Hellobee

I remember being in grade 11 and having a speaker talk to our class about the environment. I don’t remember the details, but that was when I decided to cloth diaper. Sometime after we got married, but before deciding to have kids, I said to my husband “You know we’re cloth diapering once we have babies, right?” and he said something to the effect of “obviously.” Glad we had this talk. So the question for our family was never “will we cloth diaper?” it was “how will we cloth diaper?” Lucky thing I love research, because it turns out that there are a lot of options and a lot of opinions. Here were some of the deciding factors in choosing a cloth diapering system.

Cost: Okay, this wasn’t actually a big deal to me. I knew that I wanted to have at least two children, and I knew that cloth would be cheaper than disposables, especially for the second child. It was more important that the diapers worked for our family. Buying diapers you don’t like is a much bigger waste of money than buying slightly more expensive diapers that you love.

Sizes: You can get diapers which come in different sizes, or you can get one size diapers that are supposed to fit from newborn to toddler. It’s the choice of the perfect fit vs the cheaper cost. From my research, it seemed that a one size system is great if you start later on, but often isn’t perfect with skinny little 6 lb baby legs, so I chose to split the difference and get a two size system. Our two size diapers are a little puffy at the start, but fit nicely around the legs and tummy (which=less leaking).

Style: You can get a few different types of diapers; I’m only going to mention the most popular. There are waterproof covers (usually PUL, no more rubber pants!) with various stuffings (such as cotton prefolds, bamboo or hemp or microterry inserts). You can get fitted diapers that also need covers. All in ones (AIO’s) are just what they seem — as easy to use as a disposable. The cloth diapering resistant seem to prefer these.  I chose to go with a cover and insert system. The drying time was faster, and it just seemed like they would get cleaner in the wash than a thick diaper. Also, it’s the cheapest way to go, generally, as you don’t need to buy the whole diaper together, so you can have less covers than inserts.

Snaps or Velcro: Or diaper pins? No pins for me, thanks! The upside of velcro is that it’s easy and similar to disposables, so it’s less of a learning curve. Snaps, however, last longer, are less crazy in the wash, and are much harder for a toddler to undo on their own. Snaps won for us.

Cuteness: I like bright solid colours. I know that lots of moms adore the prints, but they’re just not my style. I like how a matching solid colour looks peeking out of the leg holes of onesies, and they are more likely to look cute under little dresses.

Manufacturing: I believe in supporting our local ecomony (and other mothers) as much as possible, while getting a good quality product. Ideally, this meant a Canadian brand. It was a strike against Fuzzibunz, my second choice, who used to be American made, but are now manufactured in China.

Quality and Resale: Did you know that you can sell your used diapers? This is a big factor in pricing as it offsets the price of a better quality diaper. I wanted something that would last two children, and then hopefully allow me to sell them. I sold off my size one diapers a couple months ago and got back nearly half the money I had spent!

Is your head spinning yet?  So many choices!  Okay, so I wanted a two size system with covers and inserts, snaps, solid bright colours, made in Canada, and great quality?  I chose to go with Applecheeks, which met all my criteria.  The reviews were so positive on every site I could find (and there were many) and they’ve definitely lived up to the hype.  Toddler Girl was in them for 2.5 years and Wonder Baby is on her 10th month in mostly the same diapers with a 5 month overlap where they were both in diapers.  If you look at the photo below of my diapers on the line, you will see that I have more covers than I have listed here.  I did a bit of trading around and bought a couple new ones for my monthly photo project.  More cute covers are never a bad thing, right?

My 0-6 month stash:

13 size 1 covers (I had 12 initially, but then I had to get a pink one when I found out TG was a girl!)

12 newborn cotton prefolds (the orange edge, they were a gift)

12 microterry inserts (also a gift for Wonder Baby!  I had only the hemp with TG and they were super bulky on a newborn)

20 hemp 2-ply inserts (They no longer make the hemp ones, but the bamboo inserts are even nicer)

We used them as covers and inserts, not pocket diapers, so we were able to get away with fewer covers (you don’t have to change the cover unless it’s dirty, just the insert).  We started with the prefolds during the day and the microterry at night, then moved to the hemp at night when she started to get heavier nightime diapers.  I started out doing laundry every day (for the first month maybe?), then every other day.

My 6 month potty trained stash:

12 size 2 covers (soon to be 13, I couldn’t resist the new lime green cover)

The same 20 hemp 2-ply inserts, I use them and the microterry during the day.

10 3-ply hemp inserts, for night time.

I do laundry twice a week.

Additional Gear:

We have two big wet bags by the change stations, and a small one in the bathroom for poopy diapers.  I have the Applecheeks bags, but I would recommend wet bags with zippers over the drawstrings.

We have maybe 30 cloth wipes?  I haven’t counted.  They are half flannel wipes I made (just flannel squares with serged edges) and half baby washcloths.

Rockin Green’s Classic Rock detergent (in Bare Naked Babies), to wash.

Rockin Green’s Shake it Up pail freshener for the poopy diaper bag, kills the smell.

Rockin Green’s Funk Rock, for every couple months when they get funky smelling.

Kushies Flushable Diaper Liners.  If they have nasty poop once solids are introduced, these make your life easier.  I hate when I forget and have to dunk a diaper (shudder).

So that’s what we have!  If you are curious about our diapering adventures, I’ve also written a post on cloth diapering a newborn and one on why cloth is easy.  And I always have to add in that we aren’t a full time cloth family. I wanted very much to use cloth full time, and fought it tooth and nail for over a year, but we have to use disposables at night or when out for more than a couple hours.  My girls rash very easily, and they just can’t be wet. Even if you only do cloth part time, you will still save money and keep hundreds (thousands?) of diapers out of the landfill!