Diaper Covers vs Pocket Diapers - What should I buy to start out?

Paige - posted on 02/25/2013

I use the Growvia Hybrids and love them! I also have a few pocket diapers and choose not to use them! The inserts for Growvia can be washed and dried but the shells do need to be hung to dry. This is the easiest system I have ever used. I recommend making the investment in Growvia. You can't beat how easy they are. My husband loves them as well!

Casie - posted on 02/25/2012

I prefer the diaper covers because I do reuse them between washes. I occasionally wipe the inside out with a wet wipe, but other than that, it is pretty simple and straight forward.



I've also been using my prefolds from Greenmountain.com sort of like inserts. My baby's hiney is getting a little too big for the prefolds to wrap around and be fastened with a snappi, so I fold it and use a diaper cover over it. It works great!



I use pocket diapers at night because you can pack them full with inserts to hold all of baby night time pee, which gets whisked away from her bottom! :)



Like others have mentioned before, I would give both a try and see what you think.



I use the Thirsties covers with inserts, Green Mountain Prefolds, BumGenius pockets, FuzziBunz pockets, and Alvababy pockets. I love them all, but Thirsties cover with Green Mountain Prefold and Alvababypockets are my favorites!

Jordan - posted on 02/24/2012

I just wrote a huge blog on Cloth Diapering. I have been cloth diapering for 2 years with my first and am continuing with my 2nd who is due any day now! It has been a great experience for us. I hope all the info helps and maybe you can learn from some of my mistakes *smile* Good Luck! http://simplyriver.blogspot.com/2012/02/...

Mellanie - posted on 02/20/2012

You definitly should get a couple of each to try. Every mom has different likes and dislikes and I've found for me it depends on the child.

My 2 year old: I used Good Mama One-Size fitted with various covers the ones I used majority of the time were by Bumkins, but I really liked Blueberry the covers I had from Blueberry Minkie too. I swore to never go back to sposies nor would I do the pocket diapers...

I now have a 1 month old: I use BumGenius pocket diapers and never would even think about trying to put one of my other daughters diapers on her (even though I still have them) because they are a bit on the bulky side. But I have never had a leak with either of them and who knows once my youngest gets out of the "I'm just gonna lay here and coo all day" stage and starts walking I may switch her over. Unfortunately there isn't a good reason not to do one or the other except what works for you and whom ever will be wearing/changing the little. Also the DADDIES tend to prefer the pocket because they tend to feel it is more like a sposie and they pose less of the 'finger in poop' hazard.



I wanted to add that majority of CDers get about 20-25 diapers to last a couple of days so they dont have to do a load of diapers on top of all the other laundry each night. I have a stock of 22 of both kinds and still wash them all each night but I know I can forget one night or go on a mini-vacay and be ok without washing on the road.

Hannah - posted on 01/19/2012

The pocket diapers must be washed after each use, which is why I chose the diaper cover. I bought what is considered a hybrid diaper from Grovia. I love love love them. They are a cloth shell that is water resistant that comes in all kinds of cute colors and patterns. They have snap in cloth liners that are double layered and made out of an organic cotton/hemp blend. Both items can be washed and dried in the machine as long as you dry them on low heat so as not to melt the elastic in the covers. I have only had a diaper leak through on clothing about 4 times in 3 months and that was overnight, when my baby had slept 4 or five hours in a row. I can usually use the same shell through about 3 diaper changes. I have 12 shells and thirty six liners. This allows me to do laundry every other day. This company also has a disposable liner that is completely biodegradable. It is excellent for when you are traveling. They can be thrown away or even flushed if you have a high quality sewage system. If you throw them away they will biodegrade thus making it environmentally friendly. I ordered my diapers from bumrite. Here is the link to the package I ordered. I ordered two of them by the way to get what I needed.







It cost about 500 dollars but I can use them all the way through potty training. They only problem I ran into was not being able to use them the first two weeks because my baby was too small. She only weighed 6 lbs. Once she got to 8lbs, it was perfect. The only time she has ever had diaper rash was when she had to wear an actual disposable diaper like pampers or huggies. Don't be afraid of laundering them yourself. It is super easy. The key to the smell issue is having a diaper hamper that is breathable. When you change baby you simply toss the diaper into the pail. when you are ready to do laundry take the cloth hamper of diapers, dump them into the machine, toss the cloth hamper in with it and wash on hot water to kill any bacteria. Dry on low. Its that simple. Once you start adding solids in you might want to invest in a diaper sprayer which you can also order from bumrite. it attaches to your potty so you can spray off the poo. When you add solid foods to baby's diet it makes the poo more solidified and it must be sprayed off into the potty before going into the pail, then you launder like usual. I hope this was helpful. Feel free to message me if you want to talk more or have other questions.