Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I know there must be plenty of cloth-using parents around here because there are quite a few sites selling the products, it's just that most of them are imported and expensive!
I am doing ante natal classes in November with a group called 'Holistic Baby' so hopefully either through the co-ordinators or the other participants I might be able to meet a few natural-product-inclined people with local recommendations.

There's also a babywearing and natural parenting expo really close to us coming up at the beginning of October that I am super keen to go to and see what I can learn.

I'm just starting to investigate cloth diapering for when our little one makes its appearance. 40 pages to go through and lots of links to check out. Thanks to whomever organized this thread!

I thought if I mentioned this intention to my inlaws they would think it's one more example of my hippiness, but last week, my sister-in-law switched to cloth diapers. Once she figured out how much money it would save her (she has 2 kids and wants at least 2 more) she made the switch. She even found a Chicago area store that lets you try out a bunch of brands, return the ones you didn't like and then order the ones you did. Hopefully she'll also let me borrow her newborn ones and then return them when she has her next kid. It would be great to have an extra supply to switch back and forth depending on size needs.

I have woken up in a puddle of pee (not mine) almost every night for the past two weeks. I need help with overnight cloth diapering!

We've been using BG 4.0s with every combination of microfiber, hemp, and bamboo inserts but I think our problem is pee leaking right out the leg holes now that Sven is sleeping on his stomach with his legs tucked up and butt in the air. I also worry that too many inserts is causing the diaper to gap at the legs, but I can't find a happy medium of bulk and absorbancy. I stripped the diapers in case that was the problem, but no improvement.

I ordered some more Thirsties covers and a Sustainablebabyish fitted with a snap-in soaker to try. I'd be willing to do prefolds again, but I honestly don't think I could wrangle Sven to get them on. It's ridiculous what I have to do to change his diaper now!

When you change Sven in the morning, are the inserts soaked? I would use that to judge whether it's an absorbency issue or a leaking out the holes issue...

You might want to try something like this over the diaper for night: http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/the_pull_on.htm

I have those and love them. Good tip kimba!

Thanks for the link! We are leaking all the freaking time (and honestly, using lots of disposables).

Do you find that the pullons are gentle on your kiddos' legs? Freya gets pressure marks/redness at the drop of a hat..she gets it from her dad.

These ones are great on the legs! I have the old version, but according to the website it is the same stuff around the legs in the new version. They were really soft. The ones we have are too small now, and am considering getting larger ones, but mostly we don't use them. Our leaking problems are more during the day when Carlos is more active.

I love pull-on style covers! I, too, have the old version of what kimba posted. The main problem I have with them is that my kid's legs are skinny, so in order to have the rise high enough, the legs are a bit loose. That's the old version though, and it looks like the sizing is different now, so I'm curious to try the new version out. And yes, they are great on the legs. Pull-on covers are generally the least binding on the legs and around the waist, I've found, but that does mean that a bit of diaper is more likely to slip out cause wicking issues. My skinny kid might be more prone to this though.

That said, I keep buying pull-on covers because they are CHEAP and a great back-up cover. I prefer Thirsties Duo covers over all else since they leak the least for us, but my back-up covers are bummis pull-ons. Also, sometimes it's nice to have pull-on covers for when you need to finish a diaper change standing up. I only have to get the kid to lie still long enough to snappi the prefold on, then I stand her up to pull a pull-on cover on and put her pants back on. Easy peasy.

When we make it through a full night, the inserts are pretty much soaked. But sometimes he's in a puddle of pee after only two hours, which makes me think it's the fit.]

Those pull-on covers look great! And I love that they are easier for standing changes!

oooo I think I need some of those pull on covers for my squirmy guy! He only likes being changed standing up which causes some issues.

Any thoughts on gDiapers? I just got some delivered. I was a bit bummed when they arrived though to see that they have the polyacrylate gel that's in Pampers, etc. too. They say though, that the inserts compost within 50-150 days. I know the inserts aren't technically clothes diapers, but there's not a compostable diapers thread. (but maybe I should start one..have some questions about that too)

You can use gDiapers with prefolds (sized down). I used them a few times and kind of liked them, but I just had 2 and an extra set of liners. I didn't use the disposable inserts though, but it sounds like it might be convenient for traveling.

I had no idea those pull-on covers existed! That's exactly what we need for night time. So glad I saw this!

Leela pooped on the floor and all I could think is, man cleaning this up is so much easier than having to scrape it out of a diaper.

The pee is a mess, but the poop is really manageable and solid at this point....

Oh sure, it's easy until they step in it, play with it, smear it on the walls, put it in their mouths... yeah.

Can't wait to use cloth again. My whole stash is ready and washed for little Eli, whenever he finally decides to make his appearance. I loved it with Samuel (we CD'ed from 2wks old til he potty trained at 2.5yrs old) and I miss it... haha, I'm weird!

I'm in such a bind! Zeph grew way faster than expected, and he's just about outgrown his Thirsties covers. We only bought size 1, because we wanted to make sure we liked them, and we planned to buy a set of size 2s a bit later. Turns out we are super tight for money now that we need to buy more - I'm on mat. leave, partner's in school and not working, and my credit card is already maxed (okay, my limit is under a grand, but it's still maxed!). I don't want to buy disposables, because after just a few boxes of disposables, I'll be spending more than if I buy more covers. Gah! Does anyone know where to buy cheap covers? I live in Canada, and shipping is often a bit prohibitive.. I don't really want to spend $20 on shipping, because I can't afford it right now!

Bodhi, can you sign up for Amazon Mom? It gives you free shipping, but i don't know if it is available where you are. Econobums are so cheap $12 gets you 3 prefolds and a cover, and I like them as much as my thirsties and reach for them even more.

Also, there are lots of diaperswapping boards to sell or trade diaps and covers. You could sell yours (the prices are generally not steeply discounted) and buy larger ones with the money.

Check out eBay if you don't mind used covers. I seriously don't know how I could feed and clothe Freya without eBay and Freegle (British Freecycle).

Absolute cheapest diaper cover that I'm aware of are the Dappi vinyl pants. The Dappi covers aren't as nice as the Bummi's pull-on covers, but they are super inexpensive and seem relatively durable. You can find them on Amazon.ca, where a 3-pack of the covers is (CDN) $4.99-$8.99 depending on the size.

I am not currently cloth diapering because my husband stays with the kidlet while I am at work and he has ZERO interest in it but we have been having such a terrible time with blow-outs that I think he might be willing to go to cloth if things would be better in that department. Anyone on here have experience with tons of leaks and blow-outs with paper diapers without similar problems with the cloth? My sister CD's and says she has only ever had one blow-out - can that be true???? I am way over the needing to bathe the baby three times a day because he is covered in poo.

Oh! Cheapest way to do it ever? A friend of mine made her own fleece covers. Like wool covers (absorb 30% of moisture so not waterproof like PUL covers), except made of fleece and supercute. Might be worth it if you're a crafty bunny.
http://katrinassqs.blogspot.com/2007/10 ... ttern.html

Annasrobbie - we totally have less issues with blowouts when we use cloth. We normally just use disposables overnight, but if Z poops in the morning with a disposable on, we're toast! It seems like our cloth ones absorb the poop way better than disposables ever could. (The only time we get leaks with cloth is overnight and he goes without a change until morning. This kid can sleep from 7 to 7, so we just go with a 'sposie. It's a bit easier for us than using extra inserts/etc.)

Thanks for all the ideas about cheap covers, ladies! Turns out amazon and ebay prices in the States are quite a bit nicer than here, so not much luck that way. But the PPK mamas here are so wonderful that I received some really sweet PMs from mamas with spare covers. Thank you, everyone! <3


---Eeep, I just now noticed your comment, helbury, which is specific to Canada - thank you! Looks like there are some less expensive covers to be had.

11 months, not one single blow-out.

I think CD rocks and it is so much easier than we had ever expected. My husband was a big "No" to it at first, but now he changes prefolds as well as BGs no problem and does our laundry. Its easy and cheap!