Author Topic: Cloth diapers: which ones? Where to buy?  (Read 6262 times)

angelagrace

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Cloth diapers: which ones? Where to buy?
« on: December 15, 2014, 10:58:03 PM »
Thinking of cloth diapering. Even my hubby is on board! Searched the forum but I couldn't find what I was looking for.

What brand did you find worked well?

Where did you get them? I'd like to put some on our registry :) thanks!

tofuchampion

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Re: Cloth diapers: which ones? Where to buy?
« Reply #1 on: December 15, 2014, 11:15:00 PM »
We have a variety, which seems to be typical for cloth diaper users.  You don't know what will work best on your baby, what you'll prefer, etc., so it's probably best not to stock up with exclusively one kind.

That said...

We are currently using prefolds with covers.  Most of our prefolds were bought secondhand from a local diaper service/cloth diaper store (previously used for the service, so higher quality/more durable than regular prefolds!); I also bought a dozen OsoCozy brand from Amazon.  The covers are a mix of Bummis and Thirsties.  I bought some (again, secondhand), but most were hand-me-downs from a friend.  They have been great so far, only 1 or 2 very small leaks, and no poop blowouts.

We also have a bunch of pocket diapers.  I don't remember off the top of my head what brands - a few Bummis, I think, one Best Bottom, 3 Oh Katy!'s, idk what else.  They're a mix of hand-me-downs, secondhand purchases, and some that I bought new when I found good deals.  We haven't actually used any of them yet; Baby Tofu is only 3 weeks old and doesn't really fit them well yet. 

For wipes we are currently using the disposable wipes we got as gifts, but I have 2 dozen GroVia cloth wipes that we will start using in a couple of days, when the disposable ones are gone.  Our diaper pail is a basic plastic lidded trash can from Target, with a Planet Wise liner.

Most of what we bought new came from Amazon.  We had a registry there as well, and they have a good variety of brands.  Plus they offer a 10% "registry completion" discount (15% if you do Amazon Mom), so you can get a discount on stuff you still need after a baby shower. 

A couple of the pockets came from Zulily.  My favorite is one with a Dr Seuss print.

I would definitely recommend getting as much as you can secondhand.  Good quality cloth diapers will last through more than 1 kid, and you can save a lot of money this way.  Plus you don't have to do all the prepping.  ;)

MicroRN

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Re: Cloth diapers: which ones? Where to buy?
« Reply #2 on: December 16, 2014, 12:43:01 AM »
I also loved prefolds with covers.  Our favorite prefolds were from Green Mountain Diapers (www.greenmountaindiapers.com), and if you check out the website she has a wealth of information on styles and care.  Some of those Green Mountain prefolds were used by my nephew, my 2 sons, and were handed on to a 4th kid with plenty of wear left.  Our preferred covers were Thirsties Duo wrap - it's 2 different sizes of adjustable covers, to work from newborn to toddler.  They have leg gussets, can be wiped clean, and just fit so much better than any other covers we tried, even though one kid was short and chunky and one was long and skinny.  I'm going to second buying used.  Diaperswappers.com has a buy/sell/trade forum, and the parents on the site can also answer just about any questions you have on cloth diapering.  You have to lurk though and be QUICK to snap up good deals.

If you're putting stuff on your registry, I'd go for an assortment, so you can give it a try.  Get some covers, prefolds, fitteds, and all-in-ones.  Most people really like Bumgenius or Fuzzibuns, and they have good resale value in case you decide you don't like cloth diapering.       

mrsggrowsveg

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Re: Cloth diapers: which ones? Where to buy?
« Reply #3 on: December 16, 2014, 07:32:45 AM »
I like pocket diapers, but my favorite are all in ones.  I have two of the all in one (expensive) Bum Genius diapers and they are my favorite.  We also really like our Alva baby cloth diapers.  I bought some of mine locally, some on Craigslist/eBay and a few on Amazon.

La Bibliotecaria Feroz

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Re: Cloth diapers: which ones? Where to buy?
« Reply #4 on: December 16, 2014, 09:30:51 AM »
I also liked the Thirsties Duo Wrap covers when I used prefolds, but more often I used pockets. More reliable out of the house. I had a few Kawaiis, but mostly I loved BumGenius (I got a lot of them secondhand from BabyCenter's Cloth Diaper Swap board, which is a good way to try stuff without making a major investment). I also had a day pack of Flips that I liked; for an older kid, you can use an infant-size prefold behind as a doubler.

Some people get carried away buying too much stuff. I did a blog post once on what NOT to buy if you're interested: http://frugalparagon.com/2014/02/09/cloth-diapering-what-not-to-buy/ But honestly, I said not to buy a diaper sprayer, but if I was doing it all over again, I would buy probably buy one of the fancy ones that comes with a special pail. The ones attached just to the toilet are not worth the trouble in my opinion.

tweezers

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Re: Cloth diapers: which ones? Where to buy?
« Reply #5 on: December 16, 2014, 11:02:36 AM »
We used prefolds and covers, and fuzzibunz.  I bought the prefolds and covers on craigslist, and -resold them for what we paid after using them with two babies.  I don't recall where we bought our fuzzibunz, but they were ~$18/diaper and I just sold them on craigslist for $7/diaper after our second was potty trained.

I would have used prefolds exclusively but my husband wanted something more "disposable-like".  They are definitely the cheapest option out there, and honestly, as effective at containing the worst diaper contents as any other dipe.

Landlord iota

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Re: Cloth diapers: which ones? Where to buy?
« Reply #6 on: December 16, 2014, 11:18:35 AM »
We used prefolds with Thirsties covers (easy to snap, some are adjustable as the kid gets bigger).  100% of my prefolds came used from diaperswappers.  I highly recommend this site and their marketplace, especially if you want to buy and try a few different kinds.  The benefits to buying used prefolds is that they're already broken in and soft--and so much cheaper!

Kingomri

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Re: Cloth diapers: which ones? Where to buy?
« Reply #7 on: December 16, 2014, 01:57:53 PM »
We've had great success with our first using:

Covers (read the 1st review on this - we found it really helpful, we didn't find jelly roll fold quite as effective as the reviewer): http://www.amazon.com/Thirsties-Wrap-Snap-Meadow-Size/dp/B003AJXY1U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418763120&sr=8-1&keywords=thirsties&pebp=1418763122143
Prefolds: http://www.amazon.com/OsoCozy-Prefolds-Unbleached-Cloth-Diapers/dp/B003AJHDQW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418763203&sr=8-1&keywords=prefolds
Snappi: http://www.amazon.com/Snappi-Cloth-Diaper-Fasteners-Green/dp/B004YWKWJO/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1418763203&sr=8-4&keywords=prefolds

If you can get stuff like this used on Craigslist, great. We just got it all from Amazon, but we probably could have done better.

historienne

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Re: Cloth diapers: which ones? Where to buy?
« Reply #8 on: December 16, 2014, 06:15:50 PM »
I bought mine on eBay (all flip covers and inserts; these are fine, but I'm sure lots of other systems are equally good). Since then, though, I've joined a local cloth diapering facebook group.  People are regularly selling their full stash there, as their kids age out of diapers, and those are the best deals I've seen.

GeneralJinjur

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Re: Cloth diapers: which ones? Where to buy?
« Reply #9 on: December 16, 2014, 06:43:43 PM »
I used Gerber prefolds and velcro covers for my first couple of kids ($200 to diaper 2 kids -- SWEET!). For the third, I had to replace my stash, so I bought Green Mountain Indian prefolds in the newborn size, sewed 10 covers from a yard of PUL fabric using the New Conceptions cover pattern, then used Mother-ease snap fitteds and snap covers for when she outgrew the newborn stuff.  As she was my last baby and I was mourning a whole lot of things, I also bought some Very Baby overnight diapers and the pattern. She was a big baby and outgrew the Mother-ease fitteds by around 14 months and I sewed the rest using the Chloe Toes pattern and the Mama Bird pattern.   Here are a few links:

http://cart.mother-ease.com/shopdisplaycategories.asp

http://www.verybaby.com/very-baby-cloth-diaper-pattern-pdf-download/

http://www.verybaby.com/tutorial-for-foldover-elastic/  this shows the Chloe Toes pattern

http://psa63.blogspot.com/2009/08/mama-bird-diaper-patten.html

I was able to sell off the ones she outgrew and gave away the rest to local neighbors.  One of the big benefits to cloth diapering is having a set amount of space for diaper gear.  I paper diapered my oldest and was always buying more when they were on sale.  After he started crawling, he dropped a size and I discovered that I had over 200 diapers in a size that wouldn't fit for another year.  Cloth was much easier to stuff into a cupboard. 

If you have the tiniest hint of sewing ability, diapers are easy to create.  My favorites were made of cotton flannel with a microfiber automotive cleaning cloth sewn between the layers to absorb a LOT!  I bought a snap press to apply the plastic snaps and was able to sell it off for what I paid for it.  (Actually, I bought two to choose which I liked and have kept the second.  Still use it whenever I need plastic or metal snaps in a project.)

N

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Re: Cloth diapers: which ones? Where to buy?
« Reply #10 on: December 16, 2014, 08:43:04 PM »
I used cloth diapers for both my kids, mostly prefolds and fuzzibunz, with random other kinds acquired here and there.
I just also wanted to suggest you read about Elimination Communication "EC". I did it with my second child and it was great. There are forums and websites (of course) and a couple of books for resources. Good luck! :)

ontheupandup

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Re: Cloth diapers: which ones? Where to buy?
« Reply #11 on: December 16, 2014, 09:47:44 PM »
I will join the chorus and say that we have had great success with prefolds and Thirsties covers (as well as Best Bottom covers and Snappies for "pinning" the prefolds). We bought a bunch of the inserts that go with the Thirsties and Best Bottoms covers, but once we got the hang of folding the prefolds, we never looked back. We have six covers, and about 20 prefolds that currently fit our daughter, and I would honestly say that most days this is far, far too many. More often than not, I can get through the day with one or two covers (the prefolds are the reason for this--rarely are there leaks into the covers). We do laundry every night, but could make it through two days+ without doing so with our current stock. Also, I sewed my own wipes and we use one of those big restaurant condiment dispenser bottles to squirt wipe solution onto each one as we need them.

We registered for everything on Amazon, and were actually able to get a couple more Thirsties covers from Target online with gift cards from our shower. The availability of things changes frequently at Target online, so stuff comes out of stock and returns every few days. I know a lot of people like cottonbabies.com, too.

TerriM

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Re: Cloth diapers: which ones? Where to buy?
« Reply #12 on: December 16, 2014, 09:57:34 PM »
We had fitted cotton pre-folds with snaps and Nikky (Nikki?) covers and also Fuzzibunz.  I do not at all recommend all-in-ones.  We started with regular, not fitted prefolds and the snappi diaper fastener, which I do not recommend for boys if you're hoping to ever have grandkids.  The fitted ones with snaps are absolutely worth the money.  Less time putting them on, less hassle.

Fuzzibunz are nice because they dry quickly--you can even line-dry.  Pre-folds always took us a long time to dry in the dryer or they're very scratchy when line-dried.  But the elastic doesn't last very long on the fuzzibunz.   Be very careful to use diaper-wash on these because if you use anything with a softener on the microfiber cloth, it clogs up the liner and they leak after a couple of weeks.
 
Nikki covers were nice because they were pretty much leakproof, but were not PUL so they didn't age badly--we used them for 8 years including lending them out between kids and they're still usable.  There was no PUL liner to separate, so it was just a matter of the velcro aging.  We used them over disposables too to prevent the poop-up-the-back explosions since the nikky's had elastic on the upper back.

Bought all diapers online, though now there are boutiques around that sell them.

TerriM

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Re: Cloth diapers: which ones? Where to buy?
« Reply #13 on: December 16, 2014, 10:32:29 PM »
BTW:  When you're buying pre fold rectangles from a regular store (i.e., Target, BBsRus, etc.), check to make sure that they're high quality.  I've been told that some stores will line the inside with foam which is not at all what you want.  I guess you'd have to buy one and cut it open to know though.

I'm assuming that most fancy cloth diaper stores have the real thing prefold-wise. 

La Bibliotecaria Feroz

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Re: Cloth diapers: which ones? Where to buy?
« Reply #14 on: December 17, 2014, 07:00:44 AM »
Forgot to suggest that you REGISTER for some if you think anyone will buy them! I registered through CottonBabies for Flips and BG and a few other things, all of which my mother bought me (except she did not buy the pins because she thought I would hurt myself) Some brands can be bought in stores--gDiapers, maybe? I know Target has reusable swim diapers.