Editor’s Note:

Comox Valley Mom Kathy Roberts is a cloth diaper convert.

In her quest to make life easy and non-disposable, she took it upon herself to test drive just about every type of cloth diaper out there, even making a few of her own.

Thankfully, I’m annoyingly persistent and she is incredibly generous, now sharing her cloth diapering insight with all of us

Here’s Kathy:

Some days I curse Al Gore and his Inconvenient Truth. I partially credit (blame) him for the recent shift in our household to greener living. Before his little documentary we were merrily going along thinking “If it was REALLY important to greenify our lives, it would be a lot easier than it is.”

Turns out it is easy…..who knew?

We watched the show and had an epiphany, switched light bulbs, greened cleaners, became better recyclers. I started looking around for something else to green (because once I started greening, I couldn’t stop!). My thoughts turned to my two kids, who were 6 months and 2 years 6 months at the time. Both in disposable diapers.

The thought of using cloth diapers always terrified me. I imagined that the kids would stink, the house would stink and I would be chained to the washer. So, when I started exploring the idea, I decided that it would HAVE to prove better for the kids, easy, not too stinky, and we would have to save money for me to do it.

I began by searching to find the best darn diapers out there. I wanted them to be CUTE, easy to use, easy to clean, and did I say CUTE, which equals expensive. More than $20 per diaper! Maybe if it turned the poop to gold!

Well, when I did the math, it would still work out to be a cost saving so I forged ahead.

I didn’t want to jump in all at once though so I called Kendra Quince at Cinderella Diaper Service. Kendra’s company was the perfect answer for us. Not only do they provide the usual full diaper service (all the diapers, supplies, pick up, cleaning and drop off) but they have a scaled down service as well where you can rent the diapers and supplies at about what it costs for disposable diapers (per month), and do the washing yourself. I thought it would be a perfect way to get our feet wet without a major commitment.

Kendra brought us the diapers and supplies and gave us step by step instructions on how to use the diapers, which we needed because, seriously, what do you do when the poop is stuck to the diaper? So we set off on our cloth diaper adventure. My husband gritted his teeth and dove in with me, bless his heart.

Once, when he was dealing with a particularly messy diaper I heard him shout from the bathroom “I don’t love the environment THIS much!” Still, he soldiered on.

The diapers Kendra uses are Kushies Ultra All In Ones (AIOs), which she also sells. Kushies are one of the most reasonably priced AIO diaper on the market (~$13 each) and probably the most durable. They have several layers of flannel on the inside (some fold out for faster drying) and a waterproof layer on the outside with a velcro closure. No diaper cover required and no folding or stuffing before use.

I considered buying the Kushies Ultra because I liked the price and I found them very easy to use. The downside to these diapers is that the many layers of flannel inside tend to make the diaper stiff and they can gape at the leg and waist, which is not elastisized (the waist). My son is a heavy wetter and these diapers leaked for him until we stuffed them with an extra flannel doubler, which then added more bulk unfortunately. That being said, I would still rate these diapers quite high because of their price and ease of use/cleaning.

My search continued.

A plethora of brands and styles of cloth diapers are available but, through much research, I was able to narrow the selection down to a style that sounded like it would work best for me…”pocket” diapers.

Pocket diapers come in two parts, the body layer and the breathable waterproof layer sown together with an opening at the top for the second part, the absorbent layer. I liked the pocket diapers because most of them are made with a microfleece body layer that wicks away moisture and keeps baby dryer, as opposed to a flannel body layer that holds wetness against baby. Also, when the two parts are separated they dry quite fast in the dryer. Fuzzi Bunz, BumGenius and Mommy’s Touch were the most talked about pocket diapers so I bought two of each (for a cool $150) from weecarediapercompany.com out of Chilliwack. They had the most competitive prices and free (fast!) shipping over $75. That’s about 3 diapers!!

Fuzzi Bunz diapers are made with a stain resistant microfleece body layer, a polyurethane laminate(PUL) waterproof outer layer and come with a microterry insert for about $21. Fuzzi Bunz are available in plenty of colours and come in 6 sizes from extra small for the preemie up to extra large for 45+ pounds. The medium sized diapers are the best value for average sized infants and toddlers fitting 15 – 30 lbs. I like these diapers for the elasticized waist and adjustability allowing for a nice trim fit. They’re not a leaky diaper either, which saves on the laundry. Who needs more laundry when I’m already doing 2 to 3 extra loads a week now.

The unfortunate downside to the FBs is the snaps. The damn snaps. My son is coming up on his first birthday soon and is as wiggly as a fresh caught salmon. Now imagine that the salmon has a runny poop and needs a diaper change.

Trying to hold him down with one hand-elbow-armpit while snapping the snaps with the other “free” hand (which is not really free because I’m also trying to make sure he doesn’t stick his foot in the poopy diaper) is extremely difficult. I was also disappointed in the quality of the microfleece body layer which pilled almost after the first wash, although it doesn’t appear to affect the operation of the diaper. Lots of people love these diapers, but they’re not my favorite.

The next diaper forum fave I chose was the Mommy’s Touch Easy Clean pocket diaper, also made with a microfleece body layer and a polyurethane laminate waterproof outer layer. The Mommy’s Touch diaper is a ‘one size fits’ style of diaper that snaps down to adjust the size.

There’s those damn snaps again! Never mind, Mommy’s Touch also come with touch tape closure instead of snaps so we don’t need to go there again. Unfortunately for me I bought the all snap variety.

I liked the idea of having a one size fits diaper but when the MT’s arrived I found that my son (at 6 -7 months) was already big enough to have the diaper adjusted to the largest size. These diapers leaked a little when we first got them but were better once the boy grew a bit. I think he may have been of a size between the small setting, which didn’t quite fit, and the regular size which seemed a bit loose and high waisted.

The MT’s are one of the more expensive pocket diapers on the market priced at $23 and the insert has to be purchased separately for another $7. When you consider that you may go through 5 to 9 diapers a day for a toddler and up to 12 for an infant, $30 is alot to spend on 1 diaper.

On the up side, the MT’s do look as though they will fit him longer than the FB’s size medium will and the quality of materials used is good, the microfleece inner layer has only slightly pilled after 4 months of regular use and washing. I also really like the openings at the back and front to make stuffing the diaper easier. All in, these are a nice diaper if you can afford them, but still not my favorite.

For my next selection, never has a name been so appropriately applied…the ‘BumGenius’. This is the Rolls Royce of diapers. Unrivaled quality of microfleece fabric for an inner layer – absolutely no pilling after 4 months- and soft breathable PUL outer layer. The BG’s have touch tape fasteners (hooray!) with snaps only for size adjustment. My son fits in the largest size adjustment so we don’t have to use the snaps at all but, if we did, we would just leave them snapped even for washing.

The touch tape tabs are attached to a stretchy fabric that, combined with the elastic back, makes these the most flexible, trim fitting of the three diapers. They also seem to have the best cut of the three, adding to the excellent fit. The covered insert opening doesn’t seem to add anything to the diaper but doesn’t hurt either. I prefer an additional opening at the front to pull the insert through, which this diaper doesn’t have but, it wasn’t a deal breaker for me.

The BG’s are priced around $22 and come with a newborn insert and a one size insert making these the most reasonably priced of the three. I love these diapers. Sadly, my thrifty side wouldn’t allow me to purchase 18 BG’s (three days worth) so I went down another route entirely.

I decided to sew them myself.

Here’s where I started to think, “am I crazy? I have two kids, when am I going to find time to sew?” Clearly, I just like to make things difficult. Why couldn’t I just buy the BG’s and be done with it? But noooooooo.

Anyway, I did it and they turned out pretty well. I found another great website called VeryBaby.com for the fabrics and their AIO pattern, which I altered to make a pocket diaper.

I had some samples of fabrics sent from a few websites and found VeryBaby had the best quality, super speedy shipping and great prices. I was able to make the diapers with the features I liked for the unbeatable cost of about $7.50 per.

Yay baby, yay environment…