One Size Pocket Diapers

WHY CHOOSE THE POCKET DIAPER?
There are sooooo many ways to cloth diaper a baby.  There are different styles, materials, and brands, and it can be very overwhelming at first.  Basically, when deciding to go cloth, you have to figure out what style will work best for your lifestyle.  So, a little research will be required.  Personally, we chose to use one size pocket diapers.  I'd love to try different styles just because I love cloth diapering, but seeing as we went cloth to save money, I'm trying to just keep to what we have since our stash very completely meets our needs.  We chose to use one size pocket diapers because we knew we would be cloth diapering two kiddos at once for a period of time.  Pockets also met my husband's requirement of having a diaper he'd never have to "toilet slosh."  Also, since we were going cloth to save money, it made sense to buy diapers that grew with baby instead of needing to buy a complete new stash for each growth stage.  My original stash will have gone through 3 kids by the time we are done.  We started cloth diapering Felicity when she was 2, Kian has been in cloth since day one, and we hope to have another baby one day.  We were generously given $300 as a baby shower gift while I was pregnant with Kian and this $300 bought us the stash we use today and all the other cloth supplies needed.  So $300 to diaper two babies from birth and a toddler for 6 months?.......that's a HUGE savings!!!!!  So multiple kiddos in cloth and money is what formed our decision to use the one size pockets. 

HOW DO POCKET DIAPERS WORK?
Here's the low down on the pockets.  The outside material is waterproof PUL.  The inner material against baby's skin is fleece.  There is a pocket in between these two layers which is accessible by an opening at the rear of the dipe.  "Inserts" get stuffed into this pocket.  The inserts we use are made of microfiber.  The microfiber inserts are absorbent while the fleece against baby's skin is a stay dry material.  So, when baby wets, the microfiber inserts suck the moisture into themselves and away from the fleece layer resting against baby's skin. 
I add an additional rectangle of fleece, as pictured below, which is called a liner. 

I do that for two reasons.  1) My babies have really sensitive skin so an extra layer of stay dry material works great for them.  2) If the poop is just too nasty to deal with, or you are out and about and are changing baby in the car where you can't dump the poop in the toilet, just throw the liner out....poop and all.  I should add here that since fleece is a stay dry material, it sluffs poop REALLY well.  After baby starts eating solids and their poop is more solid, I can literally just take the diaper to the toilet and dump the poop right in, leaving my diaper with nothing more than a skid mark left behind.  Of course, not all poop is that solid so I would highly recommend getting a toilet sprayer.  I would be lost without that thing.  I have never toilet sloshed a diaper and have never scraped poop off a diaper with a trowel.....though I'm asked often about both those things.  I make my own liners by just cutting rectangles of fleece.  No sewing involved.  Check the remnants box at your fabric store for cheap fleece.  Hmmmmm....can I say poop more in this paragraph?  CRAP!

Most pocket diapers are sold with 2 inserts. Some people like to use one insert for day time use and two for at night. I use two all the time. I don't care how big my baby's booty is. I'm all for more absorbency.


Having said I don't care how big their booty is, I will say that we primarily use two brands of pocket diapers; Nubunz and Kawaii. The Kawaii are very thick, very absorbent, and very huge when stuffed with both inserts. They are bomb proof. I don't usually need THAT much protection during the day so we've gotten into the routine of using the Kawaiis at night (Kian sleeps in them for at least 12 hours a night with no leaks ever) and the trimmer (yet still big) Nubunz during the day. I must say the Kawaiis are harder to fit into standard baby clothes but since we use them primarily at night, its no problem.  They are excellent night time diapers!

Nubunz on left, Kawaii on right.  Both snapped to medium rise.

The pocket openings vary by brand. I prefer the Nubunz opening as opposed to the Kawaii and the Fuzzibunz because the Nubunz opening does NOT have elastic. It is wide enough to shake the liners right out into the laundry pail. The Kawaiis have elastic enclosing the liners in. They can not be shaken out. I have mastered the skill of using one of my cloth wipes like a glove to just barely reach in the pocket and get the top of the inserts to pull them out. Not my fav but we only use the Kawaiis at night so I'm doing this at home as opposed to out and about, so it works just fine. The Fuzzibunz pocket opening does not have elastic but the inserts fit so tightly in the pocket, you can not shake them out easily. Because of these reasons, the Kawaiis and Fuzzibunz aren't as easy to stuff as the Nubunz. But don't get me wrong, its not hard at all. Neither of us mind stuffing pockets at all. Some people do and don't buy them for that reason. Zac can't stuff the Kawaii and Fuzzibunz with his big hands but he can do the Nubunz. Oh, and if you have no idea what I'm talking about, "stuffing" a diaper is when you take your freshly washed inserts and stuff them into the freshly washed diapers so they're ready to go on baby.

HOW ARE THEY ONE SIZE?
One size diapers have a few rows (usually 3) of snaps down the front of the diaper.  Snapping the rows together shortens the rise of the diaper for newborns and little babies.  Unsnapping gives a longer rise for toddlers.  The waist has snaps along the whole front for the same reason.  These diapers will fit babies 5 lbs to 30 something pounds.  I don't remember what poundage they go up to because my daughter was out of them before she weighed 30 pounds but they are meant to meet all your diapering needs from newborn to potty training.

Yellow snapped to small, light green snapped to medium, blue snapped to large.

NO DIAPER COVER NEEDED
Most pocket diapers do NOT need a plastic waterproof cover to go over them.  This is because the outer part of the diaper is made with PUL. 

WHEN TO WASH
Pocket diapers need to be put in the laundry pail after every use.  No part of this diaper can be used multiple times without washing before the next use.