I love, love, love cloth diapers! I have used them on both of my dds. There are a million kinds and combos, and it can get addicting.
When they are newborns and up to about 20 pounds, I used diaper service quality, chinese prefolds with bumkins covers. Chinese prefolds are the cheapest way to go, but buy the diaper service quality ones, not the Gerber ones, which are not very absorbant. You fold them, pop in the cover of your choice, and you are good to go. I tried many different covers, but I like the bumkins best because they have a pocket to hold the diaper, they are vented in the back, and they have very good gatherings around the legs to prevent breastmilk poop blowout.
On my older dd, once she hit 20 pounds, I used fuzzi bunz with joey bunz inserts. The fuzzi bunz are shells that you stuff and control the absorbancy with the nubmer of inserts. These work pretty well, but I hated stuffing them. They are also very trim, which is great.
My younger dd is in all-in-ones, which look like regular diapers and fasten with aplix (stronger version of velcro) or snaps. They are the most expensive version but the easiest. You can get all kinds of prints, so they are adorable peeking out from under little dresses. My favorite brands are Angelwraps and Full Moon Baby Gear. (Just add the .com to take a look)
I tried lots of different things until I found my favorites. It is really lots of fun.
Washing is easy. I have a medium size garbage can with a lid that is lined with a large bummis wet bag. All diapers go in to the same can. (once babe is eating solids, I shake the waste into the toilet before putting the diaper in the can. You might want to invest in a spray attachement that you hook up to the toilet to help with solid removal. For the life of me, I cannot think of what it is called) Wash on cold with tide cold water detergent (only a few tablespoons), then one wash on hot to make sure all the soap is out and into the dryer. We have a house with a yard now, so I might hang a clothesline this summer.
I highly recommend checking out the diapering board at Mothering.com. I also recommend looking at ebay for used diapers until you find your favorites. The used diaper market is pretty big, so if you buy some and hate them, you can do well on ebay. I sold all my fuzzi bunz, which had been used for about 14 months, for almost what I paid new!
Feel free to PM me with any questions!
