holden’s landing

28 Cloth Diaper Reviews for The Cloth Diaper Confused!

September 19, 2013 · by Tiffany Merritt · 14 Comments

I still can’t believe that my family’s journey with cloth diapering will be over in just a handful of months. What a ride it has been, and an unexpected one at that.

We have 2 children, and when we were pregnant with the first, cloth diapering wasn’t on our radar AT ALL. My best friend used hybrid diapers and suggested I look into them, but I didn’t pay too much attention. And since my BFF lived far away from me and I didn’t get to actually see the diapers, I had no idea just how great they really were.

One thing I distinctly remember about getting into cloth diapering, however, was how completely overwhelming it is. There are (seemingly) a dozen different types of diapers, all of which have their own language of terminology, and dozens upon dozens of different brands. How do you know which cloth diaper is best?

The short answer is, you don’t! What works best for one baby won’t necessarily work as well for the next. But I promise you, you WILL get the hang of it. And when you find something you love, hold on to it!

I always loved reading about the experiences other parents had with different diapers, and reading those reviews helped me find some of my very favorites, as well. Here are all 28 cloth diaper reviews I have done over the past 4 years. I hope you will find them useful as you wade through all the information out there and make your decisions about which brands and types to use when building your stash. By no means is this an exhaustive list of available options, but I think you will find some brands that are very popular, as well as some lesser known brands that are also great finds!

Why we started using cloth

Newborn Cloth Diapering

Cloth Diaper Rental

Mabu Cloth Diaper Kit

All-in-One (AIO) Diapers

All-in-Two (AI2) Diapers

Pocket Diapers

Prefold and Cover Diapers

Holden’s Landing

Real Nappies

Hybrid Diapers (also called Two-in-One)

Flip Diapers

Charlie Banana

Overnight Diapers

Ecobubs

Buttons Diapers

Fleece Cover from Twinkletoes

Potty Training Information/Products

Super Undies

Early Potty Training

Please don’t hesitate to let me know if you have any questions. The fact that you want to cloth diaper means you are on the right track, even if you are feeling a bit lost! 🙂

How to Start Cloth Diapering

April 14, 2010 · by Tiffany Merritt · 18 Comments

A few weeks ago I talked about us cautiously dipping out toes in the cloth diaper lake and figuring out how to use cloth diapers. We decided to give it a try because I won a cloth diaper.

My very first cloth diaper came from the company Holden’s Landing. Bonnie, the owner, contacted me to let me know that I won a rainbow cloth diaper (similar to this one). I mentioned to her that it would be my very first cloth diaper, and she responded that the diaper was the type that needs a cover, and that she would just send one to me along with the diaper. She also helped me figure out the best size to buy for my baby (and it turns out that with cloth diapers you need to give it some careful thought and, depending on the specific diaper you get, talk with other folks who use the diaper about how it fits).When the package arrived from Holden’s Landing, I couldn’t believe what I saw. Bonnie sent me the rainbow cloth diaper, a second diaper that had a similar look but that is designed with its inserts to be used overnight, an AI2 diaper (details on what that means later) a wool soaker and a pair of knit pants that also serve as a diaper cover. I haven’t added up the worth of these 3 diapers and 2 covers, but rest assured, this was EXTREMELY generous of Bonnie. She did it simply because she said she wanted to give me a good introduction to cloth diapering and to teach me how to use cloth diapers the right way by giving me several options.This brings me to the primary thing I have learned about cloth diapering: cloth diapering mamas are SUPPORTIVE. They will talk with you at length, make suggestions and display generosity in numerous ways. So I have to say, for that, the cloth diapering community (and Bonnie in particiular) is amazing. When you don’t have other folks around you cloth diapering, it can be really easy to give up, so it is great that you can find a community online to help you work through any difficulties you might be having.

Now onto the diapers. Holden’s Landing diapers are wonderful! They definitely give babies fluffy butts, which was something I wasn’t used to seeing. When I add an extra insert, sometimes Darah struggles to sit up without wobbling, so that’s the primary drawback I see. But the cuteness factor is out of this universe. OH MY! Also, the diapers are very soft. They make disposables seem like the scratchiest stuff out there! Bonnie makes her diapers out of organic bamboo and organic cotton. I have noticed that they don’t quite have the absorbency of her disposables, but I also have to confess that I only pre-washed them once before using them (more on that later).

If you are looking for a top of the line cloth diaper, check out Holden’s Landing. She has so many great things to offer, and she is such a genuinely nice and helpful person! Also, how can you resist this Hedgehog diaper?!

Other Cloth Diaper Tips

Here are a few more things I’ve learned about cloth diapering due to receiving these awesome diapers:
1. Cloth diapers need to be washed a few times in order for their absorbency to increase. This is particularly the case for diapers made with bamboo. I didn’t do that to start, and I think that’s why the absorbency was a little bit lacking at first.

2. Wool soakers only need to be washed once they start to get a little bit stinky. At first I thought you had to wash them every time, and I thought that was disappointing. But I was wrong!

3. Wool soakers need to be washed with a special type of soap. Bonnie also sent me a wool wash bar of soap (it isn’t really soap, but I can’t remember what it is called).

4. Unless they are AIO (All-in-one) or AI2 (all-in-two) diapers, most other cloth diapers need a cover to go over them to help prevent leaks.

5. Extra inserts are like pads that you can either lay in the diaper or, in certain diaper models, you can snap in. They are a great way to add some extra protection, but they do add some bulk!

6. If you cloth diaper, your little one is going to need bigger pants!

Stay tuned, as I’ll be bringing you news about my very first AIO diaper experience, as well as a GIVEAWAY sponsored by Hen & Chick Cloth! Tell me something interesting you have learned about your cloth diapering journey (or lack thereof!) in the comments of this post in order to gain an extra entry in the upcoming giveaway!

Disclosure: I won the original diaper that I talked about in this post, and Bonnie sent the other items just because she is nice, and not in exchange for me telling you about her! I just wanted to return the favor and spread the word about her great diapers!

Part-Time Cloth Diapering: Here we Go!

March 28, 2010 · by Tiffany Merritt · 5 Comments

We have been a disposable diaper family since before Darah was born. The thought of cloth diapering or part-time cloth diapering never even occurred to me. When I was pregnant I used online resources and a whole lot of coupons to get some really good deals on disposable diapers in sizes 1-3. Doing this helped take the sting out of the expense of buying diapers so that we have only had to purchase a handful of packages since Darah was born.

In my world outside of blogging, I only know 1 person who used cloth diapers, and she used the hybrid system (gDiapers ). They really sounded like the best of both worlds, but the price was just something I couldn’t afford, which is why we decided not to pursue that method of diapering for Darah. I didn’t (and still don’t!) personally know a single person who uses any other type of cloth diaper.

You have probably noticed, however, that there tends to be a disproportionate number of mommy bloggers who are using cloth. I have no idea why this is, but it has really fascinated me! Cloth diapering mamas seems to constantly be singing the praises of their favorite cloth diaper companies, and swearing up and down that cloth diapering is EASY. The overall thriftiness of cloth diapering, however, is what really piqued my curiosity.

Over the last few months I have started paying attention to cloth diaper posts. I’m starting to learn the lingo (which, by the way, is very intimidating and overwhelming to a newbie). I’ve even started entering cloth diaper giveaways. I figured that if I won one, then it was meant to be and we were going to give it a try.

Well, I did win one! Stay tuned for my next post where I tell you all about our very first cloth diaper experience, courtesy of Holden’s Landing.

I’d love to hear all the mama’s who DON’T cloth diaper talk about why you are choosing/chose not to. There’s no judgment from me for not doing it…I can relate to being wary about going cloth! 🙂