Wash Routine

There are lots of ways that people wash their cloth diapers. I use my top loading machine.  It is not HE.  It is a plain regular top loader made by Kenmore.

I put no more than 20 diapers in the machine esp if they are poopy.  I run a cold rinse to get the poop and pee out them. Then I run a hot wash cycle with the regular amount of Purex Free and Clear with a cold rinse.  Then another cold rinse.  This gets my diapers clean and I have had no issue doing this.

For a time I tried Nellies to clean my diapers.  While it did a great job on clothing, I found that my diapers were not clean enough and I was starting to get stinkies in my microfibre.

There are lots of debate on how much soap you should use.  A lot of people use a limited amount of soap as they don't want build up, however only a little soap doesn't really clean your diapers well.  I prefer to use a bit more soap and have clean diapers.

When the wash is done, I hang up all my PUL covers and throw everything else- microfibre inserts, fitteds, prefolds, and wipes into the dryer for 30-40 minutes.

Diapers hanging out in the sun this summer

Some people prefer to hang dry fitteds, but I don't have too many of them and prefer for them to dry faster.  PUL covers can also be put into the dryer on low for 20-30 minutes.  It allows them to dry, but not ruin the PUL.  When I had less diapers I did that from time to time.

When the weather is nice, I like to hang my diapers outside.  The sun is a great natural bleaching agent.  Sunning diapers can get all the poop stains out of your diapers and leave the insides white and clean looking again.

I have only put bleach into my machine once.  Benjy had a case of the stomach flu and his diapers came out smelling not so fresh.  This was from not rinsing the diapers enough before I washed them as there was lots of poop residue.  The bleach helped slightly and did make the interior of my diapers white again ( as it is not a great time to sun diapers when it is -10 to -20C) .  Most of my diapers are now back to their smell free state with only 1 or 2 having a faint smell.

To get rid of poop on my diapers not that he is no longer EBF and is eating solids, I use a poop spatula.  It gets the poop into the toilet and then I rinse the diaper in the sink.  I had bought a diaper sprayer, but unfortunately my plumbing is old and my husband could install it without a pipe possibly breaking.  His poop is getting even more solid so sometimes it just rolls off the diaper straight into the toilet.

gDiapers

Inside of gDiaper

I kept seeing gDiaper ads everywhere.  I imagine as I search cloth diapers a lot on google that most of my ads are for cloth diapers.  I was curious about gDiapers so I bought two used from a fellow member on a cloth diaper group.  gDiapers have a cotton outer and an inner waterproof pouch.  They have disposable inserts or reusable insert.

This is known as a hybrid diaper as it combines both disposable inserts with a reusable cover.  I never used the diaper with the disposable option although I do have some.  I find them huge.  I also don't have one of their reusable inserts so I used a newborn prefold inside.  It works great.

medium on mr Monkey

Large cover, front view

gDiapers also look backwards.  The velcro does up in the back which is handy for a kid that likes to rip off their diaper.   The gDiaper is also a sized diaper coming in tiny ( for newborn), small, medium, and large.  It comes in a variety of colours and stripes.

While I don't hate the gDiapers, they are not my favourite diaper.  I think they would be good for a skinny baby.  I found Benjy even though he is slimming out to be too chunky for it.  The top elastic part would dig into him.  Also the sizing did not even go close.  The medium says 13-28lbs.  He is tipping the scales at 22lbs and I can't get the medium to do up on him anymore.  I have a large one as well.  It still fits him.

A plus side to the gDiapers is that they are very slim and fit well under lots of clothes.  I don't mind them for pees only, but poops are a scary thing and get all over the place.  The gPouch can be switched out as the outside of the diaper doesn't always get dirty.

I don't have a picture of Benjy in the gDiaper as he has been moving all over the place and getting any diaper and a picture of him in has not been easy.

Large Cover, back view

Inside of the diaper without gPant Pouch

gPant Pouch that snaps into cotton shell

Double Gusset Alvas

Alva diapers are diapers that come right from the manufacturer.  Many people resell these diapers as this is a diaper manufacturer.  The double gusset diaper is known by them as colour snap. There are several double gusset diapers on the market.   Alva diapers are pocket diapers that have a PUL outer with a suede cloth or fleece liner with a microfibre insert.


The double gusset helps to keep poops, esp messy ones contained.  It has been very effective in preventing any excess poop from escaping the diaper.

It has openings on either end of the diaper.  This allows the insert to agitate out in the wash.

The diaper comes with one snap in microfibre insert.  This is very convenient.  Just be sure to unsnap as I have had an insert pull a snap out of the main part of the diaper.  You don't have to unstuff it though.

The Double Gusset ones also have a hip snap to prevent wing drop.

It is also called the colour snap as it has very colourful snaps.  It also has 4 rise snaps for great adjustment of fit.

I really like the fit of these diapers.  I own 4 of them in different colours.  They fit nicely, are very trim, and very easy to put on.


The diapers come in a very limited number of colours and prints, but they are a great price of $6.99 USD with free shipping from alvababy.com.

Boingos

Boingos are one of the newest things to hit the cloth diapering market.  They are fasteners for cloth diapers, primarily prefolds.

Boingos vs Snappi

They are similar to pins in the sense that they  able to be used independently in the diaper.  They are similar to snappis in the grip mechanism that they use.  I am not great at putting on prefolds, but I like the way the Boingos work.

The back of the Boingos

My only complaint is that they leave some marks prefold.        

The size of the Boingos

Boingos in action

Boingo being used just singly

The snappi

I find that snappis put a lot of pressure on my son's tummy.  I don't have a picture of him in a prefold as he does not want to stay still for pictures so I used his monkey instead to illustrate the difference. The Boingos do not press against his tummy and are much easier to adjust a prefold with.



     

What is currently in my stash

My cloth diaper stash has grown by leaps and bounds.  I have lots of different types of diapers and nicely it did not cost me all that much.  I am pretty sure that with taxing and shipping I have spent less than $750.  Probably more than $500, but less than $750.

The main part of my stash is pocket diapers.  I have lots of those.  ( not too sure how many at the moment).

I also have fitteds, prefolds, flats, AI3s, and covers.  I also own 4 snappis and a set of Boingos.


COVERS
The easiest one to list are my covers.

1 MotherEase Rikki Wrap in Size Large
1 GenY cover in Medium
1 Thirsties Duo Wrap in Size 2 ( in Owl Print)
1 Rearz Couture Cover in Med
2 Kawaii Covers
1 WAHM  cover in a red maple leaf print.
As well as 3 pairs of upcycled wool longies and 1 wool cover in large.
I also have some Kushies and Prowrap covers that are too small and have been put away for whenever baby #2 comes along ( not for a while longer)

Plain Diapers
I have 5 flour sack towels and 12 Kushies Flats.  They are convenient to use when I am running low on diapers and to stuff into pockets.  They also work well at night as they are pretty absorbant.

Prefolds

I have some newborn prefolds that work great stuffed in pocket diapers or just tr-folded in covers.  I have 9 medium Rearz prefolds that I like to use around the house.  I prefer pockets for going out.

Diaper Fasteners
I have both snappis and a boingo.  I didn't mind the snappis when he was smaller, but I find he is too wide and the snappi rubs against his waist.

I got a set of Boingos last week and I have to say that I like them.  Much less pressure on his tummy.

Pockets
4 GlowBugs- 2 GlowBug Print, 1 Squares, 1 Cow Print ( see my review here)
4 Double Gusset Alvas- Red, Blue, Green, Black
4 Done with Disposables ( see my review here)

Pockets Part 1

10 Alvas in various prints
10 SunnyBaby Diapers in Royal Blue ( see my review here)
4 Kawaii Original Square Tab ( 1 Orange, 1 Blue, 2 Yellow) (see my review here)
1 Kawaii Heavy Duty in green
1 Kawaii Bamboo Minky in Blue
1 Kawaii Square Tab Fun Print White with Green Stars
1 GoGreen Champ in Blue  with Stars ( see my review here)

Pockets Part 2

1 Bee Changed Pocket
1 noname diaper in owl print

Fitted Diapers

Fitteds - Goodmama is the teal and the Bububebe is the Dr.Suess Print

3 MotherEase One Size- 2 cotton, 1 unbleached
GoodMama
Bububebe
Rearz Smitten in medium
5 Momentum BabyWear fitteds ( made by me) as well as a few failed prototypes or too small ones

AI2/AI3
Sweet Pea All in 3 in owl print
Lil Helper ( on its way)

Hybrid 
Grovia Shell in Planes
Gdiaper in Medium and Large

GoGreen Champ Review

The GoGreen champ is a double snap double gusset pocket diaper.

It comes in a wide variety of colours and prints.  Even a few of them are minky.  The double gussets are great for poop staying inside the diaper and not escaping.  The diaper has two openings so the insert can agitate out by itself in the wash.

The snaps on the diaper are double in the middle which makes the diaper fit nicely.  They also have a hip snap to prevent wing droop.

The diaper comes with 1 insert.

The insert snaps into the diaper.

There are 4 rise snaps in the front.  Currently my son is on the 3rd set so he still has lots of room to grow.

The diaper is quite trim and fits quite nicely on my 9 month 22lb son.

The GoGreen champ is a very affordable diaper retailing for around $15.95.  It fits well and is generously sized.

All these thoughts are my own and I have not been compensated for this review.

Fitted Diapers Part 2

As I blogged about before, I tried to make fitted diapers.  The first ones did not turn out so well.  Since then I have played around with the design and produce some much better ones.

As I said, I used the pattern from here.  http://www.diapersewing.com/fitted_with_velcro.htm  I shortened the middle by about 3/4 of an inch.  I also made my elastic a bit tighter.  This one here has 4 layers of cotton flannel, with a 4 layer cotton soaker in the middle.  It is also most too thick as it takes forever to dry, but it fits him well.

This is another one I made.  The shape is a little off, but it is nice as well.  I used red flannel inside and sewed black minky on the outside.

Glow Bug Diaper Review

I recently had the opportunity to get a free sample diaper from Glow Bug Diapers.  They are a relatively new business based in Barrie, Ontario and have been giving out free samples to promote their business.  They sell their diapers for $150 for 12.  You can not buy them singly thus they are giving out samples to try before you buy. GlowBug diapers are a one size pocket diapers.

The sample print is black with the glow bug on it.  It comes with two microfibre  inserts that can snap into the diaper.It is a little hard to see, but it has 4 rise snaps which can make it easier to get a better fit.  Most one size pocket diapers only have 3 rise snaps so you have much more versatility with this diaper.

The Glow Bug diaper has an inner gusset.  This inner gusset is good when it comes to messy poops to avoid it going to the edge.  Virtually every time my son has worn this diaper, he has pooped.  The poop has always been contained and did not go beyond the inner gusset.  This is a nice design feature as you avoid any leakage on the leg.

The diaper all stuffed.  As you can see from this picture, that rather than just having a single snap, there are double snaps on the front of the diaper.

Inside the diaper, there is a place to snap in the insert.  The diaper comes with two inserts that can snap in.  Only one insert though can be snapped in at a time. The other would have to be placed on top of the other insert.   Typically I take the insert out before I put the diaper in the pail.  I decided to leave it on to wash it.  It comes off in the wash.  It sometimes flips the diaper inside out, but in the end it does come out clean.

Here is the back of the diaper.  As you can see, there are openings at either end of the diaper.  This makes it very easy to put the insert into the diaper.

 Here is a close up of the front of the diaper.  You can see the 4 rise snaps here, as well as the double row of the front snaps.

 Here is my son wearing the diaper.  In this picture he has the top rise snap done up so he is on the 3rd setting.  He has grown since this picture and now wears the diaper unsnapped.

 As you can see, the diaper fits nicely around his chubby thighs.

 He is quite content wearing his diaper.

I did not try this diaper overnight.  Pocket diapers do not work overnight with my son as we now use wool and a fitted diaper.  It worked very well for the daytime.

PROS:  
Overall, I do like the GlowBug Diaper.  It does have many nice features.  The elastic is very soft and does not leave red marks.  The snap in insert is very handy to use. I like the inner gusset.  It ensures that messes stay inside the diaper and do not try to migrate out.

Their customer service is great.  The first sample diaper I was sent ended up being a dud as the elastic on one leg detached.  I emailed them about it and they were quite concerned and upset. Together we troubleshooted what went wrong to ensure that it would not happen again.  They are very concerned about quality.  Even though I had paid nothing for this diaper, they sent me out another one for free.  The second diaper has been working great, and I have had no issues with it.

The prints that come in their packages which are Girl, Boy, and Spectrum are quite nice.  Their boy prints are pretty colourful.  I love their girl prints.  They are so feminine.  They Spectrum are quite colourful and the snaps on them are multicoloured which would be great to help a grandma or dad know which snaps to snap to.


CONS:

Some cons to this diaper is that I do find when I put it on with the snapped insert in place that it causes a bit of a gap at the front and sometimes pulls the diaper down a bit.  It also seems as if the snap is placed too close to the top.   It also does take some getting used to using two snaps at the front.

As I said this diaper retails in a package for $150 for 12.  That works out to $12.50 a diaper which is very reasonable.  A con to me is that I am not one to have lots of one type of diaper as I like variety.  I also don't tend to have a large amount of money to spend at one time on diapers, so buying 1-2 at a time is more affordable for me.  They do suggest to go in with your friends to buy one, but I do not have too many real life friends that CD.

The prints that come with them are preset.  You get 1 of each in the package.  There is no mixing of packages.  It is either all boy, all girl, or Spectrum.  I like to have variety and not being able to choose isn't fun  to me.

Final thoughts.
Overall, I do think that this is a good quality diaper.  It is not too hard to put on.  It comes in a wide variety of prints. It is easily able to be adjusted and I am sure would fit from a small baby to a larger one quite easily.  My son is now 20 lbs and on the highest rise, but I still need to do it up near the middle.  At 12.50 a diaper, it does easily beat the price of more expensive brands.  If you are looking for a diaper to start your stash with, the Glow Bug diaper does offer you a very cost effective way of purchasing several diapers at once.


Want to own a GlowBug Diaper of your own , visit:  Glow Bug Diapers or check them out on facebook Glow Bug Cloth Diapers



I was not compensated for this review.  These are all my own opinions.