Fluffy Little Bums…

Alex, 6 months old, wearing a cloth diaper

I’m very excited to have the opportunity to host a cloth diaper giveaway starting tomorrow!  Before the giveaway, I wanted to share a little about how we cloth diaper…

I started looking into cloth diapers about 4 years ago, just before Alex was born.  It’s something that I just felt compelled to try.  I was surprised to see that cloth diapers are not just Gerber prefolds, safety pins, and plastic pants anymore.  The new options are much nicer!

There’s no more “swishing” in the toilet.  We keep a plastic kitchen trash can with a PUL (waterproof) liner in our laundry room.  When we change a diaper, we just toss it into the can.  (If it’s dirty, we “plop” the solids into the toilet first.)  Every other day, I wash by doing a cold water rinse, a HOT wash with a diaper-safe detergent, and a few extra cold rinses to be sure all the detergent has washed out.  Every once in a while, maybe once a month, I do an extra wash with a bit of bleach.)  That’s it!

We started out trying a variety of diapers.  I tried everything: prefolds and covers, fitted diapers with separate covers, snap diapers, velcro diapers…and I got a pretty good idea of what I liked best. 

In those early days, I really came to appreciate the diapers that were most similar to a disposable.  Still adjusting to being a mommy, I didn’t enjoy any sort of prefolds or complicated diapers.  My favorites were BumGenius one-size diapers (which are like a washable disposable with velcro tabs) and FuzziBunz (which are very similar, but have snaps instead of velcro).

Alex, around 4 months old

When Max came along, I purchased some used Bum Genius x-small and small diapers to use for the first few months.  (DiaperSwappers is an excellent place to purchase gently used baby diapers.)

Max, around 2 months old

When Max began using the same BumGenius that Alex was using, we started having a problem ~ after 2 years of regular use with Alex, and now the washing/drying demands of TWO children wearing the same diapers, the velcro just wasn’t holding well enough to stay on a wiggly toddler.  Max could still wear them just fine. Alex, however, would be running around the house, and suddenly his diaper would fall out through a pant leg! 

 Max, around 4 months old

That’s when Cotton Babies was introducing their new Flip diapers.  The price was right, and I was confident enough in cloth diapering to try something a little less like a disposable.  I fell in love with the simplicity of the Flip diapers! 

Max, 2 years old, in a Flip cover

I used Flips on Alex until he potty trained, and Max is still wearing Flips every day.  Jensyn will begin using these soon, too.  They’ve held up WONDERFULLY, and I have no doubt they’ll last through Jensyn’s diaper days, too.

Flips are very thin, PUL (waterproof) covers with flaps inside to hold an insert in place.  They have absorbent microfiber inserts with a soft, stay-dry suedecloth lining that goes against baby’s skin.  (They also sell organic cotton inserts for those who prefer to avoid synthetic fibers against baby’s skin.)

You simply pop them into the reuseable cover and snap it on the baby.  (They’re available in snaps or velcro, but at that point, I was not a big fan of velcro on diapers that needed to last for a long time!)  When you change the diaper, you slip out the insert & set a new one in the cover.  If the cover gets a little dirty from a messy diaper, you can swap it out for a new cover.

We ended up purchasing 6 Flip covers, 12 inserts, and 4 organic inserts.  We also have some prefold diapers (you know, the “old-fashioned” diaper) that get used when we’re behind on the diaper laundry.  I just fold them into thirds and pop ‘em in the Flip – no pins involved!

Jensyn, just a few weeks old

When Jensyn came along, I purchased some clearanced BumGenius small diapers.  (Cotton Babies no longer be sells their sized diapers, so I snatched up some REALLY inexpensive pink & purple diapers.)  These fit her well, and we’ll be able to resell these with no problem when she outgrows them.

Now that she’s nearing the point of outgrowing these, I wanted to get her a few girly-colored diaper covers for Christmas.  There’s nothing wrong with yellow, green, and blue…but a little pink won’t hurt.  Besides, this little girl has EVERYTHING she needs…and she deserves to get SOMETHING for Christmas!

The next post, scheduled for tomorrow morning, reviews the diaper covers that we’ve been trying out this week.  I’m excited to have the opportunity to share a cover with one lucky reader!