More Cloth Talk

I thought I give you a quick update of the diaper world since I wrote this post about cloth diapering earlier this summer. Hey, I'm a mom, diapering consumes a fair amount of my time these days. :) And we've made a few tweaks, so here goes.

First of all, I had mentioned before that I wanted to try these diapers by grape-apple on ebay, and we went for it! $54 for 10 pocket diapers delivered to my door. You can't beat that. Especially compared to the average $19 for a FuzziBunz pocket diaper! I love that I was able to choose from dozens of colors and patterns (unlike Sunnibaby which sends you whatever colors they want.). Here are a couple I chose. (they sent me 2 solid blue ones in place of prints that were out of stock) 

Pretty cute, huh? Who would have thought I'd say that about a diaper?!? So far these diapers are working great. They are super soft inside and seem to fit Baby B really well. Of course, I'll give you a quick pro & con list. :)

Grape Apple $54 for 10, I have 10
Pros:

• Cheap! Less than $6 per diaper, and that included shipping.
• Well made. I don't know how important it is, but these diapers have and extra line of stitching around the edges. 
• Wide pocket opening makes them easy to stuff (like Fuzzibunz)
• Super soft inside
• rise snaps down smaller than Sunnibaby (so they might fit a smaller baby?) and the fit Baby B well
• Lots of cute prints to choose from

Cons:

• Only 1 insert per diaper (most of my other diapers came with 2)
• Made in China (someday hoping to upgrade to USA made)
• May not fit a small baby (I didn't get these until Baby B was 3 or 4 months old)

The only other change we are making is the detergent we use. I mentioned before using EcoSprout, but I've been talking to several other cloth-diapering mommas since then and not liking what I hear. It turns out it was causing severe rashes & ammonia burns on some of the babies! Baby B has never has a problem, and I know some babies are more sensitive than others, but the thing I don't like is the company's response. Several moms have reported the reaction and the manufacturer replies saying it must be something else, even though the problems cleared up when they discontinued use of EcoSprout. I also don't like that we were pushed to buy this brand at a cloth diaper store, and I later found out it was made by someone related to the store owner. It's all a little fishy to me. Not to mention the fact it was so expensive ($19)! So we are moving on to other things.  A few veteran cloth mommas said they use Sun Free & Clear that is sold at Big Lots for only $6 for the large bottle.

So we picked some up to give it a try. I'll let you know how it goes, we just got it so I can't say yet. But I do like that I can use it for all my clothes, too, instead of having two different detergents! I've also heard a lot of good things about Rockin' Green detergent so I might give that a try later. Might as well know all my options, right? :) In other news, I still want to try cloth wipes but haven't gotten to it yet. I also plan to get a washable pail liner so I can stop buying garbage bags, and I'd like to find a good way to cloth diaper when we travel instead of going to disposables.

That brings you up to speed! Any other cloth diaper mommas (or grandmas!) have any advice for this beginner?

P.S. I've added a new post about a few new things I'm trying and sewing my own cloth diapers - check it out here!