To Cloth or Not to Cloth

SooOOoooOO, cloth diapering.... is pretty great. I have been using cloth diapers (for the most part although I don't have enough to use them exclusively yet) for almost three weeks and it is almost time to send them back :( I have fallen in love with a few of them and I am going to call jilliansdrawers.com to see if I can keep them (I already paid for them I just wouldn't get the deposit back on those particular diapers).

Here are my top choices and why as of now:

1. GroVia diapers: because it's a shell that you can use and just replace the snap-in inserts and oh-so-easy. Also the shell is so nice a snug and looks nice and has not stained once. The velcro is soft (i think it's that new type of velcro) and stretches so you can adjust how tight you want it. Also it has snaps so its adjustable for growing babies... so you don't have to buy any more! Another handy option with grovia is that they sell disposable inserts for the shells so if you are on the go you can just change baby and then dispose as a regular diaper. These disposables are earth friendly and will decompose much quicker and natural than regular disposable diapers. And they look so cute!

2. Thirsties duo cover wraps: these are also velcro tabs (but not the new kind of velcro so its a bit scratchy) and snaps so they grow with your baby and have a soft fleece covering on the inside (I think to help absorb any extra fluid the cloth diaper doesn't catch). To use these you use either a prefold or flat cloth diaper (think what our parents used on us and that is what these are) to absorb the messes and then you put this lovely wrap around the cloth diaper so no leaks or messes! These are bulkier since the cloth diaper is bulky.

For the prefold I found a smaller size on greenmountain.com so hopefully this will be less bulky!

3. Thirsties wraps: these don't have any fleece on the inside and also no snaps to grow with your baby but with no fleece this means you can use multiple times without washing and are the cheaper diaper wraps. Even with no snaps to adjust for height of baby they still last for a long time (medium cover works for baby from 18-30lbs).

The two things I don't like about cloth are that they are bulky and I have to wash much more often than I would like (but in my sample package there were not that many cloth diapers so thus more washes). The two best things about cloth diapers are that in the long run they are much much cheaper and that they help keep waste down. A friend told me that it takes a regular diaper 500 yrs to fully decompose?!?! Crazy! (I haven't researched this yet but I will)

I have had some awesome friends help me figure these cloth diapers out and some websites that have helped:

jilliansdrawers.com

nickisdiapers.com

greenmountain.com

and searched youtube.com on how to fold flat diapers

I have already purchased unbleached prefolds (unbleached allows for the cotton to absorb more but isn't the pretty white color but that may be a good thing since they won't be white for long!) and unbleached flat diapers. I plan on buying thirsties covers both the duo wrap and the regular and I will try some bummis covers (just like thirsties but a bit cheaper) and I think I will splurge on a few fancy items like the GroVia and maybe eventually try the new bumgenius :)

Here are a few pics of some of the cutest looking covers!