Cloth Diapering: How we do it

I kind of put the cart before the horse here. The discovery of cloth wipes usually gets made when you decide to use cloth diapers. But that is just how things are right now - a little out of order.

Baby MM is three months-old now and with the tons of time I have (I kid), I thought I'd write a little about our cloth diaper journey to-date.

My observation has been that one's reason for approaching cloth diapering will dictate a lot of the diaper choices you make. For example, if you're going the way of cloth to save money, prefolds are the way to go. If you're concerned about the environment and don't mind dropping a pretty penny on a diapering system, all-in ones or pocket diapers might be it. And then there is where most folks likely fall, a hybrid system that could include a little bit of everything.

I approached cloth diapering with the intent of finding both a more eco-friendly and cost-efficient mode of diapering. So far we've tried prefolds and fitteds with covers, an all-in one, and a couple of pocket diapers.

My prefolds and fitted "workhorse" diapers are from Green Mountain Diapers and I love them. I am able to customize the fit of the prefolds and like the ease of use of the fitteds, and we've had very few leaks with both - and even then, only on the cover and not on baby MM's clothing. As far as covers go, I have fallen in love with the Flip one-size cover. It's lightweight and not bulky, very easy to get on (even as a one-size cover), and is snug enough but not restrictive around the legs. The runner up cover is Grovia, which are a little thicker and more cumbersome, but better quality. We use fitteds and    prefolds 95% of the time.

I have one all-in-one diaper by Bumkins that I really like for overnight. It keeps baby MM dry and happy for the whole night.

I recently got three pocket diapers from Little Monsters and I can't figure out how to make them stop leaking. Baby MM literally pees through them. Maybe the insert isn't big enough for the pocket, or I need a more absorbent insert (although I can't see how baby MM could pee through any microfiber insert in 15 minutes), or maybe the inserts are just poor quality. I haven't given up yet and I'll let you know when I figure it out. But until then, I've just been trying them out at home.*

Update: Finally success with our pocket diapers! I picked up some bamboo inserts from Sweetbottoms when I was in Raleigh, NC this past weekend and so far, no leaks! Perhaps microfiber just isn't for us.

Accessories? I'm using Earth Mama Angel Baby Baby's Bottom Balm for home and Grovia's Magic Stick for away. I also have the Diaper Dekkor Plus diaper pail with the cloth diaper insert and a variety of smaller wet bags to keep in the diaper bag.

So that's that. Anything to add?