Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Diapering Essentials...

I really love cloth diapers! I could chat about them all day probably, but it's hard to find others that care to chat about cloth diapers. I went to a baby shower on Saturday and one other lady there was a cloth diaper user, but we had so much fun chatting about various kinds of diapers and our washing methods etc. I enjoyed it very much!

I have cloth diapered Claire now for around 6 months now and Will (obviously) for 4 weeks. I just realized that Will has never worn a disposable! That is amazing to me. I think we have some "sposies" for him that someone gave us that are newborn sized... We obviously never used them and he is no longer in that size!

Anyway, I just wanted to make a list of what has worked well for us so far.

LOVE: (aka- must have... ;)
We use these now for both Claire and Will. We found that they work even better than Kissaluvs and Covers on Will once his umbilical cord fell off at around 5 days old! We still use the Kissaluvs and they are really great, but the BGs are just a little bit easier. I'll get more into that later! I absolutely love how easy they are and how they snap down into a tiny size that fits Will just as well as they fit Claire on the larger setting! Absolutely amazing how someone came up with a diaper that is really one size!
These look and feel like dryer sheets. I use them with Claire. They just line the diaper and then if it's a messy diaper, it lifts right out and you simply flush the mess away. No dunking. No swishing. It is seriously the easiest thing ever!

I'm never going back to not using liners! They are inexpensive and when the diaper is just wet, the liner can be washed and reused so we almost never run out! The vast majority of the liners get reused over and over again. I suppose eventually we'll run out, but it is well worth the minuscule expense to use these. Considering how long they last since only the messy ones are flushed, it's a steal really! Especially for how much easier they make cloth diapering. I feel like I get the "best of both worlds" this way (best of disposable and best of cloth).

I will definitely start using these with Will when he starts eating solids. For now (since he is exclusively breastfed) his diapers are no problem. They just get thrown straight into the wash and everything comes out in the wash.
We bought 8 of these a while back to use with Claire. We would fold one in thirds or quarters and lay it inside a Bummis Super Whisper Wrap and that would be her diaper! This was before the discovery of BumGenius diapers. But they worked well for that. However, now we find them essential. We use them as burp cloths, mattress protectors, changing pads and even blankets on occasion! They are so huge, thick, and absorbent, they have become one of our favorite go-to diapers for all-purpose use! We line the carseat with them to save ourselves from spit-up disasters, we place them under, around, and on top of Will wherever he is! haha!
I splurged with my Christmas money and bought myself three of these covers. I got blue, green, and yellow. They work really well, wash up beautifully, dry incredibly fast, and they are hands down the cutest covers ever! Really it's all about the cute! I love using them. I use them with the Kissaluvs of course.

These are what come included with the BG One-Sized diapers, but we bought some extras. We put two inserts in Claire's night time diaper and it holds through the night with no leaks at all! A very valuable feature!
We were given this before Emily was born and I've always loved it, but it works so well for holding cloth wipes I'm especially glad to have it now! The one time I have wiped Will's little bottom with a cold wipe brought some of his loudest screams ever. I'd really like to never do that again!

Also like: (aka- use a lot and we're glad we have...)
We bought these specifically to get Will through that tiny newborn stage. Now honestly, we only really needed them until his umbilical stump fell off which happened really early for him (around 5 days I think). I didn't realize that the BumGenius diapers would work for him so soon! But it was something I couldn't have known. I didn't know how well they would fit a tiny baby and I was worried about containment of those runny breastfed messy diapers. I also didn't know how big he'd be at birth and that he'd be able to fit into them so quickly.

Anyway, the Kissaluvs were the only thing that really worked at first because they are specially designed for newborns. They have a really great umbilical cord snap-down feature and they are so soft and stretchy, they'd fit almost any baby, no matter what shape. They contain even the messiest blow-outs really well and our covers NEVER get dirty! I do wash our covers, but they hardly need it. They never get messy because those Kissaluvs really do keep the entire mess inside the diaper! We are able to air-dry our covers between uses and they stay clean much longer with Kissaluvs than with prefolds.

The big advantage of the Kissaluvs are their fit, containment, comfort, softness, and ease of use.

At this point my only complaint with Kissaluvs isn't really the diaper's fault at all. However, Will is a super-soaker and he soaks through the Kissaluvs in no time at all and once they are completely soaked (as in... you could wring it out. Ew.), the dampness has no where to go but out so he has gotten his sleepers or onesies slightly damp on his legs a few times if we didn't change him quick enough. When he wears his Kissaluvs I just have to remember to change him fairly frequently. We don't have quite enough of the bumGenius diapers to diaper both Claire and Will full-time so the Kissaluvs are still quite essential for Will once the BGs run out!

He can wear a BumGenius through the night and not get even slightly damp so that is the advantage of the BGs for Will.
We were given a few of these second-hand. (Yay for generous friends!) I actually didn't really love these that much because they seemed a little "cheap" in comparison to our other covers, BUT- they were the only covers that truly fit well in those first few days. And they have a great dip to allow for that umbilical cord stump and that was completely necessary at first as all our other covers irritated the umbilical area. So they were a necessity at first and obviously for that reason- nice to have!
We were given one of these second-hand and I just discovered/found it this week! It has a really good fit and the gussets cover our Kissaluvs perfectly. I'm really pleased with it and I was even more pleased to look them up online and find that they are quite affordable!
We have used these in size medium for Claire and now in the Newborn and Small sizes for Will! We were given a couple newborn sizes second-hand which fit beautifully (once his cord stump was gone) for about.... oh- two days? haha! But the smalls fit great now and work well. We have a few white covers and one cute froggy print cover. I think I prefer the Litewrap and the Super Brites to these just because the gussets make me feel a little bit more secure. However, the SWW really do work well and have a great long-lasting sturdy construction so I know they'll last a long time and continue to do the job well. They are a staple of cloth diapering to me so yes, I'm really glad to have them!
We got a sample pack of these with some diapers once. They are really neat! We don't really need them, but they were fun to use while they lasted. You simply drop one tiny soap cube in some warm water and it dissolves into a wonderful-smelling wipes solution. While we had these we used it for the wipes warmer and also for a on-the-go wipes solution. We put some in a spray bottle which we keep in the diaper bag along with some dry wipes. If we need to change a baby while out, we just spray a wipe with the solution until it is damp and then we have an instant wet-wipe! And it keeps well in the spray bottle since it has antimicrobial properties and natural preservatives. I may splurge on some more of this sometime. I really liked having it!
I got this only because it was on sale, but I like it a lot! It stays in our diaper bag and when a diaper has to be changed while we are out, it goes into the bumGenius wetbag which keeps it very neatly contained until we get home and can put the dirty diaper in the pail. This little bag is truly waterproof (unlike the Bummis Tote) and contains even the messiest diapers without getting anything else in the diaper bag messy. It can hold around 3 diapers! Before we got this wetbag we were using ziplock bags for dirty diapers. Ziplocks work too, but of course, we were having to throw them away after use and we were going through them rather quickly. This wetbag is obviously washable and reusable!

Not loving so much: (aka- would like to find something better...)
We are using this a lot and like it to a certain extent. It is doing the job we need, but I think the job could be done better. We use this tote mainly as a diaper pail liner. The problem is that it is supposed to be waterproof, but it always has moisture on the outside of it. I got it with the thought that it would prevent me from having to wash the diaper pail between uses, but it hasn't held true to that. I still wipe out the pail between uses and I'd love to not have to do that every time. We also use it when we travel and it would be nice to have a tote that could be hung up or placed on the floor with no worries of moisture or odor getting on the surfaces that it might touch (carpet, walls, etc). When we were at home over Christmas we kept it in a cardboard box. Just a little inconvenient. I am open to suggestions for better and more waterproof pail liners/diaper totes!

Would like to try: (aka- everything else! haha!)
Actually, there are about a zillion different diapers and diaper accessories that I would love to try, but this one pulls ahead a little bit, even though we have enough covers (and use the BumGenuises more anyway which require no cover!) and have no practical reason to try a new one...

But, I keep hearing over and over (from moms that use them and love them) that these work even better than the Bummis (which is hard for me to imagine) and not only that, but they are cheaper! So I am very interested. They have really nice looking gussets, good construction, and cute colors! Someday maybe I will get to try them out! (If any of our covers ever wear out or something? ha!)

And I must end this overly-lonng post with some cute diaper pictures! I wish I had more (and more recent) pictures of Will in his various diaper covers and bumGenius diapers, but this is all I've got for now...

Here Will is (on the day he was born!) in a size 0 Kissaluv (no cover just yet). We loved the snap-down for his umbilical cord! These diapers are so soft- they are like cute little round pillows!

Here he is in a Kissaluv with a Bummis Super Whisper Wrap cover.

This is again a Kissaluv, but this time covered with a Bummis Super Brite! So cute!

12 comments:

Kelley said...

It's interesting to read about your experience with all those products. We don't use a diaper pail liner but a dry bag that hangs over the doorknob (http://www.nurturedfamily.com/detail.aspx?ID=25).

I haven't had any problems with it leaking. Also, you can make your own dry bag by buying PUL fabric. I bought some really cute bright flowered fabric to make an extra hanging bag and also an extra travel bag to have in our diaper bag.

We also use baby bits and I really love them. I dilute ours a bit more than the directions so they are lasting forever!

Rebecca said...

That hanging bag looks so nice. I want something just like that to line my pail! I'm quite attached to using a pail at this point.

I wonder if this one would be any good: http://www.nurturedfamily.com/detail.aspx?ID=246

Where did you find your PUL? I'd really like to learn how to sew some things like that, but it's intimidating! (I'm beginning to dabble in sewing a teensy bit...)

Yeah, the baby bits seem pretty economical to me too! Next time I need to order flushable liners I might throw in some more baby bits. :D

Kelley said...

That pail liner looks like it would work well. I've been really pleased with nurtured family. We've ordered quite a bit from them and the orders have always been processed and shipped quickly. When I ordered Greta's medium fuzzi bunz some of them came with the wrong size insert (from the fuzzi bunz factory). I contacted Nurtured Family to ask if the smaller insert was correct and she said no and shipped me the right size insert and let me keep the wrong ones. I was excited about having a few extra for nighttime diapers!

PUL is HARD to find. I wish you could just walk into Hancocks and find it but it seems the only place to buy it is online. I just searched for PUL fabric through google. One thing I did find is it's hard to find PUL prints by the yard. I ended up buying diaper cuts because that's all the print I wanted was available in. If I had to do it over again I would have just gotten something by the yard, even if it was a solid because the diaper cut really wasn't the right size to do the size bag I wanted.

Kelley said...

Oh, I got my PUL at diapercuts.com. I think they do have some PUL by the yard.

Beth said...

You should sign up for greenmountaindiapers.com yahoo group. lol The ladies on it are wonderful and give tons of great advice on CD and many other things. Though if you do join you will probably become a wool soaker convert like me. I love my wool covers and Stephen now lives in them. :)

j.j. said...

Rebecca, every time you post about cloth diapers I want to give it a try..only I know I need to COMMIT to doing it first =)Maybe...one day!

K. Humby said...

Wow! I think he looks quite a bit like his Mommy! :) What do you think?
I will have to go back and read over your old posts on diapers. I think that I am about won over, especially when you mentioned the disposable liners!!! Of course, I am still going up and down four flights of stairs to pay for my laundry, so... not until we come up with our own and have the funds. Thank you so much for your insight!!!

diber said...

What a great post! Really helpful. Thanks!!!

I really want to c.d., but I don't have washing clothes facilities, nor have hopes in any time of the future. Once a week, we haul all our laundry to my ILs, who are really nice to let us do it there. But we can barely manage our clothes, much less throw dipes into it.

I'm researching the possibility of a diaper service to see if it would make c.d.ing feasible for the next thing.

Rebecca said...

Hey Jeannette! Nice to see you over here. :) Yes- having your own laundry facilities is important and would make it much easier! A diaper service might work though. I've never really looked into diaper services or how they work. Could you get and use your own diapers or do they provide a particular kind of diapers? Would you have options as to what kinds you want to use? I'm intrigued! Do post about it if/when you look into it!

Kelley said...

I'm ordering the diaper liners since Greta has started solids. I probably should have done this before we started but didn't think about it so she's in disposables for the time being. I also decided to try out the thirsties fitted diapers and cover. My only experience is with the pocket diapers so I'm interested in trying something else. The thirsties diaper just looked so soft and comfy.

Btw, have you seen this site? http://nickisdiapers.com/
I think their prices are very competitive and they have the lowest shipping rates I've seen (unless another site has free shipping with a certain order amt). I ordered Greta's swimsuits from their sister site (Myswimbaby.com) and was really pleased. Hopefully I will be just as pleased with the liners and new diapers.

Lisa said...

Hey there Rebecca...I'm glad you posted your blog on my blog...its funny that I've tried some diapers you want to try, and you've tried some I want to try!! (fitteds with covers). I did not know you could wash the flushable liners, that is truly amazing, (I forgot to mention I use those). I have been tossing them whether pooed in or not. COOL! You have quite the "little" family there, how far apart are they all??

Rebecca said...

Thanks for the comment, Lisa! Yes! You can wash flushable liners a few times before they deteriorate, but it does depend on the brand. I've found that the Imse Vimse liners hold up to washing much better than other brands. They can make it through the wash 2-3 times before falling apart. I got another brand (that now I can't remember!) that didn't hold up as well and generally only lasted through one wash. I decided I definitely like the Imse Vimse the best and I'm sticking with those so far! The only reason I knew they could be re-washed is because some other moms told me. I don't think it's advertised by the companies themselves! (Go figure.)

My kids are 23 months, 21 months, and now 12 months apart. I don't think the gap could get much smaller after this, and I think that's a good thing. :P