Cloth Diapers for Beginners: The Ones I Love

Welcome back to a three part series on cloth diapering for beginners! Today I’ll be taking time to share the brands of cloth diapers we have loved as well as resources that have helped me immensely in my research. Let’s dive right in shall we? 

Pocket Diapers and Inserts

I’ve tried a bit of everything on our cloth diapering journey. I first purchased pocket diapers and inserts from a local Just Between Friends consignment sale. (If you have JBF in your state, I HIGHLY recommend them for everything kiddo supplies and clothes). I have since passed our pocket diapers onto other friends or sold them but we did appreciate the brand Alva. They are cost efficient, easy to use and have many colorful prints and patterns. The main downside of this brand is they are not made in the United States. 

In regard to inserts, we’ve used three different kinds: hemp, bamboo, and microfiber. Hemp and bamboo are incredibly absorbent but usually do so a bit more slowly. Microfiber inserts don’t have the ability to absorb as much but they soak liquid up quickly. This can help keep baby’s bum dry and comfortable. For that reason, we put a microfiber insert closest to the baby and put a hemp or bamboo insert right behind it. Since we bought the inserts from people on Facebook Marketplace, some of them were unlabeled. But our favorites have been Thirsties Natural Duo Inserts and Alva Baby’s Microfiber inserts. 

Top Brand Suggestions

• Thirsties Duo Inserts
• Alva Baby

All in Ones 

All in Ones are produced by many cloth diaper brands, but we loved getting ours from Nicki’s Diapers and BumGenius. A friend of mine introduced me to Nicki’s Diapers, which sells many brands as well as their own line. The prices are incredibly competitive and accessible. We love our bamboo all in one from them. BumGenius Freetime diapers were our go-to choice for all in ones, though. They aren’t bulky at all like other cloth diaper systems and have two layers of sewn-in inserts that make diaper changing incredibly simple. 

Top Brand Suggestions:

• BumGenius 
• Nicki’s Diapers

Prefolds and Covers

Saving my favorite for last, we LOVE prefolds and covers in our house. We use Cloth-eez Prefold Diapers and DiaperRite Bamboo/Cotton Prefolds. I found these for a steal secondhand, but they’re only about $3 per diaper. For waterproof covers, we’ve loved Flip and Thirsties. Flip can be used from newborn to toddler with adjustable snaps. Thirsties come in two sizes, size 1 being for the younger months and size 2 for the later months/years. 

Top Brand Suggestions:

• Green Mountain Diaper’s Cloth-eez 
• DiaperRite Bamboo and Cotton Prefolds
• Flip covers
• Thirsties covers 

What material is the best? 

In general, natural materials like hemp, bamboo, and cotton are much more absorbent and way easier to clean. But materials like charcoal bamboo and microfiber absorb more quickly and harder to clean. It’s important to know what type of washing machine and type of water (hard versus soft) you’re working with when cleaning your diapers before deciding what to purchase. I’ll be touching on our cleaning routine tips next week! 😉 

How many diapers do I need to buy? 

I go through 3-4 prefolds per day with my one year old. Usually it’s closer to 6 when I’m cloth diapering my young babies. Ideally, you want enough diapers to get you through 2-3 days. For us that means having about 24-30 prefolds of various kinds. For pocket diapers and all in ones, I plan to use 4-6 per day which comes out to 12-18 diapers in my collection. 

Where can I find great low cost and second hand deals? 

Clothdiaper.com

Green Mountain Diapers

Nicki’s Diapers 

Facebook Marketplace

If you’re catching up on the series, check out Part 1 here.

Catch part 3 here where I discuss cleaning our cloth diapers. It’s been a constant learning curve. Excited to share with you!