Cloth Diapering Lesson 101

Every parent makes the decision to cloth diaper or not to cloth diaper. Is is possible to do a bit of both? Does it make us "environmentally un-friendly"?
When we found out we were going to have a baby we decided we would use cloth. Where to start? We are so very fortunate as we knew of an online store (now a retail store as well) called Nurtured. There are so many details and so much to learn about cloth diapering, this is definitely a great place to start. We opted for the Bum Genius pocket diaper and overall are quite happy with them. We have a dozen of them (cost was under $300) and we are quite happy with them. I tried to use them 100% percent of the time but that was unrealistic for us. Other than doing all the laundry, sometimes, you just want to grab a diaper and go. For example, its much easier for trips to my parents to use disposables.

Additionally, I prefer disposable diapers for overnight. Everyone's experience is different but we found that we use cloth about 65% of the time. We were given a few other pocket diapers and a few of the Kushies to use with mixed reviews. We much prefer the pocket diapers.

I used to spend lots of time scrubbing and rinsing and then I thought I'll try just throwing them in the wash and I was so happy as they come out as good as new. We have never had a problem with staining or whatnot. One time I just threw out an entire liner as it was more trouble to wash it...it was really full of sticky poo and I wasn't interested in even trying. Call me lazy but I wasn't going to go there, sometimes you just know when to throw in the towel.

As we used all the diapers over the course of the past several months the pros and cons become clear:

Bum Genius:

PROS
The Bum Genius are quite absorbent, poo is easy to rinse from the liner and there is no staining. They fit from 10 lbs to his current 28 lbs, one size really does fit all. They come in a wide range of colors. Boy, Girl and Unisex. All in one diaper, no cover required. The Bum Genius wash and wear like rags; we throw them in the wash and then in the dryer...no fuss, no mess, just flush the poop and off you go.
CONS:
I find the velcro are easy for my son to take off his own diaper and on occasion the velcro has stuck to the carpet when my son rolled over on his belly. The velcro has also bent back a bit and can trap bits of poo.
Often have to purchase on-line.

Kushies:

PROS:
About half the price of the Bum Genius, easy to find as they are often sold at many large retailers. They come in a variety of patterns and colors. Waterproof exterior so no diaper cover is needed.
CONS:
We didn't find them as absorbent as the others, they did not fit as well and they stained quite easily. Ours were already used by one family so that may have had an effect on their life cycle.

Overall, based on our experience I would have to say the Bum Genius are the Buzz Worthy choice.