Adventures in cloth diapering: Part I

When I initially told people we wanted to use cloth diapers, I got the full gamut of responses.  From "Good luck with that" and "Sure, we'll see how long that lasts", to "Of course, that's the best thing for the environment" or "We used cloth diapers when our kids were babies".  I even heard the occasional "There were no such things are disposable diapers when my kids were babies, so I had no choice!" response.  In fact, my own mother raised me and my siblings in cloth diapers, and John's mum also raised John and his brother and sister with cloth.  Don't get me wrong, it's not that disposables didn't exist yet (geez, I'm not that old), but disposables were just too expensive or just not common yet (okay, so I'm not that young either). :)

The difference between cloth diapering then and now are the many (and some very colorful!) options available to secure the diapers in place.  I don't know if I would feel as comfortable using cloth diapers if I had to worry about pinning the diaper with diaper pins.  Then the rubber pants that were used on top of the cloth diapers in my day were certainly not attractive or probably that comfortable for the baby.  Today, the options for cloth diapering are designed to mimic disposable diapers to some degree.  There are diaper "shells" with velcro (or snaps) to secure the diaper closed on each side at the front like you would with a sticky tab of a disposable diaper.   Thus the shells hold the cloth diaper together, forgoing the need for diaper pins.  The shells also replace the need for rubber pants by providing a moisture barrier between the cloth diaper and the outside world.  One common feature about cloth diapering then and now, however, is the bulk.  Cloth diapers are still much bulkier than disposables, and thus we had to retire Evan's newborn sized clothes and start putting him in his 0-3 month sized clothes when we started him on cloth diapers.

There are a few different types of cloth diaper options out there and we are trying two styles right now.  One style we are using is what is referred to as an "All-in-one" (AIO) pocket-style cloth diaper.  It's not truly an AIO, as it requires an insert be stuffed into the pocket of the diaper shell, but once stuffed it is ready to be put on as one piece.  A true AIO diaper will have the absorbent diaper attached to the shell, as once piece, but are generally more expensive than options with multiple pieces, stuffers, etc.  We are using the Bum Genius 4.0 brand for the AIO pocket style.  This brand has two closure options: hook and loop (which uses velcro) or the snap closure.  We bought four of each so far, as the velcro helps close the diaper tighter when the baby is smaller, but the snaps last longer since velcro may lose it's stickiness the more it's washed and I've read that older babies find out how to get out of the velcro diapers too easily.  This brand of diaper has an absorbent microfiber insert that you stuff inside the pocket of the shell.  The shell has a polyester material that lays against the babies skin and helps wick moisture away from the skin and into the absorbent insert.  Once the diaper is stuffed, it behaves like one piece and you can quickly put it on like a disposable would go on.  When the diaper is dirty, you just take out the insert and machine wash both the shell and insert.  These are a one-wear option, as the shell gets dirty each wear along with the insert.

The microfiber insert gets stuffed into the pocket at the opening at the back of the diaper.  Additional inserts can be used ("doublers") if extra absorbency is needed. (The above Bum Genius images were borrowed from http://www.cuddlebunz.com and http://www.healthyhiney.com)

The other style we're using is a basic shell with cloth pre-fold insert.  The shells we chose are made by Thirsties, and all five of the (size 1) shells we bought so far have velcro closures.  The pre-fold cloth diapers we chose are by OsoCozy, and are just basic unbleached, Indian cotton (size 1 or 12 x 16 inches) cloth diapers.  The Thirsties wrap-style shell has no soft or absorbent material inside it, thus it needs a cloth insert or pre-fold to be placed inside it before it is closed.  Since pre-fold cloth diapers are fairly cheap (usually ~$2 each), we bought 18 of them to use inside the Thirsties wraps.  The shells can be reused a few times as long as they didn't get soiled from a previous wear, and thus you just change out the pre-fold cloth diaper inside it.  This style does require a bit more finesse when putting the diaper on, however, as you must fold the cloth diaper, line it up inside the shell, wrap it around the baby and then secure the shell around the outside of the cloth diaper to hold it all together.  As a tradeoff to the extra work required to put it on, this style is more affordable since you don't need as many shells and the cloth pre-folds are pretty cheap.

How do you put on a pre-fold cloth diaper with Thirsties shell?

Step 1: Open the shell up
Step 2: Fold a cloth pre-fold diaper into thirds and lay it inside the shell.  We like to fold open the back of the cloth diaper to cover Evan's entire bottom better (this is also how you'd prepare the pre-fold to be wrapped around a baby when using diaper pins).
Step 3: Undo the velcro tabs so they are ready to stick to the front of the diaper shell.
Step 4: Place the back of the shell and diaper underneath the baby's bottom as you would with a disposable.
Step 5: Fold the cloth diaper over the baby's front and bring the front of the shell around to hold the cloth diaper in place.
Step 6: After folding the front of the shell around the cloth diaper, attach the velcro tabs from the back to the velcro strip on the front to secure it closed around the baby's legs.
Step 7: Make sure all parts of the cloth diaper are tucked inside the shell, to avoid leaks.  For us, this sometimes requires folding over the front of the diaper inside the shell since Evan is still small.

Step 1: This is the Thirsties wrap-style shell opened up without a cloth pre-fold diaper inside.   

Steps 2-3: Cloth pre-fold laying inside the shell with velcro tabs undone.

Step 6: Diaper and shell secured closed with velcro tabs.

Most cloth diaper options these days also have adjustable sizing, to allow it to fit a baby longer.  The Bum Genius are designed to fit a 8-35 lb size range and the Thirsties size 1 diaper shells are designed to fit babies 6-18 lbs.  The way they adjust is with sizing snaps in the front of the diaper (seen in the above photo for the Thirsties wrap).  To make the diaper smaller, you fold up the front and snap the two bottom snaps to the top ones to shorten the leg openings for a smaller baby.  The lowest row of snaps to the top snaps will give you the smallest size, and the middle row of snaps to the top snaps will give you the intermediate size.  Leaving all snaps undone (as shown) will give you the largest size setting.

And now for the final product....

This is the Thirsties shell with a pre-fold cloth diaper on Evan in "Storm Cloud" blue (how appropriate for me!).  Here he is just waking up to be changed, thus this photo captures some of his funny just waking up faces he makes while stretching. :)  Note the pre-fold cloth diaper in the background, folded into thirds and ready to go for his diaper change.