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Needing advice from people who have used cloth diapers recently. How did you like them? What type did you use? Thanks.

Dad of two toddlers here - we used them for about 8 months for our first born, maybe a bit longer. I hated every minute. They are far more annoying to deal with than disposables, both at the time of changing (gotta empty into the toilet and pre-spray), and of course through washing (we were doing laundry every 2 days, sometimes more).  
 
We went purely with disposables for our second.  
 
There's no doubt that cloth is cheaper, and if that's the primary concern, it's a good option. But the grossness and annoyance overruled the cost and environmental benefits for us.

We've been using cloth diapers more or less consistently since 2007 when our oldest was about a year old. We're about to have baby #5 and plan to use cloth once again.  
 
I frankly love cloth diapers. Just to put in context, we use a lot of "reusable" stuff in this house, like cloth sanitary napkins, cloth table napkins, paper towels, hankerchiefs, etc, so cloth diapers is just one part of a whole lifestyle choice for us. It's also a monetary choice - even if I were to go out and spend money on all brand new diapers for each child (I don't, they are often reused from child to child, are given to me or I buy used to replenish my supply as needed), I would save about $2000 per child even once factoring laundry costs.  
 
People complain about the extra work they generate - it's true they do generate some extra laundry - but I find they are not that much more work than a *correctly* used disposable diaper (i.e. solids should go in the toilet NOT the trash, as per the instructions either on the package or on the website). With diapers, you are washing every couple of days depending on the size of your stash but with disposables you're taking out a ton of extra trash and then you have to remember to go to the store and buy more diapers... it really depends on what type of work you prefer. Gross toddler/solid food poops are yucky, but again you're supposed to empty solids into a toilet with disposables anyway, so is it really extra work in that regard???? They make both reusable and disposable liners that make that job easier if you desire (exclusively breastfed baby poop doesn't require rinsing/dumping, they can go into the wash as it). I have never owned a sprayer in 4 kids, and splurged on a used one for our imminent arrival.  
 
We do use some disposables - I generally will use them for the first week of life while we work out the meconium and my milk supply establishes (it's tough to wash out), and for some kids sometimes at night (although I've clothed at night too for some of them depending on their habits/patterns). I also switch to pull-ups for certain phases of potty training and night time training, although I use cloth underwear during the day. But otherwise we use cloth all the time, even when out of the house and traveling.  
 
I've used a variety of diapers, from the (relatively) inexpensive chinese/diaper service prefolds with a snappi and cover (very economical and they last a long time, but with a larger learning curve), to a variety of pocket diapers including FuzziBunz, Happy Heinies and and bumGenius. I actually used bumGenius for a long time, through 3 kids, they were easy to use and easy for grandparents etc to use too.  
 
With baby #4, I acquired some AMP & Peachy Baby diapers (both are made by the same company out of Winnipeg) and they are hands-down my favourite, the Peachy Baby edging out AMP. They are a once-sized diaper, from birth to potty training (approx 5 to 40 lbs is the advertised weight range I believe) and easy to use and launder. The company is really excellent to deal with as well, and have a lifetime guarantee on the snaps (even if you're not the original purchaser).  
 
My only caution is the type of washer you own. If you own a front-load machine that uses a spray rinse vs. a fill rinse, you may have some issues with detergent build-up and will need to strip the diapers more frequently. If your machine requires periodic cleaning with that Affresh stuff, you have a fill rinse machine vs. spray rinse, because the spray rinse is designed to eliminate that cleaning step. I've used a spray-rinse machine in our old house, and I found I had to strip every 3 months approx, vs. a old-fashioned top-loader when we moved to our current home, and I NEVER had to strip it seemed, maybe once every 9 to 12 months. So it's doable, but just to be aware of it.  
 
Most people find about 2 dozen diapers to be enough, and we always just used a cloth wet in warm water for wipes that get washed with the diapers. I also recommend wet bags vs. pail for storing dirty diapers, as you can just dump the contents of the bag into the washer and when turn the bag inside out and wash it too (never actually touching the dirty diapers once they make it into the bag). If you have 2 bags, then you have one to use while the other is in the wash. You should also invest in the special soap/detergent. I use Allen's, and have a pump on the bottle (I highly recommend using a pump vs. pouring). A bottle lasts me approx 2 years, so while $20 for this bottle seems steep when you work it out over the life diapering it's worth the cost.

i found cloth real easy to use, i had fitted and folding, liked the fitted way better liners for solids made that easier to, and I also used cloth wipes that i wased at the same time made out of cut up cloth.  
 
I also agree with Abbysmum that shopping and garbage removal would be just as much work as dumping the bucket in the washer but my main factor was cloth is cheap cheap, most dippers were given to me but even if i had to buy, a few dozen is more then enough, and will last for more then one kid, for connivance i did use disposable for traveling

Love, love, love cloth diapers! Been using them day, night, at home and out for over a year and a half with no issues. We have a mix of Flip all in twos we use at home and AMP pockets that we send to daycare. We wash a load of diapers every 2-3 days and have never found it to be inconvenient. My husband thinks they're great too... no blowouts!

Thanks so much for the advice! Do you know if you can buy AMP diapers in Brandon?  
 
Also, do you find that there is much difference on the type of material used for the inserts for pocket diapers? e.g. bamboo versus other ones?

AllsWell said "Thanks so much for the advice! Do you know if you can buy AMP diapers in Brandon?     Also, do you find that there is much difference on the type of material used for the inserts for pocket diapers? e.g. bamboo versus other ones? "

I used AMP diapers for my son and absolutely loved them!  
 
As far as I know, there is nowhere you can buy them in Brandon. You can order directly off the website for a flat shipping rate (I think when I ordered it was $9, but may have gone up since then). Just make sure you are on the Canadian site.  
 
I saw them in Winnipeg and then ordered from the website once I knew what I wanted.  
 
If you are unable to get to Winnipeg to see them in person and would like to see them before purchasing, PM me. You'd be more than welcome to see the ones I have to decide whether you actually would like them or not.

The only place that might have them is that Baby Bump place on 18th in the Thomas Mall. IDK if they carry diapers, however.  
 
Otherwise, just order direct from AMP in Winnipeg. http://www.ampdiaperstore.com/ They have flat-rate shipping ($8.95) and if you like them on Facebook they will let you know about sales, etc. They usually have seconds (imperfect) diapers on their website for Boxing Day, I scored some seconds a few years ago and they were perfect, usually the stitching is just a bit weird or the colour is off, etc.  
 
I personally prefer the bamboo (green edge or Peachy Baby inserts are all bamboo) vs. the hemp (blue & red edge). I find they're more absorbant and last better under the stress of repeated washings (and stay softer).  
 
If you're going the wet bag route, I also prefer the Bummis wet bags vs. the AMP ones for the large pain liners, mostly because of the zipper factor. I don't even use a pail anymore, we just have the bag hanging up but we can close up the zipper to keep odors down as required.  
 
But check ebrandon first. It's a popular brand, so people are often selling them off when done with them. I got some off the classifieds here too.

When I first suggested using cloth diapers for our son, I think my husband had thought I went crazy haha but I really wanted to do it so he went along with it. We used them at home, but used disposables for when we were out. About two months in, my husband said he liked the cloth better - less blowouts and it seemed every time my son wore a disposable his bum would start getting red, no matter what brand we used.  
 
As far as poop being harder to deal with, I find no matter what you do, baby poop is going to be messy... it's just one of those things you have to deal with no matter what.  
 
It did mean an extra load of laundry every few days, but I didn't really find throwing one extra load in took that much effort, its not like I washed them by hand.  
 
We had a wet pail with a liner, just flipped it inside out and everything went in the washer, no touching a dirty diaper a second time.  
 
I used exclusively AMP diapers with bamboo inserts. Double layer inserts for day, triple layer for night. Never had leaking problems. I loved them so never found any need to experiment with other brands.  
 
With our second child, I didn't use cloth regularly because she was sick and in the hospital for extended periods. I really missed using cloth with her. We had tons of blowouts, diaper rash frequently, the extra expense of disposables, plus she didn't have the cute baby bum you get with cloth!

I’m on baby number 4, and we started using cloth diapers and OMG I’m in love I wish I would have switched sooner and used them on my older kids, even my spouse is in love with them. We have a combo of hip huggers, kawii and the kawii green and we just order Bamboo flushable /biodegrade liners which help with the poop clean up, just toss the liner in the toilet and most time (8/10) there is no actual poop on the diaper

I made some and bought some, I don’t remember the brands, and we used disposables from time to time. 5they hold their resale value very well too, as long as you take care of them and don’t let the sit without being rinsed. I saw one persons poor babe with mould stains on his from being left too long in the pail. . With our second, we would switch back and fourth, and we got lazy sometimes with buying disposables off and on....but we did invest in a sprayer for the toilet. I still use it to this day. (Great for rinsing out puke buckets into the toilet like I had to tonight) they are great for potty training accidents as well.

JustUs said "    AllsWell said "Thanks so much for the advice! Do you know if you can buy AMP diapers in Brandon?     Also, do you find that there is much difference on the type of material used for the inserts for pocket diapers? e.g. bamboo versus other ones? " I used AMP diapers for my son and absolutely loved them!     As far as I know, there is nowhere you can buy them in Brandon. You can order directly off the website for a flat shipping rate (I think when I ordered it was $9, but may have gone up since then). Just make sure you are on the Canadian site.     I saw them in Winnipeg and then ordered from the website once I knew what I wanted.     If you are unable to get to Winnipeg to see them in person and would like to see them before purchasing, PM me. You'd be more than welcome to see the ones I have to decide whether you actually would like them or not. "

Sent you a PM.

We started trying out cloth with our first child when she was a year old and have used them for our next two. The more kids you use them for, the bigger the savings.  
We have a diaper sprayer hooked up to the toilet and do laundry every second day anyway due to the size of our family.  
I use an AMP diaper at night stuffed with one bamboo and two microfibres. Daytime is one and one. Our daycare cloth diapers too, so we have about 50 diapers.

it is nice to see that some people are using cloth diapers to save their money and saving dumping landfill garbage

We cloth diapered our two (more consistently with the first than with the second...got a little lazier the second time around) and we LOVED the BumGenuis All-In-Ones. They are adjustable to grow with your child from newborn to potty-training and they are truly all-in-one....no stuffing required!  
 
There are some products that I found made cloth-diapering even easier, especially once my kids had started solids. We especially loved flushable diaper liners (so you don't have to spray the poop off...just pick it up in the liner and flush it).  
 
As others said earlier, it's an investment at the start but will save you major moola in the long run. And seriously, there's nothing cuter than a little cloth-diapered baby crawling around