Thank you so much for all of your comments and questions on my last post – I have answered by posting another comment at the bottom of that post. We are continuing on with our smoothies throughout the day and upon finding more recipes, we are having great success!
I have had questions about the cloth diapers and how they worked since J was born. When I was changing him this morning, I tried to take a bunch of photos and thought when he naps this afternoon that I would put together a quick ‘results’ post.
In talking to people and looking online, I decided to make the pocket diapers offered in the Babyville Boutique pattern book that require an absorbent insert which I had bought in the USA at Fred Meyer. The idea with pocket diapers is that you use a liner between baby and the flannel diaper that basically catches poop and this is thrown into the toilet (or a separate laundry bag if you buy reusable ones such as the ones I’ve linked), the rest is pulled apart and thrown in the laundry. Simple. (see the photo below)
Before I get into the diapers themselves, I’ll talk about the insert first. The inserts that I bought in the USA were cheap but it meant we were able to get tons. They were cheap for a reason: They didn’t absorb enough. I ended up connecting with Yvonne King of Nic and Elli. I bought 100% bamboo inserts ($4CAD each) after changing him multiple times throughout the day. I bought 20, which is recommended for fulltime cloth diapering as this provides those few extras that you need at night to double up.
The other problem was the lack of adjustability with the Velcro option.
What did we end up doing instead? you ask.
Ooh, thanks so much for all the details! I'm sorry to hear that your homemade ones didn't work out for you despite all that work. It's interesting because the stiff velcro and the fit around the legs were the two things that mainly concerned me when I tried sewing up the babyville sample. (That, and also I noticed the same thing about the fabric pulling at the tabs!) I imagine that the fit around the legs must just have a lot to do with the size/shape of your baby… and it's not like you can predict that ahead of time!I've been doing a lot of research about this lately and I really value your opinion! Hopefully between now and the time I actually need to get going on making things I'll be able to make a decision about which route to go!
We used g-diapers sizes s & m, but not size l, as we'd need new inserts for those as well. Many of the diapers we bought new, but some also used via e-bay. It all can be washed, so we weren't bothered at the idea that sb else's baby used them before.Our daughter grew out of the size m fairly quickly. I think she was about 4-5 months at the time. She has really some chubby legs, so the diapers got too snug around them. We thought we'd be able to use them longer than we did and were sad about having to move to disposables. The thing is, there are no comparable options for cloth diapering in Europe.
I used cloth diapers for all of my four children – although I did only use them for the first year for the fourth baby… I was sick of the extra washing by then and also had a ton of hand-me-down clothes that wouldn't fit over cloth. Anyway. I have tried so many different nappies. Once people know you use cloth they give you all the nappies they bought and never used. (If you were closer I would happily give you as many as you want! I'm not sure what to do with them all now)My absolute favourite were terry squares with nappy nippers and Bumpy woollen covers or my own knitted covers which I soaked in Lanolin from time to time. They are cheap as chips, can be curled up around the legs to help avoid too many leaks and they dry in a flash (I don't have a drier). The wool covers are divine and totally addictive. Do you have terry towelling squares in Canada? I think the woollen covers are Swedish but there are some good patterns on Ravelry.
Let me know what you decide – I'm curious what route will win out!
It's annoying that the insert size changes although I understand why. We've decided to kind of ignore the M versus L insert difference and use them interchangeably. Thus far, so good!
Ooooh wool covers — what a great idea. I had done some research on these back when I was pregnant and forgot all about them – good reminder to look into them again!
I obviously have time left to learn and change my mind, but I do have a loose plan. The key piece of information I've learned is that there is no guarantee what will work – between sizing and allergies/skin issues and personal preferences. So I think my plan is to lean towards a mix-and-match system so that if any one piece doesn't work it doesn't mean the whole system has to go (much like how you were able to use the bamboo inserts with both your pockets and the g-diapers). Right now, it seems like the best option would be to go with fitteds (or prefolds) with a variety of covers. I've read this means savings in PUL because you can re-use the covers without needing to wash them at each change, and it also means the investment wouldn't be lost if the kid had some kind of PUL reaction and needed to go with wool covers (which I'd also like to try). After hearing your feedback here, if I make any of my own covers I'll for sure make the gusseted ones, though! A good friend of mine primarily used prefolds/snappis/covers for her son, and loved it, but I tend to think that fitteds would be a bit more straightforward for Alex?Obviously this may change as I read more and then again when I actually have a kid to try it all out on!
(As an aside – the g-diapers are so cute! Sadly, someone I know had to sell her whole stash of them on craigslist because some part of the waistband rubbed her daughter so badly it broke the skin. I guess every baby really is shaped differently!)