Diapers Q&A

Making cloth diapers?

I've been making them for my 9 month old. The instructions I have say to use fleece on the inner layer, flannel on the outside, and a soaker in the middle. The fleece almost always feels dry, but the flannel is always soaked! I've about given up due to the number of outfits my daughter goes through in a day. I've been using the Gerber covers from Walmart, but they tear so easily in the wash, and I just don't like them. What fabrics do you use, and what do you use as a cover?

Public Comments

1. Hand wash the gerber covers.
2. I looked into clothe diapers with my first, but it was too much of a hassle to me to dig the chunks of poo out of the diapers and such so I gave up rather quickly BUT that being said, I did alot of research and people swear by Bummis http://www.bummis.com/en/Index.html They seem to hold better than Gerber.
3. I hope I'm not telling you anything you already know. If I am, please don't be offended. Are you using cotton fleece? If you are using a poly fleece, it isn't absorbing anything at all and that's why it's going straight through like that. Rather than flannel, I used all cotton flour sack-cloth -- don't know if that made much of a difference, but it is more absorbent in the kitchen. . . (I got it from Dharmatrading.com. What kind of soaker are you using? I used the ones they had at Babies R Us (Doublers, I think Dappi makes them). When he got a little older, I had to use 2, but it worked. We stayed with cloth until he was about 2 years old and went straight into Pull Ups. I used the Gerber covers. If you use really hot water or Clorox, it weakens the plastic and makes them more likely to tear in the washing machine. When I did it, I washed the covers thoroughly in cold water to get all of the stuff off and then just gave them a quick rinse on the hot cycle. I line-dried them most of the time (but if I put them in the dryer, I used air dry). They lasted pretty long that way. I had a few of the Dappi covers from BabyDepot, but honestly they were very expensive and I didn't think they were much better if at all. Hope this helps! Deborah P.S. Also make sure the fleece you are using isn't wool fleece. It isn't absorbent either.
4. Have you checked out http://www.diaperpin.com ? You will be overwhelmed by choices! The fleece is supposed to feel dry, it keeps the baby from getting rashy. If the falnnel is soaked, you either need to change it sooner, or add more layers to the soaker. As far as covers go, you should go for Bummis Super Whisper Wraps. They are the best and my son, who is 27 months has been wearing the same size since he was 6 months. i even wash them in hot water with the diapers and they are fine. A P.S for the person who researched. You are also supposed to shake solids out og paper diapers, as landfills are not set up to properly contain human waste. All solids should be flushed. Its in the fine print on most diaper packages.
5. i spent hours at my sewing machine while i was pregnant...i made my with no fleece because its only there to keep ur baby feeling dry and i didn't want the extra bulk and good fleece that holds up is expencive...neways i made the things all kinds of way all kinds of thicknesses, big saokers, trim soakers, skinnie soakers, etc etc...i used so much flannel with each diaper so i figured "wow these are going to be soo asorbent"...Wrong!..as soon as my son peed the whole thing was completely soaked and would leak from the leg holes...the ones i made for my 27mo old wouldn't even last a full pee without leaking..i had to put 2 togeather and even then there was a good chance that would be enough to absorb all the pee...so i then sewed up a heap of soakers to plop inside the diap in a last ditch effort but even these where no good ..after a few weeks and a whole lot of extra laundry and sewing, i broke down and bought some prefolds and wraps... and began packing my little labours of love and wasted money all away neatly in a box.....the gerber covers are horriable mine would only last a few weeks befor starting to tear..i like the wraps much better they aslo make diaper changes much faster and less messy....i've used the green earth pro wrap style ones $6, they were ok...they leaked but better then nothing..the bumkins wraps $12, they were good but they have a venting flap in the fack and if it gets pushed up they will leak.also you have to be careful washing them because the waterproof layer wears off..great for getting rid of or preventing diaper rash...my favorite are the dappi velcro wraps...they arn't the cutest but they hold leaks very well and are machine wash and dry..mine have held up incredably well..aslo theyre cheep $3 a peice on adverage.... the one thing i do miss about my diaper were how cute their bums looked in them hope that helps