I've had a few questions about cloth diapers, so I'm just going to go ahead and type up a second post about them.


First, what I use and where I got it:

I use Thirsties diaper covers and Bumkins unbleached prefolds. I got them from amazon. If you're going to order diapers, you should sign up for an amazon mom account if you don't already have one. You should be able to get free two-day shipping with the first three months of the account.

I use these Bumkins Prefold Diapers and these Thirsties Diaper Covers. You can get Thirsties covers with snaps instead of Velcro, but I really like the Velcro. Per boy, we use 8-10 diapers and about 1-3 covers a day right now. You don't have to change the cover every diaper change-- just when they get poop on them. If you have good covers, I don't think you need snaps or pins.

Second, how I care for them:

Every dirty cloth diaper is tossed into a plastic bin I have near our changing station. Some people use wet bags that you can throw into the washer, and I might actually look into getting one of those soon, but for right now, I don't feel like I really need one. When the boys are in disposables for the night, I toss the diapers, covers, and any other dirty whites generated in the house during the day (why waste the washer space, huh?) into the washer. You could probably get away with doing diapers every two to three days if you had more diapers.

I use about half the recommended amount of All brand Free Clear detergent (no dyes, no perfumes, allergen-free) and run a cold cycle to basically rinse everything. Then I fish the diaper covers out, hang them up to dry (they dry quickly) and run the washer load again-- a small amount of detergent, hot cycle, extra rinse. This has pretty much gotten every poop stain out so far. You aren't supposed to use chlorine bleach with the bumkins prefolds, but I might look into oxygen bleach if staining becomes a problem. I've also heard that sun-bleaching works wonders, but haven't had to try it yet.

Then, finally, I toss the load into the dryer and run it on a normal cycle. Ta-duh!

Third, and finally, the diapering:

I took some pictures!

Here's the cover, opened:























This is the diaper:






















I use the folding method the Bumkins company recommends for boys, so from the flat diaper, I fold it like this:























Then each side over, like this:























I tuck the front end into the flap at the front inside of the diaper cover, like this:






















Then I put it on a boy! The bulkier part goes in front, to absorb more pee. All done, it looks like this:




(Smirk is optional.)



















I think that's it for tonight. Let me know if you have any more questions! I'm just a newbie, but I can always find more info or just give you tips from the few weeks I've been cloth-diapering my own kids.