My Cloth Journey After 6 Months

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kennethe62

New member
I want to make notes for myself about what I've discovered along the way. I did hours of research beforehand and despite that have still been surprised by how my opinions have differed from others.

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What I've learned / would tell my previous self:
  • Install a diaper sprayer to each toilet in your house. Great for diapers after solids, spraying potties for elimination communication, and can be used as a bidet. Great for postpartum. So handy!
  • If planning to do elimintation communication, don't get the larger size diapers that some brands offer (Lighthoude Kids, Greyden, etc.). You'll probably be using tiny undies when they are older and some of the larger size diapers still don't fit my 5 month old. Not worth the money if doing EC.
  • Cloth wipes are amazing, way more effective
  • I didn't need a pail liner, just a plastic laundry basket with holes for air circulation
  • While flats have advantages and many people love them, they are not my favorite. They require you to essentially diaper the baby twice. Poop gets in all the folds of the flat diaper so taking it off the baby can be messy which I extremely dislike. Trifolding flats instead makes a diaper very bulky for a young baby. I'm still glad I tried them and they can be used as burp cloths, blankets, si I don't regret buying them.
  • Snap all in ones (SIO) sound great but are messier than pockets. Poop gets all around the edges of the snapped in insert that flops around as you take it off the baby and put it in the laundry. Not fun and I imagine it would be worse after starting solids.
  • I love pocket diapers. Folding regular laundry is one of my favorite chores because it deals with clean things, not dirty things like doing the dishes does. Pocket diapers are great for people with my same preference. Stuffing diapers with clean inserts is way more enjoyable to me than dealing with messy poop situations for other types of diapers. Pockets are also great for other caregivers because I can stuff them and then they appear very similar to a disposable diaper. Poopy pocket diapers are less intimidating to them than a poopy SIO or flat with cover.
  • Newborn diapers essentially break even for the first baby. If you plan to have more than one child, then it would save you money.
  • Newborn diapers: Baby only fit in newborn size GMD workhorses for a couple weeks. Not worth it. They were also very bulky and poopy diapers were messy with the sewn in insert. It requires twice as much diapering with putting on the workhorse and the cover separately which makes it take longer. I liked newborn SIO's better. The Rite Newborn AIO (technically a SIO) fit my baby for longer than my Newborn Elskbar ones did. Newborn flats didn't fit my baby for very long (baby was 90th percentile height and 60% weight). I suspect I'd like newborn pockets the best (didn't have any NB pockets).
  • Bourdeaux's Butt Paste in the Green bottle is great. We use it every diaper change preventatively. No issues with it and our cloth diapers.
  • A diaper cream spatula attachment is amazing! I bought the Eli and Ali Tush Swiper
  • Advantages of having a small dedicated diaper washer (Purifi by The Laundry Alternative) include being able to do one smaller load daily so diapers aren't sitting around getting stinky. Smaller loads also means I don't need as many diapers (20-24). It heats cold water via electricity so doesn't use up hot water. It has a "diaper magic" setting that gets my diapers super clean.
  • Disadvantages of the Purifi washing machine from The Laundry Alternative: takes up additional space if you have a regular washer (my husband wouldn't agree to cloth if we used our regular washer). Issues with the machine. Our first unit leaked when running the very first load. Our second replacement unit after 4 months of 1x/day use is having issues with the lid sensor so it's not starting because it thinks the lid is open even though it's closed. Customer Service is nonexistent. Took over a month to hear any response to my multiple emails. Phone calls are never answered. Buyer Beware.
  • This collapsible drying rack at Home Depot
    is amazing for drying diaper covers (and clothes) Ina small space. They have a larger size as well.
Specific diaper reviews will be in a comment below.
 
@kennethe62 Thanks for sharing so many details! Did you ever try non pockets with inserts? (I guess those would be the same as the GMD maybe). I feel like I want to do frequent changes for just urine but don't want to have to change out the entire diaper.
 
@francis777 During the newborn stage I did newborn size flats (1 month old) and later regular one size flats (2-3 months old) with diaper covers. I did both the origami fold and pad folded (into thirds so resembles an insert). I had read a lot of people recommending covers for the exact reason you mentioned and thought I'd like it.

But what I experienced is that when baby peed, the entire flat would be wet and thus the cover was slightly damp. I felt weird about reusing the covers when they had been touching cotton soaked pee. So I would almost always use each cover once before putting it in the laundry basket. Maybe other people's babies don't fully soak their flats/inserts so their covers are never damp? Or maybe they just feel okay reusing them despite that, I don't know!
 
@kennethe62 When covers are damp I would switch to a different one and let the damp one dry before using it again but wouldn't throw it in the hamper until it got poop on it or started to stink
 
@kennethe62 Such helpful notes, thank you!

I bought everything to do cloth nappies before the baby was born but I've really struggled with them. Baby and I could get over them being bulky but they seem to leak so often for us, even with double inserts. The leaks mostly seem to be around legs but if I do them up any tighter baby boy is clearly uncomfortable. Any tips for that? We've got a few different brands and I'm afraid budget won't allow us to get others now.

I try to do a few cloth nappies a day but we are mostly in disposables and it makes me feel ever so guilty about our environmental impact.
 
@servanna Doubling inserts made my diapers too bulky for my newborn and created leg gaps. Using a prefold as an insert made the diaper trimmer and kept everything contained. (Baby is only 1 months so ymmv.)
 
@servanna I'm glad my notes can be of some use! I had so many questions before baby was born and I was able to actually experience it and reading reasoning why people liked/didn't like products in this sub was helpful back then!

What inserts are you using? And does there appear to be any gaps by the legs?
 
Favorite Inserts (see links in post)
  • Kinder Cloth 6 layer Bamboo/Cotton/Hemp: the most absorbant while remaining trim option I found. Only con is that it is quite long and I hate folding inserts because of the bulk. So not great until baby is at some of the larger rise settings on the diaper. Great for overnight.
  • Kinder Cloth 4 layer Bamboo Terry: the most trim option I could find at mid-absorbancy level. I use just this when at home and doing elimination communication.
  • Thirsties Hemp doubler size large: Great hemp booster to significantly increase absorbancy. I like to add this to the Kinder 4 layer insert when out of the house and not practicing elimination communication. This combo is great for overnight.
Thoughts on other inserts I tried:
- Flats: Mentioned a lot in the post. But basically most folds like origami fold means it's messy removing poop diapers which I dislike. Intimidated my mom and husband. When trifolding, it caused too much bulk when baby was 3-5 months old.
- Prefolds: too bulky. Love using them as burp cloths though!!!
- Bungies: almost as trim as Kinder but not quite. Great natural fibers (cotton and hemp). But these are a bit wider and stiff so not as nice in my opinion. It also bothers me how the cotton layer is so much shorter than the hemp layer, but it doesn't seem to affect the performance.
- Diaper Rite: SIO inserts of bamboo terry. They are rough, so I feel bad putting them directly against baby's bottom. One of the inserts is too long to use in another pocket unless rise setting is completely unsnapped or you fold it. The smaller insert it comes with is great for pockets for a 3-4 month old but after that is too short and causes leaks.
- Pannolino Bambino Bamboo Terry Trifold: found it recommended on this sub for overnights. It does have great absorbancy but super bulky so I don't usually use them.
- Lighthouse Kid: was the worst one in my opinion. The book fold makes it super bulky, way more bulky than if they were two separate inserts laid on top of one another. It also was too wide for most pocket diapers so they didn't lay right or fit great.
- Geffen Baby Hemp Boosters Newborn Size: unnecessary for newborn days and too small when baby got older. Also didn't like the elliptical shape.
- GMD Hemp Boosters: Slightly trimmer than Thirsties, but a lot shorter. Great for 3-4 month old but not as nice when baby is bigger.
 
@curiousaboutthis Yes I did! I re-read my post and comment and realized I called it trifolding instead of padfolding, whoops! Sorry for the confusion.

I was mostly planning to do GMD muslin flats padfolded inside of pockets because I read a lot of people liking that here and several youtubers (Laina's Life and Jay's Nest) said that was their go to. However, doing that was so incredibly bulky on my baby (I tried it ages 3-6 months). I was worried about tummy time because the diaper was so bulky and baby's legs were up off the floor. So I tried to find other inserts that were still absorbant but trim. That's when I found Kinder Cloth inserts which check both boxes. I think a lot of people aren't bothered by the "fluff butt" bulkiness and I thought I wouldn't be but it turns out I am 🙃
 
@hulk1234 It's awesome! We have the one linked in the post in our small bathroom that also serves as a laundry room. And we got the longer version for our bedroom for clothes. I was hesitant because of the price but they have been worth it!
 
@kennethe62 Love this. Personally, I really liked my newborn GMD workhorses and felt like the step of adding a cover got me way more comfortable/confident that I really could be successful with cloth because it didn’t seem like that much extra work. I had a couple AIO’s that I hated, and a set of newborn Alva baby pocket diapers which I actually really liked for the price. We’re expecting again in March and the only thing I’ve done differently to prepare was getting the GMD newbie prefolds as inserts for the Alva pockets! I’m excited to use them as inserts instead of the microfiber they come with.
 
@steviedj Congratulations on your little one coming soon!!! That's so exciting! And fun to get your little newborn diapers out again 🥹

That's great to hear you liked newborn pockets. Did you find them hard to stuff? That's the main complaint I've heard about NB pockets and it steered me away from them with this baby. But I think I may actually like them better than the other newborn diaper styles I tried.
 
Favorite Diaper:
  • Kinder Cloth Co pocket! It was the first diaper to fit at 2.5 months old, exterior material very flexible, smooth, and soft, AWJ inner is great. Wish they also offered a hook and loop for my husband/mom to use.
Thoughts on other diapers I've tried:
  • Lighthouse Kids Supreme: didn't fit until almost 4 months old
  • Lighthouse Kids Signature: fit at 3 months but snap settings are different from others and it confuses other caregivers like my husband and mother. If I only used these then it wouldn't be a problem.
  • Pannolino Bambino Forever Fit: didn't fit until 4 months old, dislike front waist elastic, snap increments, and back flap
  • Petite Crown: fits weird on my baby sometimes, dislike exterior material
  • Bungies: hate microsuede interior bc it pills and feels "dry" like fleece
  • Diaper Rite: SIO is messier for poop
  • Thirsties Natural Pocket: hook and loop is great. The interior lining is quite stiff and awkward to put on though. Husband and mother prefer this for the hook and loop but have a really hard time with fit due to the stiff cotton interior. Great for EC (quick on and off, baby feels wet)
 
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