The "New" World of Cloth Diapers

I'll admit, cloth diapers intimidated the pants off of me. They still kind of do but we are venturing into that world for cost and practicality. There are so many options out there today it can scare anyone. Thanks to a class I attended at Midwives Rising!, and taught by a consultant friend with Diaper Parties and another who owns her own company Hookin' For Rent and makes woolies and other nifty things, I learned a lot of really good information that I thought I would share and kind of organize my thoughts for myself. Information was also collected mostly from talking to my Grama, who must have had a nice little flash back about cloth diapering me, was very helpful as well especially since she's always bought me pre-folds for my babies and I just used them as burp clothes and such. Now I might finally get to use them for what they were intended for!

So, the main types I remember; All in Ones, Pocket Diapers, Diaper Covers, Pre-folds and Fitteds.

• Diaper Covers explain themselves. They're just the outer cover that helps to prevent leaks from the absorbent part of the pre-fold or fitted diaper.
• Pre-folds are what we, not so sure about cloth diapering because that looks difficult, parents are used to seeing from when our grandparents changed our butts and tried to give us and said don't forget the rubber pants! So when we get them they're usually used as burp cloths and nursery rags.
• Fitteds are really nice it takes a lot of the hassle out of pre-folds because the diaper fits and snaps nicely around baby. It has to be a nice fabric that won't irritate baby's skin like anything else and requires a cover, since it is all just fabric, to prevent leaks.
• All in Ones, pretty self explanatory, they have the absorbent part of the diaper built into the cover. So it's the closest to disposables. Take it off, clean baby and put a new one on. No assembly required, very convenient and a little pricey.
• Pocket Diapers, honestly seems to be my favorite for a middle ground in ease and affordability. The cover has a nice little pocket built into it by a cloth inner lining. You get inserts and can adjust the level of absorbency by how many and what kind of inserts you put in the pocket between the cover and inner lining. Again you take the whole diaper off but you have to separate the inserts before washing. If you pre-stuff the diapers you can just grab another and put it on or stuff as you go.

So many different kinds of fabric go into and are a part of every cloth diaper but which does what and is best for baby and parents and absorbancy?

• Cotton is the most common fabric when you think of cloth diapers. Cotton is generally mixed in with one of the many other fabrics of diapers for durability.
• Microfiber absorbs quickly and pulls the moisture away from baby's bottom. It is not ideal for the interior of the diaper against baby's skin but is great as an insert.
• Hemp is organic and the most absorbent fiber. It's not the softest so it's not best for use against baby's skin but again ideal as an insert.
• Bamboo is the most desirable. It's super soft and pulls moisture away from baby's bottom. It is naturally anti-fungal, microbial and bacterial. Bamboo is naturally organic and in most diapers it is mixed with another fabric for durability. It's also pretty pricey from what I've found.
• Fleece is the very absorbent and very thin which helps keep baby's diaper trimmer looking because a lot of others make baby's diaper bulky.
• Wool is what is used for heavy leakers since wool usually absorbs and locks in wetness. It's pretty desirable and expensive but it's a good natural fiber to use.
• Polyurethane is what is usually used for diaper covers as opposed to the old time rubber pants (love you Gram).

Personally right now my favorites are pocket diapers and pre-folds and covers. I'm very excited to take this new adventure. I was prepared to do it before for one I had a lack of the "new" and pre-existing information, honey wasn't very supportive of cloth diapering even when I was briefly thinking of trying it before but he rarely changes diapers anyways so that's not really a factor anymore. Hopefully this is helpful to others!

Brightest Blessings!