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 with a list of pros and cons (based on my own experiences). Feel free 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!
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…
+ 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 Bepanthene and Drapolene.
+ White squares are great as burp cloths, swaddling cloths or even kitchen towels. In China, people 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…
Since the traditional cloth nappy is quite a challenge to use, I was delighted to discover the modern cloth diaper. My first experience was with the pocket cloth diaper. Read on 
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
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!