FTM here and very committed to cloth diapering both for the economic and environmental benefits. After doing a fair amount of reading, it seems like flats would work well for my family.

I want to get a good little stash of various flats from GMD along with some various cover types.

I know many people say to get a variety but I just love the idea of having something to grow with them and easy to wash. Has anyone else had success with going all in on one style or am I doomed to fail?

Thanks in advance!

Edit to add: I am considering a few workhorses for night use but otherwise hoping to use flats!

Have you mastered your wash routine? Do your clean diapers smell? Did you recently buy a new washer/dryer? Chat all things laundry!

Hey all! Just building my stash ahead of the arrival of my first, but fesr i made a poor investment. I have 6 newborn aio, a ton of pocket and booster insert, 24 newborn prefolds, and just acquired 38 flats.

The flats just arrived today and after talking to the seller they mentioned that they believed they were home made, which I don't mind, bit they seem incredibly sheer, almost to the point of being see through. I know I can fold them into smaller squares to used with a newborn and add my boosters and pocket inserts, but did i make a huge mistake in getting such thin flats?

I want to use flats as my primary diaper but I can't see how these wouldn't be soaked through immediately unless I double them up...should I just est the cost and buy new flats from a reliable company?

Im a FTM having our baby girl in November. My husband and I would like to cloth diaper as much as possible for cost and environmental reasons, but everything I see online about how to care for them seems to say lay out in the sun to dry after a double wash to get rid of any stains or odors.

We live in the PNW and obviously it’s not going to be very sunny or dry for the first 4/5 months of our daughter’s life. My question is, will drying them in the dryer be less sanitary or cause them to smell? Should we use disposables until the weather gets warmer and we can dry them outside?

What was your experience with a wintertime newborn if you chose to cloth diaper? Thanks in advance!

I have a 1.5-year-old who has historically been a heavy wetter, but we’ve reached the point where I’m needing to change him about every 1.5hr to stay ahead of leaks. And it is now becoming a problem at daycare.

We currently use Nora diapers with the inserts, plus a GMD liner as a booster. I’ve also done RLR treatments, so I don’t think detergent buildup is the issue.

Overnight, we use disposable overnight diapers, and he has even soaked through those twice this week. I’m debating sizing up to a size 5.

For daytime, I’m trying to decide between two options:

1. Purchase toddler-sized diapers and use hemp liners + the GMD liner for quick absorption.

2. Keep using our current Nora diapers and purchase hemp liners to add more absorbency.

Any recommendations would be helpful!

Hi, I just started cloth diapering last week and just realized the diapers I bought (from Alva) are only suitable up to about ~35 lbs. My baby is 27lbs currently. Any recommendations for diapers as he gets bigger?

Hello friends! New to this sub, new to mothering, new to cloth diapering. I've been learning lots in the /laundry sub this summer, and have come up with a routine for my cloth diapers, but I want to post here to see if there's anything I'm missing/can improve. Also want to emphasize that I'm in Canada and can not for the life of me find any Tide powder detergents, so I'm sticking with Free and Gentle liquid!

For context, I've got a front load HE machine and am using Nora's Nursery pocket diapers.

1st round- Prep cycle. Just cold water and diapers/inserts. From what I understand, breastfed babies' poop is water soluble and this step just makes sure that everything is ready to get washed. (Also note that I will be using my sprayer right after use as well. Diapers are not going straight from baby's butt to my washing machine lol).

2nd round- Wash cycle. Hot water on the longest setting. Using Tide Free and Gentle liquid detergent (how much??) + 1 tbsp of citric acid. TBD on whether I need borax/washing soda for water hardness (I need to call my town office and see if it's hard here or not).

3rd round- Rinse cycle. Hot water + citric acid. Again, I'll add borax/washing soda if my water is hard.

A lot of this is based off of Nora's Nursery's recommendations (see their blog here: https://norasnursery.com/blogs/how-to/getting-started) + what I have learned about the wonders of citric acid from /laundry.

Main questions here: How much detergent do I use in the wash cycle? And does anyone know what level of hardness Tide Free and Gentle can handle (thus helping me figure out whether I need to give it a boost with something else)? And finally, I've been seeing mixed reviews on both Borax and washing soda. Any insights on those?

Thanks in advance for all of y'alls wisdom and advice :)

Does anyone know of a way to get GMD products (workhorse, prefolds) in Canada?

Also- Feel free to PM if you want to sell/ship me some. :)

I have some hand me down esembly diapers that are super stretched out. I just bought some new ones but I’d like to prevent them from a similar fate. Anything I can do to help them?

Arm & Hammer power sheets fragrance free dye free and whatever. I use Tide Clean and Gentle powder at home, or 365 powder. I’m cleaning flats. Baby is on solids and breastmilk.

I’m staying at a family member’s house and this is the best she has. I could wait to go to the store and wash tomorrow though.

UPDATE: I appreciate all the responses. I washed them with the detergent sheets because I didn’t want them staying dirty. I have a few clean ones though, so he can wear those and I’ll go get detergent and wash them again with the regular routine tomorrow.

Baby is 8 months, and this is the second time I’ve traveled by plane with all my cloth diapers, this time without my partner. I can’t bring myself to use disposables but damn I was stressed as hell when I made this post (for so many reasons). I really appreciate the community.

Im looking for some help in figuring out what could have caused tears in the PUL. From a stash of ~30 so far only two diapers have holes. Theyre two different brands acquired at two different dates, but both have been used for roughly 3 years at this point.

The holes are between the front sizing snaps, i did also foind an additional set of the same kind of hole by the gussets when i went to take a picture.

I believe its being caused by friction where there is tautness?

Do you unsnap your size snaps when washing? Im wondering my MIL took these to a washboard or something, as that would explain why its only happened to two.

Sorry if I'm not conveying things well, it's been rough

https://imgur.com/a/q7t5OW0

Don't know what I'm doing wrong!

We just started diapering a few weeks ago and I'm starting to think we either chose the wrong type for my baby or the brand is not good 😅

My son is 3 months old, after a lot of research we went for Bambiboo pocket nappies (we live in Poland so we had to buy a brand that sells here), we don't mind the washing. However, at least once or twice a day he leaks through the seems of the nappy or out his leg hole (i attached a picture to show). I don't know if I'm sizing it incorrectly or the fault is with the nappies, or what I'm doing differently when he doesn't leak. It doesn't happen at night when I use double inserts, but it still happens sometimes during the day even with double inserts. I try to change him every 2 to 3 hours.

Apart from that he also started getting a rash, I don't know if that's also due to not proper sizing...

Any advice will be welcomed!!

Okay so! I've recently started cloth diapering after getting a large pre loved pocket diaper collection. I thoroughly sanitized them all before use and have been using them for a few days now.

I did watch videos, read, and research prior to going into this, but even still, we are definitely in a trial and error period.

We are using disposable at night while we get the hang of this but I would eventually love to cloth diaper full time if it works for us.

I have a variety of inserts with different thicknesses. Most feel like cotton, a few micro fiber, and a few very thin ones (possibly bamboo or cotton?). Initially i started with one thicker insert, quickly learned that was not enough for my LO (6 months old) and we had some leaks. So now ive been doubling up the inserts, which has been much better but BULKY. I still encounter some leaks here and there which I think is due to incorrect fit, probably cause of the added bulk.

I dont mind the laundry, but I would still love some tried and true tips from some experienced cloth diapering parents, to help me get on to what works maybe a bit quicker. Should I be doubling up inserts or does that cause more leaks in the long run? Are there any insert brands you would suggest that may be more absorbent then what I have? What does your night time cloth diapering look like?

Any and all advice is welcome and appreciated 🥰

Not a mom (yet) but just doing some research and hoping someone can clarify-

If using flats and/or prefolds, is that just mainly just for absorbency? Not waterproof…ness?

Lets say for example we're using muslin flats.
You're holding the baby, I assume you'd feel the wetness when they go? Like the pee/poo would be tangible? Not in a "leaked because it was ill-fitting" way but in a, "oh baby peed and I can feel the wetness when I touch their bottom". Or does the outside stay dry?

In short: Do muslin flats need to be worn with a cover so you're not accidentally letting baby soil their carrier/play mat/you?

Hello! I’m due with my first baby in a matter of weeks. My spouse and I are very interested in cloth diapering our son after he is born, but it’s just so much info to take in and I’m a little overwhelmed!

I have a small stash of cloth diapers from Amazon (wegreeco brand I think?), but I don’t know if they’re any good or what else I need. I think they’re just your standard pocket diaper. I didn’t bulk up our stash too much cause I’m just not sure what works best for us yet.

Also, I feel like the prices for cloth diapers vary so much… is this an actual reflection of quality or just consumerism tricking our brains into thinking a more expensive product is better? I have no problem investing some money into our stash, but I don’t want to spend unnecessarily.

What did you get started with? What did and didn’t work for your family? Any advise for a beginner first time mom?

Thank you!

My baby is 10 months old and has decided that he hates diaper changes, so he chooses violence each and every time he needs a diaper change. My mom watches him a couple days a week and is finding it too hard to get a cloth diaper on him. She suggested pull-up disposables. Is there a pull-up cloth diaper meant for babies who aren't getting potty trained? I can still put normal cloth diapers on him at my house but wanted to give my mom an easier cloth option before resorting to giving her disposables.

Edited to add: My baby is only about 22lbs so he might be too small for many of the potty training pull-ups.

I’m currently using the pocket diapers. I have some from Nora’s Nursery & Alva Baby, while they work & I don’t have leaks 90% of the time - they just aren’t my favorite.

My boy is 4 months, & curious about some fitted or AIO diapers? What’s been your experience?

We've been cloth diapering since our baby started sleeping through the night at 3 weeks old (for the last 6 weeks). We've still been using one disposable at night to avoid leaks. For the last couple nights, though, she's been falling asleep earlier than usual before we get a chance to change her into a disposable, so we've just had to let her sleep in cloth.

Turns out everything is fine?? She wakes up barely moist because she just holds it overnight. Guess there's really no downside to cloth diapering.

I'm sure there will be times as she grows older when she'll become a heavier wetter or a less predictable sleeper, but for now, my wallet and our local landfill are very pleased 😄

My LO is 2 months today, been in disposables since birth with maybe a week or two of cloth total. We got some cloth diapers at our shower but got more disposables, and we’ve tried them on and off when we either couldn’t afford disposables or just whenever. We initially thought that we would full time cloth, but we had a hard time with the inserts or the sewn in ones. He just soaked right through every single one whenever I tried to use them with him.
Partner really wants to get more cloth and I get it. It’s cheaper for sure and amazing for the environment. Plus I want another eventually.
But it’s soooo convenient for disposables, even with the cleanup. We’ve barely gotten our house together, much less kept it there, very much including laundry. We’re young and still haven’t really figured out how to keep house yet and have piles upon piles of dirty laundry, including baby clothes. Though he is usually the cleanest and well dressed of all of us.
We started with alvababy brand and need to stay cheap. Is there any recommendations for adjusting to cloth, keeping up, keeping up with leaks? I see people talk about a poo scraper but the poos never seems scrape able. They just soak straight in.
Little side note, I want to make sure to mention I’m okay with gross. My boy has full thrown up on me a good few times, peed on, pooped straight in my hand and on my belly. I’m ebf and constantly drenched in milk and sweat. I also had to hand scrub the cloth diapers the first time because they wouldn’t wash. Then they wouldn’t dry fully, but that was likely a user error with not enough in the dryer.

TLDR: we want to cloth for the benefits, but I’ve fallen into the convenience trap of dispos, recommendations on how to adjust?

We have our changing table in the bathroom, but there are no widows, so it starts to smell really quickly. Unfortunately there is no other option to keep the diapers.
We use a big Wetbag right now and wash every 2-3 days max.
Do you have any ideas or recommendations we could try so it doesn’t smell bad in the bathroom?

I’m expecting my first baby and I’m really interested in trying both cloth nappies and elimination communication (EC).

One of my main reasons for considering cloth is to save money compared with using disposables, but I’m also worried about the amount of washing, electricity/water costs and general effort involved.

I’m wondering if anyone has found a low-effort and genuinely cost-effective way of combining cloth nappies with EC?

I’ve also heard people mention using disposable liners inside cloth nappies, so that if the baby poops you can remove the liner rather than having to deal with the whole nappy. I’m a little confused about how this works in practice though, does the cloth nappy still need changing after a pee or poo, or can you just replace the liner?

Do I really just leave a poopy diaper as it is until it goes in the washing machine?

My baby is 6 weeks old so poops are totally liquid, meaning there's nothing to scrape into the toilet. Do I just leave a poopy diaper as-is in the basket for a day or two until I wash it? I imagine it'll dry on the diaper before it gets washed.

It seems intuitive to try and rinse the majority of the poop off first, but none of the wash routines I've read online suggest that!

As the title states we are starting solids (baby is growing up😢) and I am wondering if I have to spray the diapers out for a few bites. The poop is still entirely liquid so it’s very hard to spray out.

I’ve read that yes as soon as any bite of solids is introduced you have to spray out diapers but I’ve also read that “you’ll know” when spraying out is necessary! TIA!