I am almost embarrassed to admit I am only just now getting around to cloth diapering. I work at Rhode Island’s cloth diapering central; I should educate by example, right? I did buy an all-in-one Blueberry diaper eons ago that’s only seen the bum of a stuffed animal. Does that count? I procrastinated on the cloth diapering front for one major reason – I didn’t think our household could handle another load of laundry. Well and I just didn’t get how the whole poop thing worked.
A month ago, after running out of disposable diapers for the gazillionth time, and asking Kelly a thousand and one questions, I finally took the big leap into cloth diapering with the Flip One Size Diaper. I’m going to be brutally honest here and tell you the reason I picked the Flip One Size Diaper System: everything I needed to get started was neatly packaged into one little box – two covers, six inserts. I brought the box home and vowed never again to make a late night dig through the backseat of the car run for diapers.
I’ve been cloth diapering now for about a month and the first thing that comes to mind is – what the heck took me so long?!?!?!?!? It’s so incredibly easy; I can’t believe the entire world doesn’t cloth diaper. The Flip One Size Diaper System has been fantastical. I opted for the Stay Dry Inserts and when I pulled the inserts out of the box, I did not understand how this giant maxi pad of cloth was going to soak up enough pee to keep me and baby happy through a trip to the zoo. After an hour and a half at the zoo and a one hour nap in the car, I did the mom test and stuck a finger in the diaper to check things out. I felt the bottom of the insert (which touches the cover) and it was soaked. However, when I went to change the diaper, the side of the insert in contact with my daughter’s skin was completely dry! Yes, completely dry.
As Tony the Tiger would say, things are going grrrrrreat. Laundry, which I was most concerned about, has been a cinch. I’m no Kelly Martha Stewart so laundry is never nice, tidy and done. However, it’s a different story for the kids’ laundry. For some reason I find tremendous joy in doing their laundry. And the cloth diapers have fallen into this category. No matter how many times folks told me laundering cloth diapers was easy, I just didn’t believe it- cold rinse, hot wash, 2nd cold rinse – it really is that easy.
The covers have proven to be just as awesome as the inserts. We haven’t had any leaks or explosions. I will say this, though, poop is no fun. We have the Bio Liners and still poop is no fun. I can totally see how the Bio Liners make it a lot easier to manage but poop is poop. What are you going to do? We do get some poop on the cover but I attribute that to our daughter still being on a diet of equal parts solids and breastmilk. If things were a bit more on the solid side, I’d be over the moon about poop (not really but you know what I mean). As for the covers, I give them a quick wash by hand, was them on laundry day and stains haven’t been an issue so far.
Cloth diapering with the Flip One Size Cloth Diapers has been a dream – great absorbency, perfect fit, not too bulky. We’re super happy with the Stay Dry Inserts but in the next few weeks we’ll give the Organic Inserts a try. I’ve also got my eye on the Thirsties covers since they come in cute patterns. I’ve got to say, this cloth diapering thing is quite addictive. In the spirit of wanting to have enough inserts and covers on hand, I keep wanting to buy more and more even though I’ve already got plenty with my two Day Packs. And don’t get me started on my new obsession with Planetwise Wet Bags, that’s a whole different post. So yes, I’m a convert to the cloth diapering cult. And this coming from the lady who avoided the cloth with our first (now 3 years old) but I’m super glad we decided to give it a whirl now. Only thing is I’m sad it won’t be very long lived since our baby is already 14 months with her eye on the potty. We’ll enjoy it as long as we can!
~Carla~
I recently got these myself a week or so ago and I have to say I had the same experience as you did. I have been using the fuzzibuns sized pocket diapers. I like them but find bringing everything with me with 3 in diapers gets crazy. Mainly because they are not one sized.
The flip diapers allow me to pack much lighter for trips and not worry if the 3 year old went through more diapers then the 7 month old. I use the same size for both. Packing the inserts and extra covers if needed for trips are fantastic. I can use a MUCH smaller diaper bag and have the same amount of coverage for all of them. I also got the stay dry package.
I am looking forward to getting a few more so we can convert completly to these for day time use.