I'm addicted to CDing! Reviews of all...

[sparkeze]

I started cding about 2-3 weeks ago and it's been a fun experience. Although I've bought way too many diapers and spent way too much money I've really enjoyed it. I use a dry pail with a white ReUzms pail liner and the poopy diapers so far have been hand rinsed. Since DS is 7 mo, 98% BF, and poops mainly first thing in the morning we haven't had many poopy cloth diapers as we've been sticking to disposables at night, for now. And the poop isn't so bad, it rinses away very easily and we haven't had any stain problems. After rinsing we throw it into the diaper pail. We've been washing (well, at first since we didn't have many, every day) about every 3 days now and we use a coinop machine. All I do is a hot wash with 1/4 All Free& Clear, 1/4 Baking Soda and a full Downy Ball of vinegar. So far that's been working out fine, no rashes, no unclean diapers. We started out with fitteds, coves and a few AIOs. However, we decided to go mainly with AIOs so after I get a system all set up I'll probably sell my fitteds and covers. So here are my reviews:

Fitteds:
Snug to fit/Snap to fit: These have a wide size range(not sure exactly off the top of my head) with snaps to lower the rise. They have a detached on one end soaker and the absorbancy is pretty good. Of the fitteds I tried this is one of the better ones, IMO.

ME Onesize: Decent. Without a liner they're pretty thin. They pretty much need a liner all the time unless you're planning to change baby right away. For the price I feel there are better diapers out there.

ME Sandys: Better. They're incredibly soft! I didn't find these to be THAT much more absorbant than the Onesize. I didn't try the Sandys liner but with it I assume it would be much more absorbant.

Covers:
ME Airflow: Favorite cover. Side snaps fit DS really well and they didn't leave as bad red marks on DS's thighs as the others did.

Bummis Super Whisper Wrap (Snaps & Velcro): Although DS is well within the size range for these, they leave horrible red marks on his legs, even on the loosest setting. If they fit DS better I would have liked these much better.

AIO:
Luke's Drawers Candy Wrappers: My absolute favorite diaper! They're expensive but they don't leave any marks on Ds's legs, they're incredibly absorbant and very cute! The only drawback is they're bulky but it's hard to get absorbancy without the bulk (except with hemp)

Bumkins: These are nice. Nice on DS's legs, easy to use, comapct to pack. Good value too. The absorbancy wasn't the greatest, but I haven't had any leaks.

ME: Very soft, however not very absorbant. They've never leaked but from the make of the diaper they look like they would if they wer on for a longtime. The inner cloth comes almost out of the cover part.

ReUzms Elite: These are also a good value. Has snaps and the soaker is detached on one end for faster drying. Also on the trim side, as far as diaper butts go.

Prorap: Also a good value. These would be great for younger infants who have really runny explosive poops. The leg gussets look like they'd really hold it all in. I didn't really like the plasticky feel to the outside but I think I was spoiled by WAHM AIOs.

Bizzy B Hive Fleece: Beautiful and soft. I found that the fleece outer can get damp though...which is not so good. Another WAHM AIO.

Fuzzi Bunz: Another one that leave red marks. I can't see why they're worth they're price, to be quite honest. They're not even cute!

I have ordered a ManyDucks AIO, a Kissaluvs Fitted, and a Luke's Drawers All-in-Wonder (a onesize AIO) and after I play with those I'll post again! If anyone wants more details about a specific diaper let me know!

[egoldber]

Glad you're enjoying the CD's!! It is really fun. If you haven't tried the flushable liners, you should seriously consider it. I have never swished or rinsed a diaper and have no trouble with stains. I have taken to spraying Zout on the poop diapers before washing and i have had great results with that.

I have been afraid to order the expensive WAHM diapers for fear of liking them! LOL :)

I would use them for a few weeks before buying many more or commiting to a system. My perspective on mine has evolved as I continue to use them. I now realize I am mostly perfectly happy to use plain prefolds with a cover, at least at home. This is now what I use 75% of the time at home. The fitteds are nice when I am feeling a little stressed or overwhelmed and don't want to deal with a prefold. I also had to experiment with several ways of folding them to find the best way to use them on my DD.

I am also now realizing that I like the Kissluvs more than Motherease diapers (although I really like the Sandy for nighttime). Don't get me wrong, the Motherease diapers are VERY nice and I won't necessarily change my system, but the Kissaluvs just have a soft cushie, fleecy feel that I really like. I reach for them first when they are clean. It also took me a few times practicing with the Kissaluvs to realize that the size 1 diaper I had and thought was too small, really fits her just great and with room to grow. It has a very low rise compared to many other fitteds which was a little disconcerting at first, but that I now like.

I also got velcro marks a lot with velcro covers when I first used them. I have found that rarely happens anymore. I must have improved my technique in some way, although I don't know how. The only velcro cover I am still not able to use is the ME Rikki. I get horrible red marks with it. I like the Bummis better than the Proraps, but I think that the Bummis run small.

If I had to design my perfect system now it would be:
1 dozen regular unbleached chinese prefolds
1 dozen premium unbleached chinese prefolds
1 dozen size 1 Kissaluvs fitteds
4 Motherease Sandies for nighttime
4 ME Sandy liners (for layering at night)
4 medium JoeyBunz (for layering at night)
8 Bumkins AIOs for the diaper bag
4 Bummies velcro covers
4 Motherease Airflow covers

That's more diapers than I really "need", but when in a fitted mood, I would want to have enough fitteds to go all day.

Does your DH use them too? Mine is still afraid of them!

[sparkeze]

DH prefers AIOs but after using the fitteds with covers for a couple weeks he said he doens't mind it so much. The main problem is that DS hates to be still. It's such a struggle to get any diaper on him and with the fitted and cover by the time the fitted gets on we feel like now we have to get the cover on?!?

I did buy flushable liners and I was putting them in every diaper for the first couple days but since DS poops once a day, and sometimes once every other day it seems like I'm just wasting them. The ones I have don't seem to last more than one washing. I'm REALLY enjoying fleece though! I used a couple fleece topped doublers an even if DS really wet the diaper his skin is still dry! I'm thinking about cutting up some fleece for the diapers that don't have any. But it seems like most WAHM diapers, that I have anyways, have fleece in it already.

The main problem I'm having with covers is that DS's thighs are kind of chunky, especially in proportion to his waist. So if I try to loosen the leg opening, the waist is too loose. The only covers that I have found so far that don't leave red marks is the ME Airflow.

I'm glad you liked the Kissaluvs! I can't wait to get mine to try it out. I still haven't found a fitted that I really, really liked so hopefully that will be it.

What night system do you use? We haven't CD at night yet, and honestly I'm nervous about it. DS wakes so frequently as it is that I don't want him to wake because of his diaper too! And he nurses frequently at night so he usually has a 10 pound diaper in the morning.

Thanks for your comments!

[egoldber]

I do a few things at night. I have a FuzziBunz, so I use that with a medium and a small JoeyBunz. Or a medium Joey and a FuzziBunz microterry insert.

Mainly I use a ME Sandy with a Sandy liner, a medium Joey and a fleece liner. I have also found that it I don't put on a thick barrier of diaper rash ointment at night, she wakes up with a rash.

I have not yet had any leaks at night, so I think I may luck out in that department.

HTH,

[KathyO]

I do a variation on what Beth does - a Sandy's and a liner, but I use the Sandy's that's one size larger than what she uses by day. She's in the large Sandy's, so I picked up a few second-hand Toddle-Ease and use those now.

Cheers,

KathyO

[daisymommy]

I'm just wondering what it was that initially made each of you decide to switch to cloth diapers? Cost effectiveness? Something fun and new to try? Ecology? Better for baby's skin IYO? It seems like an awful lot of work to put out rather than use disposables, so I'm guessing there was a reason you decided to switch. It all sounds very interesting, and I love trying out new products, however, I know that now is definetly not the time for me. Poor Josh would probably sit around in yucky diapers alot seeing as how our laundry is still piled up around our house!

[KathyO]

It's a little of all the reasons you mentioned.

I used disposables for the first few weeks after we brought DD home, and was uncomfortable that DD's diapers more than doubled the volume of our trash. I thought about what a mountain of not-terribly-biodegradable material would be sitting in the local landfill for one tiny girl, and it didn't make me happy. I have no problem with the use of the water to wash them, because it amounts to about the same as us flushing the toilet a couple more times a day (if that), which my daughter will be doing when she's older anyway.

As well, I had a friend who CD'ed, and who showed me just how easy it was, plus I knew my mom had too... so why would it be too hard for me?

And I ran the numbers and figured out how much money we'd save, and it was a lot.

Then I got started with them, and suddenly leaks and blowouts were a thing of the past, so that was cool too. (So I guess you could argue that they do cut down on a certain amount of laundry.)

And honestly, they aren't that much work at all. I threw a load in this morning, and tossed it in the drier at lunch when I was downstairs to get something in the pantry. Tonight I'll bring them upstairs and dump them in the basket beside the change table, while DH gives DD her bath, and that's it. In warmer weather I do line-dry them, and that's a little more trouble, but it saves power, makes 'em smell nice, and I love the sight of them swinging to and fro on the line like a chorus line of little baby bums.

I'll let y'all know if it turns out to be true that CD babies are easier to potty-train. Not counting on it, but it would be another nice perk!

I don't recommend CD right from birth, because it's one more little routine to add, at a time when you are trying to recover control of the exploded fragments of your life and your sleep, but once you do get into it, it's no biggie.

Cheers,

KathyO

[egoldber]

Amy, I also switched for a combination of all those reasons. It really isn't that much extra work. It amounts to about 3 extra load of laundry a week. I could go longer in between washing, but I find the diapers get a bit stinky if I wait too long.

I probably would have been too overwhelmed to use cloth initially (unless I had a service), but after about 6 months or so, you get into a routine. Cloth is really quite easy to do.

HTH,

[joodyjr]

I started CD'ing DD after when she was about a week old. After reading about the stuff in disposables, (toxins, etc), and the fact that she has "indoor plumbing" as opposed to her brother who has "outdoor plumbing" I was a bit more concerned about putting something next to her skin like that 24/7. However, I do still put her in disposable at night (she wears one to bed and I put her in one when she gets up during the night). I don't have a real good logic for why I do that, it's just what we do. As far as ease, cloth diapers are as easy as disposable in my opinion. I do a load of diapers every 2-3 days. Considering the amount of laundry I do already, the extra load wasn't noticed. I just take the diaper off her and throw it in the diaper pail instead of the Diaper Genie. (She's breastfed, so I don't bother to rinse poopies). What does take forever for me, is deciding which of her incredibly cute diapers to put her in. Or, I will stand there trying to decide if she's going to poo or not and whether I should put a prefold on her instead so she won't poo in one of those adorable diapers. Crazy? Yes, very. But too much fun if you ask me! I love it. I love the fact that she has a very happy tushy. The only rash we have had was her first week when I used scented wipes. Thus far I have only had two leaks and I attribute that to the diaper being too big since she was only 2 weeks old at the time and the diaper was a size small. The one poopy blowout we've had in her almost 6 weeks was in a disposable. I'm very glad I chose to cloth diaper. Now I just wish I could quit buying diapers. This can get very addicting!

[sparkeze]

I had been planning to use a diaper service before DS was born but DH felt that since he didn't know how they were washing the diapers (especially since poopy diapers sit around for a week until they're picked up!) and he kind of has a complex about germs that we were going to look into washing our own. So I asked my mom who had cloth diapered me how she did it (she used a coinop then, just like I do now) and apparently she soaked diapers in vinegar, then bleach, then washed them by hand before putting them in the machine! It sounded like way too much work for me so we decided to go with disposables for the time being.

Looking back, it was very convenient to use disposables the first month or so, but I think I could've started cloth after that. However, the thought didn't even cross my mind for awhile. When DS was about 4 mo I started a playgroup with some other moms from LLL and a few of them were using the diaper service and one or two were washing at home. As the weeks went by I started to feel if they can wash diapers at home why can't I? Although it has been a little more work for me since I use coinop machines in the basement of our apartment building, it's more than manageable. We do about 2-3 loads of diapers a week, and quite honestly, DH does it 90% of the time so it's not as if I'm lugging DS and dirty diapers down to the basement. So I started doing research online about cloth diapering, figured out how to wash them, what products are out there, and started buying diapers. Now the only problem is that I can't stop buying diapers but that's another story!

The main reasons I wanted to use cloth were: piles of dirty disposables were getting to me, I like to change DS frequently but with disposables it just increases the amount of trash, and the mot important reason - I wouldn't want DS to put a disposable diaper in his mouth so why would I want to put it on his bottom? That one really got to me because when I was changing DS and he grabbed the disposable diaper and started trying to eat it (as he does with EVERYTHING) I always pulled it away as fast as I could. So that's why I switched, although I could've switched a lot sooner if I wasn't so lazy. :) And as far as doing laundry, we still have plenty of dirty laundry around but if we're running out of diapers those get done. When I finally complete my diaper collection, which may be never but I should have enough diapers to last 3.5 days (about 10/day) so we won't have to do laundry more than twice a week.

[babykate]

My daughter is 7 1/2 months old and we've always used disposable diapers. I am thinking of switching to cloth diapers as I think that will make potty training easier. Can someone explain to me exactly what I'd have to invest in to switch to cloth at this point? Am I crazy to switch now? Why have others decided to use cloth and how have your experiences been? Thanks.

[Momof3Labs]

There is a whole board dedicated to diapers (Baby Butts), and it is fair to say that it is primarily cloth diapers (there's a lot more to talk about than with disposables). Why don't you come over to that board and read the posts - I bet that you will find the answers to these questions, and we'll be happy to help answers others that you have!