Newborn Cloth Diaper Favorites Week 5

Alright my little man is growing so fast. It's amazing! He was born at 7 lbs 1 oz, dropped to 6 pds 11 oz after birth and now at 5 weeks is 12 lbs 2 oz! So we are finding new things fit! We are still loving cloth diapers.

New this week: BumGenius pockets and free times fit. I was excited to try these since they are a popular option. I like the ease of the free time as I don't have to unstuff them, but I like the ability to customize the pocket. They fit good and no leaks so far. They don't bump my apple cheeks out of the favorite spot but they are a great option.

We also fit in Smartbottoms 3.1 ! I can't really review this one yet as I'm trying to get it fully prepped before I speak on it. As it is a natural fiber diaper it requires a lot of washes to get absorbent but I'm excited when it does.

We did have to switch out the inserts for the Applecheeks as he is a super soaker. So I tried out some of the 2 ply Bamboo inserts and was amazed at how much bamboo holds compared to cotton and much more trim. We don't have a lot of them but we have a  few which helps the diapers last a little longer on things like car rides.

Here we go : Week 5 favorites

Fitted: GMD workhorse. It's named so appropriately. That with a cover we can get away with for quite a while. I can't tell you how long but we did use them overnight and I changed at the 4 hour mark when I fed him. No leaks. Maybe could have gone longer but that was more than enough.

SmartBottoms 3.1 in Rover

All in One: Grovia One for overnight. It's super bulky so I never use during the day. My little man is a heavy wetter and needs both inserts in it for overnight if I don't change him when I feed him. Also it wouldn't fit it wasn't for the velcro options so I really hand it to the designers on that detail. It's pretty awesome.  During the day I'm liking the BumGenius Freetime so far but I have some natural fiber all in ones prepping and we will see what wins. For now I'll show you his first SmartBottoms 3.1 One Size.

Pocket: Applecheeks are for sure the number 1. BumGenius fit well but there is something about those ruffles! And I love how soft it is compared the BumGenius. Pockets however are really determined by what you stuff them with. We used the BumGenius newborn insert and it really did hold up for my little man which was great but I didn't love it as much as our Lalabyebaby. For Applecheeks we use either newborn pre-folds or 2 ply bamboo inserts. The bamboo is much more trim and holds much more.  I will say we have a  few other pockets but while they fit (Charlie Banana one size, Rumaprooz G2) I don't reach for them unless I have nothing else. The Rumparooz is really bulky but I love that it has the inner gusset. The Charlie Banana was really bought for it's cuteness and to try the brand. I like it, really soft but it doesn't have the inner gusset so that did lead to a quite messy clean up on Fulton. No leaks but I felt bad for him.

Charlie Banana One Size 

Covers: We haven't tried anything new but I do love the Thirsties. We are still on the smallest rise on the size 1 but in Rumparooz newborn we have had to go up in the rise which means the Rumparooz may not last as long, but worked for us when Thirsties was too big. I'm glad we had both styles for this little man. I will say BestBottoms fit well the whole way, I can't say if it work have worked for the first week as it went too high for his cord and we had to wait. However this little skinny legs at the time didn't chunk much the first week at all so I really do think without the cord issue it would have fit.

My newborn cloth diaper series will end next week with week 6 but don't worry we will continue sharing the cloth diaper journey. Be sure to like Beautiful Good True on Facebook for notifications on updates. Also Check our another newborn cloth diaper guest post I did here: It's Just a Load of Laundry

Week 3 Newborn Cloth Diaper Favorites

Time sure flies when your having fun. My little boy is now 3 weeks old and its been the best 3 weeks.  He is growing so fast. We weighed him yesterday and he was 9 pounds 2 oz! It was a week where he noticeably is bigger. He feels more solid and his legs aren't so skinny which has made more options with the cloth diapers. He has however peed a lot more, a whole lot more, and this has really tested some of the diapers for absorbency. 

Week 3 Cloth Diaper Favorites 

All In One's- We were able to try something new since his legs are a little bigger- Bottom Bumpers. We have 3 - two size 1 aplix and size 1 snaps. Both fit wonderfully and are so absorbent. They also are fairly trim so they do a good job with his clothes.  Plus, they are made in the USA!

Bottom Bumpers aplix all in one size 1 

Bottom Bumpers Size 1 Snaps

We also are still loving the Thirsties natural all in one and the Smart Bottoms Born Smart. We still only have 1 but if I had my stash to do over again I would get these instead of the regular thirsties all in one.   The Thirsties all in one only holds up for about an hour, and hour and a half with a cotton doubler. We have a lot of them so it's ok but as a newborn he sleeps good stretches and if I don't change him at the 1-1.5 hour mark he will leak from his heavy wetting and that will mean a clothes change.  I don't want to wake a sleeping baby changing him but I've found myself doing this when these are on to prevent a problem thus they are now what I reach for last.  

I was having an issue with Little Joeys in that they would come out of the wash clean, I would hang to dry and then they would not smell as fresh. They didn't smell bad just not as clean. Tried putting them in the dryer and this fixed the issue. I believe since they are so thick they were not drying fast enough hanging. Just a theory.  

Fitteds- I sound like a broken record but really the ecoposh fitted is amazing!! We do have some GMD fitteds he was too small for that I'm going to try this week but truly amazed by Ecoposh. The ones we have are actually discontinued colors and they have revamped them so I have not tried the new ones but maybe with another baby would like to see if there is a difference.  I really don't reach for the Kissaluvs fitteds we have but they work when I'm waiting for the other diapers to be clean. 

Covers- Still loving the Rumparooz newborn and the Thirsties but I think the Thirsties size 1 may be taking the cake. I do have some Aplix ones (2) but I will be so honest and tell you I haven't reached for them once because so far I've liked the snaps and the snap ones we have are cute prints were the aplix are solid. So yes I pick the cute ones. Below are two of my favorite.  Listen if you are a disposable user and tired of blow outs stick one of these cover your diaper. No more poo up the back. Yes you know it happens. 

pre-folds- We have tried nothing new for pre-folds but I did order a couple Grovia pre-folds to try so I can up date this section next week. I kept trying to find good pre-fold comparisons when I was pregnant and searching and this was lacking so I'm on a mission. I can't try them all but I figured I could try Grovia since I saw them online for a really good price.  

Pockets- I have a few pockets in the wash now prepping now that our boy is 9 lbs 2 oz! Some of the one size diapers claim to start fitting around 9 pounds so I'm going to try it. When we brought him home he was too small for most of his newborn diapers so I did not even try the one size. We are absolutely in love with the AppleCheeks covers. We have 4 and thankfully they air dry fast so I do find myself starting diaper laundry once I've gone through them. He slept a 3 hour stretch last night and I stuffed an AppleCheeks cover with the Thirsties duo hemp pre-fold and we had no leaks and no issues.  AppleCheeks are made in Canada and due to the fall of the Canadian dollar the price on these will be dropping in this new year according to their marketing team.  They have a self agitating pocket meaning you don't have to pull the insert out, it comes out in the wash. (unless you stuff something in there that is too big like a size small osocozy pre-fold but it still got clean just didn't come all the way out.) 

Because of his increase in size, I'm hoping to try a lot of new things this week. Let me know what your favorite one size diapers are or sized diapers that are bigger than newborn. 

Thanks! 

Anita

Week 2 Cloth Diaper Favorites

Week 2 of cloth diapering went well. We are happy with our fluffy butt and as he has been eating pretty much non-stop the diapers have been similar. I would say 1.5-2 hours is what we change, sometimes sooner depending on what he does and what diaper he is in. We have had some funny moments where Fulton decided he liked to wait to use the restroom until either A- we have the diaper off or B- we just put a fresh diaper on. It's made for a lot of laughs but for that second one - I am SO glad we aren't using disposables. Little man can mess as many diapers as he likes I just wash them.

Week 2 Favorites

Little man has grown quite a bit and is still little but not as little.

All in One - We have the most varied types of All In Ones. I've been trying them out and so far SmartBottoms Born smart are still a winner. We have 3 of them and I wait for them to come back around in the cycle. We are also using Grovia newborn all in ones and blueberry all in ones that are discontinued but we do love them. I won't go on about them since they aren't findable. We also still love the little joeys but now that his umbilical  has fallen off I think that Smart Bottoms and the Thirsties Natural All in One for Newborns is perhaps a close second. Friends. I can't tell you how much it absorbs it's amazing. So far natural fiber totally wins. We do have some Thirsties all in ones newborn that we had some trouble getting a good fit in the legs when he was smaller but now at 7 pounds 10 ounces we are doing much better with these but they don't absorb as much and aren't as trim. If I were to do it again I would skip the regular all in ones and go for the natural but we still use them.

Thirstiest all in one natural on a 2 week old newborn.

SmartBottoms Born Smart in Sprinkles on a newborn

Pocket- We tried apple cheeks size 1 this week and I LOVE THEM. We stuff them with the GMD newborn pre-folds and this is amazing. I will say it makes for a fluffier butt so some of his clothes don't fit as well but it absorbs! A great mid afternoon diaper when he seems to do a good amount of his production.  I do want to try them overnight but I would need to put him in a bigger sleeper for that.

Pre-folds -  We are using GMD, Thirsties hemp duo and osocozy. I still appreciate the Thirsties for the absorbency and dryness but a few things we have done. I started using fleece liners with the prefolds which has helped baby stay dry and made me feel better.  Definitely like Green Mountain over Osocozy. More absorbent.

Flats- We have flour sack towels but no other flats at the moment. I don't think it's fair to pick a favorite when I've only tried one option and it works for sure. I would say you definitely could do newborn cloth diapering with just flats or prefolds and covers and it would be super economical and easy to clean. I would say if you have people who are hesitant to help you with the cloth journey this would be the options that require a little more effort as far as putting it on the baby. Anything absorbent can be a diaper so don't shy away from the flat option. We haven't purchased any addition flats at this time but could be something to try at some point.

Fitteds- Favorite is still the Ecoposh newborn fitted. So absorbent. They wash great, they don't leak, great fit. LOVE these! My little boy pees a lot and it's amazing how these hold up for the long naps.

Covers- I'm still loving the Rumparooz Newborn covers but the Thirsties size 1 covers are now fitting! WOOHOO! And let me tell you I like where they fit on the legs better as I don't think it is as low and lets move a little more. So week 2 favorite cover may be Thirsties size 1 but only a hair over the Rumaprooz and I honestly think either one would be a great addition to your diaper stash. For the little baby I would definitely go with Rumaprooz.

alright I think that wraps up week 2. I though it would be fun to include a few pictures of him in the diapers. If that helps I can do some more of this in the future.

Week 1 Favorite Cloth Diapers

I sit here with my little boy asleep on me amazed that he's now 9 days old. Before he was born I spent a lot of time, more than I care to admit, reading and watching and learning about cloth diapering.  We started cloth diapering him in the hospital. I wish I could say he didn't have a disposable on his butt but after delivery after we bonded through skin to skin (after he peed on me)...the nurses took him to weigh him and measure him and handed him back in a diaper. We had an incredibly hard labor, which I will share the story of soon, and the last thing I could think about was worrying about his diaper. We didn't know if he would need to be put in the NICU so while he was watched we used disposables but at the first mention of us being discharged he got his first fluffy butt. 

First diaper: Sprinkles - Born Smart Smart Bottoms. 

This is what his dad chose. I mean who wouldn't love a donut diaper. The nurses and the hospital photographer kept saying they had never seen anything like it before. In fact they said they never have seen cloth diapers in the hospital. I'm surprised with how popular cloth diapering has become and the awareness of it. The reason most I've read give for not doing it is not wanting to come home with laundry. I was willing to risk it as I work in a hospital and every single thing that came home first thing when straight into the washer. I don't regret it at all. If I had it to do again I would cloth from the beginning or at least from his first diaper from me on.  We used disposable liners through the meconium stage and the diapers have no stains even when the liner didn't work. So don't let meconium scare you. 

So a week in what do I think about cloth diapering? 

I love it. 

I think with all my research I wasn't naive about the things that we might encounter and it also helped me know some of what was needed and what wasn't. What it couldn't tell me was what size the baby was going to be when he came out or what would fit him. So we bought and were gifted a variety. We chose to do a newborn stash which I know some people don't because they say its such a small window they fit in them, but we wanted to cloth for health reasons so we were willing to make the investment. We also figured we hoped to have other children. 

Baby boy was born 7 pounds 1 ounce at 20 inches long. He was born at 38 weeks 3 days.  He lost some weight as babies do and I think got down to 6 lbs 3 ounces at one point. My milk came in and this breast fed baby has grown. Last measurement was 6 lbs 15 ounces. So we were dealing with small legs small waist and a cord stump. 

Week 1 Favorite Cloth Diapers

Best Fitted: Ecoposh fitted- these little guys rock. We use with a cover to be safe but honestly I don't think we even need it. They are made from recycled water bottles apparently. We ordered off zulily because it was way cheaper and we were trying to stay on budget. My husband loves them and I think they are wonderful for overnight. We have ordered a few more. 

Best cover: Rumparooz newborn cover. Hands down the only one that fit when he was down in the 6 pound range and now that he's gone back up I can get some of the others on but week 1 this was  our main jam. We have 3 snaps and 1 with hook and loop. I believe I like the snaps better.  Runner up is best bottoms. We only have one so he's only had it on the bum a few times but it's the only diaper of them all he isn't on the smaller size. 

Best prefold - Thirsties duo hemp. I know everyone loves the green mountain prefolds and I like them too. Why then did I not pick them? The GMD orange edge prefolds are wet all the way through and all around when I go to change him. Thirsties stay dry the outside. and stand up to more time overnight. Little man doesn't wake up upset he's wet. I will say for prefolds of all kinds I've been using the angel wing fold with a snappi. Other uses may yield different results. These are more expensive but time will tell if thats worth it. We thankfully were gifted 3, and 2 we got on super sale. I wish we had more but its enough to cover a night.  We were gifted 12 orange edge refolds and I have been using them during the day when I can change him much more frequent. They do a great job and I love how easy to wash and dry. 

Best all in one- this is a hard one. We tried Thirsties- which I like but the legs have a gap and we had a leak so I need a chunkier baby for those. Grovia newborn all in ones have been good. No leaks but they take a long time to dry. Little Joeys and Smart bottoms give us the best fit for certain. So what's my favorite between these two? I may pick Smart Bottoms Born Smart because they are more trim and easier to fit in the car seat. Love them both though on my little man. Smart Bottoms does win on prints. 

We didn't try any all in 2s, disposables or wool. I also didn't even try and put my little man in a one size as most of them start at 8-10 lbs I do have a few brands and styles but until his cord is fully off this is what we are working with. 

We tried a few other things I didn't list on the favorites. Maybe when we finish newborn cloth diapering I'll do a run down of everything we tried and my thoughts if anyone would be interested in that. 

What are your newborn favorites if you cloth diapered? 

For those wondering- it really is easy. Wear and throw in the washing machine. If you can work a washing machine you can do this. Alright little man is waking up and needs a diaper change. 

If you have any cloth diaper questions let me know.  I'm just a first time mom navigating the cloth world. Oh how sweet is a fluffy little butt. 

Anita