I must caveat this by saying how much I love my CD. I complied this info for some friends of mine in an email and thought that much typing and knowledge cannot go to waste! Enjoy!Cloth Diaper Info
1. Diapers: I use Bum Genius 3.0 all in one diapers: This just means that the diaper is most like your average disposable. It has little Velcro tabs to close it and a pocket area in the back where you can add additional microfiber inserts for more absorbency. They came in small, medium, and large sizes where I ordered 12-14 of each size so that I can do diaper laundry every other day. Past the newborn days, we only go through 6-7 diapers a day so that works out for me! The downside to the all in one diaper is that they are pretty thick and take at least 12+ hours to dry. You can dry them in the dryer for time’s sake, but I don’t since the Velcro can fray and I want them to last for another kiddo or two. I suppose the other downside is that they don’t make the 3.0 anymoreL but there are tons of other all in ones out there. Kauai and Fuzzibunz are two other great brands to try.
So I also have a couple of the Bum Genius pocket diapers in one size fits all. These have a series of what look like intricate snaps for sizing purposes but they are really easy to figure out and this also means that you don’t have to fool with buying small, medium, and larges of a particular diaper. These guys last the whole time. They are also like a shell of a diaper with a slit pocket in the back where you can stuff it with 1, 2, or three inserts depending on how much peeing is going on. What is great is that you have just a thin shell which takes no time to dry, couple hours in the sun and you are golden! Bum Genius has a newer diaper like mine called the Flip that my friend raves about in that you can use the same pocket diaper shell for at least a couple pee diaper changes, you only have to change the inserts! Sweet!
I also have 5 kushies diapers from Babies R Us, which are a little narrow in the crotch on Noah, so I only use them for pee.
There are also prefold diapers which are the most similar to the diaper that our folks used. But they are way easier! I don’t have any of these, another friend of mine uses these and loves them. I do know they dry the fastest which means the least amount of time doing laundry.
2. Inserts: When you get cloth diapers they are going to come with microfiber or terry cloth inserts. These are little rectangles of cloth you stick in the slit pocket of the cloth diaper. I usually add one to my all in one diapers and one or two in the pocket diaper depending on if we are close to home or will be out and about for a while. You wash these with the diapers and I toss mine in the dryer as they can take the daily wear and tear. I ordered several extra inserts in addition to the ones that came with my diapers. I highly recommend the g diaper inserts (at babies r us) as they are the most absorbent! I also have some inserts made with hemp that are supposed to be great when Noah is a little older and drinking liquids.
3. Diaper pail and wet bag: I got the cheapest diaper pail from babies’ r us and got a reusable diaper pail liner off the internet. I recommend getting two of the pail liners as I am not doing laundry as often and it gets stinky quickly! Wet bags are little reusable bags that zip or cinch closed that are water and poopy proof, so that when you are not at home you can stick in your dirty diapers, wet clothes, spit up cloths, basically anything that you don’t want stinking up or getting all over your diaper bag. They are awesome for kids in general, not just CD.
4. Diaper sprayer: This is what sold me! I did not want any poop in my washer! Bum genius makes a diaper sprayer that attaches to the water connection of your toilet. (its online or babies r us) It’s got a nice little silver wand that emits a very high pressure spray (they say you can use it as a bidet, little cold for me!) that will get everything off the diapers. I have my diaper pail in my bathroom along with the sprayer, so when he gives me a dirty diaper, I strap on my rubber gloves, spray the mess into the toilet, flush the mess and toss the diaper in the pail. Done. Really the time difference between this and changing a disposable diaper is like 2 minutes.
5. Wipes and such: I do use regular wipes even though there are washable ones out there. Since you usually stick the wipe in the dirty disposable and toss both, I got a trash can with a pop up lid to stick those in. I really don’t notice any odor unless the can hasn’t been emptied in a while and I am pretty sure it’s childproof, but we’ll see!
6. Diaper rash: On this note NEVER use a butt paste or destin Use a disposable with rashes. Actually, cloth diapered children have less rashes than others; I haven’t seen a rash since he was in the disposables. If he is looking a little red or its sticky out I just powder him up as that doesn’t hurt the diaper at all.
7. Laundry: It’s like second nature with a kid anyway so what is another load really?! On a side note, I know that it may not seem as earth or pocket friendly to do so much laundry but the amount of water used is tiny compared to how long a diaper lasts in the landfill or how much you shell out on disposables! Off my soapbox…. I do diapers about every other day. When you first get the diapers they need to be washed at least 5 times in HOT water to activate the absorbency properties of them. To wash them regularly I have been told to only use powder detergent and there are tons of cloth diaper detergents out there. I use tide free and gentle powder. I was told NEVER to use baby detergent as they have additives that coat the diapers and make them non absorbent. I use about a ¼ of the required one load of detergent and wash the diapers in one cycle of cold. Sometimes I soak them in cold if there is a good dirty one in there. Second cycle, same ¼ amount of detergent and wash in hot. Third, I set the dial to rinse one additional time after then hot wash. I toss the inserts in the dryer and put the diapers on the rack and put them in the sun outside to dry. The sun is awesome as it will fade the poopy stains right out.
