We are using the Thirsties brand. I started with a small order of them, $60 or so. That included 6 Toddler Prefolds (unbleached) for bedtime, 6 Baby Prefolds (unbleached) for normal wear, 2 Covers (1 Duo with snaps size 2 and 1 Original size Med.), and 2 Snappies 1 Toddler and 1 Reg. I knew that I would need some smaller ones for double stuffing at night time but I had already had some cheap Target prefolds that I used as burp cloths when Lilly was little so I am using those.Some things that I noticed so far is that Tucker doesn't sleep as long. He usually wakes up early from his naps-but most time goes back to sleep until 4pm and he's been waking up at 7 or 7:30am instead of 8 or 8:30am. I don't know if the wetness just makes him wake up or if it's something totally unrelated. For 2 nights in a row he's waken up early so tonight I am going to test it out and put a disposable diaper on him just to see if he wakes up early or not. If he doesn't, I may use cloth during the daytime and put a disposable on him at night. I will keep you all posted on my findings.
I have had a few leaks too, but I did with disposables too so I am not too concerned with that. It's been nothing out of the ordinary in my opinion. I double stuffed the diaper the first night and didn't like how it fit Tucker. It was too bulky and I felt like he couldn't move around very good (bull legged) and it looked uncomfortable, so the 2nd night I did not double stuff it and he still didn't leak. The 3rd night (last night) he did leak a bit up his front so I may have to experiment a bit with that.
I like the duo covers because they will take me all the way to potty training without having to buy another size (since I already got size 2, with a new baby I will have to buy size 1 covers). I do like the velcro closure a bit more because it is wider than the snaps so it keeps the prefold tucked inside a little better at the top, which in turn prevents the leakage.
Laundry method: For the diapers, I take the cloth diaper pail (a garbage can with plastic big in it) to the laundry room and dump them inside. I soak them in baking soda (there's already a little baking soda in the pail for smell reasons and then I add a little more in the wash) in cold water. Then I wash them with hot water for a cycle and then rinse them in cold water one last time. I am currently using laundry detergent from Norwex, it's working well. Any detergent that has a simple formula will work well, nothing that brightens or has fillers in it (they say Walmart brand is good to use). I usually dry them in the dryer for a little bit and just hang them up to dry the rest of the way. For the covers-I just hand wash them in the sink sometimes with just water, sometimes I add a little soap and then just hang them to dry.
I feel like the extra laundry isn't a big deal for me because I am able to stay home and do laundry every day if I have to. Once my final order comes in I will aim to do diaper laundry every 4 days or so. Again, that could adjust as we go.
My final order for cloth is as follows: (for future reference) 12 Baby Prefolds (unbleached), 2 Snappies (1 Reg 1 Toddler), 4 Duo Covers (size 2, 3 with velcro, 1 with snaps).
One last bit of info so I don't forget. I decided not to cloth diaper Thatcher b/c he's almost ready to potty train-but we'll see. I have Toddler Prefolds so I could just do it anyway to save money for a little bit. As you can tell, I am still figuring things out. Tucker goes through 112-126 diapers a month. Pampers Baby Dry diapers from Diapers.com (the cheapest place I have found them) cost $.25 for sz 4 and $.29 for sz 5 a diaper. So every time I put a cloth diaper on I am saving at least a quarter. I have figured that in a little over 3 months I will have recouped all of my costs. That's exciting to me.
As Katie quoted in her blog, "they do add a whole new dimension of adorableness."
