Blog Every Day in May - Day 2

Day 2 - Educate Us on Something You Know Alot About or Are Good At

Originally I had added this in with yesterday's topic and it had been about banana bread.  This morning while I was waking up my toddler and getting her dressed for the day I realized there was something that I was knowledgeable about that could use some talking about.

Cloth diapers.

These aren't your grandma's cloth diapers and rubber pants.  That is a common misconception I've run into since I began cloth diapering my youngest daughter when she was a few months old.


I always hear how cute my daughter's diaper cover is, but when I say that it's not a cover, it's her actual diaper.  I get the what's, the no way's.  Then the "tell me more".  It can be very overwhelming though.  There are so many different styles and brands and places to buy.  It was only many months into cloth diapering that I began to feel I had a grasp of what I was doing.

Here is a general break down of what you might hear when asking about cloth diapers:

All in One or AIO - A cloth diaper that has a waterproof cover and an absorbent inner liner all in one piece. All In Ones are frequently used by parents who need a convenient diaper for a day care, for quick and easy changes on the go, and by parents who just want the convenience of a one-piece diaper along with the ecological advantages of cloth.

All in Two - A mix of pocket diapers and AIO.  With an all-in-two, the insert goes directly again the baby's skin and can be changed out without having to wash the cover every time.

Aplix - A hook and loop closure. Such as Velcro.

Nappy - European word for diaper.

Fitted Diaper - A fitted diaper has elastic at the legs and usually, at the waist. Fitted diapers have closures built in such as Aplix or snaps. A fitted diaper requires a cover.

One-Size Cloth Diaper - A one size diaper usually fits a child from birth up until about 30 or 35 pounds. Although I have found that one-size diapers generally fit better once your baby reaches 10+ lbs. Of course, my babies were around 7 lbs at birth. This diapers typically have a row of snaps on the front of the diaper. This allows for the front of the diaper to be folded over and to create a smaller size. As the baby grows, several snap settings allow for waist and leg growth.

Pocket Diapers - A pocket diaper is usually made of an absorbant fleece (or fleecelike) inner layer and a waterproof outerlayer. These two layers sewn together form a pocket for an absorbent insert. These diapers do not require the additional use of a diaper cover.

Flat diapers - Single layer diapers just like granny used to use. Not really good for today's modern diapers, but make great liners or burp cloths.

Prefold diapers - Rectangular shaped diapers that are divided into three sections. The outer sections are thinner with the inner section having more layers for absorbency. These require a waterproof cover and need to be pinned or used with a Snappi.

PUL - Polyurethane laminate.  The waterproof fabric.

The majority of my cloth diaper stash are pocket diapers, though I do have several prefolds that I use with a Snappi fastener.  There are newborn sized cloth diapers available, but I never purchased or used any.  In total I've probably spent around $500 for all of the diapers that I have, but when you compare that to the cost of disposable diapers, it seems to be a no-brainer to me.  Not to mention the ecological impact of all those disposable diapers.  I will use these same diapers until she is potty trained and then they can be resold!  Waste not, want not!

Washing and drying cloth diapers is a bit trial and error.  However, when you find the way that works best for you, you'll never look back.  I currently use Charlie's Soap to wash my diapers.  It is a little pricey, but I only wash diapers every other day so it lasts a while.  My method is as follows:

• Warm rinse
• Hot wash
• Cold rinse twice

During the warmer months of the year, I hang my diapers outside on a line to dry.  Sunlight is amazing when it comes to removing stains.  Also it's a great energy saver!  During the Winter, I do use my clothes dryer, but you have to be careful of the temperature as high temperatures can cause covers and the PUL (the waterproof laminate) to de-laminate and that would cause leaks.

Overall I am very please with my decision to use cloth diapers.  It is much easier than people realize.  There are several blogs and websites that can help you get started.

Dirty Diaper Laundry
Cloth Diaper Resources on Pinterest
Diaper Pin
Ultimate Cloth Diaper Care Resource Page
Diapering Basics
Cloth Diaper Users Guide

I did this video how-to for Sew is Your Baby a while back.  It's a brief two minutes of what a pocket diaper is all about.

The Great Cloth Diaper Change 2013

I was happy to be able to participate in this year's Great Cloth Diaper Change last weekend.  Looking back on last year's change, I can't believe how much my wee little one has grown!

I'm sure potty training is in our near future.  I've ordered some cutesy trainers.  I'm a little sad about this whole process though.  I feel like once she's finally out of diapers, she won't be my baby anymore.  AHHH! I'm not ready to not have a baby.

The Great Cloth Diaper Change 2012

We did it!  Rowan and I participated in our local Great Cloth Diaper Change, along with our exclusive personal photographer Kaia. *wink, wink* It was AWESOME!  Of course, we were running 30 minutes behind the time I had wanted to leave.  Plus the husband left the car with the tiniest amount of gas he could possibly manage.  I was driving with my fingers crossed, toes crossed, legs crossed... hell my damn eyes were crossed too... just hoping that I wouldn't run out of gas before I got there because I was already behind and didn't have the time to stop beforehand.  It was all good though.  We made it in time and managed to squeak in just in time.

Getting all packed and ready to go!

Our official ticket!

Everyone getting set up before the change.

Hold up your fluff!!

Hold up your (pre-change) baby!

Time to show those fluffy butts!
(No photos during the actual change though...) 

Goody bag goodness!!

There were TONS of prizes to be given away.  Almost four tables of donated items!  I had my fingers crossed for the Happy YiaYia tie dye flats/prefolds or the Holden's Landing Live, Laugh, Love cloth diaper or any one of the other super awesome donations that were available.  Alas, luck was not on my side.  BUT it's not that disappointing because we are part of a Guinness World Record!  I didn't even look in my goody bag until I got home and I was so excited to have a Snappi!

And our fearless photographer won....

a pink and purple tutu from *My TuTu*!

Did you get to take part in your local GCDC event?

I Covet the Bella

No, not THAT Bella.  The Tiny Tush Bella print!

I told y'all in my first ever diaper review that Charlene is awesome sauce with a cherry on top, but she really is on top of her business.  Not to mention an all around good person.  I want to bake her cookies and give her a big hug.

She read my review and noticed my "funky bubble".  She said it was a flaw with a temporary PUL supplier. I was only the second person in 11 years to have this problem!!  Talk about a great product!  I wish I could say I only had two problems in 11 years with other things I have around the house!  She wanted to switch out my funky bubble for the beautiful Bella!

I haven't tried it out yet because I just got it today, but I had to gush over it.  It really is a beautiful print.  The colors are perfect, bright yet subtle.  And soft? Oh it's so soft!  I am so excited to try this one out!  Head over to Tiny Tush to get your Bella or Bubbles, Camo or Bots, or one (or more) of the 13 other solid colors available.  I promise you that you will not be disappointed with one of these diapers!

Wipe On, Wipe Off

When I got my Perfect Wipes, my first reaction was, "Ewww! No way I am going to wipe poop with that!"  We began using them as spit wipes instead.  Some where along the line though, I decided to give it a whirl.  Probably because I realized that I was using about a gajillion disposable wipes per poopy diaper.  Wipe, fold, wipe, fold. Repeat.  It dawned on me that I was being a bit ridiculous.  All about the cloth diapers and the impact on the planet, but I was still throwing away wipe after wipe after wipe.  

One day I had just had enough so I grabbed a cloth wipe.  Not knowing a thing about cloth wipe solutions, I just wet it with some warm water.  Wowza!  I used ONE wipe and all the poo was gone.  I had noticed when using disposable wipes that Rowan's bootay would look a bit stained.  No matter how many wipes I used, she would still have a yellow tint to her behind.  I always felt like she was not getting clean.  Not an issue when using the cloth wipes!  I think that she is getting much cleaner now.  

Staining of the bootay was not the only staining issue.  Since the wipes are white I did have to sun them often to keep the stains at bay.  (That Sun!  Got to love it!)  So when I ran across an 18 pk of wash cloths at Wal-Mart for only $4 in these mix of wonderful Autumn colors and white, I had to buy some.  Great inexpensive way of masking those poo stains!  The yellow ones are almost hard to use though because they match the mustard-y color of Rowan's poo's so well that I cannot always tell if I am using the "clean" side!             

I still use disposables periodically at home and, of course, when we are out.  Just like my first worries about using cloth diapers, my fears of using cloth wipes were un-necessary.  I think I may look into making some cloth wipe solutions.  This site has tons of different solutions to make yourself.  I would really like to try the Chamomile 'N Honey solution because it doesn't have any oils so I can still wash my wipes right along with my diapers.  Here's the recipe:  for every cup of boiling water, brew one chamomile tea bag, and add a teaspoon of honey.  Sounds easy, right?  I've many different ways to add solutions to your wipes.  Some reuse an old disposable container, some just pour on the wipes as needed, and I read of filling a peri-bottle with the solution.  I saved my peri-bottle from the hospital for some reason and now I have an actual use for it!

How many cloth wipe users are out there?  Do you have any tips or tricks for your wipes?

Tiny Tush Review

My first cloth diaper purchase was six Tiny Tush Elite diapers.  First selling point that got me was they are made in the US.  Second point... at the time, they were having a sale so I jumped on it!  Buy 5 diapers, get one diaper free plus a bonus 12 pk. of Perfect Wipes.  I decided to get all white for the color.  On hindsight, what the heck was I thinking?  Well, I'll tell you what I was thinking at the time.  I wanted her cloth diapers to be all matchy-matchy with her clothes so I figured if I got all her diapers in white I'd be good to go.  Ugh... I shouldn't have listened to myself.  Tiny Tush diapers come in so many colors!  I could kick myself for only getting white.  I covet the Bella print, but I'll have to sneak that one when the hubs isn't looking!  Anyway, moving on...

This is our current setting.

Right out of the box, I was impressed.  Not only did I get my 6 diapers, I received my pack of Perfect Wipes, but I also got 3 hemp wipes too!  A bonus on top of a bonus!  After pulling all of my goodies out of the box, I grabbed the receipt from the bottom of the box.  What did I see on it?  A hand written thank you from Charlene herself!  Instant wow factor.  I'm sure she does this will all orders, but it felt personal and I appreciated that attention to detail.

See?!  Awesomeness!

The shell of these diapers are made with a waterproof PUL on the exterior and a polyester micro-fleece on the inside.  There are four sizes available for the rise with the snap down systems.  I have the "original" Elite diapers, but now Charlene has made a few improvements and the Elite 1.1 is available.  The new Elite's have color coordinated snaps and a crossover snap on the tabs.  The website says they are designed to fit babies 7-35lbs.**, but I'll be honest and say (for us) it was more around 10 lbs. that Rowan began to fit in them.  (Now they have the cutest, teeny tiniest Elite Mini for babies 4-15lbs.!)

This is fastened at the largest setting.

Inside view.

Love this feature!  You can tuck the insert under here and no mess!

Outside view

Snaps

Snap flaps... ha!

These are my absolute go-to diapers for nighttime.  They are roomy without being too bulky and give lots of room for me to be able to double up Rowan's inserts.

All in all they have been and continue to be some great diapers.  I did notice a little separation of the laminate from the fabric on ONE diaper.  One.  Out of six, that are in constant rotation on a nightly basis.  For the last 4.5 months.

I only add this because in the interest of full disclosure I don't want to leave anything out.  HOWEVER, I do want to point out that this had been a NON-ISSUE when it comes to waterproof-ness.  We've had no leaks due to this and since it's only 1 out of the 6 I purchased I figure it's just a fluke and go on using it anyway.

You can find all of the Tiny Tush products here.  They are also on Facebook, Twitter, and on their blog.

**As a side note, most one-size diapers claim the 7-35lbs. range and most would be better saying 10-35lbs.**

*All opinions are my own.

It's So FLUFFY!

When I first ventured into cloth diapers, I was overwhelmed.  How many do I need?  How do I wash them?  How hard is it going to be?  Questions, questions.  The biggest issue I could think of was the initial cost.  Being a family of one income, it was a little discouraging to say the least.  I was determined to do the damn thing though.  Where there is the will, you will find the way.  So we started out with just enough to get the job done.  I wrote a post about the beginnings... how I laundered them, what we were working with, etc.  Then I realized my faux pas with the wrong detergent and found my way to the best (in my opinion) detergent, EcoSprout.

Now here we are just 4 months into wearing cloth diapers.  I'm still using the EcoSprout in our wash routine.  There are a million and one wash routines too.  If you thought it was hard to decide what kind of diapers to buy, wait until you try to figure out how to wash 'em!  I have a specific routine that I follow, but I have found that every one has a different routine and it's really trial and error to find what works for you.

The routine: We have hard water and a front loading HE washing machine.  Double whammy.  As I stated before I use EcoSprout to wash our cloth and their customer service was awesome with helping me work out a wash routine that worked for us.  I first put them through a "quick wash" using 1 Tbls of detergent on a warm wash/cold rinse plus extra rinse.  If I don't have any poopy diapers (and sometimes I don't because Rowan doesn't always poop every day) I'll do this cycle on hot.  Next I run them through the "white" cycle using 3 Tbls of detergent on a hot wash/cold rinse plus extra rinse.  I wouldn't have to use as much detergent if I had softer water.  I've never tested it, but a quick Google search turned up several results.  When it was warm outside I would hang everything outside to dry/sun.  The Sun is amazing at getting out those stains.  Now that it's turned cold, I have to resort to using the dryer.  I separate the shells from the inserts and dry the inserts on high heat.  I will either hang the shells inside on my handy dandy rack from Wal-Mart (though when I bought mine in September they were only $10) or I'll put them in the dryer separately from the inserts and dry on the timed dry for about 20 minutes on extra low heat.  This has been our routine for about 2 months now and I've had no need to "strip" the diapers.  The only time we have any ammonia (or other) issues is with her over night diapers.  I don't change her over night and in the mornings, she does have some ammonia, but it's not been a large issue.

Now when we started, we had a minimum of diapers.  I was gifted one FuzziBunz One-size and a 12 pk of Gerber pre-folds.  We then purchased 3 more FuzziBunz One-size, 6 Tiny Tush Elite One-size, and 2 EconoBum covers.  Our total cost at that point was a mere $178.  The problem is there are so many brands out there that I couldn't stop obsessing over which one to buy next.  I was trying to keep costs down, but OH MY GOD HAVE YOU SEEN ALL THE CUTE CLOTH DIAPERS???  I would love to try one of everything, but the hubs would kill me.

**NOTE:  Any cloth diaper makers/companies out there that want to gift me a sample of their product??  I'll gladly use them, review them, and tell the world about your awesomeness!

Hasn't stopped me from trying though...  hee hee.  So... here is our new total stash of fluffy fluff-tastic-ness!

+ 6 FuzziBunz One-size (1 gifted-cotton candy, 3 purchased at $19.95-buttercream, 2 purchased on clearance (the old style) at $12.95-choco truffle & crushed berries)
+ 1 FuzziBunz Perfect Size-medium-$12.76-watermelon
+6 Tiny Tush Elite One-size at $19.95 (but they were buy 5 get one free)-white
+3 Kawaii One-size at $9.75 (two suede-sage & light blue, one microfiber-purple)
+4 Diaper Rite One-size (1 as a Black Friday freebie-bubble gum, 3 purchased at $7.75-black, electric carrot, electric lime)
+4 EconoBum covers (1 as a BOGO offer with prefold insert-white trim, 2 purchased at $8.95 (cover only)-zinnia,white, 1 purchased at $9.95 with prefold insert-ribbit trim)
+1 Thirsties Duo Wrap cover purchased on Black Friday for $8.00-size 2-warm stripes(+$1.00)
+3 Diaper Rite Prefolds in Small, unbleached at $1.59 each
+11 Diaper Rite Prefolds in Medium, unbleached at $2.07 each
+12 Gerber prefolds (gifted and not pictured)
+1 large FuzziBunz diaper pail at $21.95-white
+1 small PlanetWise wet bag-$9.50-Think Peach print
+1 small/medium drawstring wet bag with a Black Friday sale

The pockets...

 The prefolds and covers... (minus the Gerber ones 'cause after I got the Diaper Rite prefolds I won't be using the Gerbers)

 Extra microfiber inserts of various shapes and sizes...

 Two small wet bags...

Ro rockin' her Thirsties Duo Wrap cover.

So far our grand total is just $366!!  This is approximate because I'm not counting shipping.  But seriously?  Less than $400 for (on average) 2 years of diapers?  Yay!!!  I am so excited to be able to cloth diaper my baby.  I wish I had known more about it with my other two children.  In an effort to just get the word out about using cloth diapers I'll be writing some reviews of the cloth that I have been using.  Anything new I'll give 2-3 weeks of use before giving an official opinion.

I should mention that with the exception of the Tiny Tush and the first 3 FuzziBunz, I have purchased all of our diapers from Diaper Junction.  I highly recommend them.  They have great customer service, competitive prices, and super fast shipping.  Check them out if you get the chance.

Oh My Gawd Becky... Look at Her Butt

M'kay... I really am glad that I decided to use cloth diapers.  I was worried in the beginning, but it's super easy.  I feel really good about not putting tons of disposables into landfills.  One thing that is a wide complaint about cloth diapers though is their bulkiness.  Sure enough they are quite a bit bulkier than slim, trim disposables.  It's easy to get around this issue with pants/bottoms by just purchasing one size larger than is necessary.

Before Rowan was born I kind of went on a onesie spree.  I had/have newborn, 0-3 months, and 3-6 months sizes... total amount of "onesies" in her closet before she was even born?  18.  Oops... Another issue I've encountered with onesies and cloth diapers is that the legs get pulled up into her inner thigh and will get bunched up just under the edges of her diaper and then they get wet.  Her diapers aren't leaking, her onesies are getting stuck.

Now that she's gotten bigger, I had a dilemma.  Her onesies still fit her from her waist up, but getting them snapped was becoming a problem.  I didn't want to have to buy more of them so I improvised!

I decided to make a tweak to them by lopping off the snap crotch bottom.  (Did I really just use the word "crotch" in my post???)  Getting that first cut took some courage.  I didn't want to ruin all her clothes!  Once I finally made the cut, I was on a roll.

I simply cut a straight line across the waist, cutting just above the cuff of the leg openings.  Then I turned them all inside out.  Warmed up the ol' iron, by the way this the only action my iron ever sees, and ironed flat a little hem on the bottom.  

This is when I wish that I had a serger to make a nice clean and secure stitch.  Since I don't have that, I just made two rows of straight stitches.

I've never sewn anything with this type of fabric.  I'm still new to sewing period, so I'm not sure if maybe I should have adjusted anything on my sewing machine.  I tried to let the machine pull the fabric along so that I didn't stretch it out while it was stitching.  I knew that would cause unwanted ruffles.  I still got a bit of stretching, but I was still pleased with the overall finish.

Now she has a bunch of shirts that will get more use and she'll be able to show off her super cute cloth diapers!

Eco Sprout Love!

Do you remember when I talked about my diaper stash?  No?  Well, you can find it here.

We've finally made the switch to all cloth, all the time.  I hadn't been having any issues with odors after switching from the All Free & Clear to Tide.  Except then... I did.  Rowan's diapers smelled fine coming out of the wash, but when she would pee... they smelled.  The only way to describe it would be to say that they smelled like wet cardboard.  I tried to strip them, but was getting the same results.  Just to clarify, stripping basically means to run the diapers through several HOT washes without detergent and /or soaking them overnight in blue Dawn or something else.  I had enough.

Everyone has their own method of cleaning their diapers.  There are what seems like a million different ways and a million types of detergents.  I searched and researched brands.  I happened upon Eco Sprout some place.  I wish I could remember where because I would send them a thank you note!

This detergent rocks!

Not only does this detergent come in smells that are AWESOME (Fresh Linen, Warm Vanilla Sugar, Lavendar Chamomile, and more), it's made in the USA.  Hand made by a family run company with eco-friendly, safe ingredients!  SOLD!  I ordered the 24 oz. bag of Warm Vanilla Sugar for $7.98.  Shipping on this size was $5.00.  I got it from them in TWO DAYS. I ordered on Friday and it arrived in my mailbox on Monday.  Granted... they are located in Illinois and I'm in Kentucky.  I suppose if you live halfway across the country, it may take longer.  My mail smelled so good!!  I'm sure the mail lady was wondering what was in my mail.

I followed the first time user instructions that come with the detergent.  I have a front loader HE machine so soaking diapers takes place in my bath tub.  Eco Sprout suggests soaking for 3-5 hours or, for better results, overnight.  I opted for the 3 hours because I was in a hurry to wash them.  When I was taking them out of the tub I noticed a semi-slimy feel to the water.  Eeeww... that stuff was on her diapers before the soak!  I ran them through only 1 hot wash/cold rinse cycle without detergent before doing a "regular" load on the white cycle/hot wash/cold rinse/extra rinse with 2 tbls of detergent, though the instructions clearly say two.  They came out smelling like... nothing!  A couple of days later I followed the regular wash routine and I thought all was well.

That night I put an extra insert into her diaper and put her to bed.  The next morning... the ammonia smell was almost overwhelming!  I didn't know what to do.  She'd not had any ammonia issues before that.  So...  I emailed Eco Sprout.  I got a response in just a couple of hours!  After a little Q&A with me, they told me what I was doing wrong and how to fix it.  I have hard water.  Apparently, what type of water you have is very important in the wash process.  I upped my amount of detergent from 2 tbls to 3 tbls and began using the longest and hottest setting on my washer, plus an extra rinse.  I've done two loads using this method and NO MORE SMELLS!  None.  Not even that wet cardboard smell.  I've even used their detergent to wash our other clothes and the results have been great.

I'm so glad to have found this brand!  I feel even better knowing that it's made with safe products and it's hand made.  Plus their customer support was phenomenal!!  If you don't want to go all in on the first try, they offer 2 oz. sample packs for only $1.75!  Check out their Facebook page here or their website here.

The Stash

I made the decision even before I got pregnant that if I were to ever have another baby I would cloth diaper.  I never even considered cloth diapers with either of my other children.  I have no good excuse why I didn't.  Only that I didn't think of it and it was never a topic of conversation.

At my 6 week check up, another patient and I began a conversation.  She had overheard my talking with my Mom.  Mom had been trying her hardest to figure out how to get Rowan out of the car seat.  I made the comment that baby items had drastically changed in the short span of time since my first daughter had been born, 10 years ago.  It had taken me a couple of tries to figure the damn thing out myself too.  The other lady said she'd just found out that she was pregnant and this baby's sibling was 11 years old.  We began talking about how things were different and of course the talk went to cost.  I told her that I breast feed and cloth diaper and that helps to keep our costs to a minimum.  A case of diapers on average is $20, and so is a canister of formula.  I don't have to pay for either of those.

I noticed she looked a little bewildered with the mention of cloth diapers.  She, like many others when I told them I was going to use cloth diapers, immediately thought of the cloth diapers of yesteryear.  Flatfolds, big diaper pins, and awkward rubber pants.  Not to mention... LAUNDRY.  I recognized her bewilderment.  I felt the same way when I first began researching them.  There are hundreds of different types, styles, and brands out there.  Not to mention the price tag on most one-size all-in-ones.

This is what we have...

• 6 Tiny Tush Elite - $19.95 each - white - snap closure - MADE IN THE USA
• 4 Fuzzi Bunz One Size - $19.95 each - 3 buttercream, 1 cotton candy - snap closure
• 2 EconoBum Diaper Covers - $8.95 each - 1 white, 1 zinnia trim color - snap closure
• 12 pre-fold cloth diapers - $13.95 for the set - white

In total, we've spent only $178.  The pre-folds and one Fuzzi Bunz were gifts.  That would be only about 8 cases of disposable diapers!!  These diapers will last for years.

Before Rowan was born, I was still a little skeptical.  To be on the safe side I purchased two packs of Seventh Generation disposables.  One in newborn size, one in size 1.  She was only 6 lbs. 14.3 ozs. when she was born so she did have to grown into the cloth diapers.  Buying a few disposables was a good call.  She still wears a disposable at night.  But only at night now.  We used to put her in disposables when we would leave the house as well, but that quickly changed once I got a good grasp on the situation.  I only have one wet bag, but that isn't a problem.  I simply reuse one of the dreaded plastic bags from the week's groceries to store the wet diapers in when traveling.

Laundry?  I wash diapers every other day.  Super simple.  I'm already doing laundry anyway.  Someone always needs something washed in this house.  We have a front loading HE machine.  High efficiency machines aren't really designed for cloth diaper washing, but - after a few trials and several errors - I have mastered them.  They can not defeat me! Ha!  How I do it:  Rinse cycle, no spin.  Easy care cycle ('cause it uses more water), hot water, cold rinse, fast spin.  Extra rinse.  Done.  Now if the sun is shining, I hang them outside on a drying rack that I purchased at Wal-Mart for $10.  Stains?  What stains?  I kid you not, the sun has removed ALL stains from these diapers and trust me when I tell  you they were bad stains.  No sun?  Timed dry 2 hours, extra low heat setting. Done.

First let me say that you have to wash and dry your diapers a bunch of times before they are baby ready.  By a bunch, I mean everyday until your baby is born about 8 times.  Don't use softener and you can easily check your diapers and liners absorbency by pouring a little water on dry ones.  If the water beads up, you need to do more wash/dry cycles.  Now nearly everything (and I do mean everything, everybody, everywhere) says to wash your diapers in a detergent that is free and clear of dyes, perfumes, etc.  I tried that.  I used All Free & Clear formulated for HE machines.  It left my diapers smelling like, well... nothing.  That was until Rowan would pee in them.  There was an odor.  Not a super stinky odor, not really a urine odor, but one that wasn't pleasant.  I tried upping the amount of detergent.  No change.  I tried washing without detergent.  No change.  I switched to regular Tide for HE machines.  No smell.  I couldn't find anything that indicated using a "regular" detergent would physically harm my diapers.  Only warnings that perfumes may irritate my baby's bum, but I was already using "regular" detergent for her clothes and she was fine.  My advice is do whatever is comfortable for you.  Of course there are a million people out there giving advice too!

Our favorite are the Tiny Tush Elites, followed closely by the EconoBum covers.  The hubs can never figure out the snaps on the Fuzzi Bunz.  We have had an occasional leak, but no more than with disposables.  The Tiny Tush also seem to have a better fit for our little one.  However, every baby is shaped differently.

I'm hoping to try more diapers so if anyone wants to send me one (or two) to review, I wouldn't turn them down!  The upfront cost seems a little overwhelming, but in the long run you'll be glad you did it!