I am thinking about cloth diapering/EC. My baby is almost 1 year old and abt 19lbs. What would I need to get started? Thanks-

---

Angie

Mom to Brady (4.04) and another little bun in the oven EDD 9.14.06

Of course I'm an advocate for cloth diapering! I would love to try EC too sometime but perhaps with a future baby.

For cloth diapering it depends on what kind of diaper you like. The simplest would be a prefold with a snappi. There are also fitted diapers and these all need covers to be waterproof. There's AIO (all-in-ones) they have everything you need for a cloth diaper.

Then there's pocket diapers - these are my favorite! A waterproof outer in fun colors and prints, and pocket to stick an absorbent insert inside. You can stuff it with  1-2 inserts in varying absorbencies as you like depending on if its nighttime or if your baby is a heavy wetter. Then the part that touches your baby's bum stays dry, as the insert wicks away the moisture. These pocket diapers are made of all new materials that stay new looking and clean!

I always knew I would cloth diaper - it's just the kind of person I am, but I never had any clue how FUN it would be. I just love pampering my baby with such fun diapers. There's so many WAHMs who make them and its fun to experiment.

I would love to expand my store someday to include more cloth diapers. Right now I only carry my favorite - FuzziBunz. I'm waiting on an order from Starbunz - cute animal cloth diapers! And I have some I bought from an Attached to Baby member to sell too! j

To start up you'd need to start your CD (cloth diaper) stash with your preferred diapers. Just get a bag that you can wash along with them and maybe some cloth wipes and you're set! For the amount of diapers you need, it depends on how long you want to go between washes, how many children you have... I use about 12 diapers a day and I wash every 3 days, so that makes my usual stash about 36 diapers. Of course I have specialty diapers that I love on rare occasions like silk brocade diapers or holiday ones.

If you have any specific questions, I'd love to help answer them!

---

Angela
Mama to Satori (11/04)

Okay, I used to cloth diaper then I got realllllll busy, well now I want to do it again. I am thinking of using AIO dipes but have no idea whose are good and whose aren't. I am also going to need newborn size as we are going to be fostering newborns(with hope of adopting) so spam away!!! But please only ones that work well!! With all of the sewing I have to do they can't leak every five minutes!!!

Thanks in advance !

Kim

I am so proud of you for wanting to switch when your baby is almost a year. I wanted to switch when my 2nd was almost a year, but made excuses for myself. When the 3rd came along I used cloth from the start. It can be addicting trying all the different kinds and fun at the same time. Everyone needs a hobby.
I think aio are the easiest. Micro fleece or malden mills fleece is great for babies skin so anything with fleece is great and non wicking. Hemp is also fabulous, more absorbant than cotton, antimicrobial, and last longer.
With all of that in mind. Angela gave some really great diaper ideas.
Starbunz are cute and work well. In the summer I did alot of tshirt and just a diaper because they are so cute and I wanted to show them off. They do take extra time in the dryer because the soaker is sewn in. I like aio that have detachable soakers so they dry in 1 dryer cycle.
Cuddlebuns are also nice fitted diapers. They make one size that you just snap different ways to fit a newborn up to a toddler.
Sugarpeas makes a great wool cover that is great for nighttime.
Bummis are great all purpose covers that fit over everything even the biggest diaper.
Bumkins are geat but fit skinny babies well. My son was chuncky and wore an XL when he was 4 months old.
Hope that is helps and a good place to start.
I also bought some used diapers to try them before I invested in new ones to see what would work for my baby and family.
Beth

I almost forgot 1 of my favorites Luke's Drawers. lukesdrawers.com The candy wraper kisses are great for an outing or long car rides. The good night kisses are fabulous and never had one leak over night. Very bulky but worth it. I have tried every night time system out there. My son is huge and nurses all the time so he is a heavey wetter lol.
Beth

We just started cd'ing about 6 weeks ago and we're on baby #3.  Both dd's are in cloth now and we love it!  We use fuzzi bunz and hemp inserts from the fuzzi bunz store.  They are so easy - even dh can use them with no problems.  And no leaks either!

---

Tamara, blessed mama to:
Nathaniel (5), Susannah (2.5), Abigail (14 mo), Sprout (due 4/20)and 3 in heaven: Asher, Ari, and Issac.
http://www.picturetrail.com/pfamilygal

I have heard great things about the Fuzzi Bunz I am going to buy a few and see how they work, my kids have a tendency to be really little at birth(5 or 6 pounds) and I am finding that many cd's start at 7 or 8 lbs. Any suggestions for cd's that are  really tiny and not too bulky??

Kim

Fuzzi Bunz has a newborn size that comes in white. I just gave away my newborn FBs to someone who probably won't even use them, lol. I do have a few for sale in the store.

Otherwise, I have a few newborn Kissaluvs if you're interested. They've only been used a few times, as we bought quite a few diapers to start with and newborn stage didn't last too long!

---

Angela
Mama to Satori (11/04)

I'm a bit old fashioned I guess, I went all out and got lots of different fitted diapes but I have to say I love the plain old terry squares best, and hang them on the line!!!    They dry in about 15 minutes on a warm day and even my dryer can't manage that!  So I save heaps on the electricity bill!  I even use pins!!! 

I heard that for newborns, the Kissaluvs size 0 are excellent!  The contour ones hold in the runny poo.  They would need a cover.  AIOs may not be the best choice for tiny babies, although I used sposies on my newborn so what do I know!  I love Wonderoos, but you may want to try one (check Ebay) first for size.  Some babies outgrow them.  They need stuffing, but that way you can customize them, and they work on newborn right up so you could share them for all sizes!  How great is that! I'm using them now on my 4 mo. old and I'm hooked!  You can use microfiber inserts for quick drying and back them up with hemp for extra absorbancy. You can even get the Wonderfulls inserts in either hemp or microfiber and they come in 2 pieces that snap together, to use one or both.

I have used cloth for all 3 of my kids. With my first, we lived in the Twin Cities and at the time, all the local diaper services were having a price war. I got to use a diaper service for my firstborn for less than half the cost of generic disposables. That was very nice since money was tight. What was also nice was that there was a pretty decent selction of cloth diapering accessories at the local stores. By the time our middle child came around, we lived in the Hampton Roads area and there was not a diaper service for miles around. I already knew that I didn't want to use the Gerber prefolds and so I turned to the Internet and washed my own diapers. Washing my own diapers as not significantly more difficult than using a service and is still significantly easier (for me) than using disposables. I only used prefolds with my first and when I discovered so many options for home laundering, I sampled a bit of each type. I think that the worst value was the All-In-Ones since they only lasted maybe 6 months of occasional use. For the newborn stage, I loved the Kissaluvs with wool covers. I didn't like PUL covers during this stage. I also didn't liek the bigger sizes of the Kissaluvs because the rise was smaller than I was comfortable with. I tried some One-Sized fitted diapers and found that the Ecobaby Grow With Me are still going strong, being used by both my second and third babies. I have been using Wonderoos pocket diapers with both kids as well. My oldest has outgrown the Wonderoos and so we have switched to Fuzzi Bunz with her and I am very happy with the Fuzzi Bunz. I have tried prefitteds and find them to wear out very fast. I have also tried wool, fleece and PUL covers and like wool the best. Of course, I still use and love prefolds and really like the Snappis. I hope that helps you out a little bit.

Kelly