Flip Diapers

Hi mama, Flip diapers are made by Cotton Babies. They have a great FAQ here: http://www.cottonbabies.com/clothdiapers.php
If the inserts are the 100% organic cotton ones, you can either wash them on hot 4-5 times or boil them for 10 minutes once. If you go the wash route, (and as you go forward) remember to use only detergents safe for cloth diapers and not fabric softeners.

I will warn you, the flip covers won't fit very well until your baby is >10 lbs. I would suggest 2 dozen infant sized prefolds and a few size 1 thirsties covers to start.

I love the site pinstripesandpolkadots.com She has great how-to info on there for those new to cloth. As long as you properly care for your diapers they will last a long, long time. I also love the one size bum genius pocket diapers.

Oh yes- you have to prep them. That means wash and dry them a few times atleast 3-5. Each brand recommends different numbers for washing before use. Check out the cotton babies website for more information.

Yes wash them first. Googleing how to use cloth diapers will pull up a bunch of great resources. I used cloth with all 4 of mine at least part of the time. The last go round I went so far as to make some. They say to air/line dry diapers and use little to no laundry soap as the soap can build up in the diaper. I have a sanitary setting on my washer and I would run it pre-wash, extra rinse on Sanitary. I would dry them in the dry on an high heat long cycle. I never had any problems.

You got some good responses - yes, you need to prep the organic inserts, I would boil for 10-20 minutes (no detergent) and then wash in hot with a little bit of a free and clear detergent in the washer, followed by a cold rinse. I tend to air dry all of my covers (Flips, BG 4.0s and a variety of others), but usually put the inserts in the dryer because it makes them softer and easier to stuff, or just softer when touching the bum.

I agree that if your baby is teeny, you might not get a great fit, so if you think that your baby will be really small, you can look into a newborn stash. If you're not grossed out at the idea of a gently used stash, most people sell theirs when their babies outgrow them. The upside is that you can get some almost new diapers for really cheap since the babies only wear them for a very short time. You can check out Spots Corner on Hyena Cart for some used newborn diapers. If you want to get some newborn diapers new, I highly recommend Doodle Dypes - Sandy, the owner, makes an amazing one-sized all in one for 12 lbs and up, but she also makes a one-size newborn diaper she calls the Dynky. She has a shop on Hyena Cart (http://hyenacart.com/doodledypes/), and has an active FB page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Doodle-Dypes/264758218226), where you might be able to snag a stash of used ones from one of the mamas.

We have lots of different types of CDs in our stash, I started out with BG 3.0s, and then started using some fitteds and other pockets. You might have to try a sample pack once your baby arrives (and gets to the 10 lb. mark) to see which diapers fit him/her best. Your favorite diaper will likely depend on how slim/chunky your baby is (if you have a chunky baby and want to know what we use, message me!), and how heavy of a wetter they are. You might find that you prefer different diapers for different things. In any event, the cloth diapering community is an awesome one, and there are lots of good resources. You should also check out these blogs:

http://www.breastfeedbabywearclothdiaper.com/ (tied to Mom's Milk Boutique - great cloth diapering/natural baby shop, offer free shipping on everything, and regular coupon codes too).

http://www.theclothdiaperwhisperer.com/ (tied to Kelly's Closet diaper shop, she offers a free diaper with a purchase pretty often, but I hate paying shipping, and it took a long time for my packages to reach me...I get impatient with fluffy mail. But you can't beat a free diaper!)

Congratulations on your new baby, and have fun cloth diapering!! Message me if you have any questions later!

Flips are great diapers! I had difficulty with them fitting when my baby was ltitle, but I had a tiny baby!

Synthetic diapers just need t obe washed once before using. Natural fibers (like you have) need to be washed a bunch of times (at least 5) to get out the natural oils. I prefer boiling them to prep -- just boil a big pot of water with a squirt of Dawn dish soap and boil them for 10-20 mins. You'll probably need to do a couple of batches. Then you just wash once and you're ready to go.

A few other tips about washing cloth diapers: make sure you use the right detergent. I use original powdered Tide, but here is a list of good and bad options. Also, you only need a TINY bit (I use 2 tabelespoons for the whole load). The best wash routine is generally the following: cold rinse (this gets the poop and pee out), hot wash with detergent, extra cold rinse to get out the detergent residue. You can sometimes skip the last rinse, but I wouldn't skip the first. That will help your diapers stay in good shape!

You should join babycenter (if you're not already on it); they have a great cloth diapering board! Congrats on cloth diapering! I love it and LOVE how I"m not throwing out tons of plastic (it takes lots of oil to make disposables) that will sit in the landfill for 500 years. Plus, it's so much cheaper than using trashables!

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Flips are great diapers! I had difficulty with them fitting when my baby was ltitle, but I had a tiny baby!

Synthetic diapers just need t obe washed once before using. Natural fibers (like you have) need to be washed a bunch of times (at least 5) to get out the natural oils. I prefer boiling them to prep -- just boil a big pot of water with a squirt of Dawn dish soap and boil them for 10-20 mins. You'll probably need to do a couple of batches. Then you just wash once and you're ready to go.

A few other tips about washing cloth diapers: make sure you use the right detergent. I use original powdered Tide, but here is a list of good and bad options. http://www.pinstripesandpolkadots.com/detergentchoices.htm
Also, you only need a TINY bit (I use 2 tabelespoons for the whole load). The best wash routine is generally the following: cold rinse (this gets the poop and pee out), hot wash with detergent, extra cold rinse to get out the detergent residue. You can sometimes skip the last rinse, but I wouldn't skip the first. That will help your diapers stay in good shape!

You should join babycenter (if you're not already on it); they have a great cloth diapering board! Congrats on cloth diapering! I love it and LOVE how I"m not throwing out tons of plastic (it takes lots of oil to make disposables) that will sit in the landfill for 500 years. Plus, it's so much cheaper than using trashables!