All In One & All In Two Cloth Diapers Buying Guide
Cloth diapers are becoming more and more popular as today’s parent looks to save money as well as limit environmental impact. Some parents find a diaper service which picks up dirty diapers and brings clean ones (usually on a weekly basis). However, many parents are reluctant to use a service and prefer to wash their cloth diapers at home to control the laundry products used. Well.ca sells a variety of cloth diapers online for parents who choose this option for their babies.
All cloth diapers require three components: the absorbent part, the “fit to baby” part and the waterproof part (to protect baby’s clothes). There are however many different designs of diapers to achieve these three things. There are prefold, fitted, all-in-one, pocket and hybrid. Each has its pros and cons which we’ve highlighted below to help you decide what’s best for you.
Prefold cloth diapers are flat when they arrive and they most closely ressemble the cloth diapers our parents use to use.
Pros of Prefolds: cheapest of the cloth diapers, provide good leak coverage as they fold closely to the baby and they are easy to wash/quick-drying.
Cons of Prefolds: Most require a cover to act as a barrier between the prefold and the baby’s clothes, many require a fastener such as a snap or pin, they require some skill to correctly fold the diaper and it may take longer to change the infant as once cover the is on, it’s like putting two diapers on.
These diapers are the next step up from prefolds. These diapers differ because they have elastic around the leg area to provide a better fit for baby. Also they often have snaps or fasteners built in to the design.
Pros of Fitted Cloth Diapers: Provide snugger fit than prefold and have snaps built into the diaper
Cons of Fitted Cloth Diapers: More expensive than prefold, most still require a cover to act as a barrier between the prefold and the baby’s clothes which means that it takes longer to change the baby
As the name states, All-in-ones are a single unit that has all three parts: absorbancy, fit around baby and waterproof built into a single unit.
Pros of All-in-one Cloth Diapers: Easy to use and do not require additional pieces, the most daycare-friendly cloth diaper
Cons of All-in-one Cloth Diapers: Do not grow with the baby which means that you may need to purchase a range of sizes, bulkier to wash as all parts need to be washed each time, longer drying times
These are cloth diapers that are similar to an all-in-one diaper but also have an absorbent stuffer pad that can be inserted before use.
Pros of Pocket Cloth Diapers: Allow for flexibility (such as adding two stuffer pads for a heavy wetter)
Cons of Pocket Cloth Diapers: do not grow with the baby which means that you may need to purchase a range of sizes, takes more time to put diapers together, bulkier to wash as all parts need to be washed each time
These are in a way a hybrid diaper because they have the convenience of a disposible diaper without a biodegradble insert that doesn’t end up rotting away in a landfill for decades (some say diapers can even take hundreds of years to decompose).
Pros of Hybrid Cloth Diapers: Convenience of a disposable diaper, disposable insert is good for travelling when you do not want to carry soiled diapers, can also use a reusable cloth liner
Cons of Hybrid Cloth Diaper: Not as economical as other cloth options because you need to buy the inserts and may not flush in all toilets