Cloth Diapers

My story with cloth diapers began when Nia (now 11) was a newborn. I decided to give them a try. I assumed that you could just go to your local Wal-mart, grab a pack of the cute, printed cloths, and proceed to diaper your baby with them. Since those 'diapers' are really designed to be used as burp clothes, my one day trial was filled with nothing but wet everywhere. Months later I actually met a mom who cloth diapered the real way. I was intrigued, but not enough to relive that first test trial.

Six and a half years later I was blessed with my second child, Ann. By this time the internet was in full swing and my little Ann's sensitive skin was constantly broken out in a diaper rash. We would miss outings just so I could let her go diaper free. After researching what to do about constant diaper rash, I came across the new cloth diaper. The one size pocket diaper. I researched what many felt was the best (of only a few brands) on the market, BumGenius. Then on product 2.0. I proceeded to make about a dozen of my own pocket diapers designed after the pictures on the Cotton Babies web site of the BumGenius. My homemade diapers were not the best, not even close, but it did get rid of Ann's rash and made my husband and I decide to make the switch. At first we used my homemade cloth during the day and a disposable at night. A month later we ordered a couple dozen prefolds, 2 diaper covers, and 2 of the coveted BumGenius one-size 2.0s from cottonbabies.com. We used the BumGenius at night and my homemade and prefolds during the day. I loved my BumGenius and eventually built up enough of a stash of them to last Ann 2 days. Below is an example of a 2.0, not the one-size or a pocket diaper like we used, but you get the idea.

So, what are we doing diaper wise for the new baby? If you guessed BumGenius 4.0, you are right! We will be starting with 6 BumGenius, 18 prefolds, and 3 ecobum covers. Eventually we will get more pocket diapers. I would totally go with only BumGenius, but I have read on several blogs that you should tryout a diaper on a baby's behind for a while before you dish out the dough on a full stash of them. Every bottom is different and different diapers work better on different kids. Below is an pic of a 4.0, now I can get them in prints!

Also in prep for the new baby and his cloth diapers I cut 12 inch by 5 inch rectangles from fleece to use as diaper liners. This is so simple. I bought 2 feet of polar fleece fabric which was on sale, 1 foot of each fabric. Then cut 5 inch sections. No need to sew, fleece doesn't fray. I didn't use liners with Ann, but I like the idea. The cost for the liners was under $3 and it made a total of 22.  They are cheeper and totally cuter than the liners you find for sale also. 

For wipes we use cut up old t-shirts. I asked friends on facebook to give me old t-shirts they no longer wanted. My only tip here is to make them all the same size and make that size one that will fit into the container of you choice. We are using a container that would normally hold disposable wipes.