Not your mother's old CD's

And I'm not talking compact discs, I'm talking about cloth diapers! Yes, you heard me right, cloth diapers are back and they're better than ever!

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not a cloth diaper (cd) expert, but I've tried a few different styles and brands and know what I like.

When I first started I was completely overwhelmed by the enormous amount of types, styles and brands of cds, so I read review after review on a few of what ended up being my favorite cd sites. And I decided to give a few different kinds a try.

Now, when anyone over 35 thinks of cloth diapers they think of something they have to fold, tuck, fold some more and then pin... and I just knew that I was not up for that or coordinated enough to not poke baby a million times. So I chose contour diapers, fitted diapers and pocket diapers to try out. Prefolds (old fashioned diaper squares) are the cheapest and All-In-Ones are the most expensive so I stayed away from those.

Contour diapers are one of the least expensive options:

All that you have to do is lay baby in them and wrap them up. I chose Kissaluvs contours and they were fabulous! Super absorbent, which was the most important factor for me and come in two different sizes, small and large. These were my favorite diaper when Gabe first came home and I was so disappointed when he grew out of the smaller size and wasn't big enough for the large one.

That would have been my only complaint - there was no size middle size for him.

Getting the contours to stay put is relatively easy when you use a Snappi! While they weren't recommended for Kissaluvs Contours because they could snag them, I used them all the time and never had a snag!

Snappi's:

Diapers connected with Snappi's (note the two different sizes of diapers)

My favorite type of cd are the fitted styles. They're pretty much just like disposables and you just snap or hook and loop (Velcro) them on. I'm a bit OCD so I preferred the hook and loop because I could never get the snaps exactly right on the first try.

I have Kissaluvs fitted, Bumgenius fitteds and my Thirsties fitted just came in the mail today! Thirsites an Bumgenius have hook and loop closures and Kissaluvs use snaps. Now that Gabe is growing out of the first set (which were Kissaluvs and Bumgenius) I decided to save my sanity and stick to hook and loop closures only! I absolutely love both brands though and if Kissaluvs came with velcro I would've had a very difficult time deciding what to reorder (the Bumgenius were discontinued for some reason that I can not fathom as they are terrific).

The main difference between contour and fitted diapers is that on the fitted diapers there's elastic around the legs to keep 'everything' more contained. But we never had a problem with containing anything, even that slimy, soupy newborn bowel movements.

Both contour diapers and cloth diapers need a wrap or cover to use to keep the moisture contained. More about those later.

My least favorite type of diapers: pocket cloth diapers. I bought two brands: Rocky Mountain and Happy Heinies. Rocky Mountain diapers were the least expensive and well, after a few wears I could tell why. They were not absorbent at all! Leaks every time so they were quickly retired. It was a shame too because they were super cute!

Happy Heinies (isn't that cute?) worked really well for a while but then Gabe became thinner and super long and they just didn't seem to fit right. I loved their absorbency though and used some of their inserts as extra absorbency in a fitted diaper for night time!

Pocket diapers have a PUL, water resistant outer layer and a soft, microfiber inner layer.

All that you have to do is stuff an insert into the pocket between the two layers and put the diaper on the cute, squishy baby!

Really simple and requires no diaper cover but quite a bit more expensive. The one type where we went wrong with ordering pocket diapers was that we ordered the one-size style which could have contributed to some of our fitting probles. Regardless, this is one style I'd pass over next time! Although, because they're cloth diapers, there won't be a next time when buying (more on that in a later post)!

The other type of cloth diaper that I'm anxiously awaiting in the mail is the All-in-One diaper which is exactly like a disposable; no cover, nothing to stuff just put it on and go. The flip-side is that they are the most expensive and is the reason why we will only have a few of them.

Now onto diaper covers... my favorite part of cloth diapering!

We ordered three kinds of diaper covers: newborn, one size and Thirsty duo wraps.

The newborn covers are just like the other ones just smaller and with a dip in the front to protect the umbilical cord. Gabe's were white or with little lambs: super cute! And since he was only wearing these for a short time, I went with the least expensive ones.

(note the dip in the front)

Thirsties Duo Wraps came in two-sizes and have fit Gabe from 7lbs to the current 22lbs. He's now in the bigger size and has more than enough room to grow in until he's potty trained.

One-size covers have also worked fabulous for us too. And these are some of his cutest ones! Besides the blue and brown print and cow print, Gabe also sports a multi-colored one and a polka-dot one! They look super cute and in these warm summer months to come go well with a matching t-shirt! Cute and comfortable!

So that's the types and my prefereces in cloth diapering!

Next up in cloth diapering... how to wash! Yes, it deserves an exclamation mark because it is that exciting :) Stay tuned!