Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Hybrid Diapering: A little bit of this or a little bit of that

Hybrid cloth diapers provide a fairly unique and versatile approach of pairing the money saving and eco-friendly benefits of cloth diapers with the ease of traditional disposables....


PRO's:
  • Reap the eco-friendly benefits of cloth diapering
  • Easy to use
  • Great for travel
  • Great transition from disposables to cloth
  • Covers are available in sizes or one-size options
  • Can save money with cheaper reusable pre-fold inserts
  • Give you options
CON's:
  • Can become pricey if you use disposable inserts
  • It may take a few practice runs to get the fit of the insert just right to prevent leaks
  • If the disposable liners aren't biodegradable, they are not as environmentally friendly
  • If the disposable liners are biodegradable, it may be a little tricky to figure out how to flush them the correct way

My Thoughts:
Currently the Flip is my go-to diaper. I use the Stay Dry reusable inserts and find that this saves us so much money. Flip also offers the 100% organic inserts as well for babies with sensitive bums. I own approximately 12 covers (most of which I received off my baby registry). The rest I bought off cottonbabies.com at second sales. I do like the flip diaper system because of it's versatility with inserts. You can use different brands of inserts in the cover itself, not necessarily "the Flip". For example, you can use walmart pre-folds inside the covers with no problem at all! This will increase your cost savings tremendously!

I also like that multiple inserts can be put into these diapers at the same time to increase absorbency. You can  also add a hemp or bamboo doubler to help as well! With all of the inserts, these diapers still look fairly trim, especially with the disposable inserts! 

The waterproof cover can often be used multiple times before being washed as long as it has not  been soiled with poop (or a lot of pee). If the baby just pees, I wipe the cover down and hang it to dry and grab another cover. Then during the next change, I use the cover that is drying! I love a diaper that multi-tasks!

Popular Brands:
Flip System
Best Bottom
Gro-Via System
G-Diapers (the original)
Kissaluvs


What do you think of hybrid cloth diapering systems?

Have you ever used any hybrid systems before?

13 comments:

  1. I love my Flips. They are my go-to diaper bag diapers because they are so trim and easy to transport.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the info. I have really wanted to try flips!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have really wanted to try the Flip diapers, thanks for the info!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I would like to try Flips. I have tried gdiapers on my first, but they don't fit my 4month old very well right now. I have just discovered Perfect Bum diapers by Cocalo that are working well for us.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I always wondered about using Flip, thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  6. i think hybrid systems are pretty cool, especially for those that are just starting out with cloth. i'm interested in using a hybrid system, though we wouldnt use disposable inserts

    ReplyDelete
  7. I would love to try Flip diapers. We have the g diapers and I'm kicking myslef for not using them on a short trip we took to go to my cousin's wedding. We went with disposables and had leaks and blowouts the whole weekend...

    ReplyDelete
  8. I have only tried the grovia hybrids but I really like them. Their disposable inserts have leg gussets on them to keep the mess inside which is really nice.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I am thinking about trying this system for traveling! We are taking a few trips this summer and this seems like it would be a perfect alternative to using disposables!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I think these are a great concept. We have never used Flip but have heard great things. I just don't think I could buy inserts everytime but so glad you can also use the reusable inserts too

    ReplyDelete
  11. i've never used a hybrid diaper before and didn't really know what they were...i think they'd be a good choice for my little guy when we go on our road trips this summer-with disposable inserts!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I don't see us ever using disposable inserts. We have rolls and rolls of the sheet stuff you lay in the diapers to make it easy to peel off poop, and it irritates baby's skin. I never liked the idea of using something disposable in cloth diapers anyway. It's like it defeats the purpose of using cloth. We use spozies when we're out and about though. I suppose this would be a better option, but spozies are too readily available.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I don't see us ever using disposable inserts. We have rolls and rolls of the sheet stuff you lay in the diapers to make it easy to peel off poop, and it irritates baby's skin. I never liked the idea of using something disposable in cloth diapers anyway. It's like it defeats the purpose of using cloth. We use spozies when we're out and about though. I suppose this would be a better option, but spozies are too readily available.

    ReplyDelete