Thursday, November 20, 2014

Our Cloth Diaper Stash - Covers, Prefolds and Fitteds

This is the second post in a three part series. Read about our all in one and pocket diapers in part one, and our cloth diapering accessories in part three.

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The second half of our stash is made up of covers, prefolds and fitted diapers.

Covers
A cover is a waterproof layer that goes over a prefold, fitted, or flat. Many of them are rinse and wipe covers which means they can be reused as long as they are not soiled by poop. There are also covers made from wool. They can be one sized or sized, and have snaps or Velcro as closures. 

Flips
Purchased at Kelly's Closet
$14.95 at Kelly's Closet



Pros: Flips are made by the same company as the BumGenius, and they are our favorite covers. They're durable, well made and have a great fit. They've fit him since birth and I can see them fitting him throughout potty training.

Cons; With all of the covers, you have to double check to make sure the prefold or fitted diaper is tucked into the cover to stop leaks, which isn't a con exactly, just an extra step.

Buy Again? Oh yes!

Thirsties Duo Wrap Diaper Cover (Size 1)
Purchased at Kelly's Closet
$12.75 at Kelly's Closet



Pros: These rank only slightly below the Flips for favorite covers. The Velcro closure is strong and great for a fast diaper change, especially at night. The double gussets keep everything in and I can see the size 1 fitting him for a long time. The colors are nice and vibrant and there are some cute prints as well.

Cons: We have a white one, and Kieran's poop has stained the gussets along the legs. I've tried to sun bleach the stains out, but it hasn't worked. Again, just making sure to tuck in the prefold or fitted diaper to stop leaks.

Buy Again? Yep! When he grows out of the size 1s, I'll probably buy a couple of size 2s.

Bumkins
Received in Cotton Booty Box
$10.95 at Bumkins.com



Pros: Double gussets, strong snaps, fits well.

Cons: There are a lot of snaps. While this ensures a great fit, it's takes a while and I can see it being difficult to use with a wriggly toddler.

Buy Again?: I'm glad we have it, but I don't know if I would go out of my way to buy one since we like our Flips and Thirsties so much.

SoftBums Echo Shell
Received in Cotton Booty box
$21.95 at Kelly's Closet



Pros: Eh....not a huge fan of this diaper.

Cons: This is a strange diaper. It has an insert that snaps onto the shell and you're supposed to be able to take out that insert and place in another like a cover, but I've never been able to do that because the shell always gets dirty. We've also had leaks almost every time we've used it.

Buy Again?: This was a Cotton Booty diaper so I didn't choose it, and as of right now, I wouldn't buy it again.

Sweet Pea One Size Diaper Cover
Received in Fluff Fairy purchase
$11.99 at Kelly's Closet


Pros: Fits fairly well, has many snaps which  ensures a good fit and has double gussets 

Cons: Having many snaps ensures a good fit, but I can see it being difficult with a wiggly toddler. 

Buy Again? Meh. Again, I don't think I'd go out of my way to buy it since we like our Flips and Thirsties so much, but I'm glad we have it in our stash. 


Fitteds
Fitted diapers, commonly referred to as Fitteds, are diapers that resemble the size and shape of a disposable diaper. They are very absorbent and made up of many fabrics like cotton. They do require a cover, but can be worn by itself to try to let baby's bum breathe to clear up a diaper rash.

Kissaluvs Fitted Cloth Diapers - Newborn
Received as a present
$13.95 at Kelly's Closet




Pros: I never looked into fitted diapers, so I'm glad that we received this as a gift. It's great at soaking up liquids, and I've heard they're great at for overnights, but I've never tried since we love our BumGenius so much. It also has a snap down for the umbilical cord, so it's great for newborns.

Cons: Only con I can think of is the size. He's going to grow out of it soon and I wish we could have gotten more use out of it.

Buy Again? Maybe. I'm still deciding if I'm going to buy the next size up once he grows out of it, only because we have other diapers that we enjoy using.

Prefolds

Prefolds are rectangles of (usually) cotton that are wrapped around baby, pinned on the sides (think old school diapers,) and then covered with a waterproof cover. They can also be used as burp cloths and rags around the house once baby is out of diapers. 



We ordered our prefolds from Green Mountain Diapers and originally ordered 12 of the newborn, and 12 of the small. Since we like our newborn prefolds so much, we ended up purchasing another 12 for a total of 24. The newborn fit him well at birth, and still fit him at 3 months old. I don't see them fitting all the way up until 6 months, however.

Pros: They are easy to use. They can simply be tri-folded and laid into a cover, or there are a bunch of more complex ways to fold them (we're currently using the angel wing fold.) They're also cheap and can be used as inserts in pocket diapers. Keegan has told me that he enjoys using prefolds (as much as you can enjoy diapers,) which surprised me.

Cons: They're a bit more "labor" intensive than AIO or pocket diapers if you're using a fold and not just laying the prefold inside a cover. We started using the angel wing fold because Kieran's poops were starting to leak over the side of a tri-folded prefold and got the covers dirty.

Buy again? Yep! We already have 12 of the next size up, but I'm going to wait to see if we still love prefolds as much as we do now before buying the size after that.

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I wasn't expecting to like our prefolds as much as I do. Our regular rotation is BumGenius for bedtime, Rumparooz for daytime, and prefolds after we run out of the Rumparooz. Many times I reach for a prefold over a Rumparooz because they're a lot trimmer than a pocket diaper, so his pants fit better.

Next, I'll talk about our cloth diapering accessories!

2 comments:

  1. Thanks again for doing this. I'm psyched to say I've registered for your two favorite covers and none of the ones you didn't like. Hooray!

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  2. Super thanks for sharing! You sure did sample a variety and it is interesting to read your take on it. We're using disposables right now since Zelda is not big enough to try our cloth stash yet.

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