Cloth Diaper Review

The three types of cloth diapers we use

Now that we have been using cloth diapers for a few months, I feel comfortable enough to write a review for the two brands of diapers we have used: bumGenius and Kawaii diapers. But first, let me explain why we chose to use cloth diapers.

Benefits of Cloth Diapering:

• Cost Savings. When you have a baby you have three diapering options: disposable diapers, cloth diapers through a diapering service, and purchasing your own cloth diapers. Disposable diapers are the most expensive option, followed closely by cloth diapering services. For two years of diaper use disposable diapers currently cost around $1,600 and around $2,600 if the baby uses diapers for a third year (see real diaper association, Diaperco and Diapering Decisions). The average cost for cloth diapering services is $780 annually, which means approximately $1500 for two years and $2,300 for three years of use. Purchasing cloth diapers can cost as low as $250! Mind, you have to pay for the cloth diapers all up front while the cost of disposables accumulate over a long period of time, but in the end this is a savings of a couple thousand dollars. That is a lot of money. Heck, that's a trip to Europe or a couple months rent. Also, if you buy decent cloth diapers and have another baby, you don't have to buy any more diapers. That makes for a saving of several thousand dollars. Since we are planning on having another baby and we don't have tons of money, cloth diapering seemed to make the most sense. We spent about $820 because bumGenius are one of the more pricey cloth diaper options (21 newborn diapers at $12.85 each plus 26 all in one diapers at $17.95 each, plus 11 overnight diapers at $7.75 each), but this is still a huge savings.
• Healthier. Cloth diapers don't expose babies to nearly as many chemicals. Babies who use cloth diapers tend to have less issues with diaper rash and irritated bottoms. Cloth diapers are also more comfortable for babies.
• Better for the environment. 10,000 tons of disposable diapers are added to landfills everyday. These diapers are not biodegradable and are often even packed in plastic so they don't stink up people's houses. Cloth diapers are reusable. Although cloth diapers do need to be washed, the amount of energy required to wash and dry the diapers (if you don't line dry them) still is a fraction of the energy used with disposables. Plus cloth diapers break down more readily when they are eventually disposed of. Using cloth diapers helps your family leave a smaller carbon footprint.
• Less time in diapers. Babies in cloth diapers tend to take less time to potty train.
• Adorable. Sure, disposable diapers can have cute prints on them, but cloth diapers are just adorable. They come in lots of colors and patterns and they don't get all scrunched up after they have been worn for a while or are dirty.

Onto my review. We purchased three different types of diapers: the bumGenius newborn all-in-one (AIO) cloth diaper, the bumGenius 4.0 one-size (OS) cloth diaper with snaps, and the Kawaii one-size goodnight heavy wetter cloth diaper.

bumGenius Newborn All-in-One Cloth Diaper

Our collection of bumGenius Newborn All-in-One diapers

Let me start by saying that when my baby was born, he was 9 pounds and 21.5 inches; a big boy. He didn't fit into any of his newborn clothes. We thought he might not fit into any of his newborn diapers either, but we had bought 21 of them so we certainly were going to try. We decided not to use them right away for two reasons. One, for the first couple of days babies have sticky black poop (meconium) which could potentially stain the diapers. Two, I wanted to wait until his little umbilical cord stump fell off. The stump is supposed to stay nice and dry to avoid infection, and the diaper would have covered it up. We didn't even put a onsie on him until the stump fell off (just little kimono shirts) to make sure the stump stayed exposed to the air. Once the stump fell off though, we started using the newborn AIO diapers.

We loved them. They were so tiny, and they were super cute. I loved the bright colors we chose and how comfortably it fit on him. They were really easy to put on and off as they have little velcro strips, and a cinch to clean since you just put the whole diaper in the wash. During those first few weeks after you have your baby, the baby poops and pees a lot. Not only that, but you are weak from childbirth, and just cleaning up after yourself after you use the bathroom is quite the ordeal, never mind taking care of a baby. The last thing you need is to be stuffing diapers in between loads. Fortunately, these diapers were just as easy to use as disposables. Washing was no big deal, especially if you have your partner or some other support person able to help with laundry. These diapers kept his bottom nice and dry and we never had problems with leaks or diaper rash. Supposedly he could fit into the bumGenius OS we bought, but on such a small baby, that is a lot of extra fabric and would have made it difficult for him to move around easily, lay down comfortably (the bulge would have made his back arch), and even fit into his little clothes! We were very happy with our decision to invest in the bumGenius newborn diapers, even if we only used them a short while. Plus now we will have them for our next baby!

If you are going to try cloth diapers, I recommend investing in a newborn size.

bumGenius 4.0 One-Size Cloth Diaper with Snaps

Our collection of bumGenius 4.0 One-Size diapers

Wearing "ribbit" colored bumGenius

Wearing "moonbeam" colored bumgenius

First, let me summarize what the bumGenius 4.0 OS diapers are like. These are pocket diapers, which means you are given two parts: a waterproof lining, and an absorbent insert. The lining is what actually goes against your baby's skin; one side is a soft cloth and the outside is a waterproof cover. Between these layers forms a pocket, and that's where you stuff the absorbent liner. Both the liner and the insert are adjustable so that you can adapt them as your baby grows and changes shape. The liner allows for three different lengths (as your baby gets taller), and has a set of ten snaps on the top to adjust the width of the diaper (as your baby gets wider). The liner has three snaps so that you can adjust it to three lengths as well. You can also adjust where the overlap for extra fabric is located when you have it at the short and medium lengths; extra fabric in front for boys and extra fabric in middle for girls. With these diapers, you wash both the lining and the insert, then you line dry the liners and dry the inserts in the drier. We found that it was easiest to stuff the diapers right after we dried them so that they were already to go when we needed them. This doesn't take very long and is a simple task. You can also stuff them as you need them, which we do occasionally when we don't get a chance to stuff them all at once.

Our diaper liners and wet bags drying on a rack

Overall, we have been very pleased with our decision to purchase bumGenius diapers.

Pros:

• They don't leak. We haven't had any leaking problems at all, even if we have left them on for long periods of time because we didn't have an opportunity to change him (up to 5 hours sometimes). We have been able to adjust them so they fit snugly around his legs so nothing is able to sneak out the sides. Note that we haven't tried using these diapers at night since he was very little and too small for his overnight diapers. They worked perfectly then, but we changed them halfway through the night to be safe.
• They keep my baby dry. My baby is almost four months old, and we have only had a minor case of diaper rash once. This wasn't really even because of the diaper; we took him for a long walk when it was hot outside in a Moby wrap, and he got really sweaty and overheated despite our best efforts to keep him cool. He got a little red in his diaper area, but applying some Burt's Bees Baby Bee Diaper Ointment for one day cleared it right up, so it was a very mild case of diaper rash. Since then, we have had absolutely no problems and a very happy, dry baby! Note, that if you do need to use a diaper ointment, you need to put a protective layer between your babies skin and the diaper to protect the diaper. We used the bumGenius stay dry liners.
• They are easy to put on and take off. We just keep the liner snapped to the appropriate length, so wall we need to do when we are changing his diaper is snap them around his waste. This fast and easy, which is important for times when he is not in the mood for a diaper change.
• They are easy to assemble. All you have to do is stuff an insert into the lining; it takes 10 seconds max. You may think this is a con compared to disposable diapers that require no prep time, but I think that as far as diapers that do need assembling is concerned, it doesn't get much easier than this.
• They fit underneath his clothes nicely. They really aren't much more bulky than disposables, so it's easy to pull his pants on and off for changing. I think they make his bum look cute!
• They have a warranty. We had to use this once when one of the elastics that go around the leg snapped from being overstretched in the washer machine. We just sent them the damaged diaper, and they sent us a brand new one.
• I will never have to buy another diaper if I don't want to. These are made to last from newborn all the way until baby doesn't need diapers anymore. Plus, they will still be in great condition for the next baby! We are set with diapers forever, how cool is that!
• They are adorable. We love all the colors and patterns they come in. It is so much fun to pick out which color diaper is going to wear each time. We don't have any of the patterns yet, but we are planning on getting him a few of the Albert design for Christmas this year and are super excited!

bumGenius "Albert" design

 Cons:

• They are expensive. They cost about $18 each which is expensive compared to some of the other cloth diaper brands available. They are great quality though, so I think it's worth it.
• You can only buy them online. At least around here (Maine), you can only get them online. I wish they were in stores around here because I think I would have gotten more at my baby shower if people were able to see them in person.
• You have to wash them several times before you even start using them. The instructions say to wash them 2 or three times before you use them (each walk cycle consists of washing hot, then washing cold). So we washed them 3 times (which totals as 6 loads) before our baby was born so they would be ready. Unfortunately, every time he peed at first, they would leak. So we ended up needing to wash them 10 times (20 loads) before they reached peak absorbancy. At the time, we had a coin operated washer and drier, so this ended up being quite pricey. My mom was able to help us out and do several loads, fortunately. After they were washed the 10 times, we no longer had any difficulties. I wish they came pre-washed!

Kawaii One-Size Goodnight Heavy Wetter Cloth Diaper

Our collection of Kawaii One-Size Good Night Heavy Wetters

Meo wearing his blue animal print Kawaii diaper

We purchased these diapers after a friend told us about how inexpensive but good quality they were. We figured we would get a bunch of these for night time and use bumGenius diapers during the day. Like bumGenius, the Kawaii diapers are pocket diapers with a series of snaps so the diaper can grow with your baby. Their are three main differences between these diapers and the bumGenius ones. First, they each come with two inserts instead of one. This makes these diapers a bit more absorbent so they can last through the night. Secondly, the inserts do not adjust. This means as adjust the placement of the snaps of the liners, the inserts will always stay the same length. Finally, there are six snaps to deal with on the Kawaii overnight diapers rather than four. While having the extra snaps makes it take longer to put the diaper on the baby, it also allows you to adjust how tight the diaper is around the baby's leg to avoid leaking overnight.

Overall, we feel that purchasing the Kawaii goodnight heavy wetter diapers was a good decision.

Pros:

• They are super absorbent. We are able to put on one of these diapers at bed time, and not change them until morning. We have gone 12+ hours without changing this diapers without having any leaks.
• They keep our baby dry. We were initially worried about keeping the diaper on through the whole night, so we would change it around 2 in the morning to prevent diaper rash. However, our baby hates having is diaper changed at night, so we decided to see what would happen if we just used one diaper all night. We have been doing this for several weeks now, and our baby's skin looks great. He has had absolutely no diaper rash and we are thrilled.
• They are easy to assemble. Like the bumGenius OS diapers, all you have to do is stuff the inserts into the lining. The inserts look different than the bumGenius inserts, so we don't get them mixed up when we do laundry. They are washed in the same way as bumGenius so we are able to wash all of our diapers together.
• They are affordable. These diapers were only $7.75 each when we bought them. That less than half the price of the bumGenius diapers! We figured we would save a bunch of money by buying some of these diapers for night time and buying less bumGenius diapers than we would have needed to otherwise. We are happy with that decision!
• They grow with the baby. Since they adjust to different lengths and widths as needed, we will be able to use these diapers for as long as our baby is in diapers and then use them again with the next baby. We will not have to buy any more night time diapers!
• They are adorable. I was most excited about these diapers because I could choose to have them with little animals printed all over them. I am a little obsessed with wildlife, so even if the bumGenius diapers work great at night, I probably still would have bought these just because I thought they were so darn cute.

Cons:

• They are bulky. When our baby was a newborn, we tried using these, but they were just too bulky! They made his bum so big that his back arched uncomfortably when we tried to lay them down. We called him sumo baby when we tried them on him. Not only that, but his legs were too slender to get the diapers to fit snugly around them, and they would end up leaking.We ended up waiting until our baby got a little bigger (about a month old) before using these at night, and ever since then they have been working fantastically. He fills them out much better now and can lay down comfortably with them on.
• They take a little longer to put on than the bumGenius diapers. The two extra snaps sometimes are a minor annoyance. Mainly because our baby doesn't like putting his diaper on after his massage before bed time so he squirms a lot. The extra snaps really are not a big deal, and certainly make them fit nicely around his legs; just sometimes at night when I am trying to diaper a crying and squirming baby I wish they were not there!
• Wish you could buy them in a store. In Maine at least, I haven't seen these available to buy in a store; they must be bought online. The animal print ones kept being sold out, so it took me over a month of checking to finally find them in stock so I could purchase them. They were worth the trouble though!
• Like bumGenius diapers, these also have to be washed several times before you use them. I wish they came pre-washed, but it doesn't seem like any cloth diapers do.

In conclusion, we have been extremely happy with our cloth diaper purchases. Using cloth diapers has been really easy and we are glad we made the investment. both bumGenius and Kawaii are great brands. If I had to start all over again, I would make the same exact choices. Please feel free to comment with any questions you have about my cloth diapering experience so far.