Cloth Diapers I Have Known: Cloth Diaper Reviews Part 2 and Baa Baa Black Sheep: How I Made Two Wool Diaper Covers From a One Buck Sweater

I want to get this out there, but I don't have time to write a full review of each one.  Please ask me if you want to know more about a specific one.

Wally Pop

Price: 12.50 new

Type: Pocket (they sell other types but this is the kind I had)

Description: size large, PUL exterior, microfleece and suede interior, cute colors, stuffed with the same as Fuzzy Bunz above, touchtape enclosures
These are the cheapest working diapers I have found.  If you are not making them, I recommend these.

Bella Bottoms-Worked great for a while, but then outer plastic disinigrated.  They are made of something different these days.

Cheeky Diapers- Very cute but totally wicked like crazy.  The lady was nice and even re-made my order after it got lost in the mail, and I really wanted to like them.  Oh well.  I see she does not make the pockets I had anymore.

Very Baby-This is a pattern that Maureen made for us.  They worked ok for girls and light pee, but my boys sometimes overflowed these.  Cute though.

KCK One-This is the one-size pattern I made my pul (from very baby) and microfleece all velcro pockets/covers from.  I made the first set, then altered the next one.  The teeny velcro peices on the front were impossible to lift open after a wash, so I left those off and the diaper fits my big boys 30-35 pounds better if it is not top stitched.  This is a great pattern though, and I had NEVER sewn anything from a pattern before this except a magic cabin doll kit.  Cheap and very worth it.  I was able to make pockets/covers for 7 dollars each.

Blue Penguin-got one of these used, it worked, side snap and nylon interior

Polar Babies-got one of these from my sister-newborn size, so it didn't last long, but it seemed to work and was super cute and fuzzy

Cotton Prefolds-we used these things folded into thirds under KCK one covers exclusively for the last two years, plus for newborn times with Cal AND cousin Patrick used them a bit at night.  They are just now starting to show wear.  Eventually we can use them as rags.  I got the diaper service quality ones online though, not the cheapies from the store.  A very good buy.

Pro Wrap Diaper- these are some serious covers, don't leak, and are super cheap.  They don't have fold back tabs and don't breath well, but we used them a lot, and they never wore out.

Zorb-This is a "revolutionary"new absorbent fabric to use for sewing diapers that does not work.  It looks like felt and doesn't really absorb much.  Too bad.  Also from the same Wazzodle manufacturer, a wicking fabric that actually makes water bead up and roll off of it.  Booo!

I am currently making wool recycled sweater one-size covers/soakers from the thrift shop and fitteds made from old flannel baby blankets and towels.  I hope I can review these well if I ever finish my set!

Poop! There It Is!: How I Clean My Cloth Diapers

Here's how I clean my cloth diapers:

Before Solid Food: poop or pee toss into a dry bucket until ready to wash including wipes.  Then on wash day dump the bucket in to the washer, cold rinse, hot and heavy wash with a scoop of country save powdered detergent, cold rinse.  Dry on high.

After solid food: pee-see above, poop-spray poop off into toilet with a sprayer that attaches to the toilet water supply line, then same as above.  Sometimes when the poop is extra stinky after age 2, I spray it with bio-clean bac-out.

It isn't that hard-the worst part is changing the diaper, and you have to do that anyway (unless you are doing elimination communication -or something that looks like an unsuccessful version of it while potty training except the baby is just going all over the floor/grass-yes this is us right now)

Cloth Diapers I Have Known: Cloth Diaper Reviews Part 1

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...