I did a lot of reading about cloth diapers before Lily-Pie was born. I really like the idea of cloth for many reasons - I think that it has got to be better for her skin, I know it is better for the environment, and we are also down to a one garbage bag limit in our town now. I think we could almost fill up one bag per week with just disposable diapers! Not to mention, they are pretty darn cute. You can get them in so many adorable colors and patterns these days. But the choices are mind-boggling!! You've got the traditional cloth with covers (and then many sub-categories of the type of cloth diaper that goes under the covers), you've got pocket-diapers (a diaper with an opening inside that you stuff with an absorbent cloth panel), and you've got all-in-ones (diapers that are just like disposables, only you don't dispose of them - you wash them).
I had a lot of trouble figuring out what would be best for us, so I went to many web-sites and looked at several forums, and I spoke to girlfriends who had used them. It seems to be that the diaper/cover combo is the most leak-proof, but it would also be the most bulky. And, the all-in-ones would be the most convenient, but they would also be the hardest to wash/dry (since they are "all-in-one", they take much longer to dry for one thing). So, in the end, I decided to go with pockets. Even with that decision made, you aren't set yet because there are many different brands of pocket diapers. You can get Bum Genius, Happy Heiny's, Baby Kanga's, and Fuzzy Buns (amongst others, I'm sure). So, what's a mommy to do?
I decided to try each of them. I ordered a couple from an on-line source and I got the rest from a cool baby store (in which I could have easily spent a million dollars, I think). They are not cheap, I'll tell you - and the initial layout is a bit of a shocker, but if you compare it to what you would end up spending on disposables over the long haul - they do end up being a better bargain. Not to mention the good it does for the environment not to have all those disposables sitting in a landfill forever.
So, I'll let you know how it goes and which ones we decide are best for our particular kiddo. We just have 14 diapers for now, so we will definitely need to invest in a bunch more soon.
If you are a cloth-diapering kind of mommy, please let me know which you use/used and how you liked them.
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2 comments:
I LOVE cloth diapers/diapering. Good luck with it. If you need any help feel free to yell. I'm the biggest fan of prefolds and covers. EASY and without issues imo. I don't think they are bulky at all. I recently had to change though because I think my little guy is approaching potty training. I've got to pockets, aios, and some fitteds. Fitteds I've tried before and like them a lot as long as they aren't too thick. I'd prefer a doubler than too many internal layers. ANYWHO. I applaud your decision to cloth diaper. :) I think you'll LOVE it.
OOOOH and unless you have major objections to it you should really link up your e-mail address with your blog so that people (see: I) can respond to your comments. If interested but not sure how you can check out my post HERE. I just loved your comment to my podaegi post. I laughed out loud. I e-mailed you back only to get it returned "noreply-comment" oops. ;)
I seriously looked into it for Connor, but we just didn't have the money to cover the start up cost, even though they'd be the better deal in the end. Plus, I was very concerned about how BULKY cloth diapers are (I have many online friends who went the way of cloth and fitting them under clothes was troublesome from time to time, because now that disposables are so trim, they're making baby clothes more trim as well...). In the end, we stuck with disposables, but if baby #4 comes along, I will again find myself doing research about cloth!!
PS good luck with the ones you've purchased thus far. I'd heard good reviews from all except the Kangaroo ones or whatever you called them (those ones I hadn't even heard of at all). I know there are some cloth diaper "support groups" and whatnot that give reviews about the different diapers. Like, people will give feedback about how they're little one had super skinny legs and such and such diaper just didn't fit properly, but the such and such diaper did... might be helpful!
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