Ok, so in cloth diaper world it's called aplix or hook and loop, but it's velcro to the rest of the world. I know that at first glance the lazy person in me was like 'Sign me up for the velcro, duh!' strictly because of perceived ease of use. However, after a bit of reading I found mixed reviews and saw a lot of questionable pictures of the aplix after a certain amount of time and it looked seriously janky. There were several instructional videos on how to replace the aplix but I knew that I wouldn't be interested in doing that. There were a lot of good reviews on the snaps from any company that we researched and from what I read and saw on YouTube it looked easy to replace a snap should it break off or come loose. We decided to go with a majority snaps and a few aplix diapers for when my parents watched Isabella or when we were feeling lazy at night times or something like that. The picture at left is a BumGenius aplix diaper from http://www.fullcirclebaby.com . I would have used one of our diapers as a model but we don't currently own any aplix diapers. The diaper to the right is a Kawaii from http://theluvyourbaby.com - at any time at least a third of our stash has been a Kawaii diaper.
Do I want my diapers by size or one-sized diapers?
This one seemed like a 'duh' moment as well! Why would I choose to re-purchase my entire cloth diaper stash three or four times throughout my child's diaper years? One sized diapers typically have two to three rows of snaps where you can control how tall/long the rise is, along with one or two rows of hip snaps. They are usually advertised by the community as 'from birth to potty training'. I have an issue with both ends of that spectrum because my kids have both had less chunkier thighs and just didn't work as a newborn in one sized diapers. Also, the other day we tried to put a one size diaper on Isabella and at approximately 31lbs she had exhausted the limits of that diaper. You can see how big the Kawaii goes in the picture above when none of the rise snaps are being used and this is the same diaper snapped all the way down:
You can also look for some brands (not sure of the brand on this diaper or the site that we bought it from) that offer the cross over snaps to make the waist even smaller:
I am going to spend a sentence or two (or ten) on FuzziBunz in this section because I have some familiarity with their system. FuzziBunz offers a unique (I don't know of many other systems that offer this - but I'm certainly not a cloth expert!) system in that instead of rise snaps they offer the user the ability to size the diaper by moving stationary buttons into different button holes on an elastic band placed inside of the diaper. At first glance this seems daunting. The elastic band has numbers on it near the holes and you have to get them sized correctly for your child in order for the fit to be correct and for the diaper to not leak. The good news is that your child only has to sit still for this process one time and then you should be able to size your diapers the same as that one. Once Silas gets too big for that one size I go in and just move the buttons up one hole and it seems to work out well. In the pictures, the back elastic is being sized, but there are also elastic bands along the leg holes as well. One sized FuzziBunz diapers seem trim to me on our son - these are my favorite diapers.
Conversely, sized diapers are usually more trim than one sized diapers and offer some babies a better fit because they are based on weight. You will also have to take into account though your babies thighs and waist to ensure that you are getting the proper fit. Even though we were originally against a sized diaper we now have more than 5 of these in our stash. They are convenient if you want to avoid the 'fluffy butt' that some diapers give the babies or if you need a more trim fit for something. I like them but they definitely come in second to one sized diapers for me because you don't get as close of a fit with sized diapers, at least with my children. You can see in the diaper below that there is no insert so the diaper is shaped a bit funny but a sized diaper only has the hip and waist snap rows and not the rise snaps. This is a FuzziBunz size small. My 23lb son can still wear this diaper comfortably.
What type of diapers do I want to use?
- Prefolds are the typical cloth diaper that any lay person knows as a cloth diaper. Most everyone has seen a prefold if you have seen those Gerber diapers. These are usually flat white square pieces of material that you fold differently against your baby's skin depending on their age, gender and fit. You put these on your child, fix with a pin or Snappi and cover with some type of outer layer. I know that some people don't use a pin or a Snappi but I don't know that I would feel comfortable with that unless the cover was tight. This outer layer can be lanolized wool or a PUL cover. There are other options I am sure, but I am most familiar with those two.
- Pocket diapers are the most popular type of diaper, in my opinion. They are in the same shape as a disposable diaper. They have a microfiber, hemp, or other type of insert that fits inside of a pocket that opens in either the front or the back of the diaper. These are easy to use and you can usually surprise a cloth diaper naysayer with one of these to show how easy a cloth diaper really is to use! Our entire stash currently is pocket diapers with microfiber inserts.
- AIO diapers have the insert built into the 'pocket' part of the diaper. These are the easiest to use but take FOREVER to dry, especially if you are line drying. We have had some of these in the past and the extra dry time wasn't worth the ease of use.
- AI2 diapers are a similar system in that they have an insert and a cover, however, different in that the insert actually touches your baby's skin instead of being in a pocket. You can re-use the cover, provided that it doesn't get soiled for multiple inserts. You can change out the insert when you change your baby's diaper.
- 13 Kawaii one size
- 8 One Size FuzziBunz
- 3 one size BumGenius with snaps
- 3 'no name' one size diapers
- 4 Medium Perfect Sized FuzziBunz
- 3 Small Perfect Sized FuzziBunz
Next: Cloth diaper accessories and the continuation of our story.
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