ReplyDeleteI 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.
ReplyDeleteI always love reading what works for other people :)
ReplyDeleteSince 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!
i concur on microfiber & AIO's.
ReplyDeletei 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.
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!
ReplyDeleteDana- 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.
T.bird- what are you using now?
ReplyDeleteSo 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.
ReplyDeleteso, 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!
ReplyDeleteThanks 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!
ReplyDeleteThis makes me want to get out all the diapers I have for the new baby and post them! :P
ReplyDeleteWe prefer fitteds over here. I find that snaps are great once the kiddo learns how to undo the aplix. :)
i really really really wish cloth diapering had worked for us. parker leaked & blew out of them all. the. time. FAIL.
ReplyDeletewe had a little of everything too... now they're sitting in the dresser drawer. unused. SAD.
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.
ReplyDeleteI'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}
ReplyDeleteYour 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.
ReplyDeleteOkay, 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? ;)
ReplyDeleteAre 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?
ReplyDelete