(Part 2) Best cloth diaper accessories according to redditors

My father in law laughed in my face & said “I give it 21 days” before you quit.

We are going on to month 14 right now. I seriously wish I had bet him something because I could have totally gotten my kid a college fund or a car or something.

But in all seriousness. Cloth is by far & away my favorite. If you find the right support group (friends are the best/local community, Reddit is a great resource, I’m not a huge fan of fluff love university, tbh it’s kinda catty at times!) it’s even better!

As for diapers, we use mostly Alva pockets & mama koala diapers . They are relatively cheap compared to others & sold on amazon which makes it so much better.

We don’t mind our bumgenius pockets as well as bumgenius freetime all in one diapers, but their price is kinda crazy compared to the others that work just as well. (Also sold on amazon)

I wasn’t a huge fan of AIO because they take a while to dry.

For overnight we do either sustainablebabyish overnight or cloth-ezz workhorse fitted diapers & a cover . Love them both & he doesn’t leak!

As for other things — I love bumpkins wetbags wetbags. They are thick & durable as well as cute. & we use cloth wipes. Any of them work & just water. I’ve also learned you can wash disposables wipes & then when you are assembling diapers you can just pull them out & trash them then (so if you do disposables don’t worry).

Also - best thing I ever did was ease myself into cloth. So we started with disposables until my son was big enough for one size diapers. Then we did cloth only while we were home & during the day. & then we did it all daytime hours. & then we did 24/7/365. But it was a comfort thing to figure out leaks & just diapers, but also how to pack a diaper bag!


Sorry for the long post!

Diaper rashes happen. Especially in the early months.

If you are cloth diapering you should consider trying the triple paste and either using disposables temporarily until the rash dissipates or use a liner made for cloth diapers.

The suggestions here of letting him go diaper free is also a good one.

I think some of this depends on your situation...are you cramped for space, low on cash, looking for ways to keep your life as uncluttered as possible?

That's kind of my wheelhouse. So from that perspective:

• Good convertible carseat. The bucket seats (the ones with the click-off base and carry handle) have to be upgraded at a certain point. I lucked out with my first kid. She was almost 2 before she hit 20 pounds. But My 3rd kid outgrew it at like 6 months. Lesson learned, just use the convertible. It reclines more for an infant and then stays rear-facing usually up to about 30-40 pounds (when your child is about 3 years old - the new recommendation for turning them forward facing). The cost of two seats is worth it if you have 2 vehicles and will regularly be trading off driving duties (like one spouse dropping at daycare, and the other spouse picking up). It's smarter to do two seats - so that you don't risk installing the seat incorrectly b/c of the constant shuffling.
  
  
• Sleeping space: The most basic IKEA crib is perfect. It's cheap, easy to move, a mattress can be raised and lowered, and it's fairly small, so might fit through doorways. Baby has no idea how much her crib costs. Room sharing is much easier this way, too (for parents not interested in bed sharing).
  
  
• The most basic style of flannel receiving blankets. Mostly b/c these can double as many other things. Obviously, you have traditional uses like swaddling and keeping baby warm. But I have used them as: barrier between baby and floor for diaper changes, or the grocery cart, an emergency diaper, emergency towel, emergency 'soak up whatever that gross liquid is', burp rags, nursing cover, I've soaked them in water to help cool baby down on a hot day or during a fever. (And maybe less important, but a good old fashioned style baby pin or new fashioned style pin - in case you do need to wrap up an emergency diaper...You might never need it, but I've used pins for plenty of things that aren't diapers, too.)
  
  
• All the onesies. Don't go crazy with cute outfits. There will be plenty of time for them, but when they're really small - onesies are easy to carry, easier to wash, and easier to keep track of. And when they inevitably get destroyed b/c babies are disgusting you won't feel bad leaving it in the garbage can of the Target bathroom. Get socks. And I also like the footie and footless "body suit" onesies...also called creepers, sometimes? They're just an easy all in one piece of clothing.
  
  
• Even if you're not sure about the specifics, a pack of pacifiers, a pack of bottles and a basic handheld breastpump. I know a lot of insurers started doing the bigger electric pumps, but it's a hassle if it's not something you're definitely using...and hard to pass on (creating waste) once you've used it. The manual is good for helping to pump the non-feeding breast, or just to relieve basic engorgement (this was my primary use for my last baby) or a single skipped feeding. It's also good for stimulating to help the milk come down if you're not sure if baby is triggering the letdown reflex.
  
  
• Don't buy a ton of tiny newborn diapers. Sizes 2 & 3 tend to be the more common long-term use. So if you're going to stock up on a size - do the larger ones.
  
  
• A basic carrier. Even for a newborn, this helps to be hands free. And it's pretty easy to use without help. You can find these used online or baby consignment shops if you don't want to pay full price. And if you decide you want a more expensive variety, you at least have an idea of what other features you'd wish you had or would be nice in a carrier if you have some experience with one.
  
  
• Hold off on buying a stroller...they're not that easy to use, and if you aren't going to be walking long distances on smooth pavement, they aren't ideal. You can't really use them at the grocery store, they're too big for restaurants. The carrier ends up doing some of this work for you.
  
  
• Thermometer, gas drops, diaper cream (like desitin), olive oil for skin care.
  
  Those are my go-to basics.

We used 2 OsoCozy prefolds + 1 OsoCozy diaper doubler + 1 Rumparooz cover (might be tight for your chunky boy...you could try a Thirstie's cover instead which is a little more forgiving with chunkier kids) + 1 EcoPosh wool cover. It sounds like a lot and it is a bit bulky but our daughter would go 10+ hours overnight with that setup and no leaks. You do have to treat the wool covers with lanolin on a regular basis, but it is worth it. Here's how I lanolize my wool covers. Hope it helps !

haha. It does make their butt totally puffy. I got my diapers second hand from a mom that had ordered way too many, otherwise I wouldn't have know about the charcoal either. I don't know if these are the exact ones I have, but they look exactly like this: http://www.amazon.com/KerrBear-Kids-5-Layer-Charcoal-Diapers/dp/B00B3VL2J8

This is the exact one I used last year and loved it! Side snaps so it's easier to pull off! I plan on getting more this year!

Not medical field, but I've worked with needs like this before.

The simple human can has an interior plastic liner that should prevent the plastic bag from sinking. It's not as tedious as it sounds, but when the tag is full you remove the entire liner before removing the bag of dirties, put in the clean bag, pull it taught and shove the rest of the plastic at the top through a little hole and that keeps it from falling until you're ready to remove the bag. Plastic cans won't help with that issue unfortunately.

Reusable wipes are a great idea for your situation. I used the ubbi pul liners in a 6.6 gallon sterilite step can when I cloth diapered my daughter. They say 7 gal, but it's a good tight fit on that step can and it will prevent it from falling into the can. Wash the liner with the cloths each cycle, and having a 2 pack means you always have one clean. You might be able to get away with washing the wipes 1-2x weekly depending on the specific situation, so stock up on wipe cloths based on the projected need between washings.

Ubbi Twin Pack Cloth Diaper Pail Liner, Washable and Reusable, Eco-Friendly, Water and Odor Resistant, Drawstring Closure and Door Knob Hanger, 7-Gallon, White
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M6B9IQ8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_x4AEDbW4BFPV9


STERILITE 10949004 Step Can, Black, 6.6 Gallon (fyi that price is currently outrageous, but you can find these at Target, Kmart, dollar general, Walmart, etc)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00COYBB3K/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_ubBEDb1ZY29DD


I've used these wipes for babies

OsoCozy Flannel Baby Wipes - Reusable And Washable - 15 Pack (Unbleached) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000138GNY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_.dBEDbJJGMRYP

But I think for a mostly grown man, you could get something thicker like cheap cloth napkins, or kitchen hand towels, or those bundles of washcloths at any big box like this:

Simpli-Magic 79078 Cotton Washcloths (Pack of 24), Size: 12" x 12"
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0794SLW55/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_VqBEDbWCH8GVM

Fyi, buy the wipes in a single color that is NOTHING like your other linens, if you plan on keeping this stuff fully separated and want to ensure there isn't a potential cross contamination or stains on your nicer linens.

You can search for wash routine recommendations basically on any cloth diapering forum these days, but it usually goes something like this:

Only white vinegar in a soak and rinse cycle, then wash with a cloth diaper safe detergent (I've used Charlie's Soap for all our laundry for over 12 years but there are other brands that people swear by so check them out) with an oxygen booster (oxy clean) to disinfect and whiten. Dry as normal.

If you encounter barnyard smells in clean laundry or if he ever develops a fungal infection, bleach it all in hot water and dry it in the sun and you will be good to go. Otherwise, bleaching is overkill and will tear the linens apart in no time.

And last, I hope you recover fully from your surgery. Take care!

Kind of a "use your judgement" thing for us. If there's a little smear, we let it go. We also use disposable liners which, more often than not, catch a lot of the poop, and just toss with the wipes. They don't degrade very well despite their labeling and marketing as "flushable"!! So we just toss. But saves us lots of would-have-had-to-rinse-this-nightmare diapers.

Fyc: Dandelion Diapers Biodegradable and Flushable Envionmentally Friendly, Safe, Natural Diaper Liners, 100% Bamboo VISCOSE Fiber, 200 Sheets https://www.amazon.com/dp/B010OPURY4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_9T3.zbS7G7ZXM

I believe they are these: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AH8IUKM/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_Ihgrub1HDKR12

3 packs of diaper inserts will cut your diaper bill by hundreds of dollars. Start around 2 or 3 months old, and they'll last until about 12-16 months. Put one to three of them in a normal diaper and swap them out instead of changing the diaper when it gets wet. Usually you can cut down diaper usage to about 1/3 to 1/4 of normal for the first year.

Breast feeding of course saves money as well as being much healthier. Get the electric pump! The hand pumps are a pain and you'll give up, only doing direct feeding gives you no idea how much the baby is really getting. So get the electric, get used to your normal volume and use it regularly to make sure. Don't skimp on the pump either, get a decent one. You'll recover the cost in milk in a few months, and still end up saving money.

Don't buy expensive clothes, or really any if you can avoid it. People have more hand me down baby clothes than you can shake a stick at, and you're not going to wear out many of them yourself. Babies grow too fast to wear out clothes. Don't bother storing it if you plan on a second kid either. By that time you'll know more parents with even more hand me downs.

I need these for my daughters diapers or formula.

I took a sip of something poison, but I'll hold on tight

thanks for the contest :D

We use bambino miosoft liners. They are very soft and aren't horribly bunchy. I lay them over the pocket diaper flat letting the extra hang over the leg gussets. Then after snapping the diaper on I tuck in the edges. The downside with them being so soft is they can sometimes stick to my dry winter hands 😒.

Bambino Mio, Supersoft Mioliners (Diaper Liners), 5 Pack https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TY5X16C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_Ud.2DbAMFK4TH

I love my Charlie Bananas, and these BabyKicks have an hour glass shape that fit perfectly.

I also have some second hand charcoal bamboo inserts that I love, but don't know the brand name. They look like these and I love them because they are absorbent but thick enough that they aren't just bunching up in the diaper, which is a problem I have with every other bamboo insert.