One recurrent theme in the “What Should The Natural Mommy Write About” comment section was cloth diapers.

And I can TALK about cloth diapers.  Watch out.

A lot has changed since the prefold days.

Like, for example, the fact that we don’t use prefolds anymore.

They were completely functional.  They were cheap.  But, they were bulky.  And they made for some red bums. I’ve decided we’ve got some sensitive skin issues over here.  I’d put fleece down to keep Olivia’s skin dry, and the part touching the fleece would be fine – and surrounded by pink blotchiness where the fleece didn’t cover.

Not ready to jump completely into more expensive diapers, we did an inbetween step with some insert socks.

(They look like this:

and are stuffed with this:

and all go inside this:

And that concludes my pictoral parenthetical interuption.)

The insert socks kept her dry, and away went the rash.

So it was pure discontentment that made me ask for more bumGenius one-size pocket diapers for the following Christmas.  I honestly can’t remember a better reason.

(Cloth diaper lesson:  A pocket diaper is one that you stuff with an insert (see middle picture above).  It has a pocket for the insert.  Get it?)

But I was loving my bumGenius diapers:

  • I stuffed them right off the line, so they were ready to go, just like disposables.
  • Combine the pre-stuffed-ness with the velcro, and they were SO much faster and easier to put on a wiggly baby.
  • Baby’s skin was dry and un-rashed.
  • One-size!  One diaper to fit infancy through toddlerhood!  The money I will save!

Oh, happy sigh.  I was content for the longest time.

Until…

The velcro started to die. First went the handy laundry tabs (the soft flannel square to which you fasten the velcro before dumping it in the diaper pail to be washed).  Without those, the velcro tabs stuck to anything and everything in the wash.  And they quickly filled up with lint and hair and became quite less effective.

And, then and there, I vowed never to buy a velcro diaper again.  I bought cloth diapers that I had hoped would be an investment and would last through multiple children.  That expectation is just too unrealistic for velcro.

Somewhere around there, I met a real! live! person! who also used cloth diapers.  She had used FuzziBunz on her twin boys, and now had a singleton infant.  (Read:  EXTRA DIAPERS.)  She generously let me borrow some.  Because up until that point, Benjamin was still in prefolds while his sister enjoyed the comfort of the bumGenius.

A quick lesson on FuzziBunz:

  • They are not one-sized, so you have to buy three times the diapers.
  • They are pocket diapers – no rashes, and ready to go, just like ‘sposies.
  • NO MORE VELCRO.

She was using all her smalls and was about ready to move up to medium on her little guy, so all she could spare was her larges (She had sold half her stash after her twins were done with them – wise financial move).  And larges were too big for Benjamin, so the order of things around here became, and still is:

Benjamin wears the bumGenius diapers and Olivia wears the FuzziBunz.

And, because we ALWAYS ran out of diapers on laundry day, I used my reward points from my Amazon credit card to get three Mommy’s Touch diapers – the only well-heard-of diaper I could find on Amazon.com.

Mommy’s Touch diapers:

  • Are a one-size diaper, yet only have two size settings.
  • Are a pocket diaper (easy, no rashes).
  • DO NOT HAVE VELCRO.
  • Have a nifty “easy clean” feature – You do not have to take the insert out before washing it.  I’ve tried this.  It does work.

I was afraid to get the Mommy’s Touch because:

  • I thought with only two size settings, it couldn’t possibly have the range I would need.
  • I was afraid the insert would come out one of the two openings while being worn.
  • I thought all those snapping options would confuse me.

Mommy’s Touch diapers have become my favorite diaper because:

  • They fit BOTH Olivia and Benjamin – FuzziBunz are size-specific, and the bumGenius velcro doesn’t span a 30 pound Olivia.  I’ve yet to try the Mommy’s Touch on a newborn, but I have folded it down, and it gets pretty small.  Could it be that I have found a true one-sized diaper?!
  • I can just throw it in the diaper pail – no shaking out a liner.  And let’s face it: the least amount of time that diaper pail is open, the BETTER.
  • THE SNAPS.  THEY WILL NOT COLLECT HAIR AND LINT.  I LOVE THAT.
  • I’ve yet to have the insert come out either opening while being worn.
  • The snapping options are really quite easy to figure out!  Especially if you study the diaper online first.  🙂  I admit, I had an unfair advantage over Josh in that area.

But, keep in mind, I’ve only had them for about a month.  I’ll update you if anything major starts failing.  Or if I find an awesomer one out there.

Better yet, you tell ME, what’s your favorite diaper?