Cloth Diaper Basic!?

Question

My husband and I agreed to cloth diaper our baby that’s due in June so we want to start buying everything. I really want to know everything! But mostly helpful advice on what to buy. Please and thank you!!

Answer

Search “cloth diapering 101” on youtube. There are tons of great videos.  My advice would be to go for a variety to start though.  Dont invest all in one style or company as you dont know what you’ll like or what will work best for your baby.
We use mainly use flats & covers or pockets.  We use prefolds w/ an extra insert or fitteds at night. We have a few all in ones, but we line dry and they take long to dry.
As far as brands, we have mainly Alva pockets, covers from Imagine, Nickis diapers, thirsties and buttons. Our flats & prefolds are from cloth-eez (green mountain diapers) and imagine. 
I have some flour sack towels from target to use as flats, but I honestly dont really like them. They got really rough and scratchy after a few washes, the snappis dont catch on them very well and they dont absorb that much.  They are the cheapest option, but I think its worth it to spend the extra on the actual flats.

Answer

Personally I am in love with mamakoala  cloth diapers. The patterns are just to die for. I've been recently slowly building up my stash. I have a couple of bumgenius as well. They're pretty nice. I def recommend them. I also recommend going for the hemp inserts.

Answer

If I could go back in time and buy nothing but alva baby diapers from the very beginning I would. As for inserts hemp and bamboo have been my favorites. Although I like to fold cotton prefolds into them as well. I tried them all really. Flats, fitted, prefolds, pockets, all in ones. And looking back it kind of seems like at different parts of the journey we needed different things. Like for a few months I went crazy needing a night time solution because he nursed all night long but I hated doing middle of the night diaper changes. We ended up using bamboo flats exclusively for night time because we needed the absorbency on the sides of the diaper and pockets dont really have that. Thirsties covers are the BOMB for flats or prefolds. They make "snappis" that are way easier than traditional diaper pins. Make sure you look up your detergent and the amounts to use. Plant based or "gentle" detergents usually require more than the box says for cleaning diapers. Now. Poop. I used to go through the hassle of spraying the poopy cloth diapers, then I tried inserts and that seemed like a waste, so I bought a like cake mix scraper and labeled in in sharpie and hide it under the bathroom sink. And when you get a poopy diaper you change it and set it aside, get baby settled safely then go scrape it out into the toilet. I know is sounds awful. And I feel like maybe formula fed babies dont get the peanut butter poo this breasfedd ones do but it is so much easier. Then you roll it up and put it in the wet bag where ever it is. I also used to disassemble the pocket diapers before I put them in the wet bag or washer. but really, pro tip, just throw them all in the washer still stuffed, then pull them out again after a rinse cycle and unstuff them as you return them to the washer. Much less gross and smelly after a short wash cycle. Definitely worth. Hard water can affect things. Dont use dryer sheets. It seems complicated and overwhelming at first but you won't regret it.

Answer

I would suggest you joining a fb group. I'm in one called "cloth diapering mamas". They are super helpful! As of best to buy that depends on a lot of things. For me I like alva pockets, cheap but so far really good! I also like covers (prefer with double gussets) and flour sack towels! I'm also cheap haha so that would explain the cheap brand of pockets. And covers with an absorbent layer tend to be the cheapest because you can use the cover again as long as it does not have poop on it.

Cloth Diaper Basic!?

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