Cloth Diapering Mission

Hello to everyone out there. I have recently decided to begin cloth diapering full time. To everyone who just cringed, take a deep breath. I am on a mission to discover the in's and out's and everything in between when it comes to cloth diapering.

When my cousin was little she was allergic to everything under the sun, including disposable diapers. Story goes my grandmother had a bucket of water next to the changing table. The white cloth diaper would get dunked into the toilet and then thrown into the nasty diaper bucket until later when she had time to probably hand wash them. GROSS!

Being a young mom of 26 I would have never considered cloth diapers. When my daughter was a newborn I realized very quickly that touching the POO was just something that happens. You can't control it, and there is nothing you can do about it, but poo and spit-up and everything under the sun is just EVERYWHERE! Suddenly things that were gross before having a baby had become what "just happens". If I was pre-soaking her clothes and blankets before washing anyways then what was the big deal with washing a diaper as well?

The first brand that I have come across so far is Charlie Banana. This brand has a fleece lining and is considered a "pocket diaper". These diapers have an opening where you stuff an absorbent pad or "soaker" inside. The solid waste stays on top of the fleece to be thrown into the toilet or scraped off with a diaper scraper. I love these diapers because they stay on my daughter who is now a very active toddler. I have had very few leaks with these diapers. My only issue is that they are bulky. I currently have the "One size fits all" diaper on largest setting (because the elastic is adjustable) but when she was smaller they seemed like they were too big for her body.

I have started making diapers for my daughter in the hopes that I can improve the current cloth diapering scene. My husband is constantly telling me to create something that is as easy for him to use as a disposable and he will be more willing to participate further than just taking the diaper off and setting it aside for me to "deal with".

I am constantly reading other posts from moms that cloth diaper to get all of the tips and tricks. For example I recently read that you have to wash pre-fold diapers several times before they are "bum ready". I would love to see cloth diapering be more trendy for young moms as well as veterans. I always see comments about how someone wished that cloth diapering was introduced to them sooner. Many moms don't catch on to cloth diapering until several children and years later.

I would love your thoughts and comments on anything that currently makes things easier or might improve your diapering experience.