Diaper woes

In an earlier post, Jenny blogged about our quest for an acceptable cloth diaper. I had initially been very excited about cloth diapers - it seemed to me that disposables might be uncomfortable in the way that sanitary pads are uncomfortable. (Aside: I haaate pads. I am beyond happy that my 6 weeks of postpartum bleeding are over.) The added bother of washing diapers is offset for me by feeling good about myself for not throwing away bags full of disposable diapers. Whether or not the trash generated is actually worse for the environment than all the water needed to wash the diapers is highly debatable, but it feels more eco-friendly since water is at least a renewable resource. It saves money in the long run over buying disposables, although the initial investment is non-trivial (thanks, Mom!) Also, all our friends are doing it.

BUT (and you knew there was a but coming), so far the cloth diapers have been failing at the most basic job of a diaper: containing baby output. We have a bunch of bumGenius pocket diapers, one Fuzzibuns, one Happy Heiny, and one Blueberry. I think the Fuzzibuns and the Blueberry haven't leaked yet, but that might be small number statistics, or because the Blueberry insert is triple-layered and very bulky. The other diapers leak - pee ends up coming out the legs or back, and we have to change his entire outfit, his swaddling blanket, and sometimes our bedsheets.

The bumGenius comes with two inserts: a smaller one that's supposed to be for infants, and a larger one that can be folded and is for larger sizes. With small inserts: leaks. With larger, folded inserts: leaks. The routine this morning (with the larger inserts): Jolyon wakes up hungry, no leaks (miracle!), start feeding immediately, baby is happy. Next waking, a couple of hours later: diaper has leaked out the back, through a onesie and sleeper and onto his swaddling blanket. Outfit change, screaming baby since he's not being fed immediately. After eating, back to bed, and a couple hours later repeat with more leaks and more screaming during the diaper/clothing change. In one instance, I put a diaper on him and he peed immediately, out the back of the diaper and onto our bed. The only thing that seems to work at night (based on only one night's data, so we'll see if it keeps working), is to combine both the small and large inserts into one diaper. The result is a diaper so huge we have to go up a size in clothing, and it seems to cut into his stomach badly when I sit him up for burping.

Meanwhile, we've been using disposables for going out, and I can no longer find any criticism for parents who use these all the time: they WORK. The super-absorbent material can keep him dry for hours. With the bumgenius, sometimes it seems like the pee goes straight onto his back and misses the insert entirely. (And this was the best cloth diaper option of all the ones we tried.) Other parents rave about cloth diapers, though, so I wonder: are we doing something wrong? Is our baby just not shaped right for cloth diapers? (He is a long skinny baby.) Do we keep motoring on with the cloth diapers, bundling our baby's butt into a melon-sized case at night to try to keep him from leaking, or do we give up and try to sell the diapers on craigslist?