The Cloth Diaper Report . part two (newborn)

the prefolds and some lap pads hanging on the line

The Reviews.

I had originally made this one long post but decided to break it into two. But first, I wanted to add that I got a lot of information from asking questions and reading reviews on the Diaper Pin. It's a forum with really helpful people who are all doing the cloth diaper thing.

So anyway, here's a rundown of what I bought and how it worked:

Covers.
Love love love the Thirsties covers. They come in great colors and fit her fabulously. The XS still fits and she is already wearing the S. Never had a leak. We already bought a medium to use later.

Hate the Proraps. The newborn size we got was stiff and never really loosened up. It is minty green. She has already grown out of it and the S is still too big. These just don't work for us.

(Both of these companies have mixed reviews online. It seems that some people like the Thirsties and some people like the Proraps. It might be best to buy one of each and test them both. Every baby has a different shape.)

I LOVE my Geny cover. It looks huge but has a surprisingly snug fit. I bought this from her Etsy shop (escidus.etsy.com). She has grown her business since then and now offers a more trim diaper in her off-Etsy website.

Diapers.
Hate the Thirsties "fab" fitted (my quotes). This diaper is a joke. It is not at all absorbent. As I mentioned before, we are using these next to the baby's skin so she doesn't feel wet. We have to pad it with a prefold or a soaker to actually absorb the wetness.

I bought a Kissaluvs fitted, two Loveybums, and one Dream-Eze fitted. These are all great -- very absorbent and relatively quick to dry. The only problem is that with a small baby, you get a very large bottom. I think that once she's bigger and we're on the last snaps, it will be much better. The good side to this is that we have four diapers that are going to fit for a long time. The Kissaluvs is the only one that doesn't have a snap-in soaker so it takes the longest to dry. It's good to have a couple of fitteds on hand for those days when you just don't feel like folding up the prefold and dealing with the Snappis.

Pocket Diapers.
The Happy Heinys pocket diaper is already getting small so we have bought a couple of M sizes. They do not come with inserts so you'll need to buy them separately. These fit our baby really well and are nice and thin. Now that we have a couple of mediums, we'll be using them during the day with just one soaker.

I have bought a couple of BumGenius diapers and my friend Joy who gave us all the newborn covers also gave us a bunch of different types of diapers to try. Of course, I bought some diapers from Etsy sellers. I already mentioned by Geny cover but I also picked up some AIOs (all in ones -- these are just like disposables but you wash them). They are still too big so they will be covered in part three.

I was thinking AIOs would be great for day trips and going to the Grandmas. Surprisingly, both Grandmas were fine with the prefolds and picked up the bikini twist like champs. We also don't have a problem changing the prefolds while out of the house. I bought a couple of small wetbags that fit in the diaper bag (these I just wash with my regular laundry) and we're good to go.