Life {Im}perfected: (Almost) A Year In Cloth

In a few weeks, Jack will have been cloth diapered for about a year. While I wasn't sure how long having Jack in cloth would last, I have to say, I have loved it and am really glad that we decided to forego the disposables. This, of course, isn't to say that we haven't used disposables with our guy. For vacation, it was easier to travel with them, and if he is on an antibiotic we use them. Other than that, we have been very happy with our cloth diapering experience and plan to use them until he is potty trained.

Our Favorites

(I am not sure why I am calling this "our"...I think Tom could really care less what Jack is diapered in...)

A lot of people like all-in-ones or pocket diapers because they are fairly close to disposables, you just wrap them on the baby. However, I like prefolds or fitteds with a cover the best. My favorite prefolds and fitteds are from Green Mountain Diapers. They are awesome! 100% cotton and they fit perfectly. The prefolds are just unbleached cotton, and the fitteds are called Workhorse fitteds (also 100% unbleached cotton). I have tried other prefolds, but they just don't compare in quality to the Green Mountain ones.

As far as covers go, my favorites are Swaddlebees. They grow with the baby, but are cut a bit bigger (which is great for our big guy!). I prefer aplix (velcro) to snaps because I can get a better custom fit on Jack. Most prefer snaps, I think, because they don't wear as easily, but, like I said, I get a better fit on Jack with the aplix. We also use Flips covers. They also grow with the baby. I don't like them quite as much because they aren't cut as big, nor do they have the double gusset. I forgot to mention that Swaddlebees has a double gusset at the leg, which really holds in big messes. When Jack was a newborn I loved Thirsties covers in XS. They were bigger XS covers, so they fit a 10 pound newborn. I also used them in aplix. They have a double gusset and held in messy newborn, breastfed poop.

We have tried a few different all-in-ones, and my favorite is also Swaddlebees. We do use the snaps in the Swaddlebees all-in-one, and that has worked just fine. I don't use them too much, only when I am in a pinch.

As far as wet bags go, I love my Planet Wise bags. I have 3 small ones for the diaper bag, a medium to keep around the house, and a large for upstairs. I also have a Thirsties wet bag for Jack's bedroom. I love the Planet Wise prints, especially my teal and white chevron!

For night time, my favorite combination is a Workhorse fitted, with a Thirsties hemp doubler, and a Swaddlebees cover. Recently, I discovered wool, and LOVE it for overnight. Jack is a very heavy wetter at night, so we need something to hold a lot. The wool is so soft and breathable. I splurged and got a Sloomb wool cover. It is perfect! I do need the wool wash and lanolin, so I haven't used it a ton, but it is great for night time.

We also have some Best Bottom Diapers, which are great when Jack is not cooperating. The liners snap in, so the diaper just goes on like a disposable. I use a hemp liner, doubled with a snap-in doubler because of his heavy peeing. It works well for playtime.

All-in-all I am really happy that I made the decision to cloth diaper. Our cleaning routine is a breeze every 2 or 3 days, depending on the number of diapers, I do laundry. I do a warm rinse, a hot wash with a teaspoon of Tide powder, then 2 cold rinses. I dry everything in the dryer except covers. For poopy diapers, I rinse them in the toilet with a diaper sprayer before they go in the wet bag. Easy.

If you are considering cloth, I would say to go for it. It's a bit of an initial upfront cost, but it does save in the long run. Plus, a fluff butt is super cute!!