Cloth Diapers Part II

You can find Cloth Diapers Part I here!

In the first post I discussed prefolds, snappis, and covers. Today's post is all about Pocket Diapers with a little bit of All in Ones. Pocket diapers consist of a waterproof outer cover and a microfiber pocket.This is the outside of a Bum Genius pocket diaper I bought used on Diaper Swappers. Note the Velcro tabs at the bottom and strip across the top, these are just like disposable diapers in that you can adjust how loose or tight you close them.

The snaps in three rows along the upper half are to adjust the rise of the diaper. This diaper can be used on babies from six to thirty-five pounds. This means that if you have a baby and a toddler in diapers they can both use the same pocket diapers. Not at the same time, dumb ass!

You stuff the diaper with either a prefold or a microfiber/fleece insert. Inserts are included when you buy a pocket diaper. You can stuff them with more or less depending on how heavy a wetter your baby is and what time of day that you use them. Notice how the microfiber is white, even though at least two babies have totally shit their brains out all over it.

This is a microfiber insert. I prefer to use prefolds inside pocket diapers because I'm a fan of cotton, but these are in the drawer just in case I run out of everything else.

This is the front of the diaper, snapped to the smallest rise. This is how the diaper would look on a newborn baby, Velcro tabs close to each other and snaps closed. Notice how funky the Velcro is getting? It is clean, (I pulled it out of the washer for the pics) but is collecting fuzz balls. It's one of the ways you can tell that this is a used pocket diaper.

The back of the pocket diaper. They come in a array of cute colors and patterns for boys and girls if you're into that proper gender coloring thing.

 

There are pros and cons to pocket diapers. First, it is nice when you only have to put one item on your baby, just like disposables. This is really helpful if you have a wiggly toddler that hates diaper changes. If you have a person changing your baby's diaper that doesn't like the minor difficulty of a prefold and cover, a pre-stuffed pocket diaper is just as easy as a disposable. One thing that I don't like as much is the laundry aspect. I wash my covers with normal laundry (unless they are covered in feces) and air dry them. This helps the elastic on the legs to last longer. Pocket diapers should be washed with the rest of the diapers because minimally they are saturated with urine, and possibly skid marked all to fuck. This means that they take a beating, which isn't great for the elastic and Velcro components.

I recently purchased some Bum Genius pocket diapers on Diaper Swappers. Diaper Swappers is a great place to buy and sell used diapers. I wanted pocket diapers because the first early morning diaper change is hard on my stupid, pain-filled hands. I have five pocket diapers and use them for that purpose. The rest of the day my hands are minimally pissed off and I can do the prefold + cover diaper change. Bum Genius One Size pocket diapers are $17.95 at Jillian's Drawers plus shipping and handling. I paid $35 for four of them at Diaper Swappers. Keep in mind, Diaper Swappers is similar to buying a used book on Amazon.. You might not always get what you wanted. One of the pocket diapers I received had some issues with the Velcro closure, but overall I was fairly happy.

The last type of cloth diaper for today is All In One diapers, known as AIO's. They are exactly what they sound like, a cloth diaper that is one piece. No pockets, no prefolds, just like a disposable except...not. This is super easy for anyone to use because there are no moving parts. This is the most expensive of the three types that I have covered, but worth it if ease of use is your primary goal. However, the drawback is in the washing. Imagine wadding up all your bed sheets and washing them wrapped in each other, after peeing all over the inner sheet. How difficult do you think it would be to get them clean? How about drying those pee sheets, still balled up together? That's the problem with all in one diapers. I don't have any, and I have no wish to get them. If anyone has a good experience or super secret washing technique for them let me know in the comments.

Next post on Cloth Diapers will cover the details like washing and total cost, as well as accessories. And just to let you know, I have not received any compensation for this post. I just love me some cloth diapers, yo.

Cloth Diapers FTW (for teh win!) Part I

I love using cloth diapers. I recently held down a poor pregnant couple for more than a half hour when they unfortunately mentioned that they might be using cloth diapers. I have many opinions on cloth diapering, and I am going to share all of them with you tonight! YAY diapers! The first thing in order to entice you to read further is teh cute. Cloth diapers ARE FUCKING ADORABLE, YO. Here is Egg at four months:

See the cuteness? Have you ever seen a diaper clad baby with COW print on his nethers? You have not! Think of all the joy you get out of dressing your baby boy or girl. With the wee little socks, the cutest onesies, the hair bows, etc. Dressing babies is FUN. Adding another opportunity for cute and/or matching? AWESOME. Egg at six months:

Notice how the cow diaper cover still fits and is still sparkly white? Do you have any idea how many times Egg has shit his ever-loving brains out all over that cover? Exactly. Much shitting all over. And the cover keeps on keeping on all day. Now you're intrigued, right? Teh cute has sucked you in and you want to know more about keeping your baby's ass rash-free and the landfills disposable diaper free? I know! WIN WIN!

If you have looked into cloth diapers, you might have become overwhelmed with all the choices, acronyms, washing, drying, OMGICANTDOTHIS. But! You are here and I can make this easy peasy for you. In disposable diapers there are a few types, too. You have the EXPENSIVE, the CHEAP, and the EARTH-FRIENDLY. Sometimes you have Huggies that are earth-friendly-ish and then the sensitive type and the crawling and the swaddling and isn't every baby's skin sensitive? So if you can make a decision to disposable diaper, you can figure out cloth diapering. I promise!

There are three general types of cloth diapers, ignoring the permutations of organic and not bleached cotton and blah blah blah. You can mix and match types as well as CHANGE when your baby grows. So you are not married to a particular type. The first type is Prefold + Cover. A prefold looks like this on one-month old Egg:

A prefold is a square piece of cotton that is made of layers sewn together. The layers are thicker in the middle. They come in different sizes to fit your baby. The thing holding it together is a Snappi and is much like the metal thingy that holds an ace bandage on your parts. You don't have to use pins unless you prefer them.

These are from Green Mountain Diapers. Two people I respect and admire recommended using this website to purchase prefolds. I really didn't like how 1999 the website is, but the prices and quality and reams of how-to advice are invaluable. You cannot buy the crap you find in Babies R Us. Is is like trying to use a Kleenex as a pad on a heavy flow day. That shit just won't work.

So we have a prefold, a snappi, and a cover. Covers are teh cuteness. Look:

Covers are waterproof. The prefold soaks up all the yuck, and the cover keeps the yuck from getting on you. There are designer covers, plain white covers, character covers, the sky is the limit. Now there are covers that are more adjustable, which means they last longer on your growing baby. These are Thirsties, and they kick ass. The snaps on the front allow you to adjust the rise, making it span a wider range of baby sizes.They come in a TON of cool colors and really last.

Prefolds, the cotton part that absorbs the yuck, snappis that keep the prefolds on, and covers that are a waterproof barrier between you and the yuck. If it sounds like I am repeating myself, it is because that's how you learn, stupid hooker face! Next diapering post we will talk about Pocket Diapers and All-in-ones.