Which cloth diaper?
The different brands, colours, shapes, fabrics and features of cloth diapers available in the market CAN be quite overwhelming to the interested new mother. Soo…how now, brown cow?
To introduce Mums to cloth diapers, here’s my guide a.k.a. Cloth Diapers 101 with a list of pros and cons (based on my own experiences). Feel to agree/disagree or ask questions ok?
Flats, white squares and the pre-fold
These are the traditional white muslin/linen cloth diapers that we grew up with. These white squares (or rectangles) were folded a certain way (and I love doing it!) and fastened with a safety pin. Pre-folds are the same squares all folded for you!
(Lucas, left, in Bumwear pocket diapers at 10 months)
PROS
+ Cheapest cloth diaper available esp for the newborn stage. If you plan to breastfeed, your newborn’s poo will be bright yellow and runny, which washes off easily. Since your newborn may pee as often as 6-10 times per day and poo about 3 times a day, it’s practical to use the white square with a waterproof cover. I’m planning to use my BumGenius 3.0 (minus the soaker) with them.
I line each nappy with a disposable liner (which are actually washable!) and only throw away the ones with poo so that the white squares are relatively clean…
+ Because they are absorbent and breathable, babies are very comfortable in them and you’ll find them popular among the grandmothers and mothers-in-law. You’ll need diaper cream to prevent nappy rash as urine is harsh on baby’s skin. I used Drapolene.
+ White squares are great as burp cloths, swaddling cloths or even kitchen towels once you’re done with them. In China, they slip a folded square behind toddler’s shirt to absorb the sweat, which saves changing my toddler’s shirts many times a day!
CONS
- Unless you get pre-folds, each piece needs to be folded before you can use it.
- Some folks don’t like to use safety pins (I’m ok since I buy those with a snap-in lock). There are funky items called Snappis now…
All-in-Ones (AIOs)
These cloth diapers are the closest to the disposable diaper you can get. I love them and wished I’d know about them earlier! Example: Freshbots.
PROS
+ So convenient!!! You use it just as you would a disposable diaper – put it on baby or toddler, snap or Velcro it on and go. Nothing to stuff, nothing to snap on. I’m looking forward to try other brands 
+ Fully waterproof.
+ Easy to wash as you can dump the cloth diapers into the washing machine.
CONS
- AIOs take longer to dry because there are 3 sections: the external diaper, the internal soaker and the waterproof material (if it’s a natural fabric and not PUL, which is polyester).
- Baby or toddler may find the cloth diaper rather heavy when wet…
- If my wild imagination allows me, a host of germs could breed inside the internal layers since they can’t be opened up to dry in the sun! Thus, the obsessed Mother may sterilize or soak the cloth diaper 4-5 times to get rid of those GERMS. And end up using TOO MUCH WATER that using cloth diapers isn’t environmentally-friendly anymore!
POCKET DIAPERS
Pocket diapers also function like disposable diapers with the benefit of adjusting the cloth diaper’s level of absorbency (e.g. higher for nights, regular for days). Examples: Bumwear, BumGenius (below), Drybees.
PROS
+ Most pocket diapers come in ‘one-size-fits-all’ i.e. you use the same cloth diaper from newborn —> older baby —> toddler. Saves a lot of money in the long run as you’re looking at using the cloth diapers from 1-4 (or maybe 5) years. And for the second kid!
+ The diaper cover and and internal soakers can be washed separately.
CONS
- I HATE removing the urine-soaked or poo-stained soakers (or inserts) from the pockets each time I have to wash them! Of course, when I handed the dirty job to Hubby LOL he started complaining too 
And I bet your maid will stare daggers at you or curse you if she’s assigned this diaper duty!!!
- Polyester, not cloth. Pocket cloth diapers have a polyester fleece inner i.e. the material next to your baby’s bum, polyester microfiber soakers so you may not really be ‘cloth diapering’ your baby here. Lucas didn’t like Bumgenius 3.0 due to this and I’ve heard of babies / toddlers getting skin allergies too…
- Trapped heat – 100% waterproof may mean NOT breathable, which means your baby or toddler’s groin area traps heat, which isn’t healthy. I experienced this with Bumgenius but not for the more ‘breathable’ Bumwear.
- Leaks! I faced this problem when I started using Bumwear but with increased wash-and-wear, the problem disappeared…
FITTED DIAPERS
These cloth diapers come in sizes e.g. S, M, L or XL to ‘fit’ your baby or toddler. Most fitted diapers are not waterproof e.g. Bumgenius Bamboo Fitted (pic below), Loveybums, Swaddlebees (except for Freshbots AIO), which means a diaper cover is needed.
PROS
+ I love them because they are as breathable as the traditional cloth diapers your baby was born into. No worries about trapped heat or polyester here!
+ Fitted diapers have a slimmer cut, which is a bonus for babies / toddlers wearing cloth diapers under their clothes (esp little girls).
+ A variety of deliciously soft materials to choose from…makes the cloth-diapering mother or father appear like a pervert especially if you’re stroking your baby’s bottom once too often!!!
CONS
- You’ll find puddles of pee on your floor or carpet since it’s NOT waterproof.
- You’ll need different sizes to fit your child at different ages i.e. more $$$
- You’ll need diaper covers, which can be a hassle since it’s an additional item to put on the wriggly baby or toddler LOL
All-in-Twos
Simply an upgrade of “fitted” cloth diapers above i.e. the soakers / inserts are ’snapped’ or stitched onto the diaper cover and you can add another soaker / insert on top…is this correct??? Example Loveybums.
How I started cloth diaper-ing…
I started to use cloth diapers because I wanted to cut down on garbage and give my baby a bit of circulation in his nappy area. Since I was a full-time working Mum, I could only use cloth diapers in the evenings on weekdays or all day on weekends.
He was in MamyPoko at nights because they were reliable and I couldn’t fuss with inserts, doublers or soakers etc to ensure 100% soakability when I’m catching up on my ZZZs!
When I became a stay-at-home mother, I continued with this mixed system where he was on cloth diapers during the day and MamyPoko at night. Interestingly, it coincided with the time he’s ready for toilet training.
Cloth diapers are great for potty training because just after 3 months of being 100% in cloth diapers, my toddler was diaper-free during the day when he was 30 months old (We’re still working on the nights…)
Hope this overview on cloth diapers helps! Ready to try them out?
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An interesting and detailed overview on the various types of cloth diaper. I myself didn’t know there are such thing as cloth diapers that are already cut and sewn to shape and ‘function’ like a disposable diaper!
The only cloth diaper I have are the traditional white muslin cloth type. I tried the traditional cloth diaper on my baby on only one day and found cloth diaper just too inconvenient for me and also gives me really a lot of extra work! Plus during the changing time, the changing mat felt a little damp (from traces of urine from the cloth diaper), so in the end, I not only hve to clean the baby’s bottom, I also have to wipe the changing mat after every nappy change – double the work!
Also, I hve to find old newspaper to wrap up the nappy liner – can’t just throw the liner straight into the waste paper basket. So in the end, after that less-than-one-day of using cloth diaper, I resume back to using diaposable diapers till now. However, my babysitter prefers to use the cloth type. So I passed all the cloth nappies to her! LOL
By the way, I have given you smiles$ too. Hope to get your smiles as well!
thanks for the post. I am thinking of using CD for Kelsey and until now, still undecided on which brands and which type of CD.
Will be using the traditional muslin cloth diapers for the first few months, and babysitter doesn’t mind using that also. With YY, she was on the traditional cloth diapers daytime, and MamyPoko night time during weekdays. Weekends, coz we used to go out a lot, we just use disposable all the way. Haha…But babysitter potty trained her pretty early.
Thanks for this easy reading and intro to CDing. Have been contemplating using these modern CDs for new baby but was too lazy to do much research on it. And furthermore, since this will probably be our last (barring any future accidents
), I thought I’ll make up to Mother Earth in other aspects 
I love pocket diapers! I use a mix of brands from Coolababy, KS diapers, Fuzzi Bunz and Rumparooz. Of coz the more expensive, the more quality. I use Northernessence organic diaper cream with cloth diapers, coz sometimes baby bum can still become red. But it heals fast, unlike when I was using disposables, when it become terribly red and pealing.
Alice Phua – Wow, your traditional cloth diaper experience certainly is complicated LOL Good that your babysitter benefitted from your stash
Err…what smiles are you talking about???
Malaika’s Mummy – Reading the overview, what type of CD appeals to you most? You can try that type first…
A Mom’s Diary – I use dispos when we go out too. I’m all for saving the earth but ultimately, our eco-friendly actions will only work if we can do it on a practical, daily basis
Leona – I love cloth diapers but I’m not gonna spend a bomb on them, no matter how cute they are
Hello!
It’s my first time here after I stumbled upon this thing called “Cloth diapers”. I’m expecting first baby in Feb ‘10 and I read about Bumwear and I was intrigued about CDs. I did my research for an ENTIRE night, and thought it was worth a try. It’s still very confusing though. I actually bought some Pocket diapers to try out because they were on sale (brands Bumwear and Hatio), I’m NOT sure how good or bad the experience will be on my newborn though, it’s really going to be an experiment!
Food Techie – Been using Bumwear as a diaper cover on my newborn baby for now during weekends. I’m still working on a babysitter-friendly system so that my baby girl can be on cloth diapers all the time…All the best with your CD-ing experience!