Trying Cloth Diapers.... Any Suggestions?

I use bumGenius 3.0 and have for the last 21 months...and L. them! I have two children 21 months and 6 months...and they work great and adjust to all sizes. The good news is my husband does the laundry so all I do is stuff them. Neither of my kids has ever had a diaper rash and I am convinced it is because of the cloth diapers.

You should be excited. Cloth is cool! I used cloth on both my kids and wouldn't change a thing!

I bought some thick, heavy diaper service quality diapers off ebay and some reusable nylon diaper covers along with diaper pins. We used plain water to wipe down B. instead of those chemical wipes.

Washing instructions should come with the diapers. You will save money and the environment. I feel good about putting cotton against my sons skin. I didn't do those fancy diapers. Mine worked just fine and best thing is, when your done, give them away to another mom or use them as rags. Talk about a long life...

Anyway, if you need washing tips, just email me. I got it down since I used them for basically 7 years...

Cloth diapering is great. I found www.diaperpin.com to be the most helpful. Lots of reviews and helpful advice. I ended up using the most basic- found it very easy- the prefolds and prorap covers. Not glamorous but super absorbent and CHEAP!

However, if you're dealing with yeast, cloth diapers may not actually help. My newborn has been fighting off thrush for 2 months now and the Dr. Sears website said that yeast can survive in garments, even after washing, so I had to BOIL my bras (since my newborn's nursing can infect me and re-infect him, etc.) and any burpcloths, etc. For cloth diapers they advised drying them in sunlight, because that kills the yeast, but your washer and dryer won't.

Hope this helps!

I use the bumGenius 3.0 one size diapers, and have for the last two years. One size diapers are great because they grow with your B., you can easily change the size, and they last from 7 to 35 pounds. They are pocket diapers, which are great because you decide how big of an insert to put in, depending on how much they pee, nighttime, etc.

I have 24, although 18 would have done it for me. When my son was younger, I would wash them every 3 days, now it is every 4 days. Pocket diapers suck the wetness into the insert, so the diaper doesn't really feel wet to the child, you shouldn't need to change them 10-12 times a day, we often do every 2 hours, but 3 hours is ok too (sometimes we forget and go longer). I also bought cloth wipes and reusable diaper liners, you just throw everything in your lined pail, and then wash all of it. They do save money, and you aren't putting all of the nasty chemicals on them. We just use water on the wipes, but I know other people make their own wipe spray, or buy it. We don't have any diaper rash issues, never have.

Here is a link to good diaper detergents: http://pinstripesandpolkadots.com/hedetergentchoices.htm. There should be a link to non HE detergents there also. I use Planet detergent, and bleach every few weeks (to get any extra funk out). BG suggests bleaching once a month, but I would often not do that, and it caused some issues, so I now I do it more often. Cloth diapering does take a little experimenting to see what works for you, but it is worth it.

We used cloth diapers for over a year with our son and plan on using them with B. #2. We used prefolds with covers to start with (cheapest route) and bought some used FuzziBunz (pocket diapers) for when he was with the grandparents. We eventually got some BumGenius 3.0 Onesize (another pocket diaper). I liked the BumGenius over the FuzziBunz, but it really comes down to trying different kinds and seeing what works best. Some companies over a variety pack to try. You can also buy some off Craigslist sometimes (which is what we did with some of ours). And there are SO many things you can get to go along with them. I would "strip" them when you first buy them (you can research that on cloth diapering sites) and sun dry them as much as you can. We had a rubbermaid type bin that we put the used ones in and washed usually every 3rd day or so. Just find a routine that works. Oh, and you can only use certain detergents and like someone said NO fabric softeners. And NO dryer sheets. That'll decrease the absorbancy then you have to go through the stripping process again. Good luck and feel free to PM me if you have any questions! BTW, we still did disposables at night and for long car trips, but otherwise used cloth only, even on vacations. I was really excited about going to cloth too. DS was 10mo when we made the switch, but with this B. we'll be starting earlier which I'm kind of excited about :)

We loved Fuzzi Bunz. Easy to use and they worked well.

I use cloth and L. the Bum Genius as well as G Diapers. The Bum Genius works great at night when your child wets the most and the G Diapers were great during the day, especially if I am away from home. What I liked about the G-diapers is that they have a disposable insert so when I was out and about all I had to do was change the insert. I used the cloth inserts when I was at home.
I have also used the prefolds with a diaper cover and those also were easy to use but left a lot of wet sitting next to my son's skin. So, if you are dealing with yeast infections, I would try to avoid the prefolds.

All of the other mama's have some great suggestions. I'm going to 2nd the one suggesting you use www.diaperpin.com as a resource for diaper reviews. I'm going to also suggest that you find a real diaper store in your area and go so you can touch/feel the varieties and see what you like. See if you can even try one on for size as different brands fit different shapes of babies. Oh, another thing....always buy one or two diapers of one brand and try them out first before investing in a whole set. You may end up not liking them for whatever reason and decide to go a different route. Don't feel bad if you start out with one type, then decide you like another better. For me, pockets are my favorites. I'm not that loyal to one brand though...I've got knickernappies, preston's pants and a few fuzzi bunz.

Good luck!

I've been doing cloth with my son since birth and he's 17 months old now. We use bumgenius and chinese prefolds with thirsties one-size covers. I have loved them both and highly recommend them. The prefolds/covers are by far the cheapest way to go and I use them at home most of the time. When we are out and when he's at daycare we use bumgenius one-size. We also use bumgenius at night with the doubler. I made my own wipes from a piece of flannel fabric and the diaper cream that has worked best for us and is compatible with cloth is Method, although California B. was nice too. At night if he has a bad rash and I want to put desitin or a &d on him we use a liner so that the diapers don't have wicking problems. We use Country Save laundry detergent, which has no added stuff.

I L. cloth and on rare occasions when we use disposables I am convinced all over again that we made the right choice. Having used only a couple of dozen disposables ever we have had 3 or 4 poopy blowouts. In all our months in cloth we've only had 2 or 3 blowouts, they are just so much sturdier. My son is also prone to diaper rash and because he is in cloth I change him much more frequently. For months now he has been telling me when he's wet or messy and needs a change. Maintaining that connection will make it a lot easier to potty train him too. Just another benefit!

Fuzzibunz!!! L. them!! I also L. using prefolds and covers because it's cheaper. All about the saving of money! I L. Thirsites wrap and Green Mountain Diaper cloth-ezz prefolds. L.!!!
Diaper sprayers are super nice for my son's poopy diapers. I can't go anywhere without my Planet Wise Wet bag!! Even when I have to use disposables I take my wet bag just incase the stupid disposables leak too, so I then can put my sons wet clothes in there.
If you would like I have a blog with some great pics and how to use cloth on there. I actually put them up for another mamapedia mom.
largebummies.blogspot.com
And if you have any questions, let me know and I'll see if I can help. Good luck!!

I use fuzzibunz and most of the other mommies in my little group do as well. They are great. We had a horrible time with yeast infections until I did this which I HIGHLY recommend: Buy a bunch of B. washcloths and every day wet enough for the day with warm water and put them in the diaper warmer. Use them instead of the throw away wipes and put them in the bin with your used diapers. I wash them every other day and it's been amazing- NO diaper rashes ever since. I also dry them in the sun from time to time- nature's antibacterial!
Good luck!