What Do I Need To Successfully Cloth Diaper?

I am lucky enough to work in a fluffy storefront, and besides the "which diaper do you recommend" the most asked question we get is "What all do I NEED to start"

There are so many accessories for cloth diapering, but only a few necessaries.

Blissful Booty Starter Pack

1. The baby 
2. Diapers
3. Wipes
4. Wetbag/ pail liner
5. Detergent 

That's it, those are the basics.  This kit here from Blissful Booty can give you a great start.  It includes 4 AIO (All In One) diapers, 1 zippered hanging wetbag, 10 pack of two sided wipes, wipe water concentrate and spray bottle, and a pail liner.

Depending on the age of your baby, and time you want in diapers (full time, part time, day time, etc) will vary the amount of diapers you will need to be successful.  This kit, which retails for $120.00 is enough to get a good part time start for an older baby to toddler who on average will only go through 5-7 diapers a day, to include overnight.  How awesome is that!

Wetbag, wipe water, 2 dipes,
5 wipes, spray bottle, and love!

I had the pleasure of testing this kit from Blissful Booty and had such a hard time deciding which item was my favorite!  So we will start from the top :)

1. The baby:

Madison, 21 months, 28 lbs
wearing a medium.

Abby, 5 months 14 lbs
wearing a small.

2. Diapers:
These diapers are True AIO's.  There is no pocket, no stuffing, no drama,  put it on, take it off, wash and repeat.
Now, I will admit, I am a pessimist when it comes to hype, and I scoffed at the mere thought of people rubbing the diapers on their face due to the softness, but, I did it too.  They are BUTTER soft!  (Yes, even after washing!)  They had the internal gussets to maintain Abby's EBF poo, and Maddi's teething poo, and even better, sprayed off easily before the teething issues got here! They wash super well, wear great, and dry fast!  I have no idea what magic spell they put on these things when they make them, but it worked!  As you can see, there is plenty of room for them to both grow into the diapers, and plenty of room for them to be smaller in them with the crossover tabs.  I wish all diapers had these!  They have recently introduced snaps (with crossover snaps) to their line-up for those of you who prefer snaps, all though, the aplix they have used has not created diaper chains in my laundry, filled with lint, or fuzzed up over the time that I have used them, and that use has been heavy!  These diapers are SUPER trim as well!  Just check out the plumber shot!

These jeans cannot be worn with
some of her other fluff, but these
diapers work well with them!

3. The wipes:
If you are going to cloth diaper, go the cloth wipe route as well.  Your baby's bum will thank you, as well as your washer for not missing the disposables that shred in the laundry when you miss one, and you will!  These cotton/ terry double layer wipes are perfect!  Thick enough to clean the messiest messes with 1, but gentle enough to clean faces after a rough day of modeling.  The wipe water concentrate they sent, delicious!  Smells wonderful without being overpowering, and non-greasy!  I used water previous to this, as most of the other solutions were either too soapy, greasy, or obnoxiously over powering smelly.  This concentrate is none of those.

4. The wetbag:
If you are going out, your little one is not (most of the time) going to wait until you get home to soil the diaper. You need a wetbag to take the diaper home in, or for the daycare to place them in.  I  had a hard time picking which pattern of wetbag I liked most, but the monkey one stole my heart!  My favorite feature of the bag (besides the cute pattern) is the handle.  It can be used as either a hanging wetbag, or snap onto a stroller, outside of your diaper bag, or grab bar in the van/ car.  Little details like this get me so excited!  I think that is why the wetbag is my favorite item I received!  It washes well, and can hold at least 4-5 soiled diapers with wipes while still being able to close easily.

5. The detergent:
My previous blog on washing covers this, but to recap Rockin' Green is recommended by myself and sold by Blissful Booty :)

Now, onto the fun part (for you)  YOU get to try a product from Blissful Booty!  I could not decide what to award you with, so you get to decide between a diaper or wetbag!

Mandatory entries:
1. Follow my blog.  (how else would you know you won?)
2. Visit Blissful Booty and tell me what other item you would like to try of theirs.
Extra entries:
1. Visit my Facebook page, (ps, if you fan my FB page, I announce winners there too)
2. Visit Blissful Booty's Facebook page and tell them "hi" (ps, fan them if you want up to the minute sale notifications and giveways from them)
3. Tell me which you would choose, and why.  (Diaper or Wetbag)
4. What is your favorite fabric pattern they offer.
5. Share the love!  Let others know about the giveaway!

Random.org will decide a winner April 8th at 8:00 pm EST!

I Am Crying "Uncle"!!

I have had a very stressful laundry week, and it has all come down on my beloved diapers.

I love my cloth, as I have said in previous posts, and like many of you, are so "retentive" about staining, discoloration, and stink.  I will gladly wash a diaper 15 times and sun it dry over and over to avoid a stain.  This last week, I have been brought to the brink of tears, and disposables. :(
Wednesday, as I did my normal diaper laundry, I noticed some dark brown spots on my dipes.  I grumpily figured it was a crayon or other marking device left in one of the kids pockets and began the arduous task of inspecting each diaper and insert thoroughly to remove the tainted ones from rotation to rewash with the next load. It only turned out to be a small handful of dipes.  Not too bad.
Thursday I laundered again, inspecting the dipes, there were MORE spots.  I panicked.  Removing the spotted ones at this point were not an option, removing the unspotted ones was easier.  This time, only  a handful of "clean" diapers.
With most of Thursdays load needing to be rewashed, and Wednesdays stragglers, plus the diapers I was still using, I was running behind on diaper laundry.  I did the only thing  I could do, I put them back in the wash.  I figured the culprit HAD to be washed out of the washer by now.  Boy, was I wrong.
Friday, after an epic load of diaper laundry, I pulled them out of the wash.  There were not spots this time, but smears and blots.  *GASP* and the smell of grease.  EVERY one of my diapers I washed that time had grease spots on them, new, old, ones currently in review, you name it, stained!
(Sidenote, a few weeks earlier, I had some other diapering products bleed onto an entire load of diapers, so on top of my hideously yellowed dipes from that escapade, I now have grease stains.)
I dumped all the remaining unlaundered dirty diapers in my bath tub and prewashed them, then carted them and the spotted ones to my fathers house around the corner to rewash them in his washer.  If only he knew I washed them in there, I might end up with a new washer from him!  2-3 washes per load later at his house, i still had grease spots all over my diapers, but at least the grease smell was gone at this point.
It turned out that the transmission in my washer blew a seal and spewed mechanical grease all over many loads of laundry.
I am now the proud new owner of a toothbrush, bottle of blue dawn, and a new washing machine.  I am happy, momentarily.
Today, I resumed my diaper laundry, again, far behind.  I decided to split my load, inserts and prefolds first, and I would wash my AIO's, covers, and shells next.  I normally do not launder this way, and boy am I glad I did in hindsight.  I threw my freshly laundered prefolds and inserts into the dryer and start to wash my PUL items.  About an hour later I open my dryer to get the inserts and my heart sunk.  They were BLACK!!!  No. No. No.  I put them in the laundry basket, and brought them out and dropped them silently at my husbands feet.  "I give up"  After almost 2 years of  exclusive cloth diapering, this third event was too much.
After investigating the dryer, the only thing I can presume is when the delivery men were installing the washer, they pushed the dryer and kinked the exhaust hose.  A stuck chunk of lint must have caught fire and disbursed soot and smoke into the washer, and my room (I noticed the smoke earlier, but dismissed it as candle smoke from it burning too high)  Thank God my dryer itself did not catch fire, or house, or harm my daughter who was sleeping in the room adjacent to the dryer.
The good news, the black soot washed off.  Inserts were saved.  Now, to go scrub off all that grease :(

One Size Fuzzi Bunz Hemp Pocket

I love that I had the chance to review this diaper!  I am a huge hemp fan, and a Fuzzi fan, and now, the two are united, in fluffy love!!

I was sent a Hemp One Size Big Sky from their Funkadelic colors.  Generally, I love the over the top girly colors and prints, but this blue seems to fit that for me, while still being neutral enough to go on a boy.  Then again, I am quite a funky loving person, maybe that's why it works?!?

On to the review!


I received 1 shell, 1 medium hemp insert, an extra elastic kit, and sizing instructions.

Blue Sky with hemp insert on top
Grape with microfiber on bottom

My first thought was how slim the diaper was.  I love the Slim cut of the one size for use under smaller clothes, or skirts for my daughter, as many of the competing one size diapers on the market are bulkier and often have excess fabric that tends to hang out either the top of the pants, or below the hem of the skirt.   Amplify that trimness times hemp, and even the skinniest of jeans would fit!

I prepped the diaper 3 times before my initial test, as you should with hemp.  Fuzzi Bunz states

"Initially, insert needs to be washed 4-5 times separatelyto activate natural hemp absorption qualities."

The hemp jersey insert fluffed right up and was super soft! Even after line drying it since the initial prep, it does not dry "crunchy" like my other hemp inserts and doublers.

I first tried to get the diaper on my 4 month old,  whom I have had a horrible time finding one sizes to fit properly.  Fuzzi Bunz Perfect Fit diapers were the first pocket that would fit her, and surprisingly, this one fit her as well!  It took a few adjustments to get a good fit on her, where there weren't gaps, or looping flaps, but once I found it, it fit GREAT!  I used the size guide that came with the diaper to get a general idea, and tweaked it from there to fit.  The medium insert git great, with no folding needed.

Try number one

Fully adjusted :)

Nice and slim!

I  put her down for a nap in it.  Abby's morning naps can be marathon naps, and this instance, she decided to take one.  4 hours later, she woke up.  With her being a skinny stomach sleeper, we often get leaks when using pockets for sleep.  No leaks.  I was impressed!

One diaper load of laundry later, I readjusted the diaper to fit my 20 month old.  A few simple button and unbuttons later, it fit like a glove on her too!  She is a chunk, weighing in at 28 lbs and there was still room for her to grow in the diaper.  One sippy full of juice and her side sleeping 3 hour nap later, we were still dry!  Hooray!! (mommy loves dry sheets and clothes!)

Still room to grow!

Does this diaper make my bum look cute?

Next wearing, I subjected myself to the ultimate test.  I wore Madison in it.  I have had horrible instances of leaking when Madison has been wearing hemp without a super soaker in front of it, and me becoming the super soaker.  Fully expecting to be the victim again, we set out to test.  An Ergo ride, cart load, and a couple hours later my back was dry.  I figured she had not peed yet, so I checked, she had, and I was not the recipient!

Overall assessment? I. Want. More!

Do you want one too?  You can get one here in any of the Fuzzi Bunz colors!!!

Tiny Tush Covers Review

Recently, I was given the chance to review a Tiny Tush Cover.  


In one short sentence, I love it!


I was sent the Tiny Tush XS in celery, with snaps.  By the time my cover got here, my daughter was on the far end of the weight scale. At  over 4 months, and 12 lbs 8 oz, It still fit her fine.



X-Small 6-13lbs
Small 13-20lbs
Medium 20-27lbs
Large 27- 38lbs


Initial impressions of the cover:


I love it has double gussets,  I often wonder WHY all covers don't have them!
The flap in the front for tucking of inserts, all though I use infant sized prefolds with mine.  
Crossover snaps in the front, to fit the smallest of babes!  (even though the chart says 6, I'm almost sure it would fit down to 4 lbs!)
Umbilical dip, for healing bellies.
Soft knit fabric.
Easy on the wallet.
Best of all USA Made!  

This cover left zero red marks, thanks to the soft elastic casings.  I did have some extra hip snap covers, so I am able to use them to extend the use of this cover even more!  at 4 1/2 months, she can still use it without them though.  The rise is high enough in both the front and the back :)


I like to put my testers through every situation possible.  This cover was tested for nap-time, overnight, playtime, babywearing, car seat, travel, sitting, and jogging (ok, kidding about the jogging) It passed all the tests with only 1 leak, and that was simply user error.  (I let the pre-fold peek out of the back on accident)  After being washed with every diaper laundry load for almost a month, it still looks like NEW!  No staining, no PUL cracking, no pilling, and still as soft as can be.