Cloth Diapers

I am definitely not a granola, au naturale, tree-hugging, earth-loving mama by any means. I recycle (most of the time), I have my BPA-free water bottle that I refill constantly (see CamelBak Groove), and I don't drive a gas-guzzler, but other than that I'd say I'm like most American consumers. I'm not planning a home birth where I'll be consuming my placenta (which is a real thing and completely disgusts me, even in pill form), I'm planning on using pain killing drugs during labor, and I don't think I own anything that can be considered "organic".

But I will be breastfeeding and finally got Dan to agree to try cloth diapers. I have been on a CD research kick (thus the abbreviation) and have been pleasantly surprised at what I found. Both my memories and Dan's about cloth diapers are of what is now called "pre-fold"--a single white piece of cloth that you safety-pin onto the child. That's what jumps into both our minds when someone says the words "cloth diapers". Fortunately, after doing lots of research and "window shopping" online, I have been re-educated on the new world of cloth diapering that has changed since the last time either one of us has touched a CD (which was over a decade ago for both of us). Using CDs has become almost as convenient as disposables (or "sposies" in the CD community) and while a lot of the good quality brands are pretty expensive for one diaper ($20 per diaper, where you can get a box of around 90 Pampers at Wal Mart for $19.95), the money you save over time makes them completely worth it. Especially considering if you're planning on having multiple children, you can save your "stash" and have very little initial cost up front getting ready to diaper #2 or #3.

Several things I've gathered from my research that I like:

• AIO = All In One, or AIT = All In Two: rather than needing pins, your plain white, square diaper that doesn't actually look like a diaper, and a water-proof cover, several companies have included everything all together in one (or two) convenient package. These are most like disposable in that you just put the whole thing on the baby and take it off when it's dirty, the only difference being you toss it in the laundry not the trash.
  
• Pocket Diapers: these are like AITs I think. You get the diaper and then get liners (usually cloth that you can wash) to put inside. They make different sized liners (newborn vs. infant) as well as different sized pocket diapers in a huge variety of colors and patterns.
  
• Snaps vs. Velcro: you can have your choice of closures and from what I've read, I'll be going mostly with snaps but Velcro won't be awful while he's little and can't take it off himself.
• One Size (OS) or Perfect Fit: a lot of the different brands offer OS or perfect fit, which have multiple closure options (usually in the form of snaps) giving you the ability to customize the sizing of the diaper for your baby. This also allows you to use the diaper all the way up to potty training if you'd like, as opposed to having a whole bunch of different sizes.

What we've decided to do, and this could change one way or the other depending on how we like using CDs, is use CDs almost entirely at home and have disposables on hand for when we're out or go visiting. We may also use the disposables at night because I've read a variety of reviews and comments saying either the CDs work just fine at night or they leak like crazy because you have to change the baby way more often than with disposables. One thing we will definitely be doing is not starting the CDs until after the baby's umbilical cord stump has fallen off. Several of the things I read mentioned that a lot of the CDs come up really high on newborns and end up covering the stump (which you're not supposed to do). So we will definitely be using disposables while we get used to having a baby around and by the time his stump does fall off, we'll be mostly ready to attempt CDs in earnest.