I knew before I was even pregnant that I wanted to try cloth diapering. I had read about it on other blogs and read the endorsements for it and being the quasi-hippie mother that I am, I had to try it. However, friends and family were pretty discouraging about it. Everyone said I wouldn’t be able to do it or I wouldn’t last long doing it, it’s just too inconvenient, etc. So when a friend told me about the g-diapers I decided that this hybrid was a good middle ground and convinced everyone around me that I would AT LEAST use these diapers. But the journey did not end there, we ended up experimenting with a few different types….
The organic disposable: We chose to start with this one since newborns are too tiny to fit properly in many of the cloth varieties. We even brought them to the hospital to use instead of the generic disposables they give you there. These worked out great for the 2 weeks that we used them. However, we were determined to use cloth so as soon as he had grown a little bit we switched over.
The pre-fold with cover: We learned about a new diaper service in our area through our birthing class. It seemed like such a great idea to have this service do all our diaper laundry for us! Basically the service brings you a huge load of clean pre-folds and you need to have your own diaper covers and Snappis to secure the diapers with. Every week on a specified day, they pick up your big bag of dirty diapers and provide you with a new bag of clean ones. You have to purchase their starter kit at first which includes a diaper pail with a special cloth liner and a little orange scented disc in the lid to prevent smelliness. I purchased a Bummis cover at first and I did not like it at all. It is supposed to be waterproof but it seemed like it was just another layer of cloth and the urine would soak right through the whole thing. I was very discouraged because we seemed to be changing his whole outfit every time he peed! However, I read reviews online and bought a Thirsties cover to try. This one seemed to work much better with less leakage.
G-diapers: Meanwhile, we were using the g-diapers as well. G-diapers are a hybrid diaper meaning that you can use cloth or biodegradable inserts. They are include a cute little fabric outer cover with a snapped in plastic liner that you fill with your insert of choice. I had received several g-diapers at my baby shower along with a few packs of the biodegradable inserts. I bought a 6 pack of cloth inserts as well. Once we ran out of the biodegradable inserts, we would occasionally use the cloth ones and take the g-diapers when we went out and the pre-folds were too much work. We found ourselves using the g-diapers more often than not as they were more convenient than the pre-folds and we only had 2 diaper covers for the pre-folds so we were constantly washing those and needing to use something else in the meantime!
Bumgenius: We finally decided to cancel the diaper service. We were still doing a decent amount of laundry with the cover and the g-diapers and realized that washing our own cloth diapers was completely feasible and the most economical solution! I started scouring e-bay for good deals on diaper bundles. I wanted to try bumgenius diapers because I had heard so many good things about them. I found five of the bumgenius 3.0 (Velcro closure) on ebay for a pretty good deal and bought those. Right away I loved them! They are soft on the inside, cute colors, don’t leak, and are easy to wash. I decided that this was the way to go and went back on ebay and found another lot of 12 of the bumgenius 4.0 (snap closure).
Fuzzibunz: We also have a lonely Fuzzibunz diaper I purchased while I was pregnant. Fuzzibunz are just as great as bumgenius with the only major difference being they have adjustable leg gussets so if you have a really tricky baby to fit, then these might be a better option.
So we are currently using 100% cloth diapers and I even think I’m going to start using cloth wipes soon as well. I heard that you can just put them in the wipe warmer with a little bit of baby shampoo and baby oil and you’re good to go. Then you just throw those in with the diaper laundry. There are so many new types of all in one cloth diapers out there now I’m curious what some of the other brands feature. I can’t rave enough about the bumgenius though and it saves you so much money in the long run and is better for the environment! It’s just an overall great thing.
Have any of you tried any other cloth diaper brands? I am very curious to know other people’s experiences with them!
