I don't have personal experience to contribute but after talking to a friend who's been through the cloth diaper routine a few times, I changed my planned "all pre-fold all the time" stance to a combo of prefold and pocket diapers.

Apparently the pockets are great for overnight, since you can stuff them with extra inserts or more absorbent inserts or whatever. She also directed me towards http://jilliansdrawers.com/ , which has a trial set where you can try out a bunch of brands before committing. As far as I can tell, brand loyalty is basically a religious issue and babies vary in how they fit a given brand, so I'm a little scared to buy a lot before trying them.

for us, pockets at night were great when i changed him during the night, but now, its all about how much stuffin i can get on his bottom at night, and layers of prefolds are more effective, and i throw a sheet of microfleece over it to act like the stay dry of a pocket. Of course i couldn't shell out for the hitech pocket stuffin, and just stuff my pockets with prefolds. that said, they are my diaper bag, out and about diapers, all three of them.

For out and about I really like my Bummis wet bag - I have a size small, which is 10" x 12" and just right for about three medium sized prefolds, but you can get bigger ones if you use pockets or want it to hold more. I like it because it has a zipper, and the handle unsnaps so I can hang it on something if I need to.

I got wet bags from SnuggyBaby on Etsy, but they have their own website you can order from, too. Here are the wet bags. I haven't used them yet (stillllllllll pregnant), but they seem really well made and come in some super cute patterns (which is kind of pointless, but I'm a sucker for cute fabric).

I have a diaper sprayer, but again: haven't used it yet. I don't know why I keep posting in this thread when I don't actually have anyone to diaper yet.

i have that exact diaper sprayer. i didn't worry too much about breastfeeding poops since they were pure liquid, but once he started eating solids it came in handy. the only thing is the pressure is REALLY touchy, and if you aren't careful you're going to get backsprayed with poo water...

_________________Gwyneth Paltrow: "I'm superstitious. Whenever I start a new movie I kill a hobo with a hammer."

I saw (but didn't actually read) an article about the dangers of diaper sprayers. I think because of strangulation risks. If you have one or plan to get one I would read it. I think I saw it on the diaper junction blog. I am not saying not to use one but I see the potential hazard, so make sure you have the bathroom door baby proofed.

I got wet bags from SnuggyBaby on Etsy, but they have their own website you can order from, too. Here are the wet bags. I haven't used them yet (stillllllllll pregnant), but they seem really well made and come in some super cute patterns (which is kind of pointless, but I'm a sucker for cute fabric).

Oh my! I love it! I'm of huge fan of fabric and paper for that matter with design. I actually have the fabric for the "Tranquil Leaves Wet Bag" as a camera bag that I bought on Etsy.

i don't have a sprayer- i dunk diapers in the toilet or shake of more solid poops into the toilet. I used to use a scraper, but in the last move, it disappeared (it was a golden cake scraper i picked up at a thrift store, i could replace it, but i'm to cheap and lazy). as they said, until they start solids, you don't need to worry about it. I also figure it keeps me washing my hands, which i should do anyway.

oh, and on the cheap and lazy note, for diapering out and about i keep a couple plastic shopping bags in the zippered compartment of my backpack for wet bags.

What is your night time set-up? I've been using Nature's Best disposables at night, because they're easier when I'm half asleep and because, now that he's sleeping for more than 2 hours at a time, I don't want a wet diaper against his skin. But lately it seems we have a poop leak every night--poop goes up his back, through his pajamas, and onto my sheets. I never have leaks when he's in cloth, so disposables are actually turning out to be more work. Plus they smell bad. I want to make the switch to cloth at night, so I ordered some fleece-lined hemp doublers. Most nights he's not pooping until 4 or 5am (I think) so if he's in the same diaper 10pm-4am, he's not sitting in poop. Green Mountain Diapers recommends wool for overnight, but obviously I'd like to avoid that. Do you have special covers for nighttime, or do you just use your regular covers with extra absorbency inside?

I only had two covers that were Nikky brand. I always saved them for night time because they were bullet proof and fully breathable poly. They run about $14.00 new and worth ever single penny. Nikkys have been around since the early 80's and rival any of todays brands. I would highly receommend trying one for nightime.

my two sons never pooped during the night, but they pee'd twice as much as my daughter and nursed every 1-2 hours untile the bitter end. I swear I birthed little piggies. The nikkys were great.

I noticed turd through the window of the front-load washer while I was running a load of diapers last night. My husband kindly disposed of it. I guess I need to start making sure all the disposable liners have been flushed. I don't know how that one got past us. ;p

I noticed turd through the window of the front-load washer while I was running a load of diapers last night. My husband kindly disposed of it. I guess I need to start making sure all the disposable liners have been flushed. I don't know how that one got past us. ;p

Hahaha! I couldn't help but get a mental picture of Mr. Hanky the Christmas Poo from South Park when I read this. Not helpful at all, but it gave me a hearty laugh...On a more helpful note, I really love my Maxwell Designs Diaper Bag, Wet Bag and Changing Pad. My wet bag sounds exactly like what Poopie B described. Also, if you are interested, the Maxwell Designs chic will match your changing pad, diaper bag and wet bag, if you are into that sort of thing. Linky http://tootsntots.com/main/shop/categor ... l-designs/I got the XL and to be honest, I could have gotten by with the L or M.

_________________Go gentle unto the night, children. For the flouncin' hat is sure to unflatter even the finest face ~ PandacookieGet with the times, nameless fourth banana ~Tofulish

Like Mel I have the Maxwell gear - bag, change pad and wetbag. Mine match because I am into that sorta thing ;) I do love that it zips from a mess containing perspective, but I actually like one of the other bags I have from http://www.applecheeks.com better (it's drawstring style) because I find it easier to load diapers into without getting my hands messy. And maybe it's just me, but I've found having more than 1 wetbag to be pretty beneficial, as sometimes we have crazy weekends and I don't have time to wash one or wait for it to dry before we have to head out again.

For overnight, we actually put one of our applecheeks inserts into one of our BumGenius AIO diapers and have never had a leak. We were getting all kinds of leaks with every other combination we tried (we have pockets, the Bumgenius, and a bunch of fitteds with covers - were never into prefolds) but I think we have hit the jackpot.

I thought this was a useful page: http://www.esbaby.net/whatdoineed.htm I am still pregnant myself but just spent a good part of the weekend navigating this and interrogating my cloth diapering friends!

Things I have learned:- one-size diapers are great, and eventually if I like them I plan to use a mix of one size Fuzzibunz and Flip system. (with flip cloth inserts most of the time and maybe disposable inserts when we travel).. HOWEVER, even my friend with giant babies finds that her kids don't fit well into "one size" diapers until they're a little over 10 lbs, so it's good to have some newborn or small diapers to span that 7-12 lb range. (Assuming you plan to have big babies - my mom and MIL churned 'em out in the 7.5-10+ range so I'm not too worried about fitting a 5lber myself!) From reading around it does sound like the Flip diapers can possibly be used with larger newborns, but I've decided to get plenty of NB options just in case.

- count on using about 12 inserts or all-in-one/pocket diapers per day for a newborn, larger babies go less frequently. So then you multiply by how often you want to do laundry, and you probably don't want to go over 3 days because things will get rank. If you plan to air dry, leave time for that! So personally my plan is to have 3 days' worth of diapers, so that means 36 changes.

- For all-in-one/pocket diapers, that means one per change for the most part

- For prefolds (those are pieces of cloth sewn on the side that you have to put inside a cover) or fitted diapers (these look a little like all-in-ones and have snaps or velcro to hold them together, BUT they're made of non-waterproof material so if you go out or baby moves a lot you need a cover on that), you'll need one prefold or fitted per change PLUS a certain number of covers (that site recommends 5-9 total for a 3 day supply). The covers are just a waterproof shell that go over the diaper.

- Personally I've been mulling the tradeoff between nice matchy-match commercial system vs. collecting a little of everything and seeing what I like. After talking it over with the husband and doing some research I've decided that with newborn diapers I'm going to get a few each of different things. All babies are shaped differently and even the same TYPE of diaper can fit very differently between brands! I guess this is why some people RAVE about one brand while others hate it, and vice versa with another brand. So I'm preparing to be flexible! But after doing gobs of research, here's what my newborn shopping list is:

[ ] Small Fuzzibunz in various colors: 6-8 (these are pocket diapers, so very convenient for nighttime!) Zulily has these on sale for >1/2 off every once in a while so I'm planning on waiting for the next sale. Already have a couple, they seem very soft and well-made.[ ] Fitted newborn diapers: 6 (lots of options on etsy with cute fabrics! my friend says that if you're just at home with baby still immobile, you don't necessarily need a cover. If you go out, you do. I figure these will be almost as easy as the fuzzibunz at night[ ] Small size indian prefolds - 24 (they're cheap)[ ] Snappis - 2 - these hold the prefolds in place if you don't want to use diaper pins. You need to replace them every 6 mos and need 1-2 of them.[ ] NB/small covers - need 5, ordered 8 of a couple types - Bummis with snaps and the suspiciously cheap Real Nappies with velcro[ ] One Flip system one-size day pack - 2 covers + 6 inserts. I don't know if these will fit a young baby but I'm going to try.[ ] Pondering getting a few newborn all in ones, since there are cute inexpensive ones on etsy.

I also am planning on the husband not wanting to do elaborate prefold securing in the middle of the night (nor will I probably!), so I'm hoping to find what works for us among pocket diapers, all-in-ones, and fitted diapers.

It sounds like some brands of velcro are easier to remove by older babies than others. I'm not worried about this for NBs, and planning on going with snaps personally because I don't like velcro, but it does sound like it's slightly easier to put on (and, thus, take off).

Oh I forgot to mention: one important thing with newborns is that the umbilical cord shouldn't be covered/bothered by a diaper. So for example these newborn fitted diapers (again, these aren't waterproof so they need a cover with them), have a little notch where it's lower to accommodate that: http://www.etsy.com/listing/66693480/tiny-flowers-newborn-tt-fitted-cloth?ref=v1_other_2 Now I don't quite understand exactly what is and isn't compatible, but apparently you can adjust prefolds a little so they're folded under, and some diapers seem to have a setting where the front can be put lower.. The frustrating thing is that talking to people it seems like the cord can come off anywhere between a couple days after birth to weeks and weeks! so it's tough to say how much you need to accommodate this. Maybe the expert diaperers can chime in about this. I'm pretty sure, though, that for example the small fuzzi bunz I bought might not be usable the first few days because of this issue. I've heard of friends just sticking with disposables until the cord is gone and healed, to avoid the issue entirely.

And so my backup plan is to just have a pack or two of disposables, honestly. I also considered just going with those until the baby is big enough to fit into one size because the amount you'll spend on newborn cloth diapers can pay for itself if you have a preemie, but if your baby is larger they might be in newborn sizes just a few weeks! For a cost comparison, It looked on diapers.com that Pampers Swaddlers for newborns worked out to about $3/day.

Also, EVERY brand seems to have different sizing, so be careful about that, but it sounds like weighs are also just guidelines and you'll need to adjust the fit and even how much absorbent material you stuff in the diaper to suit your particular baby! ACK! I hope all this gets a lot more obvious once I have a baby in diapers.. I agree that it is incredibly confusing! I feel like I spent most of the weekend on this and it's still a mystery.

I bought newborn prefolds and covers from Green Mountain Diapers. Prefolds are just squares of quilty cotton fabric that you either pin around the baby or fold in thirds and hold in place with a waterproof cover. Prefolds and covers are the cheapest option, and I've found them very, very easy. My husband only changes one or two diapers each day and always says he can't believe how easy they are. I have pins but I like the snappis fasteners.

Green Mountain Diapers has a newborn starter package that lets you try a sampling of different brands of covers. That's a good idea, because you just don't know what you'll like until you try it. I thought I would like velcro, but then it curled under and scratched my son, so now I only use covers with snaps. The covers I thought were adorable had leg holes that were way too small for my kid, so I'm glad I waited before ordering lots of covers in larger sizes. I like thirsties duo covers--size small fits birth through about 15 lbs., size large lasts 15 lbs. until potty training (or so they say). You should just try several brands, see what is easy for you and what fits your kid best.

How many diapers and covers you need for a newborn depends on how big your baby is and how fast he/she grows, which is impossible to know now. Walter was out of newborn covers in 3 weeks, so those were kind of a waste of money. But if he had been tiny for a long time, the next size up would have been too big and leaky. So yes, you may end up wasting money on diapers that are too small. An alternative is to just use disposable until the baby grows into size smalls. We used disposables about half the time the first 2-3 weeks. It just felt easier; I was overwhelmed and didn't feel like figuring out a washing routine. Now I think cloth is easier than disposable, but just tossing the diapers in the trash made the first weeks (esp. nighttime) go more smoothly.

You're not the only one who finds this all confusing; I spent DAYS reading cloth diapering websites trying to figure it out. The good news is, once you're actually doing it every day, it'll seem easy.

You're not the only one who finds this all confusing; I spent DAYS reading cloth diapering websites trying to figure it out. The good news is, once you're actually doing it every day, it'll seem easy.

Ha ha. No kidding. I remember being really confused and concerned about it.

We went with prefolds and covers (the Thirsties Duos, which are two sizes... which for us were basically newborn and post-newborn) with the plan of moving on to AIOs as the Emperor got older/we could afford them. But I actually found that AIOs aren't a good match for us. They take forever to dry, for one thing, and we don't have a dryer. We ended up sticking with just prefolds etc and I expect that's what he'll be in for the duration.

I think there's no real way to know what's going to work for you and your baby til you've got the kid. Alas...

By the way, mitten, our nighttime diaper is pretty simple. We use super huge prefolds (toddler sized maybe?), tri fold them, then fold the front over so it's doubled up. So he's got basically six layers of prefold in his pee area overnight. It works really well now that he's older-- we barely every have nighttime leaks.

It's really hard to diaper babies so they don't leak some substance when they're younger. We didn't have poop leaks, but we did often have pee leaks when he was younger.

I'm another hardcore prefold fan (I love the thirstie duo covers and my husband likes the bummi super brights). We've tried AIOs and pockets, but they've always leaked on us or seem way too baggy. Turns out the cheapest route was the best fix for us! (love when that actually happens!)