Why Families Give Up On Cloth Diapers - Is It Really Too Much Work?

First off, yes, cloth diapers require a load or two of extra laundry a week, but do most cloth families consider this too much work? No. In fact most families find the benefits of cloth outweigh the washing time, which is really quite little considering washing machines do all the work.

The real reason most families give up on cloth diapers is a poor experience. What do I mean?

It's a common occurrence for families to gravitate to pocket style cloth diapers when they are new or first learning about cloth. Pocket diapers feature a waterproof outer shell with a pocket and an absorbent insert that you stuff in the pocket. Why is that what families often start out with these? Well there are a few reasons. First, they were the original 'modern cloth diaper' to hit the market. The first real improvement over prefolds or flats with plastic pants that our grandmothers used to use and they are the most prevalent when you start looking for cloth diapers to purchase.

Unfortunately, they are also what you find most often when you look on Amazon, Shein, TEMU or other places that have very cheap bundles of cloth diapers that entice many first timers to try cloth. It's quite common for the price tag of cheap pocket diapers to entice families to give cloth a go (which is great). However, with a cheap price tag often comes poor or unethical manufacturing practices, lesser quality materials, poor fit and inadequate absorbency.

What ends up happening is that parents have nothing but leaks and fit problems on these poor quality diapers. The assumption then becomes that all cloth diapers are that way and that they all leak and cause issues. Then those cheap diapers get tossed aside because those companies provide no customer support or warranty and baby is back in disposables leaving parents with a bad taste for cloth diapers because they leaked so bad and never fit right. This is so, so, common.

Those that do push forward with cloth hoping to find a solution, end up realizing that cloth diapers leak for one of 3 reasons and often the reason in this situation is not enough absorbency.

So, if the fit of the pocket diaper isn't too bad (no leg gaps etc.) and you just need to increase the absorbency, or, if the diapers you got didn't come with absorbency at all, then which diaper inserts are the best?

Best cloth diaper inserts
Well, you want quality, highly absorbent materials when it comes to diaper inserts. That should be obvious. It's figuring out which materials are best for your baby and that's where some variation comes in. Microfibre inserts CAN and DO work for many families and microfiber is the most common insert that comes with cheaper pocket diapers. BUT inexpensive microfiber rarely works for long. You want high quality microfibre and many layers of it. If your microfibre inserts aren't at least 3 layers of the thickest best quality microfibre, then skip them. Rumparooz pocket diapers come with excellent microfiber for example.

If you need more absorbency than microfiber or you prefer natural fabrics, layering different materials or trading up to natural fabrics like bamboo, cotton, hemp or blends of those is a good way to go. But again quality and number of layers/thickness matters. For more on finding the best cloth diaper inserts, look here.