This time last year I started seriously considering switching to cloth diapers. I had my hesitations (as did Mr. Lion) but I can confidently say that after a year we are very happy with our decision. I thought I would share a bit about our experience along the way.

I shared about my process with buying diapers last year, and I have been very happy with most of our purchases.


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Rumparooz – I really really love these diapers. They never leak, and after a year of use they have no snags or tears on the outside, or pilling on the inside. The inner lining is still soft and is unstained. I have to do very little to keep them clean, and I love that the insert (they are pocket diapers) agitates out in the wash on its own so I don’t have to pull it out myself. Now that LL is eating solids, I am able to dunk the diaper in the toilet to remove any poop, and this is never an issue. No scraping or spraying necessary. I have followed the manufacturer directions and used original Tide powder to wash them (I now use this for all of our clothes since it is easier to just have one detergent), and have never had any issues with the elastic, repelling, stink, and stripping has not been necessary. The only issue we did have was that when LL was smaller, the diapers were too bulky when I added extra inserts for him to be comfortable in them overnight. Now that he has grown a bit we are using them overnight with both inserts that came with the diapers with no issues. If money wasn’t an issue, I really would have bought 18 of these and been done.

Flip Covers – Since the Rumparooz were quite pricey, we decided to supplement our stash with some covers and prefolds. I really love these covers because they have a flap at the front and back that makes tucking the insert in really easy. I didn’t want to have to wrap a prefold around my wiggly little man, so this is a good compromise. And it is easy for Mr. Lion to do too.

Sustainablebabyish Flats (prefolds) – These were a little disappointing. In the store, they are unbelievably soft, but once they are washed they don’t stay that way (they are still softer than other prefolds, but not nearly what I was expecting). I have also had a lot of trouble with staining. These prefolds have to be sunned much more often, and even with that I have had some stains that wouldn’t come out. I tried a cloth diaper friendly stain remover, but it did nothing. So out of desperation I used some Oxiclean spray stain remover. That did the trick, but it is not something I want to use often. I do like these prefolds, and they are very absorbent, but they were much more expensive than regular prefolds and I wish I had just opted for the less expensive ones.

Wool Cover – This was a disaster for us. I don’t know if it is because I don’t have the patience or the ability to correctly put a prefold on with a snappi, but every time I used this cover it became soiled, and I didn’t have a very good method for cleaning. I don’t ever hand wash things, so this was just a lot of extra hassle. It took at least 24 hours to dry, and I was never able to use it more than once without a wash. I sold this one after a couple weeks (for a lot less than I paid for it) and used the cash to buy another Rumparoos pocket diaper instead.

A C C E S S O R I E S

As far as other gear goes, we went pretty light on the extras. We have one pail liner, and one wet bag for the diaper bag. This has been sufficient for us (no need to have two of each). We skipped the diaper sprayer, and I am glad about that too.

One thing I knew that I would need was liners.  We do not use a cloth diaper friendly ointment, so when he has a bit of diaper rash we need to use a liner. We started off with some washable liners, but they were narrow and didn’t stay in place. They also stained easily. Instead I bought a roll of flushable liner, and they were a great purchase. These were especially awesome from 10-13 months, while LL was in the transitional poop phase, when I was no longer able to just put the diaper directly into the washer, but the poop got too stuck to get off the diaper easily. They are wide enough to cover the entire diaper. I used 2-3 of these a day, during the times that I anticipated a poopy diaper. In hindsight, I probably could have used them even more often (it would have saved me some messy clean up when unexpected poops happened), since I didn’t even go through one entire roll.

So, in review, if I had it to do over again, what would I buy?

  • 10 Rumparooz (which is what I have now)
  • 4 Flip Covers (I have 3 now but wish I had 1 more)
  • 8 Flip inserts (instead of prefolds)
  • Roll of Disposable liners
  • Wet bag for the diaper bag
  • Pail liner for the diaper pail

After writing this review, I think I may actually sell the diapers I don’t love and use that money to buy what I want instead (this is pretty common in the cloth diaper community). What we have works great, but I think with a couple tweaks it could work even better!