1year of the good the bad and ugly: personal cloth reviews

Today I am sharing with you my experience of the good and the bad on my cloth journey. I will tell you the good about each diaper and the bad that I have found... I will also be sharing some pictures with you :)

First up is a sustaibale babish/sloomb. This has been my all time favorite diaper. With 2 layers of organic cotton through the day and and extra doubler for the night it keeps baby's bum happy and leak free. The only down side I have noticed is the run smaller but not bad. I love the fact that they now come in different colors. You can also purchase these is snap or snapless. It is so soft you can rub in on your cheeks :P.

Next up is the G-diaper. This is probably my least favorite. It is ultra trim but the cloth inserts are expensive and the disposable one are just as much and disposable diapers. I never had an issue with leaks, this is one I would recommend to the semi-eco conscience parent. To the parents that are cloth diapering for money saving reasons I wouldn't recommend the G-diaper system.

This is a made by me flannel pocket with a microfiber insert. For beginner sewers this is a super easy pattern and the absorb quite well. However once your dear one starts peeing in volumes past the baby stage they can become quite saturated and smell. The smell does wash out but like I said not for big babies.

This is also a made my me diaper with flannel, crushed panne, and PUL. I use a variety of inserts. I have never had leaking issues with it but I have never used it as a over night diaper either.

With Uber cute prints gen-y makes some pretty awesome side snapping covers. they will cover a fitter or pre-fold. When using prefolds with this cover you will actually have to fold them because they don't work to easy with the tri-fold method.

Ahh, the rump a rooz my first experience with pocket diapers. Can I just say I love them. They do run small because my 13 month old is on the last rise setting and weight a mere 18 pounds. They come in newborn sizes known as lil joesys.

Thirsties duo diaper. I was not too sure on these at first. they have 2 inserts a cotton one and a microfiber one. I'm neutral one these I dont like them but I also do not dislike them. They do their job and do it well. but not my fave.

Thirsties duo size cover. I like these I really do. They come in quite a variety of prints but also solids. My favorite are the snapping ones because once your little one learns to explore, the velcro/aplix sound causes curiosity and you may find your little tyke sporting a nakey bum.

the flip system. Ok so this is cool because it goes from tiny to potty learning stages. You have your choice to purchase the system with organic cotton inserts or stay dry microfiber inserts. I chose the microfiber inserts and like them however my favorite part of this system is the covers. I have heard a lot of mama's say they just buy the covers because they are awesome.

Bum genius 3.0, I got this diaper used at a kid to kid and found they are pretty neat. They start little probably around 8/9 lbs depending on how your little one is built. They absorb great. They have great customer service for problems you may incur
when the aplix wears and the elastic wears you can purchase a repair kit for a whopping one dollar. :D

Bummis beautiful basic.

You can purchase bigger kits but I happened to recieve this one as a gift. They run big but are uber easy to use. They beautiful basic pack comes with 1 wrap/cover and 3 organic cotton prefolds. These are very much capable of using the tri-fold method. Infact thats what they are met to do.

osocozy prefolds. Love love love prefolds. I thought I would hate them but they are my favorite diapers. Easy to use, easy to care for.

Cloth diapers: buy used

Cloth diapers are such a great way to save money. Starting your "stash" can be expensive, but being able to start your "stash" cheap is even better. I'm going to list a few terms below to help you sort through buying a used stash. Tomorrow I will be doing a review of all the diaper brands i have tried to give you a bit of a heads up.


NWT- new with tags
NWOT- new with out tags
EUC- Excellent used condition
GUC- gentle used condition
pc- price check or play condition
NIP- new in package (on a lot of cloth diaper trading sites this could also be referred to as nursing in public so make sure you read)
FSOT- for sale or trade
PP- pay pal only
PPD- often times you will see $x.xxppd this is the price including the shipping


For now these are the terms I can think of.
www.diaperswappers.com is a great place to buy used diapers. If you have any questions feel free to message me.

cloth diaper terms

Today I am going to share with you some terms you may not other wise know:

swish to put the diaper in the potty and swish it around to get the poopy off.. If your child is exclusively breastfed you will not have to do this because breastfeed poopy is 100% water soluble.

prep This involves a big kettle, your stove and boiling water. Boil the diapers for 15 minutes then do your wash cycle. *do not boil the poly-urethane laminate)

wash cycle how you wash your diapers. My cycle is 1. cold rinse, 2. hot wash. 3. repeat hot rinse 4. dry

sunning the best way to dry your diapers is out side in the sun not only does this bleach the yucko stains but help keep the stink at bay and your babies bum happy.

tomorrow I will discuss buy used diaper terminology.

Clothdiaper types

So over the past few weeks I have had a lot of questions about cloth diapering. The amount of information can be quite overwhelming when you first start looking into things. There are brands, types of fabric, things that need covers, things that don't. so I am going to try to explain it as best as I can over the next week or so to make your life easier. Today I am going to start off with types of diapers and what they require for use.


prefolds/flats These are the diapers that probably come to mind when you think of cloth diapering. They can be one of the hardest diapers to use or one of the most simple depending on how you want to fold them. I personal just tri-fold and tuck into the cover and done.

Pre-fold diapers are often made out of cotton,hemp or flannel. They sometimes require pinning or a snappi. They also require a cover. Cover are made out of poly urethane laminate which is a cotton knit with a laminate on it to make it water proof.

AIO (all in one) /AI2's (hybrid diaper) - IS all the diaper you need in one diaper.

AIO- Have the cover, the soaker, and the layer that goes against the baby's bum all in one diaper. Often times these take longer drying periods because it has more diaper to dry rather than just a few pieces. AIO diaper often have either Velcro or poly-resin snaps to close them on. They are also quite frequently one size, which means the go from itty bitty to potty training stages. Something called a doubler which is essentially an extra soaker (the thing where the pee gets soaked up with) to increase absorbancy for night time or extended periods of time.

HYBRIDS- are basically cloth disposables you tuck a soaker in and close up the diaper your done. And these do no require a cover, they have elastic through the leg area and the back.

pocket the best way to describe a pocket diaper would be, a cover with a soft fabric sewn to it and it has one end open to make a pocket. These need stuffed with your inserts. an insert is the same thing as a soaker but since in goes into a pocket they are referred to as inserts. These too are often one size and do not require a cover. These diapers also have the elastic in the back and around the legs.

the last diaper I am going to talk about is fitteds.

fitteds fitteds are like an AIO with out the water proof part making these require a cover. They often times close with Velcro or poly-resin snaps. They sometimes have the soaker sewed in or there can also be snap in soakers. these diapers are my favorite next to prefolds.

As you embark on your journey through cloth diapering you will find that certain diapers fit babies different, that you may like one brand/type better than the other but all in all you will find the perfect diaper for you and your little one.

missing link....

Oh dear one, how I wish I could find a way to help you. Being the mother of three under five has its ups and downs. The part that I struggle with the most though is the looks and apologies I get when they find out Gabe has autism. I would much rather he didn't but it's him I don't wish he had never been born, the struggles well we are learning how to handle them. We have our good days and are bad days. Gabe currently is getting 15 hours of in home therapy but this is where the problem starts. My husband, I love and really want to respect him but he tells me to cancel all his therapies, that he doesn't need them. That they just want to invade our life. I have seen a difference in Gabe though, I know that they are really helping. Now that my youngest Rebekkah is also having some testing done it gets harder and harder to do what God wants. To stand up for them, yet obey and respect my husband. I honestly just want whats best but it doesnt always seem that way.

Me

For a few days, pushing on a week now I have been debating on what to write. I love to write but often times I can't figure out how to get what's in my head on paper or in this case on a screen. It makes sense to me but when others read it well thats a different story. So today I decided to write about me. I am a mother and a wife I desire and want so badly to be able to accomplish the divine calling that God has blessed me with. My husband is studying to become a pastor. I have 3 children, 1 of the three was diagnosed with PDD-NOS (autism). We have our ups and are downs with it. For a while I spent hours thinking about how I could have changed things, what could I have done to make him not autistic until I realized I wouldn't have him any other way, he is so perfect just the way God made him. Lately I have takin' a liking to more natural ways of parenting. I cloth diaper, I homeschool, we have a garden albeit a small one but it's still a garden, we have begun the process of totally eliminating red dye 40 for our diets for my son's sake. I have begun to learn that each day is a new adventure, a new chance for learning, a new chance for expanding your child's horizons, one day closer to them becoming the person God has destined them to be.