This post may contain affiliate links
I’ve tried a lot of diapers on my little ones in the last 7 years. Prefolds or flats, covers, all in ones and all in twos, and yes pocket diapers. The most experienced cloth diapering moms will tell you that it’s a lot about trial and error to find the diapers that work well for your child. There’s 3 really solid reasons why I’ve settled on making most of my post-newborn cloth diaper stash one-size pocket diapers, and they all come down to one thing: versatility.
- Absorbency– Pocket diapers, or even tongue style AIOs with a sleeve/pocket do the same thing allow for adding or subtracting of absorbency as needed. Some reasons to add more absorbency: sleeping through the night, nap times, or long car rides.
- Ability to change insert type– Some people find that the most commonly included fabric inserts for pocket diapers (or even sewn into AIOs)– microfiber– tend to wear out/wear down, lead to compression leaks, or start to hold stink over time. With pocket diapers, since nothing is sewn in, you have a world of options open to you, from including cotton or hemp along with the microfiber or replacing it altogether.
- Sizing up and down– one size diapers, unlike their sized counterparts, are meant to fit the widest range of babies possible and allow for greater flexibility as babies first plump up and then slim down once they start running! Yes you may end up having an infant on the largest snap rise and then going back down to a medium rise as they approach late toddler-hood! While sized pocket diapers do exist, they are fairly rare and the inserts aren’t meant to adjust, unlike the OS option.
Yes pocket diapers may very well be the most versatile and trial-and-error friendly options out there. Some of my current favorites and recommendations include:
bumGenius 4.0 pocket diapers
Thirsties OS pocket
Moraki AI2/Pocket
