When I started looking at cloth diaper options, I watched Meredith's. Now I did my own nursery tour! Check out my video below for prefolds and pocket diapers.

Want to try lots of different types? Check out this cloth diaper trial.

Got a friend using cloth diapers? Ask for a tutorial in exchange for dinner. Because take-out over a diaper covered table is great.

 

Before your head starts spinning, know that there's a great, eco-friendly, hastle free option: Tiny Tots. Their cloth diaper service went out of business, but now they deliver, pick up and responsibly compost compostable diapers to the Bay Area.

First, the sheer number of cloth diaper brands is overwhelming. My friends recommended Thirsties, AlvaBaby (very economic $), Fuzzibumz and BumGenius (the splurge $$$).

I watched this Cloth Diaper Reviews playlist that shows 23 brands, goes over all the terminology, washing  & setup.
Here's another good review.

​

Types

Pocket diapers have liners (that stuff in the pocket), and 1 or 2 openings to stuff the liners in.

​

All-in-One (AIO): similar to pocket diapers, but has a soaker pad (liner) that's attached on one or both sides.

​

Cover: a waterproof cover that goes over fitted diapers and prefolds. You can use them for a whole day, assuming the pee/ poop doesn't leak onto the over.

​

Fitted diapers: looks like a pocket diaper, but the entire thing is absorbent. You need to use a cover over it.

​

Prefolds: they look like the old school dish towel diapers, except they've made fancy clips to hold the prefold on instead of safety pins. You need to use a cover over it.

​

Vocabulary

Hook and loop means velcro!

Put the microfiber side UP (facing the baby) in a pocket diaper, and DOWN in a prefold. Don't let microfiber touch baby's skin. It dries their bum out and causes diaper rash.

People seem to agree that hemp is the most absorbent material, over cotton or bamboo. The microfiber is only meant to draw moisture away from the baby, down into the hemp/ cotton/ bamboo liner or soaker pad. You don't want to use all microfiber layers.

Gussets are typically around the leg holes to prevent leaks. It's a bunched up edge with elastic. Some AlvaBaby diapers have double gussets; 2 layers around the legs with elastic.

​

Sooo Which Ones???

Click here to check out my spreadsheet comparing 40+ cloth diapers.

​

Buying Used

Buying second hand from friends, LetGo, Second Time's a Charm, or wherever is great. The more a diaper is washed, the more absorbant it is. The prefolds I bought from Tiny Tots when they went out of business are soooo absorbant! Not sure which type? There are many sites that offer diaper trials (about 30 days) so you can try lots of different styles. They take those barely used diapers, sanitize them, then sell them at a discount: Cloth Diaper Trader, Diaper Junction, Sweet Bottoms, and Nicki's Diapers.

​

How many?

Newborns go through 8-12 diapers/ day, which is why we chose to supplement with Tiny Tots cloth diapers for the first few months. Most newborns also don't fit into the "one size" diapers right away so you'll need about 60 newborn size of whichever style you choose, if you can do laundry every 3 days.

Around 4-6 mo (depending on your baby's size), you will need about 24 diapers to get through 3-4 days. I have 24 prefolds + 20 pocket diapers (I always keep 4 in the diaper bag), so you can have half in the laundry, and half in the nursery.

​

Other things you (probably) need

Don't forget the wipes! I made 40 cloth wipes out of some old flannel, and just surged the edges. For a cleaning solution, use water, witch hazel, and some essential oils if you like.

***While they're only drinking milk, their poop is water soluble! Maybe give them a rinse for those blow out days.

You don't need to buy special detergent. Any dye-free, perfume-free detergent should work. Unless of course your baby's skin has special needs, but dye and perfumes is usually what irritates skin anyways.

Wet Bags: you need 4-6: Thirsties

Diaper pail- I chose Ubbi because it's stainless steel, and you can use any liners you want (buy 2 reusable ones!)

Diaper Sprayer: you can probably get by without one for a while, but if you're registering, you might as well throw one one. You'll need one for when they start eating real food.

I used an old bathroom garbage can, and a binder clip to hold the diapers while spraying (to keep the rest of the bathroom clean). They sell similar versions on Amazon

Diaper cream: cloth diapers are great because babies are much less likely to get diaper rash. 1. Cotton, hemp, bamboo... are much gentler against baby's skin than synthetic material and don't have absorbing chemicals, which are in ALL disposables (compostable or not). 2. Disposables can absorb a LOT more than cloth, so we are likely to leave them on baby longer (who wants to change more diapers?) and a wet bottom leads to diaper rash.

If you are laundering yourself, you cannot use desitin against cloth diapers. The zinc oxide will coat the fabric, and prevent it from absorbing. I haven't found an alternative, but you could always use disposables for a day or 2. Tiny Tots uses such vigorous washing machines that it can get anything out of the fabric.