Cloth diaper recommendations please!

[mum]

We have a grandbaby on the way!

They want to use cloth diapers. It's been a long time since we used them.

What are the good brands now? Best inners? Best covers?

Thank you!!

[kristin0713]

Aww, this brings back memories!  Back in the day, I loved BumGenius.  I would check out diaper swappers.  I am not sure if the website forum is still around, but they have a group on facebook now.  

[prairiewindmomma]

I prefer cotton to microfiber. I think microfiber holds on to smells over time. (I FuzziBunz with microfiber inserts for my first four kids, over 8 years.) The pocket style FuzziBunz were great for grandparents to use. They were easy to launder. They were fairly leakproof....but when baby #5 came along, we switched gears. We went to pre folds with thirsties wraps.

[Sneezyone]

6 minutes ago, kristin0713 said:

Aww, this brings back memories!  Back in the day, I loved BumGenius.  I would check out diaper swappers.  I am not sure if the website forum is still around, but they have a group on facebook now.  

Same here. I loved my BumGenius all in one pocket diapers. I used them for both of my peeps with cotton and hemp inserts and doublers. As they got bigger, sometimes I used a single ply microfiber or disposable liner.

Edited January 8, 2021 by Sneezyone

[BusyMom5]

I had a new baby 3 years ago, and all the brands had changed.   My favorite pocket diapers were Lalabye Baby- they have great bamboo inserts (I hate microfiber),  they are 2 pieces that snap together for easy washing and quick drying.  They start fitting at about 10lbs, and have lasted until potty training.   The Nickis Diapers has good pockets,  but they ran bigger and had microfiber inserts.

[barnwife]

I am currently CDing kid #5. My recs will depend on which style of diaper they want. Although, I can flat out say that we don't like BumGenius at all. However, we aren't pocket diaper people. I thought we would be, and had a variety on hand for kid #1. Within 2 days it was clear we are prefold and cover people. (LOL to pregnant me who thought I'd have the diapers stuffed and ready to go...nope. I had to stuff one at every change after they got washed. And that wasn't easy. The inserts don't just slide in. Trifolding a PF is way easier.)

Anyway, my sister did use pockets on hers. So I've used them with her kids and 2 days on our oldest. We all preferred Fuzzibunz over BG.

But, my rec for the newborn stage is Kissaluvs size 0 and proraps NB covers. I believe both are discontinued. But if they can be found on ebay they are worth it. Otherwise, GMD workhorse fitteds with a double leg-gusseted cover. (I don't know any NB size covers. We've only used proraps.)

Then we switch to PF with covers. GMD PFs are great. We also have some from Nicki's Diapers.  Nicki's are cheaper. And Nicki's Diapers customer service has always been stellar.

Our favorite one-size covers are Blueberry coveralls. Actually, it's Sweet Pea diaper covers, but they were recently discontinued. Covers from Nicki's round out our stash. Can you tell I really like Nicki's Diapers?

And we have a handful of old school flat diapers (from Nicki's) just to keep things interesting.

Congrats on the grandbaby!

[kristin0713]

Just out of curiosity, I looked it up and Jillian's Drawers is still doing their diaper trial program.  It is a GREAT way for mamas who are new to cloth diapering to try out a variety of styles and brands before investing.  And FWIW, I sold all my kids' diapers when we were done with them through diaper swappers.  So the investment was really worth it financially!

https://jilliansdrawers.com/products/changing-diapers-changing-minds-program 

 

ETA -- this is not enough diapers to cloth diaper a newborn full time.  I would say, if anyone wanted to try this, to have a full stash on hand as well or disposables on hand until they figure out what works best for them. 

Edited January 8, 2021 by kristin0713

[cabercro]

We liked Mama Koala pocket diapers. They fit like BumGenius but the elastic held up better (BG has issues with that sometimes). We stuffed with a random assortment of flour sack towels and natural fiber inserts (hemp, bamboo, etc.). I bought most of our inserts at consignment sales used and most of our covers new (to make sure elastic and waterproofing would last as long as possible). 

We did fitteds and covers at night. The fitteds were a cheap-o off brand (Elinfant maybe?) - hemp with a dark brown fleece lining. They worked surprisingly well. 

[Ailaena]

https://www.kangacare.com
 

If you can find them on sale, these were very good. If you live close, you can trade modeling for diapers and be set 😉 I tried a couple of every brand at first and I liked these and blueberry.   Literally lasted from newborn to potty trained and fit so well.  I used the hemp or bamboo insert depending on what I felt like and they held an awful lot of pee...

Wait, that’s a lie.  Pop-Ins were my favorite but they don’t seem the sell them in quite the same style anymore.

Remember every baby is sized differently and some diapers will work better than others.  And, of course, things change.   But I started with a huge kid who went tiny who went huge again and Rumparooz and pop-in always fit and never leaked.  We were the third kid to use the pop-ins and the elastic lasted almost to the bitter end and the rumparooz’s elastic never broke down on me.  

[Ailaena]

I also wanted to say that I never pre-made a diaper unless we were going out, I just threw a liner in as we needed them.   The rumparooz did go right in; took a couple of seconds.  Pop-ins just snapped in, so that was easy.

Definitely second the trial but remind her not to be hard in herself if she uses disposables for the first couple of weeks while they get into a routine.

And CONGRATS!!

Edited January 8, 2021 by Ailaena

[mom2scouts]

I used cloth diapers for all of my kids starting with pins and vinyl pants to the snap pocket diapers. I loved BumGenius diapers and that's what I used with my youngest. My son and DIL tried a few different cloth diapers for my grandbaby and they ended up with BunGenius too.

[happypamama]

Congrats!

 

I've done various things over the last 19 years, but for my youngest, now 2, I went with prefolds and made PUL velcro covers, mostly with flannel linings. I have made many diapers over the years, so making covers was easy. My wipes are flannel squares too. I'm very pleased, and leaking has not been a big issue; I do use hemp boosters at night. (Or at least I did; he's only 25 months but basically potty-taught himself a couple of months ago, hasn't used diapers during the day except the time I took him to the dentist because covid means we don't go anywhere, and almost always has a dry diaper at night so no booster needed.  I have no idea how I got this!)

[mum]

Thank you all. I appreciate it. If anyone else has any other thoughts to add, please chime in!

[wathe]

My favourites were Mother-ease Sandy's with Mother-ease Airflow covers.  They are a fitted diaper with separate cover system.

I feel like we tried it all - from a few pockets (Fuzibunz, Bumgenius), to prefolds with pins and wool covers.

The Sandy's were the clear winner.  Almost as easy as an all-in-one or pocket to put on the kid (great for grandparents or other occasional caregivers), truly leak-proof and blow-out proof (as trialed by a breast-fed baby that pooped once every 10 days - he really tested the limits), easy to wash, indestructible, easy to get on a wiggly baby, easy to get on a kid in an awkward posture (can change a toddler or older baby while they are standing up) and the added bonus of being able to pull up and down like a pull-up (great for toilet training!).  And made in Canada.

The only disadvantage is that they are definitely not the cutest-looking or trimmest-fitting thing out there (maybe even down-right ugly).

 

[LauraClark]

Congrats!  We are currently cloth diapering baby boy #4 and we use something similar to Thirsties covers with prefold diapers.  I guess it really depends on what they want.  We have a couple of pocket diapers, but like others above have mentioned, we found them to be kind of a pain to use.  For us, cost was the biggest consideration - in fact, I ended up making my own covers (covers with prefolds are the cheapest route).  I'm totally not trying to drum up business (I seriously sell like 2 a year  - it's not a big money maker ;) ), but I did try to make a business out of it.  I mention that only because I have a facebook page where I put a lot of information and some videos that might help the parents decide on what kind of diaper they want (covers/pocket diapers/all in ones).  Figuring that out might be a good place to start. Here's a link to the videos I mentioned: https://www.facebook.com/search/videos/?q=clark%20cloth   We felt very overwhelmed by all of the options when we were first looking, so if they have questions send me a message and I'll gladly share my personal contact info and answer anything I can.

[Soror]

On 1/8/2021 at 8:22 PM, happypamama said:

Congrats!

 

I've done various things over the last 19 years, but for my youngest, now 2, I went with prefolds and made PUL velcro covers, mostly with flannel linings. I have made many diapers over the years, so making covers was easy. My wipes are flannel squares too. I'm very pleased, and leaking has not been a big issue; I do use hemp boosters at night. (Or at least I did; he's only 25 months but basically potty-taught himself a couple of months ago, hasn't used diapers during the day except the time I took him to the dentist because covid means we don't go anywhere, and almost always has a dry diaper at night so no booster needed.  I have no idea how I got this!)

 

9 minutes ago, LauraClark said:

Congrats!  We are currently cloth diapering baby boy #4 and we use something similar to Thirsties covers with prefold diapers.  I guess it really depends on what they want.  We have a couple of pocket diapers, but like others above have mentioned, we found them to be kind of a pain to use.  For us, cost was the biggest consideration - in fact, I ended up making my own covers (covers with prefolds are the cheapest route).  I'm totally not trying to drum up business (I seriously sell like 2 a year  - it's not a big money maker 😉 ), but I did try to make a business out of it.  I mention that only because I have a facebook page where I put a lot of information and some videos that might help the parents decide on what kind of diaper they want (covers/pocket diapers/all in ones).  Figuring that out might be a good place to start. Here's a link to the videos I mentioned: https://www.facebook.com/search/videos/?q=clark%20cloth   We felt very overwhelmed by all of the options when we were first looking, so if they have questions send me a message and I'll gladly share my personal contact info and answer anything I can.

I exclusively cloth diapered all of mine and used CPF's, some IPF's and some flats. They were economical, work great, last forever, and imo easy to use. I tried some of the all in ones and ones with inserts over the years I was never impressed with their absorbency. I'd still recommend going the PF and flat route, although I know there are all kinds of new things out there.

[LauraClark]

1 minute ago, Soror said:

 

I exclusively cloth diapered all of mine and used CPF's, some IPF's and some flats. They were economical, work great, last forever, and imo easy to use. I tried some of the all in ones and ones with inserts over the years I was never impressed with their absorbency. I'd still recommend going the PF and flat route, although I know there are all kinds of new things out there.

Yes - "last forever"!  Although our current washing machine seems to be doing a good job of eating them...  But with the previous washing machine we had we kept our prefolds (and we also had some flats) for 2.5 babies.  Now they last about 1 baby 😞  But most of the covers have made it through all 4 babies.