Take Two!

I haven't posted in awhile, due to the addition of our son to the family. He is 7-weeks-old today, and Big Sis has started to make the transition from despising him to loving him. We're very blessed... and exhausted.

If you've been following this blog, you may recall that I believe different reusable diaper systems work for different parents and different babies. I don't necessarily believe that any system is superior to another; it depends on the needs of your baby and your lifestyle.

People tried to convince me before my son was born that: boys are completely different from girls, and that second children are all the things the first one was not. Night and day. My son looks like his sister. His cry reminds me of hers, his neck was strong from birth like hers, and many other things about him are actually dejavu of my daughter as a baby.

However, a major difference (besides his obvious anatomy) is that he is not rashy. HALLELUJAH!

My daughter was terribly rashy; we really had to keep an eye on it, and apply diaper rash cream every diaper change not just to heal it, but prevent it. We even gave her "air time" twice a day, 45 minutes each. Natural fiber diapers, such as cotton contour diapers (the first type we used) made her bottom the color of a lobster. The Fuzzibunz and BumGenius, with their stay-dry polyester pocket system, was a heaven send for us. Her rash incidents decreased by probably 90%.

I expected to use pockets with our second child, and was looking forward to using the newborn-sized Fuzzibunz we inherited from a friend. Another friend lent us come cotton Clotheez Workhorse contour diapers, and I decided to add stay-dry fleece liners to them.

Which are our go-to diapers?

The Clotheez! They are very, very absorbent, and I like matching his shirts with various diaper covers (we use Thirsties, Motherease, and Imse Vimse). When I can, I use the stay-dry liners, but we only have six of them. Sometimes he goes without one, but hasn't had a rash. Because the liners are polyester, I use an olive oil-based diaper cream, but without the liners, with natural fibers, I could use Desitin or Pentaten if I wanted to (these zinc oxide creams wash out of natural fiber diapers, but make polyester diapers and liners water-resistant, thus making diapers leak).

Clotheez Workhorse organic cotton contour diapers.
My go-to diaper for our newborn son.

However, the Fuzzibunz like to leak on my son-- I think he is a "heavy wetter", and because these pocket diapers are so small, it is hard for me to stuff much in them. Perhaps I will have a different experience with larger sizes.

So, the good news: our experience with natural fiber cloth diapering has improved with the second child. I'm so glad I had different systems to try with him, and therefore could figure out what works best for him.

The bad news? Well, I'm so happy with his healthy bottom, it's all good news to me, but a con could be that parents might not always be able to use the same diaper system for all their children. At least reusable diapers have a good resale value; I might sell my daughter's polyester diapers for more natural fiber diapers to use with my son.

Have you ever had to change systems with different children?