Cloth Diapering: 18 months in

Well, 17 1/2 to be exact, but close enough.

So what does cloth diapering look like for us now?

It is a mix. We still use prefolds but in the last four-six months we have added a dozen pockets and half a dozen fitteds into the mix.

About six months ago we started doing pockets at night instead of prefolds. E was staring to sleep better and only waking up once or so at night so we needed to get something that would keep him drier and have a bit more absorbency. I had been putting hemp doublers in with the prefolds, but the pockets were all around easier at night. Mark always does the middle of the night changes and pockets are more streamlined than snappi-ing a prefold and putting on a cover.

The pockets were working out so well I wanted more, and over the next few months with some sales I ended up with a full dozen, three of them that I got for free!

A few months later we got into the impossible-to-change stage. As soon as his back hit that table he was turning over and on his hands and knees and trying to stand up. Trying to do a snappi on a prefold while dealing with that is too much. I tried just doing a trifold with the prefold, but I'm just not a fan of how the diaper fits that way. I have enough pockets that about half of them are used for nighttime and the other half for day, but I wanted to try something else so I decided to try fitteds.

I have now been able to try 4 different types. The first were two Play All Day fitteds I bought on clearance that E was just starting to fit into. I only have one now, the other one had snap issues and was lost when I sent it back for repair. Anyway, the one I have is ok, but I wish it had overlapping snaps on the one tab for a better fit. The one I had to send back did :-( but this one doesn't. It works pretty well but E is still on the small side for it so I think it will fit better down the road. Then I tried a Mother Ease fitted. I liked it because it was trim. Really, other than a flat, this is the most trim diaper we have. So I bought another one and tried 2 of another Mother Ease design- Sandy's. These appealed to me because the snaps are on the side and so the diaper can be pulled. Which is great when you have a child who will not lay still for more than half a second. These are a lot more absorbent, but the thing that I don't like as well about them is that they are really big. I have a hard time making sure all the edging (which is a little ruffly) stays inside the cover, and if it doesn't then of course we end up with wicking leaks. Lastly, I just got a Thirsties Fab Fitted as a replacement for the lost diaper. We used it for the first time today and so far, so good. Being that it is Thirsties it fits great under the covers. It is really soft and velvety! I kind of wonder if it will stay that way.

Now all 6 fitteds are snaps, and 3 of the pockets are snaps. I also ended up getting 3 new covers (in snaps) a couple months ago because I think the Bummis SuperBrites and fleece cover are on their last legs. Besides that, they are sized and aren't meant to fit as long as the Thirsties Duos. Why all the snaps? Well, because E figured out how to undo velcro and when that happened I decided I better make all future purchases snaps instead of velcro. It isn't that straight forward though.
First of all, the little boy who can unvelcro his diaper in 2 seconds can unsnap a diaper in about 5 seconds, so I only gained a few seconds of time if he makes up his mind to take it off.
Second, while I like the snaps on all these a lot better than I liked the snaps on the Bummis Whisper Wrap I had when E was newborn, they still aren't as user friendly as velcro. Mark will use them, but I know he doesn't like them as well. I do think they take longer to put on and it is still slightly more difficult to be sure I have the best fit. On the plus side, I think snaps will hold up a lot better than the velcro does. The velcro looks ratty after awhile and on our Bummis it has lost a lot of its sticking power. So while I concede that snaps have their place, I am still not sold that they are superior.
As for the diaper bag these days:
Well, first of all I only bring the diaper bag if we are going to be gone for awhile (like more than a couple hours). Otherwise I put E in a pocket or fitted before going out and just wait until we are back home. When I do bring it, pockets go in and if I am running low then maybe a fitted and cover. I am DONE with prefolds and a snappi when we are out and about.
Thankfully the last few weeks have been better and only a few diaper changes a day are struggles, so I've been reaching for prefolds again. I still like them, but it is really nice to have some simpler options when I need them.