Cloth Diaper Cuteness! :)

Take a look at Jensyn’s new cloth diaper cover.  Isn’t it just beyond darling?  She and I are BOTH thrilled with it!  Right now, she is going through a phase where she refuses to wear pants most days.  I figured that, since we needed a new diaper cover anyway (she’s outgrown some of her smaller diapers), I might as well pick a CUTE one since we’ll be seeing it all the time! *Ü*

{scroll waaaay down to find out who made this darling diaper cover}

We’ve been cloth diapering since we brought our oldest home from the hospital.   Five and a half years…and three kiddos…later, I am still in love with cloth diapering.  We’ve had our ‘bumps in the road’ along the way, as we’ve learned what works best, which diapers hold up through more than one child, what laundry detergent is best, etc.  Yet I still have not – and probably never would – change my mind about cloth diapering our kids.  It might just be an addiction

Here’s my teeny-tiny Alex, at 3.5 months old & 6 months old, in early 2008. 
If I remember correctly, the top picture is a Happy Heiny
and the bottom picture is a FuzziBunz.

Here’s Max in late 2009 in a Bum Genius newborn diaper:

I’m not a crazy ‘you must cloth diaper’ kind of mama.  We do use some disposables around here when we’re busy, when we’re traveling, in the diaper bag, etc.  But we do use cloth diapers at least 75% of the time – usually more like 90% of the time.

Over the years, I’ve learned that I like BumGenius newborn diapers best when my babies are teensy.  They’re so convenient for a sleep-deprived new mama, as they are almost like disposables.

When they are bigger, I really like FuzziBunz with snaps…our FuzziBunz (old style) lasted through ALL THREE KIDS and were still in good enough shape to pass along to a friend!  I am SO impressed by that!  (Our BumGenius one size diapers lasted about 18 months with one child before the aplix velcro was totally useless.  I’m still a HUGE fan of BumGenius, and we own several, but go with the snaps if you want the diapers to last through more than one child.)

 

Over time, I’ve found what I love the BEST for mobile babies is Flip StayDry inserts with a PUL (waterproof) cover.  We use Flip covers, Swaddlebee Capri covers, and Zookaboo covers.

My reason for LOVING the Flip StayDry inserts is that they are easy to plop in a diaper, they wash well so that they don’t retain stink/stains, they are VERY durable, and the StayDry microfiber keeps baby’s skin dry for hours.  I do really like Green Mountain Diaper’s traditional prefold (“old fashioned” cloth diapers), but they don’t keep skin dry like a Flip StayDry.

Flips are easy-clean, durable, quick-dry, lightweight covers and are my go-to cover.  They only come in solid colors.   You just lay the insert inside the cover, held in place by very simple flaps, and you’re ready to go.

Swaddlebee Capris are a lot like Flips as far as easy-clean, lightweight, quick-dry, but they fit a little smaller than Flips…and come in cute, colorful patterns!  It also has the flaps to hold the insert of your choice in place.

 
Zookaboo covers have a cotton exterior with a PUL lining.  They don’t dry quite as quickly as the covers listed above, but they are THE CUTEST COVERS I have ever seen!  We’ve been using Zookaboo (formerly Zookies) since Jensyn was 6 months old, and these are definitely our cutest covers.  (You can read my original review of Zookies by CLICKING HERE.)

Jensyn just outgrew a few of her smaller sized Zookies diaper and I’d given away some of her other smaller diaper as well, so we needed one more diaper cover.  Michelle posted this one earlier this week, and I thought it was PERFECT for my little girl who is going through an ‘I Hate Pants’ phase.  I snatched up this DARLING, ruffly diaper cover as soon as I saw it!

This is definitely the cutest diaper cover we’ve purchased in 5.5 years of cloth diapering! 

When the package arrived in the mail this morning, Jensyn was SUPER excited!  She took one look at that diaper cover and said, “Ooooh, my sowers!!!”  (sowers = flowers) She sat down right away and waited for me to change her diaper.  Too cute!

I tried snapping some pictures to share with Zookaboo owner, Michele, but the lighting isn’t great because I was chasing a very wriggly, active toddler!  She stood still just long enough to watch Daddy & brothers on the tractor…and I took that opportunity to snap a quick picture from the back.  Blurry, bad lighting, and all…I figured it was worth sharing so you can see the “ADORABLENESS” of a Zookaboo cover.

Zookaboo diapers are available with or without the insert flaps.  We have some of each, and I like them equally.  This one does NOT have flaps, but we’ve never had trouble with an insert sliding around inside a Zookies/Zookaboo cover.   This is one company I would highly recommend for durability, cuteness, and personal input on the style/fabric of your diaper covers.  Michele has great customer service and has super-prompt shipping!

Here’s a quick list of my favorite cloth diapering resources.  Many cloth diapering websites offer a trial pack so you can try a wide variety of diapers to get a feel for what works best for you.  For example: You pay $100, and then you try the diapers for two weeks.  At the end of the trial period, you return the diapers and get a $90 refund.  That way, you’re paying only $10 to try the diapers.  Then you can purchase what works best for you and your little one!

Diaper Junction offers a great ‘no risk, ‘no cost’ trial program, and Jillians Drawers is another cloth diaper website with a terrific $10 trial program!

Here’s a quick link list for our favorite cloth diapers.

POCKETS/ALL IN ONES (click pictures to link…)
FuzziBunz

BumGenius 4.0


BumGenius Newborn
(ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY my favorite for tiny babies, and they’ll have a TERRIFIC resale value since you’ve only used them for a few months!  Try selling on diaperswappers.com)


COVERS
Flips

 

 

 

 

Swaddlebee Capri

 

 

 

 

Zookaboo

INSERTS

Flip StayDry

Green Mountain Diaper prefolds
We just fold these in thirds, plop it in the diaper, and call it good.  You can use pins or a ‘snappy’ to use it the traditional way, but I’ve never seen the need for that.  Don’t settle for cheap, store brand prefold cloth diapers.  You’ll almost definitely be less than satisfied if you go the Gerber cloth diaper route…Green Mountain Diapers are inexpensive and will hold up for a long time.  You can get 12 small prefolds for $28, which is only $2.33/diaper.   That’s really VERY reasonable!

WIPES

If you’re going to cloth diaper, it’s just as easy to use cloth wipes.  We use Eli’s Wipees, made by a mom on DiaperSwappers.  We store them dry and use a peri-bottle (from the hospital, after you’ve had a baby) filled with water and a few drops of tea tree oil. 

(Picture from Alex’s nursery, 2008)

I like the 8x8 baby wipes with flannel front and velour back the best.  We use these as wipes, bathtub washcloths, ‘booger cloths’ for runny noses, hand washcloths in the kids’ bathroom.  These things are DURABLE and so cute!  You can pick your own fabrics, colors, etc.  We have ordered from here multiple times and never been disappointed!

DETERGENT

PLEASE save yourself a lot of hassle, and choose a cloth diaper friendly detergent!  Many detergents contain ingredients that can cause stinkiness and soap build-up in cloth diapers.  Many contain ingredients that can cause a diaper to repel pee rather than absorbing it, and (obviously) that defeats the purpose of putting a diaper on your child! 

We’ve tried a few, and we’ve stuck with Planet liquid detergent for about 3 years now.  Detergent choice is somewhat dependent on your water – city water, well water, whether you have a water softener, etc – but I’d highly recommend Planet detergent.  (Do not EVER use fabric softener on your diapers!  They WILL repel!) 

I’m linking to Amazon for the simplicity of adding the picture to the post, but I’d recommend buying from CottonBabies.com because they offer free shipping and a reasonable price for the detergent..

So, if you’re still with me here, you now know exactly how things go at our house!  I have never once regretted cloth diapering, and I can honestly say I am going to miss our cloth diapers when Jensyn potty trains!

Disclosure: This post does include some affiliate links, but only for products we use and love every day.  There are NO affiliate links for Zookaboo or Eli’s Wipees.  Those are just two links to wonderful stay-at-home moms who add to their family’s incomes by making fabulous products for cloth diapering!