Wool hoo!! Congrats!!! I have never done the cloth diaper so no help here, but a few of my mommy friends have done it and they loved it.
That is a good piece of advice to keep some disposables on hand. I used to babysit a young girl when I was 14 and after her mom saw the hard time I had with the cloth diapers they bought some disposables for me to use. What a relief. I was always afraid of stabbing her with a pin. Those babies don't always stay still for diaper changes.
Congratulations and best wishes for your family! I'm afraid I'm useless for advice here, because I was diapering my baby (dd) almost 40 years ago. (We didn't get ds until he was 2 and he was trained in about two weeks' time.) Disposables were a fairly new item back then, and it turned out that she was allergic to the plastic covers on them anyway. "Cloth diapers" back then meant either gauze or birdseye weave cotton, that you fold yourself (actually very handy for a growing baby -- just fold it however you needed to to fit!) or what they called "prefolded" that were simply very thick through the middle of a square cloth. They didn't fit anybody very well. You used these with rubber pants or plastic pants that were either too tight around the thighs or not tight enough. And then there was the diaper pail -- Nuff sed! I have looked and looked for "training panties" and can't find any - it's all pull-ups. Training pants used to be terrycloth panties (girls or boys) with a thicker crotch for accidents.
We use cloth during day and disposable at night. We like having disposables around for rashes and travelling.
First, CONGRATS! Second, which type of diapers you like is very personal. Our personal story is We tried them all. We started with one cloth AIO. Tried Pockets, etc. I kept a few AIOs handy for hubby and grandparents to use. We used cloth diapers and wipes 100% once we built our stash enough that we could. Even if we traveled, went out, visited, etc. We put dirties in a wet bag and went on about our day. I personally preferred unbleached Indian prefolds, (why I liked Indian) a snappi and Thirsties covers. I used cloth wipes and diaper lotion potion For winter I did have one pair of wool longies that I loved to use but couldn't afford a 2nd pair cause they are pricey! I prefer using prefolds/covers because prefolds are just more absorbent adn their are many different folds, plus you can add an insert to liner if you need to. Covers don't have to be washed at every diaper change. I just used a cloth wipe and the diaper lotion potion to wipe them out between diaper changes. I'd use one of two methods- 1.if we were out and about I'd simply change the prefold and reuse the same cover. 2.At home, I'd usually change the prefold and cover-then wipe the 1st cover out and hang it out air-out until next diaper change and I'd rotate the same 2 covers all day-toss them into the laundry basket at night. So, 2 covers per day unless there was a need to wash a cover before the end of the day. Thirsties run about $10-$12 each so very affordable. You could get by on 2 covers and cloth diaper full time,although 4-6 would be easier on mama and the laundry schedule You could buy a set like this http://www.diaperco.com/store/p/339-Thirsties-Prefold-Plus-Package.html (this one happens to be $185-I have not shopped around-just giving you an example) and easily cloth diaper full time with this stash. Or try a starter kit like this one http://www.littlefornow.com/thirsties-prefold-cloth-diaper-basic-starter-pack.html ($49) which would be a nice start to a stash. ETA: I agree with whoever-don't buy the cheap Gerber 'prefolds' at walmart-I tried them with my oldest with rubber pants (pre my internet shopping days) and that lasted all of 3 days! But REAL prefolds are AWESOME! AND snappis eliminate teh poking baby with pins fear AND once you get the hang of prefolds/covers they are simple. Hubby even started using the prefold/snappi/cover combo over the AIOs within just 2 months of starting to cloth diaper.
(pssst... I've heard of snappis and they sound fun... but I don't use anything with our prefolds. I just trifold them, lay them in the cover, snap - or some of the ones I had in the small size were velcro - and done!) But seriously. The covers on the Assunta site are $4.99 and the pockets are $5.99 without inserts which run $1.29 for microfiber or $1.49 for microfiber with bamboo. That's $9 a diaper with the fancy inserts. I'm just disappointed that she doesn't have prefolds. *sigh* But the GMD's are reasonable, and other places have other sorts also. Lots of people like the "flips" brand, which is what they sell in the local store where I am. We bought a box of econobum prefolds with 3 covers, and they're okay. More than I wanted to pay ($50 for a dozen prefolds plus the 3 covers), but they do the job and at the time I didn't have internet so it was all that was available. I was worried they'd be no good, especially the covers, but they have proven me wrong, happily. I still like the Assunta ones better though! (And I swear I get nothing for promoting them. LOL It's a recent find for me and I'm just excited about them!)
I tried that but when I did the prefold would move around and fall and bunch up no matter what brand of cover I had on them (I dont' remember what all brands I had) But snappis are way less scary than pins! LOL
Look what I just found! GreenBees diapers come with 1 insert or 2 inserts (patterns come with 2) and the solids are cheaper than Assunta's if you only get one insert. (It's a touch more with 2, and the patterns are cheaper since they COME with 2!) The minky's are a little pricier, but not by much. Plus, they actually put together packaged prices so you can get an even better deal. I can't find where she keeps the shipping info, so I'm not sure what's up there. An item or two are labelled "free shipping item" (including the grab bags that come with at least 2 diapers with 2 inserts each plus "extras" that are to be a surprise), but I am not seeing how much shipping is if they aren't tagged free. With Assunta, you have to order $75 worth if you order the pocket diapers in order to get free shipping... but, that's coming from China. These are coming from Tulsa. LOL Anyway. Thought I'd share.
Thank you so much for all the tips for cloth diapering. Im feeling much better about my choice. Now that I now I can get cute cloth diapers for so cheap its much more appealing now Thanks for all the advice
We're expecting our fourth in December and plan on cloth diapering too I am really excited to see the posts about Assunta and GreenBees. I haven't heard of those before, so I'l certainly check into them. I am toying with using Green Mountain workhorse fitteds for the newborn stage. they are only $5.00 each so you can get a decent stash for fairly little money. I have also made several diapers on my own, so we'll see how they work!
