Calling on all unsolicited advice! What’s working for you right now?

I’ve been cloth diapering for about a month and already have over 80 diapers and I have 8 orders on the way. WTH. I’ve never been this addicted before! I keep telling myself I don’t need anymore but there were a lot of good Labor Day sales… and the prints are just so cute! I’m leaving all the BST Facebook groups.

You’ll often see me posting here saying that overnights aren’t worth it, they are different game, blah blah blah. If you won’t take no for an answer, if you’re as stubborn as I was — and then some —then consider buying my extremely nice stash of overnight diapers. I have the crème de la crème, including Sandy’s, Pooters, anything and everything hemp and bamboo.

I washed everything everything daily and obsessively, this stuff is pristine and better than how I bought it.

DM me and I’ll cut you a friendly deal. If you are in need and your budget is keeping you in pockets overnight (terrible!) send me a DM and I’ll send something to you for the cost of shipping.

https://www.mercari.com/u/user318860077?sv=0

flatfold nappy (the jo fold i think) on my 14m old

https://imgur.com/a/s5pj9PY

I’m new to cloth diapering and want to start soon with my 6 week old! A friend graciously gifted me a stash of Bum Genius diapers. They are clean but haven’t been bleached or stripped. My friend said she always dried them in the sun so they’ve at least had some UV action. I found the Fluff Love University instructions for bleaching, but I’m not sure if I should strip them first?

I have very soft water, with no iron in it. Any advice much appreciated!

Hey hey! I just bought a second hand stash of Best Bottoms and Buttons Diapers. I have about 8 kinder covers and about 30 of their inserts. And I use pockets at night and have about 10. I live in a small apartment and I'm struggling with how to best organize all this. Show me your stashes so I can get some ideas!

My baby is already ~13-13.5 lbs at almost 13 weeks. we are both very happy with the esembly system and size 1 currently fits her well! I only have 2 inners in size 1 since I’ve been trying a bunch of different types/brands. Wondering if it’s worth investing in more size 1s or just waiting until size 2 fits her

I couldn’t find any recent posts on here about this topic and with the current economy being the most expensive it’s ever been to live, I wanted to get perspective on families purchasing/using cloth right now. Theoretically purchasing the cloth diapers themselves are cheaper. But time wise and running multiple washes a week, how does that add up in comparison to just throwing a diaper away?

I can’t add the image but I was looking at essemby’s washing highlight on their instagram where they recommended buying their detergent (of course), but also that you have to go through TWO wash cycles! One scoop of detergent in the first on normal cycle and then two scoops of detergent in the second on the heavy duty cycle. And you are doing this every two to three days.

I’m very much interested in using cloth diapers but the cost effectiveness is a big part of that.

Hello! I cloth diapered my son until he was 4, but he's 9 now so it's been maaaaany years since I've been in the CD scene, lol. I'm pregnant again and soo much has changed in the community, especially in the ways of brands! I used to exclusively use AppleCheeks and EBB/Bella Luna diapers, both of which are not much of a thing anymore. AppleCheeks now runs out of France, making it a bit pricier to get them from where I live. I do still have a lot of my son's diapers stashed away, they're still in great shape with springy elastics, but I will definitely need to get more, especially smaller sized ones. I'm just wondering what the good and go-to brands are now?

Have you mastered your wash routine? Do your clean diapers smell? Did you recently buy a new washer/dryer? Chat all things laundry!

my baby is 2 months & is starting to get a friction rash (only on the insides of his legs where the elastic sits) as he’s now kicking a lot more

i’ve been thinking about getting a wool cover to give him a break from elastics but i honestly can’t deal with the mental load of how to care for them sooo what else can i do??

we use covers & FST (disposables aren’t an option since he’s broke out using every diaper brand we’ve tried since birth)

Looking into casually introducing the potty. Currently use Thirsties Duo covers and a padfolded prefold. Babe is 37” tall and 26 lbs. very skinny and long.

I don’t want to buy a whole new expensive system of 20+ cloth pull ups. Has anyone found a cover with elastic around the waist that can be pulled up and down quickly with my existing prefolds in it as absorbency, but also has side snaps for messy poop? Since it’s just a casual introduction, I want to keep full absorbency in it. Specifically looking for covers and not pockets/AIO so I only have to buy a handful.

Thanks!

Are there any cloth pocket pull-up diapers? Ideally they would still snap on both sides to change poos. I don't want trainers that are only waterproof in the pee zone and have minimal absorption. My autistic boy is probably still years from potty training. But he doesn't like laying down for quick pee changes and has gotten used to wearing pull-ups as diapers. My cloth diapers are fantastic but the wing tab overlaps get all wonky if I try pulling them up.

5 month old baby in prefolds/PUL (Thirsties). I wash about every three days, when my two buckets are full (approx 40 prefolds and 12 covers). I do the Fluff Love routine: prewash warm with 1x Line 5 of Tide Free&Gentle, main wash hot with 2x Line 5. I have a top loader so I add more laundry to make a stew on a medium load.

In the last few weeks baby has been getting a bright red patches (no dots) on the front of the diaper area and legs. Nothing in/on the bum. I used disposables for a trip with no laundry facilities, and in that time it went away, but now that we’re back home and in cloth, the rash came back immediately.

Thoughts??

ETA: after reading through the various suggestions and links here and doing a swish test, I’m certain it’s detergent buildup (exacerbated by soft water). I’ve “cleaned” my machine with hot water and vinegar. I’m going through the cloth diaper for beginners method which gives WAY less detergent. One question, though…how do you choose the “load size” (ie. water amount) to get the proper consistency? Am I still going for a “stew”? (Top loader, spiral agitator, non-HE)

Can I use pockets as covers for my preflats? Is the only different the sued or awj pocket layer?

Posted a few days ago (https://www.reddit.com/r/clothdiaps/s/SjIQ81diKF) about detergent amounts after it not rinsing and babes ending up with a rash.

I thought flats were supposed to be easy.

I can get the diapers to rinse clean with the recommended cycles and an extra rinse (both washes) with one tablespoon of the tide free and gentle liquid. But, that doesn’t get them clean (sight or smell). If I do 1 1/3 T I’m still getting suds when I do a swish test and it takes that extra rinse plus a deep wash/rinse x2 to get the clean swish. I’ve added 3 hand towels and a bath towel for bulk. No better.

I’ve washed my washer 2x in past week plus the 4 days of essentially back to back rinses for my stash.

I’m washing approx 18 full flats, probably 20-30 wipes, and 4-8 half flats plus now those towels for bulking the load.

Any ideas? Suggestions? New detergent?Because the tide does not seem to be the magic I thought it would be. Water is 100ppm HE top loader.

Everything else in our home gets washed in the Meliora laundry soap. I don’t think it’s that? I’ve been very strict about amounts used for all other laundry (read hubs isn’t allowed to touch the washer right now).

PS, I miss Biokleen 😭🫠

Hi all, as my title states, I’m a mama with my first LO. He’s almost 4 weeks old. We’ve been cloth diapering for about 2 weeks; I wanted to wait until his umbilical cord fell out as he was premie size and the cloth diapers I have were huge on him until he started gaining weight.. they fit pretty perfectly now. Anywho… my question is, how often should I be changing his cloth diapers out? Most times I can get a few pees and a poo in them before needing to change the diaper. Seems like the cloth diaper needs changed every 3-4 hours sometimes 5, where in a disposable diaper I am changing that sometimes 2 per 1 single hour. He cries immediately after wetting a disposable diaper where in the cloth diapers he’s not crying at all unless we’re approaching that 4-5 hour mark. I like that we can go longer in a cloth diaper, but I want to make sure we’re not going too long. We haven’t had any signs of a rash or anything unusual that would be concerning due to him sitting in a cloth diaper for much longer. Looking for advice/reassurance to ensure I’m not making him wait too long for a change.
Thank you all in advance!!

We see a TON of talk in this group about Alva, GMD, La Petite Ourse, Nickis, Charlie Banana, MamaKoala, Thirsties, GroVia, … but lesser mentioned favorites I have noticed include:

• Alaskan Wildlings
• Texas Tushies
• Sloomb
• Redwoods
• Kinder
• StoutHouse
• Lalabye

Have you used any of these brands? If so, how do they compare to others? Is there something different that you swear by?

so i used to use pocket nappies with insterts, but am switching to flats now. can i use my pockets as a cover for the flats or do i need to purchase actual nappy covers?

Any recommendations? We’ve been doing cloth diapers since week 1 with my now almost 11-week-old, mostly flats with esembly or wool covers, some esembly inners and some random AIOs.

I’m so over fiddling with these folds and multiple layers and snaps in the wee hours of the morning. Wakes me up and baby up too much. Anybody have favorite velcro AIOs? Preferably that are great at containing robust BF newborn poos.

I cloth diapered my son from birth until he used the toilet, and I have cloth diapered my daughter for almost 2 years now, too. I am having problems with leaking at the gusset. We have always used prefolds and flats with a pad fold, but now what frequently is happening is she gets wet spots on her clothes where the gussets are (even if the diaper is crazy wet). We used Mother Ease covers with my son, and they didn’t have pronounced gussets, but they no longer make them. Most have worn out, so I bought Imagine covers and Nikki’s Diaper covers. The wet spots are making my husband want to give up, and I really don’t want to, as baby #3 is joining us in the Fall. What is going on? Suggestions?

If you turn your esembly inners inside out it solves 2 problems: 1: the snap doesn't poke when they get to the last one so you can use it longer, and 2: you don't have to clean poop out of the layers. Snapping it feels funky at first but is not terrible. What hacks have you figured out?

Hi everyone!! My husband and I are expecting a baby boy! I’ve always been interested in cloth diapering and my husband is happy to learn the ins and outs of it. We got a bunch of pocket diapers from alvababy and Nora’s nursery secondhand. We have a lot of microfiber inserts and some cotton and hemp inserts. I just have a few questions :)

Striping: since we got these secondhand, I’ll probably wash them like 3 times lol. What’s the best way to strip/deep clean them? I’d prefer to not use bleach. The previous mom took good care of them, there’s not really a smell or many stains.

Drying: I know hang dry the diapers, and set in sun for a few hours to get rid of stains. But inserts, do we put them in the dryer, or hang dry as well? Does it just depend on the brand/material?

Insert material: what’s the best insert material in your experience? We have a bunch of microfiber, but I’ve heard they leak pretty easily. Does cotton seems to be the better option?

I recently got some cloth diapers donated to me by someone on here (thank you so much again 💛). I used to nanny and have been around cloth diapers for a couple years so I have shared my knowledge with my church community. They run a nonprofit for woman and children in need and a few of those moms have asked and are interested in cloth diapering. It’s a small church and I, nor them can afford to really spend on a stash for them. If anyone is looking to get rid of any, please keep us in mind!!

Edit to add: Located in the state of Virginia, USA.

So… This is kinda gross but my dog got a hold of a dirty AIO diaper and (yummy) ate/ripped the absorbing part inside. I was wondering if we could adapt the diaper to be used either as a swimming diaper or a cover for our fitted diapers, since the water repellent outside is intact. Anyone has any experience or advice on this? The dog is fine, by the way.

Know of any good deals going on or upcoming? Did you find a lot on Marketplace and aren’t quite sure if it’s a great deal? Share sales or ask away. Happy shopping!

Has anyone been following the prices on cloth diaper websites over time?

I’m wondering if anyone knows when the biggest sales / best time to buy are.

Particularly looking at Green Mountain Diapers, Essembly, & La Petite Ourse.

I’ve read about Earth Day sales. What about Black Friday, Labor Day, Memorial Day, etc?

Sorry for the bad joke in the title.

I’m pregnant with number 2 and I just feel like I have to quit cloth (until number 2 comes in March). My son is 19 months and I want to try potty training soon anyway, but in the meantime I just don’t think I can deal with his poopy diapers anymore. We didn’t do the spray route, we use liners and lately his poops have been too messy to be fully caught so I have to do a combo of liners + toilet swish.

I just can’t keep bending over the toilet, swishing poo and scraping off any lingering bits any longerrrrr.

I suppose this is just a rant or seeking support that it’s okay to stop now 😓

Update: Had a great convo with the Director and they’re totally okay just changing her every 2-3hrs (specifically before and after nap too). They put a note on the tub since there a few staff who move between rooms to help. Huge relief it wasn’t seen as a complaint but instead of as info gathering/discussing plans which was my intention!

Posted a question in the Toddler forum about frequency of changes not being what I expected at our new daycare. Each day this week has been 2 diapers sent home for washing but previous daycare had been 3-5. I asked the Director about the change schedule just to get more info and she asked how they can best tell about wet diapers with the cloth… I shared that we usually just change every 2-3hrs regardless, but that the wet diapers are slightly heavier and there’s a little moisture on the elastic around her legs. What would YOU tell your daycare as tips for knowing if it’s wet?

PS Our state does NOT have a mandated change window they require compliance on from what I can tell. Director says the teacher is checking every two hours but is admittedly unfamiliar with cloth so she may be thinking it’s dry when it is not.

My exclusively breastfed baby is about to start solids. How do I prepare for the change in poop? What is the cleaning routing for solid poop?