Cloth Diapering and Bum Genius 4.0 All-In-Ones

I found to be too bulky on my newborns, and I had big babies (8'15 and 9'10). Newborn prefolds worked best for us until mine were about 6 weeks old.

I am a prefolds gal, but I do second disposables at night, especially as they get older, and no one wants to change diapers at night. As far as the umbilical stump either get a few prefolds and small covers and fold down low or just wait until it falls off. I know several people really like BG.

I used Fuzzi Bunz and really liked them. They are similar to the Bum Genius, but have snaps instead of velcro. I would recommend that before you buy a huge stash of diapers you try several different ones on your baby. Buy one or two of each of the brands that you are interested in (or borrow from friends if you can). Then wait until he is born. Every baby is different and diapers are made different. I liked the Fuzzi Bunz and I borrowed some Bun Genius to try. Neither fit my newborn very well (they were both the one size fits all). But the Fuzzi buns were great on my daughter once she got a little bit bigger.

I used Allen's Naturally detergent. It was one of the recommended detergents by Fuzzi Bunz and I liked it. I also would use oxyclean or vinegar every once in a while.

I would highly recommend that you get a sprayer to attach to your toilet (like the sprayer you have on your kitchen sink). You can buy a kit from the different cloth diaper companies or you can just to go Home Depot and buy the parts you will need there. It really helps to clean off the diapers before they go in your washing machine.

When washing it was recommended to me to run the diapers through a cold water rinse cycle first with NO detergent. That removes any waste that is left on the diaper. Then wash with hot water and your detergent. That seemed to work really well for me.

I have BG 2. I don't like them on newborns. In fact, I rarely use all in ones on newborns. They work best from about 2 months on. I have newborn diapers, and then tons on all in ones for when they are older.

But I'll be honest, I clothed my oldest 100% of the time, and my son about 95% of the time. With my newest, I'm using mostly disposable. Part of the reason is that my newborn diapers aren't fleece, so they don't wick away moister very well-- even with fleece liners. This makes baby wake up more often, and teaching them to sleep from the beginning is important to me. So I actually don't use any cloth at night, and I have my second baby doing 8 hour blocks by 6 weeks. I spent lots of money trying to find the perfect night system, and I never found one. By 9 months or so, they just pee too much for cloth at night, unless you change them during the night.

Once my daughter gains another pound or so, I will start using my cloth all the time, but for now, it's just easier to use disposables.

I cloth diapered my son from 6mos old until 18 months. I used G-diapers which I dont' recommend (lots of leaking and the liners get stretched out easily). I know a lot of people who used Bum Genius and they loved them, my sister included. May be a little pricier than others but worth it in the long run.

I used a waterproof laundry bag, not sure of the brand but it worked great containing the smell. I could dump the diapers in the washer and the bag, I didn't do any pre-soaking or anything. Throw some white vinegar in the wash along with an all natural detergent, white vinegar does wonders for odor control.

Newborn all-in-ones might not be worth it since you'll only use them 2 months tops unless you find some used, you could always try prefolds with the plastic cover since its so much cheaper, that's what I plan to do with my next little one.

I also highly recommend a water sprayer which you attach right to the toilet, works great for #2 without getting elbow deep in poop. They cost about $40. I thought it was worth the investment.

I used prefolds til the pocket diapers fit. If you do prefolds you definitely want to get a few Snappi's, much easier than the traditional diaper pins. All of mine are pocket diapers, but I heard that the all in-ones take forever to air dry. This does not include prefolds and I don't know if it's true, but I was told not to put diapers in the dryer because they might not hold up as well or last as long. I'm still trying out detergents. I'm currently using Zum from HyVee in the whole foods section. It smells really good! And I agree with other posts to get a diaper prayer once your baby starts eating solids. Much easier to spray off the poop than to dunk the diaper in the toilet like my mom used to have to do!

We had some trouble with detergent residue after a few months (in 2007) so I started using Country Save. I use less than one teaspoon of it rather than the recommended two tablespoons. I use it for all of my laundry so that our washer doesn't get residue in it. It doesn't have added fragrances, so our clothes don't smell much at all. I now prefer that to the chemical smell of fabric softeners!

Contrary to another poster, I have preferred cloth to disposable at night. Disposables tend to leak for us at night, whereas putting another doubler in the nighttime diaper helps a lot with cloth leakage.

Rather than a diaper sprayer, we have used imse vimse flushable liners. I have liked using the liners, but would perhaps have preferred to use a diaper sprayer instead. If the liners are just pottied in, then I put them in a lingerie bag, wash them, and reuse them.

Because in absolutely hate throwing things away also, I use cloth diapers when we go out of the house also. That means we have a couple of wet bags that are designed to hold 4ish diapers. They are of course washable with the diapers. And it is super easy to use cloth wipes. We just have old baby washcloths from garage sales. Rather than make a wipe solution, I keep them in a drawer in the bathroom and get a few wet right before I am going to change a diaper. More money savings, fewer chemicals, and less trash!

I have used fitted diapers with wool and waterproof covers but have not used bum genius.

I do prefolds with diaper covers. It's much cheaper that way. Try greenmountaindiapers.com for a variety of diapers at good prices.