How about those CDs?? Probably not what you're thinking...

I am not really sure what ultimately convinced us to want to start cloth diapering Jily, but apparently what people say is true - you will either love it or hate it! I think it also depends on your circumstances with childcare and your ability to schedule in the time it takes that helps it be a little easier... not to say it can't be done while working since many moms now work from home, plus also because I was one of those moms that breastfed with my first and went back to work full-time at 6 weeks! I just think cloth diapering Jak would have been much more difficult for his childcare providers than already having to keep up with the bottles and breastmilk I brought every day with him... I have heard how awful the CDCs here can be about expressed milk, so can you imagine asking them to "save" your diapers until the end of the day and change babies into another one?! Not to mention that so many people still respond negatively about how they believe it's unsanitary and complicated!
I agree that the way it was done 20 or 30 years ago would have been a headache. Pins to stick yourself and the kids with, ugly prefolds, bulky covers... Totally not fun!! Today though, there are different categories and tons of adorable designs! It truly takes trying an assortment of different kinds to figure out which ones are best suited for you and your baby! I just so happen to have a chunky baby girl, so the thickness doesn't bother me since the trim cuts don't seem to have enough coverage. I have had great luck with both cheaper and more expensive ones alike. I absolutely love Dearest Diapers online and Rana, the owner has given me solid, honest advice and assistance along the way. I was surprised too of learning how many friends that I have here that either did or do cd! How awesome it's been to borrow, buy and be given diapers for Jily! DD suggested not to buy a package of one brand, but rather buy and/or try a few of each kind and build a stash of our favorites!! That's what we've done..
Today I have been helping a close friend back home decide on a jump start to where she should begin. It's a hard position for me to be in because my thoughts are now that we have a "stash", our next little J could be completely built different and what worked for our daughter may not for him or her as well. But I'll go ahead and put what I've found so far on here about the ones I like and don't, plus a paragraph about how simplistic they are to care for!!
Our favorites on Jilyann are: Rumparoos, Flips, Grovia and SoftBums! The Smart Snugs, Sunbaby and Kawaiis are also good cheap pocket diapers that we've had no leaking problems with. I'm anxious to get my preorders of the new BumGenius and also the minky Itti Bittis!! There are only 2 that I don't use unless I'm running low or they are double stuffed for night: the fuzzibunz and G diapers. The fuzzibunz take me forever to stuff as opposed to all of Jily's other pockets since they are slim, and the G diapers are her only ones that all the smell doesn't completely come out of nor does the plastic liner look that clean to me (if you hear any secrets, please share!). If she poops too, I can't bring myself to put another insert in the shell no matter what shells they are either because she makes a mess nearly every time! I'm still pretty lost on understanding a benefit to cloth fitted ones even though I have 2 Thirsties, only because they require a cover and that's similar to the needs of a prefold, which I have never used, not even to stuff any diapers with yet. I do use all but 2 of everything Jily has on a regular basis though because with 30-40, that's enough to make it 2 to 3 days before washing. My retired ones are a huge purple foreign brand that came in a stack of 8 our wonderful friend Julianna made us a stellar deal on (then wouldn't take the money even), and a size 1 thirsty that was suppose to last up to 18 pounds and didn't fit right at 12, so I put away for either someone else to use or our next to come home from the hospital in cloth! I'm all about letting friends try some brands out we have before buying because I'm grateful we had gracious people that did the same for us! Big thank yous also to Stephanie and Charissa for stocking us up on supplies we wouldn't have probably tried otherwise!!
Now about care - don't listen when you hear it's gross or hard... Both are false in my opinion! It's never fun changing a poopy diaper, no matter who you are or if even they are just going in the garbage!! They make these wonderful things called liners now that sit on top of the inserts, so you just pull off and throw away or flush to help with those that can't get past number 2s! I have quite a lot of those myself (mainly because of the sweet friends I listed above), but honestly I'm saving them for when we take trips to the mainland, travel the islands, move or just are on the go if it's ever more than a couple of hours in the day. Fortunately we all are on a schedule, so I don't find myself inconvenienced yet by rinsing out the dirty ones if possible and/or throwing them in our wetbags. We are about to install a new diaper sprayer at home, and I bet that will be such a luxury!! There's a nice pail, compliments of my great inlaws too (who I forgot to mention provided us with our nice starter kit very graciously since yes the startup costs can get pricey) in our laundry room with a washable pail liner that all goes straight into the washing machine too (aka no stink lol). The first cycle is cold with no detergent and if possible set it to an extra rinse again. Then, you switch over to hot/cold and add in a cloth diaper safe detergent like Rocking Green or All Free and Clear (to avoid buildup and residue on diapers that effect absorbency) into the wash with that same extra rinse cycle. Anywhere from 1 to 2 tbsp of detergent is plenty because you don't want them scented, just clean. From what I've read, it's NEVER ok to add bleach or any stain removers either since they break down the materials in the fabrics. When you switch over to the dryer, it's important to put them on LOW heat to not ruin the PUL materials on the covers, making sure if you use velcro they are fastened in, and if some of the hemp or bamboo inserts don't dry then let them go for another half cycle or so (these are more expensive, but wonderful at soaking up wetness and much thinner than microfiber that I think is bulky for baby, hence they take a while longer).
Snap or hook and loop you may ask - I like both! Jily will eventually pull off velcro I'm sure (she already did that to the little Thirsty size 1 I retired), so the snaps are great. Josh prefers the snaps infact because to him it's easier, but for me when little bit is wiggly and I'm in a hurry, velcro just goes right on!!
The mister - what if your husband or other family isn't onboard? I think they will be shocked at just how easy this is! And might I add, HOW GREAT IT IS for baby's butt AND the environment... Research what's in disposables and that alone may make you and them cringe!! We went on a weekend retreat with the kids in mid-January and brought along our opened Huggies size 2s thinking that was the logical option staying in a hotel away from home.. NOPE! Josh made the remark repeatedly that he missed Jily's diapers and how gross the smell and texture of disposable are! While walking around Kailua with the kids last week infact, I bought my first Grovia shell in a retail store because they had a package of 50 diaper like inserts with it that are biodegradable and can be flushed (I cheated on Rana for the first time and hated it, but she doesn't carry these, I checked first ;0)!! I love this idea so much better than using disposables next time we go on vacation! My husband and I are tree huggers at heart though, so the concept wasn't ever anything I had to convince him to do. He wondered how much trouble it would be on me adding one more To Do onto our laundry list, but everytime one of my favorite of Jily's diapers is dirty, I am glad when it's time to do the prep work above so she can wear it again! I am like that about my favorite dresses and tops too, and don't get me started on Josh's board shorts that it seems I have to steal and take to the laundry because he wants to get the most use out of them (not as bad as it sounds considering he's in uniform at work until he gets home)!! I think if I wasn't quick about keeping our clothes clean, he would wash loads just to see them again hehe! Even Jakson likes to pick out Jily's giraffee diaper for the drawer, which is his favorite for us to put on her, or if that one has been worn he goes for another of the cute designs, especially for her bedtime after they have both been bathed and their nightly routines are complete! We have found that since CDing is already incorporated into our regular habits - anything else to us is strange!!
I'm sure there's lots more that I could write on the topic, and I do plan to share more as I learn more! The joke around here is after the kiddos are in bed, if I'm looking on the computer for a while, the silly comment now isn't about facebook, it's, "Honey, you know we don't need any of those cloth diapers you're looking at. Jily has enough." Dang, what can I say, he knows me well! It can definitely be addicting!! I like to watch youtube reviews and read about all the dozens of brands out there. I am looking forward to a cloth diapering book that's on it's way too! We all have some dork in us, and this is something I see myself always being a nerd about. Who blogs more about CDing than their intro or first post.... ME! Guess it's better to write about it for an hour tonite than to be salivating over the ones on my wish list...
I wanted to say too how much I love that Jily hasn't had one rash yet with CDs too.. Can't say the same for my little man because he had eczema as a baby, and still even has very sensitive skin, so the thought runs through my head occasionally if this would have helped him back then?! But he's a healthy and happy kid and I never even heard or knew of anyone that mentioned doing it. I think that's why Josh and I talk openly about it to friends and acquaintances that comment on our daughter's CDs. We are enjoying focusing so much on educating ourselves when it comes to our kids and all that's out there. We want to explore new routes and ideas, even if that means the road is less traveled sometimes.. CDing is a blast and we look forward to doing it until Jily is potty trained and with our next kid(s) too! :)