All about cloth diapers!

So over the years, friends of mine have asked me about cloth diapering. I will be honest and say that right now, we are quite part-time with cloth diapers. With Mary, I was really on top of it and used it 100% except for trips overnight or longer. With Philip I've been kind of slacking off and also Philip is more sensitive with cloth, which is really weird because Mary was sensitive to disposables! They are so different!
Anyway, back to the topic at hand. I decided to write this post so I would have all my information together for my friends now who are interested in cloth diapering and a place I can send people in the future who ask me questions.
First, why do I use cloth diapers? For several reasons. First, I do think it's cheaper than using disposables. Second, it is better for the environment. Third, (and this is important for me) because it is humbling. I'm not going to lie to you and say that it's pleasant to rinse out poopy diapers in the toilet. It's certainly much easier and more pleasant (?!) or tolerable maybe to just toss a poopy sposie. However, I see it as a small penance and don't really see it as a huge deal. Sometimes it's helpful for me to have to deal with dirty and filthy things and think how much more offensive our sins are to our Lord.
So what do I use? I am not a fancy cloth diaper user. I use flats and PUL covers. I do have some fitteds for overnight. OK, I think I've already lost some of you. hehe! This is a flat diaper:

I love using flats because they clean and dry quickly/easily and they are cheap. You can use them for your newborn and your toddler. OK. So you have to fold them... seriously it takes me MAYBE 5 mins to fold 3 dozen diapers. It's really not hard. Say some prayers while you fold them. :) Oh before you use them, you need to wash them a couple times in hot water. This is called prepping the diaper.  I only did it once, but the websites say twice... or more... which I think wastes water and time. Anyhoo...
These are covers:

 It is made of waterproof material (usually PUL). You can also use wool. I would love to use wool, if it weren't expensive. It is though so I don't. For newborn size diapers, I recommend Prowraps. I originally bought bumpkins, and I do not care for them... at all... but apparently they have been redesigned, so I don't know about the new ones. Imse Vimse's are really nice but they stain horribly and are more expensive. So, I love my Prowraps, which, by the way I bought used in like new condition and at a deeply discounted price! For bigger babies I like my Thirsties Duos. I like Thirsties quite a bit. I like them for newborns too (I borrowed one once) but they are slightly more expensive than Prowraps. So Thirsties Dous (pictured on the right) are two-sized. Which means it's not quite one sized but they fit better and they still will fit your baby a long time. If you want a one size then I recommend Wonderwraps (pictured on the left). I have quite a few of these. I do like them quite a bit too. You can buy all your cloth diapering needs at this website: www.nickisdiapers.com I like them. :) They ship fast and if you buy covers or diaper pail liners (am I losing you again?) it's free shipping.

What's a diaper pail liner? This is a diaper pail liner. It goes in your diaper pail. I use a fancy big garbage bin with a lid that I bought from Walmart. See?


Washing cloth diapers. You do not have to rinse poopies when your baby is exclusively breastfeeding. Yet another reason to delay solids... that's a topic for another day... You do need to rinse out the diaper once you introduce solids to your baby. I rinse the diapers out by swishing them around in the toilet. You can buy nifty sprayers that attach to your toilet. I don't have one of these, though I keep thinking about buying one. you can find them here: http://www.nickisdiapers.com/diaper-sprayers.html  I use the same detergent I use to wash clothes. All free and clear. Or any free and clear (Tide, etc). Some people recommend other cool diaper detergents but I don't use them... because I'm cheap. So the key here is make sure you don't use as much detergent as you would to wash clothes. I'd say about half... honestly I don't measure things like detergent. You wash them on heavy wash with hot water and I like to do an extra rinse to make sure all the soap is out. You can wash everything cloth diaper related together- diapers, covers, diaper pail liners, wipes, etc. It is best to hang dry the covers... but I dry everything...usually. A big thing to remember is to not use dryer sheets with your diapers. They will make the diapers non-absorbent. I never use dryer sheets anymore because actually the chemicals can stick to the dryer and still get on your diapers. So, dryer sheets are out.

Now how to use cloth diapers? How do you fold them and put them on your baby? To help ya'll out, I made a couple videos for you. I'm using one of Mary's dolls, because I don't have a bitty baby anymore and also because for obvious modesty reasons, I don't really want to video diapering a real baby.

Here are the two folds I use. The basic fold (I have no idea what the real name of this fold is... maybe the prefold fold? no clue) which I use most of the time:

and the origami fold usually with two flats because I tend to use this for night time. For the origami fold you'll need Snappis which you can get here: http://www.nickisdiapers.com/snappi-diaper-fastener.html.

Speaking of night time... I mentioned fitted diapers earlier. This is a fitted diaper.

 It looks like a diaper as opposed to a blanket. Speaking of blankets, you can use any all cotton receiving blanket as a flat too... I've definitely done this. Ok, back to fitteds. I like a good thick fitted for night time. I don't use this for newborns because they just outgrow them too fast to be worth the cost. Here are what I've used for night time that I like. Well, the one I LOVE is DreamEze (pictured above)... but they've been discontinued. :( Very sad. If you can get some used, do it. The most economical fitteds that I know of and that I like are TinkleTraps "prefitted diapers". These are prefolds converted into fitted diapers. These you cannot get at nickisdiapers.com. However, these are great, because you can fold a flat (basic fold) and put them in the tinkle traps and then you have a super thick and absorbent diaper. I know the lady who makes them online and she's pretty awesome. You can get the diapers here: http://www.tinkletraps.com/store/Default.asp
I don't have a pic of a Tinkle Trap prefitted but you can see them on her website. I don't get snaps or velcro (hook and loop) because I use Snappis.  Other fitteds I've used for night time are BumGenius fitteds and Goodmamas. I got them used, otherwise they are quite pricey.

Ok, I think that's all I have to share about cloth diapers... I'm sure I'll think of more stuff to add and I will edit/update the post when I do. If you have any questions ask away and I'll do my best to answer them!