Cloth Diapers?

[missrachelk]

Just wanted to update that after a wash with ecover, and ecover softener that I read was CD safe the diapers are MUCH softer! Some are still a bit rough, but since these are fitteds there will be a softer outer layer against baby's skin (it's the terry outside of some of the hemp ones that's still somewhat rough)

I tested them all for absorbency afterwards and only one peice - some kind of different doubler than all the others is repelling. This one is more fleecy so I think I'll try to strip it and if not I have several same size doublers to use in that one.

A couple of the hemp fitteds are coming a bit unraveled - any tips for mending diapers? I know there are WAHM that will fix diapers for you, but I figured I'd ask.

I was still fairly upset at the overall condition of what I had, until I got them all in one basket together. it's a lot of stuff, and nothing was more than $7 a peice. These are workhorse type diapers not pretty fashion ones so I think once I get some prettier, new ones to round out the stash, along with some fun covers, I think I'll be much happier.

Has anyone ever bleached natural fiber diapers? I read about occasional bleaching for natural fibers on the same site where I read about ecover (that was all about cloth diapers dot com) and I'm thinking of trying it. I figure what can it hurt if I wash them several times between bleaching and going onto baby? I know it's not great for the elastic but again since I'm talking about fitteds I think it shouldn't hurt all that much. I may start with clorox 2 or a 'natural' bleach I saw at whole foods when I got the ecover.

What detergents do you all use on a regular basis? I was leaning towards rockin green but have read some mixed reviews lately and it's more expensive than a lot of other highly rated choices. Now I'm thinking Country Save, Allen's or Charlie's Soap. I have city water that's nto hard if that makes a difference.

 

[Bella_mezzo]

FYI...I just got some new sunbabies b/c I was jonesing for a few new prints and although B is almost done with diapers (we just use them for nights and naps) I have eternal hope that he'll have a younger sibling or two in the next few years who will again use my stash IMO sunbabies are a really affordable and effective way to brighten up the diaper stash.

We like the sunbabies a lot, especially for daytime and naps and they are so, so cute! We stuff them with a yellow edged (infant) gmd prefold folded into thirds. It looks a little bulky but works great and my son thinks it's really comfortable. For a more streamlined look we use a large ragababe insert (I wish that these weren't so expensive and so difficult to buy bc they are really, really awesome!

I just bought the covers as we have our stuffing system all set, and I don't really care for the feeling of microfiber inserts from any of the diaper companies... We got: wild, brown dot, pink dot, cream zoo, blue paisley, brown paisley, and blue cars...and yes, I insist that all are gender neutral My feeling re diaper prints is that if a man could make it work as a fashionable tie with an armani suit, my three year old could certainly make it work as a diaper print

 

[lliang_chi]

I can't remember if anyone here liked the GroVia diapers but they're on sale @ BabySteals right now.

http://babysteals.stealnetwork.com/

 

[mayerling]

We've finally started cloth-diapering! Pics to follow...

 

[yellowducky]

ACK! Is there a fluff lovers anonymous that I can join?

I think I last posted that I was nearly done with stash building. Well, I lied. I did successfully resist the Grovias on Babysteals the other day and Charlie Bananas on zulily. However, I picked up a few Rumparooz (Lil Joeys AIO and some OS pockets -- used, fortunately!) and now have a Ragababe AIO and 3 BumGenius Elementals (on sale!) headed my way. To be honest, I'm a little tempted by Swaddlebees Simplex AIO, too. GAAAAH.

LO is going to be SWIMMING in diapers if I keep this up.

Maybe we should create a betting pool of how many diapers it will take before my husband either puts my credit card on lock-down or kills me.

 

[yellowducky]

FYI...I just got some new sunbabies b/c I was jonesing for a few new prints and although B is almost done with diapers (we just use them for nights and naps) I have eternal hope that he'll have a younger sibling or two in the next few years who will again use my stash IMO sunbabies are a really affordable and effective way to brighten up the diaper stash.

We like the sunbabies a lot, especially for daytime and naps and they are so, so cute! We stuff them with a yellow edged (infant) gmd prefold folded into thirds. It looks a little bulky but works great and my son thinks it's really comfortable. For a more streamlined look we use a large ragababe insert (I wish that these weren't so expensive and so difficult to buy bc they are really, really awesome!

I just bought the covers as we have our stuffing system all set, and I don't really care for the feeling of microfiber inserts from any of the diaper companies... We got: wild, brown dot, pink dot, cream zoo, blue paisley, brown paisley, and blue cars...and yes, I insist that all are gender neutral My feeling re diaper prints is that if a man could make it work as a fashionable tie with an armani suit, my three year old could certainly make it work as a diaper print

Bella, how do these compare to other "entry-level" diapers, like Alva Baby, Kawaii? These diapers seem very popular in certain circles, and I'm wondering if they are basically comparable to more expensive diapers, like FuzziBunz, without all the marketing hoopla and mark-up.

 

[Bella_mezzo]

Our Sunbabies work great and we even use them for nighttime now. The material feels a little lighter than Fuzzibunz or bumgenious, and we had wicking leaks for a little while at night but I think it's b/c DS was between snap sizes b/c they were great when we first got them and are great now.

Overall, I think they work great.

After a year of cloth diapering a toddler, we've pretty much narrowed our stash to Bumgenious elementals, applecheeks, and sunbabies. We mostly use use clotheez prefolds, ragababes, or loopydo inserts to stuff.

We have found that sunbabies work better for our son than fuzzibunz, bumgenious pockets, happy heineys, or other similar diapers.

We haven't had any issues with delamination or diapers giving out, but we also have a pretty large rotation (about 30 diapers) and we have a toddler who for the last 6 months or so just uses diapers at nighttime and nap...

 

[indecisive]

yellow ducky- I just got the zulily Charlie Bananas deal too!! I got 6 white one size and then I used a 12% off from retailmenot.com so it ended up being about $11 per diaper including shipping. Where did you get the deal on BG Elementals?


My tentative plan for my diaper stash right now is 6 Charlie Bananas, 6 BG Elementals, 6 BG Freetimes, and then 6 TBD. How does this sound? I am going to have to do research on which diaper for the other 6 but I will look at sunbabies now. Any other recommendations for one size, preferably AIO?

 

[yellowducky]

yellow ducky- I just got the zulily Charlie Bananas deal too!! I got 6 white one size and then I used a 12% off from retailmenot.com so it ended up being about $11 per diaper including shipping. Where did you get the deal on BG Elementals?


My tentative plan for my diaper stash right now is 6 Charlie Bananas, 6 BG Elementals, 6 BG Freetimes, and then 6 TBD. How does this sound? I am going to have to do research on which diaper for the other 6 but I will look at sunbabies now. Any other recommendations for one size, preferably AIO?

Indecisive, check out cheekytocheeky.com! $20.99 per diaper with $5 shipping for orders under $100 and free otherwise.

I saw someone on diaperswappers trying to offload new elementals for $24.00 each with $3.99 shipping when Amazon has them for $24.99 with free shipping. :p

 

[yellowducky]

Our Sunbabies work great and we even use them for nighttime now. The material feels a little lighter than Fuzzibunz or bumgenious, and we had wicking leaks for a little while at night but I think it's b/c DS was between snap sizes b/c they were great when we first got them and are great now.

Overall, I think they work great.

After a year of cloth diapering a toddler, we've pretty much narrowed our stash to Bumgenious elementals, applecheeks, and sunbabies. We mostly use use clotheez prefolds, ragababes, or loopydo inserts to stuff.

We have found that sunbabies work better for our son than fuzzibunz, bumgenious pockets, happy heineys, or other similar diapers.

We haven't had any issues with delamination or diapers giving out, but we also have a pretty large rotation (about 30 diapers) and we have a toddler who for the last 6 months or so just uses diapers at nighttime and nap...

Thanks for the feedback! Do you love ragababe? I just bought my first ragababe today and am interested to see if it lives up to all the hype.

 

[Bella_mezzo]

I love the ragababes. I bought them when the company was first launched b/c I thought they looked interesting, now they are impossible to get and expensive, so I don't know if I would have the patience to get them now

I have a med AIO, a large AIO, and a medium 2 step and a large 2 step with a bunch of inserts.

We rarely use the 2 step covers, but like the AOIs a lot and LOVE the inserts, they are amazing!!!

 

[yellowducky]

I love the ragababes. I bought them when the company was first launched b/c I thought they looked interesting, now they are impossible to get and expensive, so I don't know if I would have the patience to get them now

I have a med AIO, a large AIO, and a medium 2 step and a large 2 step with a bunch of inserts.

We rarely use the 2 step covers, but like the AOIs a lot and LOVE the inserts, they are amazing!!!

Oh, excellent! I had to choose between an AIO or a 2-step and went with the AIO. Do you happen to have a variety of their inserts? I picked the doublers, but I'm wondering which is the most versatile (for use in other pocket diapers). Did they raise their prices since they opened? I'm hoping the quality is the worth the price tag!

 

[peasypeas]

I'm a newbie here
but not to CD's
I've clothed 3 baby bums and sadly no more babies here (yet, I hope)
but I did some blog posts a while back on fitteds, AIO, AI2, prefolds and flats, and wool if anyone wants to see it.
but I wanted to throw out there that I thought DH and I would hate prefolds, prefolds are were his fave for a newborn, and I adore flats.
I did have pockets and fitteds when out.
I spent the bulk of my money on wool UGH such an addict I still have tons
I wanted to add I didn't have a sprayer I had a long shower head that I could spray into the toilet
I sometimes used rice liners but not often

 

[missrachelk]

Can we have a detergent shout out?

I am just swimming in all of the choices. When I had my super crunchy hemp I went to WF (Whole Foods) and got ecover delicate and ecover softener. used those once on all the hemp and they softened up beautifully. Then I received a bunch of grovia hybrids (whcih are partially hemp) and washed those once in the ecover detergent only. I was emailing grovia about the aplix since these are seocndhand and the rep (SUPER helpful BTW) was very strong in saying that ecover is plant based and shouldn't be used.

SO - I picked up some Charlie's Soap today and am hoping that will remedy any damage I may have done with the ecover - couldn't be too bad since it was only one wash.

BUt my other question is do you all use one detergent for everything in the house (Charlie's recommends this to avoid residues in your machine) or something different for regular clothes and diapers. Charlies seems cheap enough, and Country Save even cheaper, so I wouldn't mind switching, I just want to get some real life input before doing anything else with laundry!

Thanks!!

 

[indecisive]

I was looking at detergents today as well so I am interested in hearing feedback. I was looking at Charlie's and Rockin Green because our water is a little hard.

 

[yellowducky]

I was looking at detergents today as well so I am interested in hearing feedback. I was looking at Charlie's and Rockin Green because our water is a little hard.

Indecisive, did you pick up any elementals?

Regarding detergent, I switched my household to charlies soap. Been pretty happy with it so far. Sometimes it doesn't remove oil based stains very well, but I will do a separate or hand wash with sal's suds (miracle stuff!) to remove oil spots. Charlies soap does have recommended washing instructions for CDs online. You can also play around with borax, oxiclean, washing soda, vinegar, bac-out, and baking soda to improve your wash (and sanitation).

 

[Bella_mezzo]

We use Tide Free and Clear or Purex free and clear.

I have small, med, and large ragababe's inserts. In the AIO we use large for over night, or sm/med together. When they first opened, they had lots of sales which was nice and I got two on diaperswappers before people went crazy jacking up the prices.

 

[peasypeas]

I've used rockin green, homemade, tide, and era, I have a friend who swears by country save
I've used homemade also (recipes on my blog)
I did vinegar in the rinse, and tto in the rinse too for the antifungal properties
(this is all in a front loader)
while I loved rockin green -I wouldn't pay for it, I got a huge discount at the time
I think I liked tide best prob because it was so easy to get or the homemade
I didn't use dryer sheets every because of build up and such
I don't use liquid softener either but if you do (for your clothes I mean not on dipes) I think a double rinse or vinegar rinse would be fine
I never had to strip diapers either
have you checked here for detergent info? http://www.pinstripesandpolkadots.com/basics.htm

 

[indecisive]

I was looking at detergents today as well so I am interested in hearing feedback. I was looking at Charlie's and Rockin Green because our water is a little hard.

Indecisive, did you pick up any elementals?

Regarding detergent, I switched my household to charlies soap. Been pretty happy with it so far. Sometimes it doesn't remove oil based stains very well, but I will do a separate or hand wash with sal's suds (miracle stuff!) to remove oil spots. Charlies soap does have recommended washing instructions for CDs online. You can also play around with borax, oxiclean, washing soda, vinegar, bac-out, and baking soda to improve your wash (and sanitation).

Eeek I just got 6 elementals and a diaper sprayer! The diaper sprayer was $43 instead of $60 I have seen other places and it was free shipping. I can see how cloth diapers are addicting because I now have 6 Charlie Bananas and 6 elemetals en route and I just started allowing myself to buy things for the baby Friday at 13 weeks. OK, I have to wait for black friday to buy more, right?!

Thanks for the info about Charlie's soap. It does look really good and I am worried about buildup so the specific cloth diaper instructions sounds great.

peasypeas- thanks for the info on Rockin Green!

 

[Puppmom]

Indecisive, I LOVE my diaper sprayer...best $40 I've spent. Now that I'm pregnant and super smell sensitive, I can't even change DS (thank you DH!) so spraying off the poop is unpleasant but better than dunking and scraping.

 

[pancake]

I have a sprayer but haven't hooked it up; now that S is on solids and we're using flushable liners it hasn't been necessary so far.

I'm in Australia so our detergent brands are different here, but I use an "eco-friendly" enzyme-free powder for our nappies, and regular (?"enzyme-rich" ) detergent for the rest of our stuff. No problems so far - we've been CDing for 5 months now and I haven't had to strip wash at all yet, apart from when I left some nappies in a bucket for too long and I thought I'd better strip those before returning them to our stash.

 

[indecisive]

pupmom- I am glad to hear you love your sprayer. I don't think I have it in me to dunk and scape!

pancake- do you actually flush the liners? I like the idea of them but I am worried about flushing because we have septic.


Well I just got the shipment of bg elementals. I was all excited until I talked to DH. He thinks they will be uncomfortable because they will bunch up and says he doesn't understand how the snaps work. This is a guy with a degree in Mathematics and is working on his Master. How does he not understand Does anyone have any tips on how to make sure the diaper lays flat? In general I am just feeling down because all I get is criticism about wanting to go with cloth and I am starting to feel defensive and doubt myself. Damn pregnancy hormones!

ETA: OK, so DH is confused about how you know when to change the size/rise of the one size diaper. At first he just said he didn't understand how the snaps worked and I was pretty worried about him

 

[yellowducky]

pupmom- I am glad to hear you love your sprayer. I don't think I have it in me to dunk and scape!

pancake- do you actually flush the liners? I like the idea of them but I am worried about flushing because we have septic.


Well I just got the shipment of bg elementals. I was all excited until I talked to DH. He thinks they will be uncomfortable because they will bunch up and says he doesn't understand how the snaps work. This is a guy with a degree in Mathematics and is working on his Master. How does he not understand Does anyone have any tips on how to make sure the diaper lays flat? In general I am just feeling down because all I get is criticism about wanting to go with cloth and I am starting to feel defensive and doubt myself. Damn pregnancy hormones!

ETA: OK, so DH is confused about how you know when to change the size/rise of the one size diaper. At first he just said he didn't understand how the snaps worked and I was pretty worried about him

I received my order today too. Arrived faster than I expected. They are cute and I like the stretchy tabs! The excess cotton liner is a little strange at first glance but I guess you can move it to the front or back or wherever needed when it's on the shortest rise. I'm still prepping them and can't wait to put them away into my stash storage. Are you back to being excited now that your husband isn't confused?

 

[pancake]

indecisive - yep, we flush the poopy liners and reuse the rest. They are supposed to be good for about 3 washes but I'm sure that some of our liners have been through 10 washes or more!

Re the Elementals, I didn't like them at the start (too bulky) and now they do not have quite enough absorbency for my very heavily wetting 5 month old, but the excess fabric in the liner is not a problem. You can fold it neatly up at the back for girls or at the front for boys. I thought S would be troubled by the fact that there was no stay-dry layer on the inside, but it hasn't been an issue. That said, we are very assiduous about changing her twice between feeds now that she only has 4 milk feeds a day. Previously when she was on 6-7 feeds a day, the Elementals would do fine going from after one feed until after the next.


Does anyone have experience with Softbums? I've just bought a couple of brand new ones on eBay - one Omni and one Echo, and 2 sets of inserts for each. Curious to see how they go - I like that the inserts are quite large.

Now that S is weeing so much in one hit (less frequent breastfeeds = bigger breastfeeds = more pee in one go) I am finding that our Bambooty AIOs are not really cutting it any more, even boosted. They are too low-rise to boost any more though, I think. My go-to nappies are now BG 4.0, Charlie Banana, and Flips (the latter are great at night, double lined with a Flip organic cotton trifold and an Applecheeks stay-dry insert). She wet through a Bambooty night nappy for the first time the other night - that one has 4 flaps of absorbency and previously has been bulletproof. I've just bought a couple of Baby Beehinds night nappies (the tagline is "up to 23 layers of absorbency!", haha) which require a cover, but are apparently excellent for heavy wetters overnight. Going to use them with Disana wool covers and soakers. I bought those before S was born but haven't got around to using them!

 

[lliang_chi]

Indecisive, glad you're getting excited about the diapers. Honestly I couldn't see my DH ever getting excited about diapers, but as long as he wasn't fighting it, I was happy. I move to the next rise-snap when I notice the snaps un-snap when I try to pull the diaper tight on E. Once the I moved to the 2nd snap, there's been signficantly less un-snapping. Not a very quantitative description but when is parenting ever an exact science, right?

YD, Hooray, I have a few BG (not elementals) and they're pretty good I think. I had 1 issue with them leaking but once I started double stuffing them they've been good.

Pancake, that's funny, I find my Charlie Banana diapers not enough for E to wear overnight. Perhaps it's just that he's inbetween snaps right now. BGs, Blueberries and Rumparoos are great double stuffed for overnights. Ethan still does about 6 milk feeds a day, so the only time he's really wetted down is overnight.

Question: What's people's opinons on side snaps? I got a KnickerNappie OS pocket and I'm kinda not feeling the side snaps. DH hates them. Which is too bad because I bought 3 baby-kicks side snaps on a flash sale and now "can't" use them because DH hates side snaps. Doh! I bought a 3 more snap diapers (non-side snaps) and just waiting for them to arrive.

Vent: Dear daycare teachers, will you STOP unsnapping E's rise snaps all the way? Just because you can unsnap them all the way DOESN"T MEAN it fits him better that way. And you wonder why he gets poop on his clothing. Thanks.

 

[Puppmom]

LC, totally hear ya on daycare. N ONLY poops on his clothes at school. He's on the full rise setting now but they sometimes but them on too loosely. He has plumber's butt when he comes home.

 

[lliang_chi]

Pupp, LOL picturing N with plumbers crack. Well, I guess I can't complain too much since daycare is TAKING the cloth diapers, but sometimes I'm just like... ugh! Seriously? Hope you continue to feel a little better

~LC

 

[pancake]

LC - I don't use BGs or CBs overnight any more - even double-stuffed, they don't have enough absorbency. I could triple stuff the BGs I suppose, but they would be SO bulky and I don't know if I'd get enough absorbency pay-off for that! I use double-stuffed BGs and CBs during the day, but I still change S twice between breastfeeds - once after the feed or when she wakes up, if she doesn't feed immediately, and then again before I put her down for a nap.

That reminds me, I have a couple of BGs, Fuzzibunz and CBs that I haven't opened yet - I should add them to the stash now.

At night I've been using Flips and Bambooty night nappies, but I am just prepping the Baby Beehinds right now and am going to give them a whirl tonight. They ARE bulky, but they have SO much absorbency sewn in that I hope they'll be a no-brainer! I only bought two so far, so if they're good I'll buy another two to allow for drying time with all that cotton.

 

[lliang_chi]

Pancake, how did the Baby beehinds work out for you overnight? I'm slowly adding some Just Simply snap diapers I bought. They had the cutest prints, so I had to get them. After this NO MORE! I'm also adding in the Thirsties Duo pockets size 2 that I have. I think the only other stuff I'll buy from here on out would be doubles and maybe a diaper sprayer. Are S's poops firm/formed or still squishy BM like poops? E's been having pretty much BM consistency poop but not the yellow BM color, much darker from eating the different purees. Definitely doesn't smell the same either. I figure if E's poops start getting more solid a diaper sprayer might make more sense.
Did you say you're using flushable liners? I'm still using fleece liners but wondering if I should switch to flushable ones now that E's on purees.

~LC

 

[blondebunny]

Question.... So I am going to start doing some laundry and washing baby clothes and diapers.. Do you use th same detergent on the diapers and baby clothes? Also what are some brands of detergent that are good for the diapers and clothes? Thanks