Cloth Diapers.....

yOU MIGHT LOOK UP G-diapers....they are supposed to be more environmentally friendly...and who knows, perhaps the younger one will see what's happening with the older one and follow suit......well, one could hope !! There's one here that's 26 mos and was doing fine, only sleeping in diapers at 14 mos, then Christmastime he forgot the whole process, and we're back to pull-ups. Oh, and his brother is 4 and a half....best of luck !! Boys will be boys .

I used cloth diapers with my youngest - who is 20 now! - because he was allergic to the disposables. Yes it was LOTS cheaper and not all that hard. They make diaper liners (which are biodegradable) that you just flush like toilet paper. That helps with having to rinse the poop out of the cloth. They also make wonderful diaper covers that use velcro instead of pins. You might have to look online for a distributor but they are not hard to find. Good luck!

I used cloth dipers years ago with my 20 year old but if you dont get all the amonnia out of them its h*** o* their skin.my daughter had several birth defects and was three when we got her potty trained and still needed dipers at nite.personally I'd rather use the disposables just keep cloth on hand for emergencys thats what I did with the other two.but if I was going to use cloth I'd use a diper service so you know the amonnia is out.its a mater of personal prefrance.eather way rasing a child isnt cheap.

Hi L., Disposable diapers were a novelty when my first boys were born in 1970 and '72, so I've had quite a lot of experience with them. I used cloth for thoe most part with my other two kids too. If you can find cloth diaper liners-a soft thin sheet that allows you to wrap up stool and flush it down the toilet, that's very helpful. Other than disposing of stool that sticks to the cloth diapers, using them is great. I feel guilty tossing away paper diapers, though they are wonderfully convenient. You know you'll have to keep a diaper pail: I liked using a dilute bleach solution for odor control in mine. Then I'd dump the dirty diapers in that solution in the washer and just run it though a rinse and spin cycle before washing in a regular cycle. A natural and inexpensive fabric softener is vinegar--just an ounce or so for the rinse. You'll have soft, fresh diapers to cuddle your babies in. I think it saves a good bit of money, and since a dry diaper feels wonderful, and a wet diaper feels awful--you'll have less trouble convincing your boys to switch to cute little boy underwear!

We've been using G diapers and we love them! A lot of people buy the covers and use cloth prefolds in them and have a lot of success. Then you can keep a pack of the flushables around for traveling or going out if you want. www.gdiapers.com

Stitch your cloth diapers - (glad others are thinking of the savings) ----
I used cloth diapers with my two. The best idea that I had was to fold each diaper three times and stitch a big X from corner to corner using a sewing machine. This kept them folded and saved so much time washing, drying and folding. At first when I started using the unsewn diapers, the tangled pile was crazy to fold but this way you have the stitched diaper (about 19x12) that only needs to be folded once and the stack is much easier to handle and put away.

I kept the soiled ones in a plastic bucket with a lid and had no problem with that either. I washed them in the toilet and we were all healthy with no residual problems with that either. Good luck.

I have used cloth diapers for about 5.5 years now. They have really come a long way! With the age of your child I would suggest a pocket diaper -- probably fuzzi bunz or maybe Bumgenius. Fuzzi Bunz were our favorites...we tried and used everything but they were best and easiest. I think if you buy 12-18 diapers and wash every few days it does save money over disposables over the long run -- and then when you are done with them, sell them! That is what I have done and made almost all of my money back! It is unbelievable. Fuzzi Bunz are very good at not leaking and they are easy to wash and put on/use. They are just like dispoables except you snap them on (Bumgenius uses velcro). You should check out http://www.cottontailbaby.com/category_57/Fuzzi-Bunz.htm They have package deals on pocket diapers (including Fuzzi Bunz) and the mama that owns that store is super nice and great at customer service. You would also get free shipping if you bought a package and no sales tax (I believe) because they are located in Florida. :)

you should try Bum Genius diapers. they are so great and defintly save money. you can buy a nuetral color of their one size fits all and then use it for all your kids and even sell it when your done. they range from 12 - 17 $ depending where you find them and whether or not used. take a look there great!

The diapers that have the cloth outside and the biodegradable, flushable insides are awesome.. they have them at whole foods... still convient and good for the environment

ALSO, RE: the study cited about how cloth isn't actually better for the environment - a big flaw of that study is it did not take into account the resources used in the MANUFACTURING of disposables. If you look at a true beginning-to-end comparison, cloth comes out ahead. and I'm pretty sure that study was paid for by Proctor & Gamble :)

There are a lot of options out there, but that is a good thing!

We recently went through a spell of using disposables and YES! cloth is cheaper! It KILLED me to throw out a diaper every time I changed him, money down the drain and what a waste.

We use all-in-ones (functions like a disposable - all one piece, waterproof outer layer) and pockets (similar but you put as much absorbency as you need inside the diaper - dries much more quickly and can customize heavier for nights, etc.). When LO was an infant we did fitteds and covers but not much anymore. I currently really like the bumgenius 3.0 one size pocket and fuzzi bunz. they aren't cheap, but you can get decent deals online - ebay has unused ones and sites like diaperswappers.com has used ones for sale. If you wanted to see some in person, I would check out the Red Hen in Carrboro (but call first to see if they have any in stock) and the boutique at the women's birth & wellness center in chapel hill (also call first). you can also sometimes find some on craigslist. and then you can sell them when you're done!

I would recommend getting a couple different ones, just a few, and see how you like them. good luck!

I am considering cloth diapers for the twins I'm pregnant with as well. I have used disposables with my 2 year old, but since two little ones at the same time will cost so much in diapers I think I may give it a try. I hear Bummies are the best based on what people I know personally say.

As far as the environment goes, from what I've read, cloth diapers actually aren't any better for the environment than disposables. Yes, disposables take up landfill space, which is terrible, but the water and energy it takes to wash all of the cloth diapers is just as bad. I read a study whose intention was to prove how much worse disposables were, but in the end they couldn't do that. Also, I read an article in a parenting magazine recently that said the same thing, but they did offer a very environmentally friendly option, which is the G Diaper....it has disposable inserts that you can either flush or throw away, and they biodegrade in fifty days. I would use them, but they are a little more expensive than disposables, and I've got to go for whatever is the most cost efficient for us...which I think is cloth.

L.-

I used cloth diapers when my boys were little. They are messy to clean up from a bowel movement (I would swish around in the toilet) but that's really the only drawback I can remember. I always felt too that having cloth against their skin had to feel better than plastic. I only used disposable diapers when we travelled. Since my granddaughter has come along (she's 8 months) it seems that cloth diapers are next to impossible to find. Maybe with more people becoming aware of the environment they'll make a comeback.

We've been using BumGenius 2.0 pocket diapers for a year and up until recently I've loved it.

We started with the gDiapers, but they were more expensive AND more work than either disposables or cloth diapers AND you can't flush the outer liner so it still made no sense to me.

We invested $400 in the BumGenius after a short stint with the gDiapers, as well as purchasing a box of Allen's Naturally Detergent (you can't use regular detergent with CD), a diaper pail, two liners, two wetbags, a bottle of aveda tea tree oil for the pail, and a bottle of original Dawn to strip. I had to have the detergent shipped from Amazon as we don't have anywhere within 100 miles that sells detergents safe to use with CDs. All told we've spent an initial investment of $550. Now I say initial bc I strongly believe our energy costs have risen since I'm doing a load of diapers every other day. "A load" involves two full wash cycles, an extra rinse cycle, and then dryer time. Also, they recommend you bleach the dipes every month and strip every two months.

We have recently gone to line drying the dipes, altho it takes at least a day to do so AND you can only do it on sunny days which in Kentucky is about one out of every 5 this time of year. I feel lousy about the extra water and energy we're using to wash the dipes, but we're no longer drying.....and here's why:
The dryer works great, except it "dries" in a leftover odor which, over time, has grown so great despite the chemical bleaching (which btw I never liked the idea of and irritates my daughter's skin anyway) that I just started sticking them outside hanging off the deck to dry bc I couldn't stand the latrine smell that came from the dryer. SURPRISE! The UV from the sun kills 90% of that and if I hang the drying rack over by the hyacinths the dipes actually smell like sunshine and flowers the next few days.

We originally purchased 24 BGs with an eye toward more as the budget allowed. We found, however, that if I keep on top of the laundry, the 24 have been sufficient. Still, it would be nice to have another dozen to be able to better cope with emergencies, accidents, prolonged bouts of diarrhea, etc. (She had rotovirus for three weeks and while we had NO leakage with the BG, we finally had to go to disposables bc we couldn't keep up with the demand as we were chaning diapers at least every hour. The disposables, btw, leaked EVERYWHERE. I did at least three bed and clothing changes a day, have it on my carpet, traded between car seats as she filled those every time she was in one.....) I would recommend at least 36.

Do remember that CD babies tend to potty train earlier. Most of the ones I know personally were trained by 18 months. Also, at this stage it might be better to consider training pants instead of investing in diapers, but that's obviously up to you.

Why I'm currently disenchanted with BGs:
Despite a single bad review I read from a long-time user who said that she went through two sets and every single one had the very necessary elastic fall apart, I went ahead and purchased them and have been VERY HAPPY WITH THEM. I feel like we got our money's worth out them, which is good considering mine are also now stretched out and leaking due to bad elastic. I had intended to use them with additional children in the future and while the inserts are certainly usable, the diapers are not going to be. Which means either we start over AGAIN or go back to disposables which our budget does not allow for......

I also don't like that the BGs are all synthetic. Although, we tried organic and natural fiber diapers and they caused my very allergic baby to get horrible rashes. Something else to think about....

The most expensive way, and also the best, is to do Diaper Service Quality (DSQ) prefolds with the service. I've heard great things, but again, too spensive and not offered in our area.

I highly recommend buying used first on eBay or craigslist to try out several different brands, then invest with the one that's right for you and your child. If you're interested in BG, check out cottonbabies.com. Also, I got most of my other diaper necessities from nickisdiapers.com.

A diaper swapping site with TONS of information: diaperpin.com

I recommend having 24-36 diaper sets. The poopy ones you rinse out in the toilet and flush when you're done, then throw the dipe in the diaper pail. Also, we use disposable liners that allow you to just pick up the liner and flush....no washing. Clear and Free detergent will NOT work - regular detergent ruins CD.

good luck!

Hi L.,

I wanted to add that I second the bum genius recommendation's. I've used bg 2.0's for our youngest up until she outgrew them. I just recently sold all my bg's on diaper swappers and got more than 1/2 of what I invested back. You can't do that with disposables. I've used the money I made on those sales to purchase some bg 3.0's since they are a one size diaper and some fuzzi bunz. I also interchange with prefolds and diaper covers too and find that I enjoy cloth diapering. I say give it a go...if it doesn't work for you you'll be able to sell them.

I am using cloth diapers on my baby. Prefolds with plastic pants and wonder wraps. I have around 50 or more prefolds and use cloth wipes that were made out of receiving blankets from a second hand store. Poop happens and sometimes you have to change all the baby's clothes but you save money. The more diapers and covers you have the less you have to wash. I keep my son's in a diaper pail with a waterproof army clothes bag. And I use Borax laundry booster and dreft detergent. My son can't wear disposable diapers so cloth is best for him and for our wallets. Its work but its worth it.

Hi L.! We recently had to make the switch to cloth diapers for our little girl. I shopped around to make sure I was getting the best deals. I recommend cottonbabies.com and comfybummy.com. ComfyBummy had the best advice and recommendations on different diapers, and cotton babies had the best deals on everything. What I did was purchase two "bundle" sets from cotton babies. One was the "diaper sampler" package which included one "happy heiny" (which is a pocket diaper, one "bumGenius" one-size diaper, 2 cotton babies mircofiber inserts, one bumgenius all-in-one, one little beetle fitted diaper, one Kissaluvs contour diaper, one kissaluvs fitted diaper, and one Proraps classic diaper cover. All of those were $92.00. Then I also purchased a "just the basics" package for $59.99 that also included 12 premium Indian prefolds, 4 Dappi covers, 1 BumGenius one size diaper, and 2 Snappis. When around the house I use the prefolds or kissaluvs with a diaper cover. I save the others for town outtings, church, etc. The "little beetles" diaper is very good for over night when paired with a diaper cover. I also really like the Happy Heiny pocket diaper. Just slide the insert inside the diaper, and it's really good for quite awhile. The bumgenius all in one diapers are a lot less bulky. With all the other types, my daughter went up a size for pants & shorts because the cloth diapers take up alot of room, so be prepared for that. In the month that we have used cloth diapers so far, with all of these different ones, there have not been any leaking accidents. With the two packages I bought, I only have to wash every other day. Good luck!
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ADD-ON! I soak the soiled diapers immediately in the bathroom sink, then add with the wet diapers which I keep in a small bathroom size trash can w/lid or tied inside a plastic bag. i also keep some little plastic bags in the diaper bag for mess-ups or changes while out and about. For laundry detergent, I use Melaleuca's Mela-power, which is eco-friendly and free of all those enzymes that basically distroy cloth diapers. Since I already used that detergent, I didn't have to buy anything different, and it is a concentrated detergent, so one 96 ounce bottle is good for 96 loads of laundry! One bottle is about $15 or you can get two bottles for $28. Ordering online and having them ship to my door also helps with gas and not having to drag the kids out.
Other detergent tips: You'll need to do some label reading, but not all labels are honest in listing ingredients so read all the packaging. If the package says "brightens colors" or has whiteners or brighteners, or "optical or UV brighteners", avoid it. That actually eliminates many of the mainstream laundry detergents, including both All and Purex "Free and Clear". Avoid anything that says "keeps clothes fresh longer" or similar. That stuff, like Gain, is not rinsing out and causes buildup and possibly rashes. Your laundry detergent choice is important. More excellent detergent advice can be found here: http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/washing-diapers.htm
Or you can even make your own detergent and save even more $$. See here for recipes: http://www.diaperjungle.com/homemade-laundry-detergent.html

Hi L.

How wonderful that you're going to use cloth diapers! I had great luck using cloth diapers with my daughter, who is now almost 4. In fact, I believe that cloth diapers helped her potty train very easily because she was always aware when she was wet.

We used Fuzzy Bunz brand, as well as Bumkins all in one. The Fuzzy Bunz were good for night time because we could put double diapers inside. The Green Mother Goods store in Boone has a nice selection too. We usually bought about 15 -18 diapers in her size. If your budget allows, I would recommend buying one each of several brands to find the one that fits best and suits your needs.

We rinsed soiled diapers in the toilet and then put them in the washer for a rinse cycle. Then the wet diaper went in the Diaper Genie with the pee pee diapers until we had enough for a small load. I think clear and free detergent would be just fine. You might consider an extra rinse cycle. It's fine to put diapers in the dryer, and also great to hang diapers out in the sun.

We carried several zip lock bags with us when we went out and just put wet diapers in there until we got home. We did use disposable diapers for overnight trips if we weren't going to have immediate access to a washing machine.

This websites: http://www.bummis.com/en/BummisKit-UserGuide.pdf and
http://www.bumkins.com/pdf/diaperguide.pdf have some good information about how to wash and care for cloth diapers.

Good luck!

K. W

Hello L.,

I used cloth diapers one my older son. There were two that I particular favored. One was a cloth with extra padding in the middle. The other were those that snapped. I used both the rubber panties and those that fastened with velcro. The ones w/ velcro were very nice. Remember to keep some bleach water in the diaper pail and rinse out the poo before it goes in.

L., check out these articles about cloth diapers. They give you the breakdown in price (including maintainence) and are very helpful in making a decision.

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2008/03/17/cloth-diapering...

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2008/04/05/inspired-by-car...

We started using cloth diapers when my son was about six months old and I wish we had starting sooner. I prefer BumGenius 3.0 (Cottonbabies.com) because the size is adjustable. You can use the same diaper on a new born as you can on an older baby. They're easy to wash and use. I would recommend at least a dozen diapers. You have to wash them about every other day or they get stinky, so you don't really need a lot of them.

My biggest concern was scraping poop. I was delighted to find that I can shake it out over the toilet and the pooh just falls out, most times. It's not bad at all! I keep them in a small hamper with a lid in my laundry room until I'm ready to wash them. I always do a rinse cycle first and then wash them in hot water - they say to use special detergent but I just use a little bit of Tide. Then I run it through another rinse cycle to make sure all the soap is gone. Then they go right in the dryer! No fabric softeners, though.

I bought a small "wet bag" (from cottonbabies) that I fold up and keep in my diaper bag just in case we have an extreme poop situation away from home. I just put everything in the wet bag, and put it back in the diaper bag until we get home. It keeps the pooh and the smell inside.

I also purchased 5 extra pad inserts (not sure what they're officially called) and I stuff two in my son's diaper at night because he doesn't wake up for a diaper change until morning. Double stuffing it like this makes him looks like he has a big pumpkin butt. What a cutie!

I will definitely use these on our future babies. We love them!

~H.~

We use Mother Ease and love them. I have two boys, the eldest is almost potty trained, and find them easy and affordable. Here is the break down. With MotherEase it is a one size fits all, so the set you buy will last you until you are potty trained. We keep them in a seperate hamper with a fabric/fish net bag in it so that air can circulate. You will need to wash them every three days or so, so the odor really never becomes on issue. Free all and clear works perfect, unless it turns out your child is super sensitive. Just wash one full cycle on hot and then one on warm. Line dry in the sun to bleach any poop stains out. When out and about we have a dry bag we bought that is water proof, but a used grocery bag will work just as well. Scrap the poop out into the toilet or a trash bag before you put it in the hamper. You can also purchas liners if you want that are disposable. Good Luck. Although they are a little more work, I feel they are worth the effort not only for environmental reasons, and financial, but also health for everyone. Let me know if you have any other questions. PS - you can sometimes find used cloth at consignment shops, ebay, and Craigslist.

Hi there! I give the absolute highest recommendation to FuzziBunz, and I see several other people responding to you give the same advice. They are very soft and there's no velcro to rub the baby's skin. My kids both have skinny legs, so there was a little bit of gaping around the thigh during some points in their growth. But overall, these diapers are very soft, work as they should, save you money, and are easy to launder. I bought micro fleece terry inserts to put inside the diapers and also a few "liners" to go between baby's bottom and the diaper for the times when a yeast infection cream was necessary (these creams goo-up the microfleece of the diaper, so you don't want it touching the diaper directly).

For the really yucky poo problems, you can install (this is REALLY not hard) a little mini shower onto your toilet (like the one on your kitchen sink). You then can hold the diaper over the toilet and flush it with the shower before putting it into a diaper pail. But, I'm also here to admit that many times I just threw yucky, yucky loads into the washing machine with a minimum of pre-cleaning. It really is ok. Launder them on hot.

Don't dry your FuzziBunz on high heat. Line dry them or put them on low so that the moisture-wicking properties are retained. Also, no softeners. I used a mild detergent, I think--but double check on that. I used FuzziBunz for years very successfully and did NOT "ruin" a diaper by laundering it incorrectly. I mean, I made a couple of mistakes, but it doesn't really ruin the diaper unless you launder incorrectly several times. The most important thing is never to use creams. I did ruin a diaper that way once. Always use the liners if you need to put diaper cream or medicine on the child's rear.

I would buy at least 12 diapers in each size, but be warned that you won't be using the smallest ones for very long. So you could wait until the baby is more of a "medium." Once the baby isn't growing so fast, you really start to save $$$. Remember, you can RESELL FuzziBunz for a decent price at kids' consignment sales. I made much of my money back reselling the diapers, liners, and inserts.

Please feel free to contact me with questions. I am a big FuzziBunz fan, although I fell into using them accidentally and had never planned on using cloth.

L. W.

way to go, cloth rocks. get a kitchen trash can with a tight fitting lid, and a cloth pail liner(available at the places you order your dipes) also you will need something to scrape the poo off your dipes. i use a plastic spatula thing. when you change the dipe, scrape the poo in the toilet, and drop into the pail. if your pail starts to stink with the lid on, add a small scoop of baking soda. when you are down to about five dipes, put the dipes and pail liner in the wash, do a cold cycle with about 2 tablespoons baking soda, then a hot wash with half the amount of detergent, then one extra rinse and either line dry or pop in the dryer. i use my own home made laundry soap, but even the free and clear ones you get at the store can build up on your dipes and decrease the absorbancy. planet, and charlies are good, or if you would like i can give you my recipe for laundry soap. good luck, and im so glad cloth is coming back.

Hi L.,

I used almost exclusively cloth diapers with my daughter. I found that they were not much trouble and feel they did save me money and didn't contribute all those dispoables to the landfill. I tried a couple of different kinds and the ones that I liked best were a little pricey, but if we have other children I would use them again. They are called Bum Genius and are made by Cotton Babies. I chose to use the one-size style that fits from 6lbs to 35lbs (by adjusting as you little one grows. They are a pocket diaper with an insert but does not require an additional diaper cover. They are flexible and seemed to fit snugly around my daughters legs so that we rarely had leakage. I have been very happy withe the quality of the product and the staff is very helpful if you have questions (I called once with a question since my diapers were starting to retain a smell - which was my fault - and in the process told them that the elastic in the very first one that I had ordered was losing it's elasticity and she said I should look into returning it).

These diapers can be washed in you washer in hot water. You do need to be careful of the type of detergent that you use. You can not use detergents that have any kind of softeners. There are three or four detergents that they recommend. I found one and used it only for my diapers so the box lasted quite awhile.

These diapers were so easy to use and effective that our day care was willing to use them. I think I invested about $200 dollars in cloth diapers and used them for over a year until she was potty trained. You can find more info at cottonbabies.com.

Hope this helps.
S.

I used Fuzzi Bunz with our little boy, and loved them! Happy Heinies were also good, but Fuzzi Bunz have a slightly different shape which worked better on our son's thinner frame. They may seem expensive at first glance, but they pay for themselves once you consider how much disposable diapers cost. After about month of disposables (give or take), you've already spent the same amount as a cloth diaper, only then you still have a year to go! Both Fuzzi Bunz and Happy Heinies worked great... kept moisture away from the skin, good leak protection, etc. I recommend also getting a Minishower diaper sprayer... it hooks onto the side of your toilet tank and is a little hose with sprayer so you can just spray off the diaper into the toilet and then toss it in your diaper pail. (Can't imagine trying to clean a poopy diaper without that handy thing!) Good luck to you, and congratulations on making a great choice for your pocketbook and the environment!

I have 19 month old twins and have used cloth diaopers since they were born. It is definitely cheaper, even using a daiper service. I use MHC services and bought my own covers which I wash at home. You can also rent covers but it is less expensive to buy and wash your own. There is no rinsing or anything...you just put the entire diaper, poop and all, in your bin which is lined with bags they provide, then they pick up and drop off once a week.

I'd be happy to answer more questions if you have them - H. :)

L., we just switched to cloth a couple weeks ago and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!! When we were thinking about switching a friend said that the only regret she had was not switching sooner and now that is the only regret I have!

We're using mainly pocket diapers. My favorites are our Pocket Change ones but I also have a Fuzzi Bunz, and a Haute Pocket.

When I ordered I got one of a few different kinds to see which I liked best. And then made my decision from there. I got a few pre-folds, 2 covers, 2 fitted, and 3 pockets. I knew I didn't want AIOs because of the longer drying time.

There are still a few things I want to try.

Personally I think you can definitely save money even though the start up cost seems like a lot.

I would HIGHLY recommend at least giving it a shot. I feel so much better putting them on her. Her butt is less red (although we didn't have a big problem with diaper rash with disposables), there aren't all kinds of nasty chemicals on her butt, and they are sooo soft!

You can find some websites that do trial packages www.jilliansdrawers.com is one that has a great trial package in my opinion. It would give you a chance to try a few different things for a relatively cheap price. You you can buy a few of everything and sell what you don't like.

Feel free to PM me if you need any more information.

A friend recommends www.cottonbabies.com

And she LOVES Bum Genius! The website is awesome.

L., I am a 51 year old who used cloth diapers with my first child over thirty years ago. I am not going to lie and tell you that they aren't a lot more work then disposables but if you are looking to save money, cloth is the way to go. I don't even know if you can buy diaper pails or the outer "rubber pants" to protect from the wet diapers. But I for one loved using the cloth diapers and the way they looked on my baby. I know it sounds old fashioned but I even loved washing them and hanging them on the clothes line. They smelled so fresh and the sun helped to keep them bleached white. You could always keep the disposables on hand for day trips, church and other travels. Hope this helped. L. Ann R

I've used cloth diapers for a few years now -- I started when my older son was 7 months old, and still use them on my younger son (he's almost 2, but is potty-training). I got Chinese prefolds and diaper pins from clothdiaper.com, and nylon (not vinyl!!) diaper pants from tlcare.com. I bought 3 dozen "regular" sized diapers and I'm still using them. When my younger son was born, I bought 4 dozen "infant" sized diapers as well, and sometimes use those as "doublers." I chose as I did to save money -- by the time you buy all the sizes of diapers and diaper covers, *some brands* of diapers rival the cost of disposables. I'm satisfied with my choice.

I always use two diapers on my son (fold the inside one so that it's most absorbent up front), because one just doesn't hold enough any more at his age. When we're out, and when he sleeps at night, I use disposables because they hold more, and I don't have to change him.

Cloth diapers are a bit more work, but not that much more usually -- you have to change them a bit more frequently, and rinse out the poopy diapers, and you'll have another load or two of laundry a week. I use the clothes dryer for mine, because they just seem too stiff and uncomfortable air-dried (using softeners makes the diapers not absorbent).

We have a newborn and use them. We use mostly prefold dipes and they are the most economical route to go. We ordered from both Green Mountain Diapers and Little Lions (the prefolds were about $1/piece from LL). For easier clean-up we also use Kushies Flushable inserts. I ordered those from Wmart.com or I think you can get them at Amazon (it was about $12 for 200 sheets). You can just remove the insert and flush it down the toilet! I think Bum Genius makes this diaper sprayer thing that mounts on your toilet (like a kitchen sprayer) to spray off dipes). I also bought several pocket diapers and all in one diapers from www.diaperswappers.com and through craigslist.
We use a free and clear detergent and line dry (but fluff in the dryer afterwards).
It is a money saver. I still use a disposable at night sometimes because I'm just not great at preventing the leaks yet. I also have some g diapers but my little one isn't quite large enough for the leg holes to be secure and prevent nastiness.
I have a small wet bag for when we travel but so far I've just used g diapers or disposables when we travel (I got some 'sposies as shower gifts and am just kind of using them up).
We keep our dirty dipes in a pail...it's a $15 Safety 1st pail from Babies R Us. I line it with a wet bag (I got mine from Amazon--about $15) and then throw the dipes and the bag in the wash all at once.
It's really not that bad! I'm no expert though.