I have a love hate relationship with cloth diapers. But, I have the same sort of relationship with disposables.
With cloth, the price, the cuteness factor, the convenience of not going to the store, the stick-it-to-the man-ness, the tree hugger thing, the early potty training, the reduction of cancer causing chemicals next to the baby, having the baby wear something that you made, the choices...but then there's the night time leaking, amonia (or worse) smell, the extra laundry, the changing every 1 to 2 hours instead of 4-5, the poop spraying, the inability of children's clothing manufacturers to create a pair of pants that contain a fluffy cloth bum, when you get a poorly made one for big bucks and realize it totally leaks but you can't send it back to the really sweet WAHM that made it, the elastic or fabric or thread failing, my gigantic 100th percentile kids growing out of "one size" diapers at age 18 months, the dog taking off with one and running to the back of the yard to chew it to threads as I shout "NOOOO I paid 18 dollars for that!"...
With disposables only changing them after 4 hours or poops, the sterility, no extra laundry, a bit more reassurance of no leaking at night or on car trips, easy to pack on trips, don't have to convince others when they graciously staying at their house that the best place for the baby's poopy diapers is the same place they clean their own clothes, good for diarrhea moments (you can just throw it out), fits slim under clothes, kid doesn't have to walk like they "just got off the horse"...but then there's the 20-50 cents a piece depending on how much chlorine you want the baby exposed to, the chemical smell instead of the baby smell, wondering if you should change a diaper before it's dragging on the floor to get "full use" out of it, the extra garbage, deciding to change it and 10 minutes later the baby poops in it- they could have just saved 50 cents by pooping on top of the pee, feeling like the big corporations own you, getting a bad batch in which every diaper's right tab rips off as you try to wrestle a baby into it, wondering where a polite garbage can to put a poop bomb in is when you are out, paying that much for a disposable and having it leak all over the sheets you just changed anyway, more blowouts (yuck), buying a whole package right before a growth spurt that you can't use, using 47 disposable wipes on a poopy diaper that would have taken 3 cloth wipes...
So basically, diapers suck no matter what type- you are still dealing with poop and pee either way. Since full time disposables are cost prohibitive, and I have a soft spot in my heart for cloth we mostly use cloth and have since Cal was a newborn 4 1/2 years ago. I realize every diaper works differently on each child, and boys leak differently than girls, but I thought it may be useful to review the diapers I have used. There are some great cloth diaper sites such as Diaper Pin that I spent way too long on while the babies were nursing. There are reviews and great descriptions of what cloth diapering is all about there and all over the web. For now I'll just review the one's I have used, and there are a lot.
Honey Boys
Price: about 22 new (mine were a gift)
Type: All in Ones
Description: size small and medium, Windpro/windblock fleece exterior, malden mills microfleece liner, fold back touchtape enclosure, cotton absorber, stay dry liner kept bottoms dry, cute tabs, made by my sister-in-law (my order of 40 smalls and 36 mediums put here over the edge and she is no longer making them-sorry again Maureen)
The Good: super cute, worked well once the newborn legs grew out (penis and poop snuck out the leg hole for the first week or two), very absorbent and the windpro/windbloc worked well on the small (it eventually wore out on the mediums after a couple years of full time use), very well made and sturdy.
The Bad: take forever to dry in the dryer, mediums got a musty smell inside that wouldn't really go away because they never really dried, polyester next to the baby's skin, bulky fit under clothes (but cute enough to go with out pants in good weather)
Fuzzy Bunz
Price: 18 new, 7 used
Type: Pocket
Description: size large, PUL exterior, microfleece interior, snap enclosures, old style 2.0 with the pointy tabs, got most used and a couple new from actual storefronts in Davis, CA, stuffed with microfiber cloths from the automotive section of Costco or cotton babies microfiber inserts, white.
The Good: pretty darn leak proof during the day, lasted a long time, especially for used diapers, cotton babies inserts were very absorbent (microfiber cloths were just OK), slim fitting
The Bad: EEEKK! the ammonia stink! The combo the microfiber, microfleece and PUL made for quite a stinkfest; the snaps, although harder for a baby to pop open (they just pulled the whole thing down instead) are really difficult to get a good fit quickly on a squirmy toddler; still the polyester on the bottom thing, not a night time solution.
To be continued...
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