Frustrated with Cloth Diapers

We use Bottum's Up diaper service and those diapers come with covers that do a good job keeping in the mess. The diaper service is cheap, efficient, and we love it. However, as babies get older I think cloth diapers are just not as good at keeping all the excrement in as disposables are. We LOVED the cloth diapers for my son's first 6 months but now he's approaching 7 months and they're not working as well because he just has more excrement. I think maybe cloth is the definite way to go at the beginning but as the kid gets older disposables are better.

You could use disposable night time ones - i think it is night time that the diaper really has to deal with more volume. I will say that as you are pregnant again, the cloth are way cheaper in the long run as you can use the same diapers from child to child. I bought the cloth ones myself - prewashed them 7 times and then never used them. The disposable ones haven't leaked. I have had a few of those ones when little one was very little that were explosive and went up the back but I don't think any diaper would have avoided that. Maybe you can mix and match depending on time of day and situation. It is also true that cloth diapered child do potty train on average a year before disposable diapered children. My little one who will be 2 in a month is potty trained at home. I have her in dresses without underwear and she will run to her potty when she needs to. She doesn't yet understand the notion of running to it if she has anything on. But she will hoosh up her skirt and sit on it and then wiggle her bum and sing the dora "I did it song" when she does anything. Good luck.

I use BGs and Fuzzi Bunz pocket diapers. I have had no problems with leaks unless I do not have at least 2 liners in the pocket for night time. You could try getting the prefold diapers and using them as liners in your BGs...they may offer more absorbency. How many liners are you currently putting in your diapers at night? You might try adding another liner and see how that does.

I do know someone who uses cloth diapers during the day and seventh generation disposables at night...that could be an option.

About the velcro tabs...have you tried combing them? I was thinking that I was going to have to replace them, but I combed out all the fuzz, lint and string. They are like brand new now! Don't give up on your cloth!!! Remember they are better for the environment and better on your wallet! :)

I used Blue Penguin for cloth diapers and I LOVED them. You can check out their website at bluepenguin.biz. Really great product, awesome prices. I'd order plain white and the girl prints and they were really cute. My only issue was with the velcro, so after my first order I started getting the snaps. Just so you know, these are not pocket diapers, they have the insert sewn in on one side. You can buy extra inserts that just rest in the diaper. I received a couple as a gift with my orders but I never needed to use them and we never had any leaks. I was really happy with this product. Oh, I did use disposables at night, so I'm not sure how BP holds up for an entire sleep. We're trying to potty train now, but I'm pregnant again and will definitely pull out the BPs for the new baby.

Congrats on your pregnancy and good luck finding something that works for you.

We use prefolds with a snappi and Dappi nylon pullups (which are $2 each, not sure where to get them anymore.). Baby no. 2 is a soaker, so at night we use a G-diaper with two inserts and the Dappi pullup over the cloth cover. We use disposable when we go out with Baby no. 2. With our first, we did everything in cloth because she didn't have such pee volume!

They make biodegradable disposable diapers made from recycled material. It's a good compromise.

I found BGs to be great all around diapers, but nighttime requires something more heavy duty. There is a lot you can try - as the other poster said wool covers will help as will switching to fitted/cover type of diaper for overnights - I like the Thirsties fitted with a wool cover. Sometimes I even put an extra fleece liner in the dipe just to add a little extra padding. Wool covers are expensive but you will only need a couple - they will last several nights in a row before needing a washing. Bummis makes a nice cover, too and is really pretty darn good at keeping in leaks. If you are having leaks during the day also, I would suggest "stuffing" the pocket with another soaker or buying some thinner ones (hemp babies makes a nice one) and using that as a light booster.

When my son was about 15 months old we stopped giving him anything to drink after dinner (including breastmilk) so that he would not wet so much overnight. This was not a long stretch for him as dinner is at 5:30 and bedtime is 7, but it really helped with the wetness problem.

You are doing a wonderful and responsible thing cloth diapering your baby. It is not only better for the environment but better for the baby's skin. It is one of those things that requires time, effort and commitment and can be frustrating sometimes. But everything in life that is really worth doing takes some level of dedication - and you can always take pride in the fact that each time you use a cloth diaper instead of a disposable you are doing a good thing for everyone, but most importantly, your baby. Good luck and hang in there! :)

J.,
I feel your pain, we use BGs and sometimes after 2-3 hours during the day my son's diaper has leaked. We solved the nighttime leakage by adding the newborn insert (they come with the 3.0 version, not sure if that is the one you have) and that has helped a lot. I appreciate the convenience of the disposable as well, but those can leak as well, so I don't think that is the solution. Sometimes they are just going to wet a lot at night, no matter what diaper they have one. I say stick with the cloth diapers, even though they are a pain in the butt some times, it is worth it! Good luck and hang in there!

I use all fitteds and some prefolds. Once I got the hang of everything, I've had no leaks at all. Overnights are always hard, but i have that problem in sposies too. My son just is a heavy pee'er and I've found that a prefold trifolded with two hemp inserts and a wool cover is just the trick to keep him dry. A fleece liner is good too for keeping the moisture away from him. I used Fuzzi Bunz on my now PL'ed daughter (yea!!!) and they worked great but I haven't tried the new one size ones. I had way more blow outs with sposies than with cloth. I'm actually selling some diapers. PM me if you need to buy anything.

I don't know if you are set on cloth diapers but I use Nature Babycare diapers. They are disposables that are biodegradable. They are the only diaper my daughter can wear without getting a horrendous diaper rash. The diapers are chlorine free as well as biodegradable and the package biodegrades too. They absorb better than any other disposable diaper. I have tried all the chlorine free brands and Huggies and Pampers. These work the best. My daughter is my second child so I have run through all kinds of diapers and I really love these. You can buy them at some Super Targets. I usually go to the one in Warrenville or Naperville near Fox Valley Mall. You can also order them on diapers.com . So if you want to try that I think that might be a fix. At diapers.com they also have disposable training pants of the same brand. Since you were talking potty training. Good Luck.

Your daughter is old enough to potty train. Then you'll have no worries. In the meantime, just use disposables when you take her out. Nobody needs to drag diaperbags and bulky items to lug. Now they even sell tiny packs of baby wash cloths and baby powders. Everything fits in most purses. What an aweso day and age to have children. Soon they'll devise a way to have a robot deliver for us (just kidding). Have a great spring mommy.

We use Fuzzi Bunz (regular not the new one size) with a hemp insert at night and have not had any leak issues whatsoever. Also, my little guy is 12 months old and his daycare provider has been teaching him to use the potty. I was amazed that he could start so young. He only goes through at most two cloth diapers during the day instead of 4-5!

Funny thing is, everytime I have tried using disposables, I have a harder time putting them on than I do with the Fuzzi Bunz! Snaps are so much easier than those damn sticky tabs imho.

I use BG's and have had some issues as well, although some are not the diaper's fault. See if any of the following are your issue. BTW, I'm assuming use of the one size pocket diaper here. If you're using the AIO's then I have no idea what to advise.

1. Is the diaper full when you notice the leakage? I had to buy extra inserts (I went w/hemp because they are thinner) and I essentially double stuff all of her diapers. She can fill up a double stuffed diaper in 3 hours easy.

2. If the diaper is not full... is she moving around more (aka walking, etc.)? You may need to adjust the diaper down a size. It may seem like they're riding low.

3. For leakage at the front (this is a prob. w/the 2.0's which they fixed w/the 3.0's) you need to make sure that the insert is about an inch down from the front of the diaper. Also try to make sure the front lays flat (I know this can be tough.

Best wishes and hang there!

I understand where you are coming from. My daughter is 2.5 yrs old and we are doing well in the potty training, but I am really ready to be done with the diapers. We use CPFs and a handful of Motherease One-Size and covers for nighttime. We love them! If you can afford it they are fabulous diapers and covers. Keep up the good work. It is better for your daughter's bottom. :)

Congrats on giving cloth a try! I hope you find a system that works well for you. My son is only 3 months and just recently I experienced the frustration of having to do a middle of the night diaper, bedding and Pj's change because he was soaked when I nursed him after only 4-5 hours. I have tried a number of things, and what works for him (for now!) is a cotton pre-fold with a terrycloth insert that I fold in half and place in the front of his diaper where he wets the most, and a cover. My favorite covers are thirsties, bummis or kushies. He has been dry 6-7 hours with that combination. I have tried the fuzzi bunz and as much I want it to work...it has leaked everytime he has worn it, even after an hour or so. It leaks at the leg...I hope he just needs to grow into a bit.

Good luck! Congrats on the recent pregnancy.

Hi J.,

We used BG's for the first 7 months of my son's life. I generally loved them (even though they were huge on him, they were cute) but he seemed to always have leaks. ALWAYS. No matter how I cleaned them and re-configured them, he always had some degree of leaking.

When he got to about 6 months his legs ballooned up to the wonderful baby-fat stage, and the elastic started cutting into his legs something terrible. So I started looking for something new...

I now use Nature Babycare disposable diapers. They are eco-friendly, biodegradable, and have no chemicals in them. They work well, and contain a full night's wetting without leaking except once in a blue moon when he tosses so much it dislodges the diaper. They are different from other disposables, and a little more expensive, but I get them from Amazon.com on an auto-shipment so I get a substantial discount and free shipping. Plus, it's nice to know that I'm helping with the fact they are eco-friendly. :)

Good luck!

I use BG and I really like them. My baby is a bit younger than yours but I use an extra insert at night and that keeps her dry. Before that she did get some leaks.

I used Motherease Onesize with my first child and I hated them- I thought they leaked constantly. My friend uses Fuzzibuns and BumGenius and likes the BG better.

I love my BG and I am sorry to hear you are having so many problems. I buy mine from www.momsmilkboutique.com the owners are very helpful so if you e-mail them they might have some good solutions for you. Hope things improve- and that your little one takes to the potty quickly.

We are on kid #2 with cloth diapers and have primarily used fitted type diapers. Kissaluvs for newborn stage, and Motherease Onesize diapers after that. The one thing I will say is that the Motherease Airflow covers never ever EVER EVER leak. Never. They are absolutely bombproof. I do have 5 fuzzibunz with hemp liners that we use sometimes, but these on occasion will wick around the legs. (Though I have to say I like the fleece liner in them - they keep my daughter's skin a little dryer than the Motherease. But ME makes one-sizes with a stay-dry liner too, now). So I would really highly recommend the airflow covers over a fitted diaper. They seem a little "puffy" but they squish down underneath clothes. Motherease will send you a sample (1 diaper and one cover) for something like $10 to try them out.

That said, we had a devil of a time keeping both our kids dry throughout the night. Know what? We use a disposable for nights, and cloth during the day. I used to try and do some crazy thing with pockets, extra stuffers, etc etc. and then I decided that was dumb. One diaper per day makes me happy because it works - and frankly, it makes my kid sleep better at night.

I'm no help, but maybe with potty training you will need them less and less. That will give you time to fix the ones you have for the next baby.
Lots of mamas sell cd on etsy, hyena cart. If you sew at all, you could join c.d. forum. I know some are on Sewing mamas forum, but I don't know the name of the separate diaper forum.
I just purchased a Jalie pattern, #2907. I'm hoping to make the A version. There was a comment/review on how easy they will be to sew. www.jalie.com (nayyy) My dd is probably on her way out of diapers. We're working on the potty, I've been bad about being consistent, but that's another story. I'd kind of like to use a cd so I can stop buying diapers, and to help her train faster. She's willing, but we've gotten off course.

I can definitely relate to the frustration of those overnight leaks with cloths. After trying about 10 different kinds of cloths, we eventually found a system that worked really well for us. This was also 3 years ago, so there may be much better options now for you to try, but worked for us was FuzziBunz during the day with hemp liners, and for night, we used the very thick oldfashioned liners with pins and a tight fitting knit wool cover. Wool covers were about the greatest thing we ever found in terms of comfort for my kiddo and absorption. My best friend knit them for me at the time, and I learned to knit from her and made my own. Good luck!

We have been using the Fuzzi Bunz one size for about six weeks now and have had no problems with leaks. We use the hemp inserts at night, which hold more, so she can go longer and still no leaks. My friend has been using Fuzzi Bunz since July (but not the one size) and has not had any problems either. If you want any more info, I'd be glad to share!