Our New Cloth Diaper Comparison Chart Helps You Choose the Best Cloth Diapers for Your Family

We've created this chart as a quick way to compare the best features of various styles and brands of cloth diapers we sell. We're often asked, "what are the best cloth diapers?", but we've found that the answer is different for almost every family. These are just our opinions, based on 13 years of experience in helping parents choose the right cloth diapers. See also our recently-created baby carrier comparison chart. Yeah charts!

Our chart will be revised as we add new products, so be sure to visit the chart's official page here.

Confused? Attend one of our free cloth diaper classes!

Cloth Prefolds, Flat, & Fitted Diapers with Covers
1. Prefolds, Flats & Fitteds Cotton Diaper Service Quality (DSQ) Prefolds are designed to be washed again and again. Flat cotton diapers are made out of the same birdseye weave cotton, but must be folded down to each time you use them. Fitted diapers have elastic and snaps built into them and are excellent at containing messes. Each of these styles of cloth diapers are not waterproof and must be used under your favorite waterproof diaper cover.
Product & Material	Ease of Use	Sizing	Cost	Leak Prevention	Durability	Best Feature
DSQ Prefolds Cotton	★ ★	Newborn, Infant & Regular	$	★ ★ ★ (much better with a Snappi or pins)	★ ★ ★ ★ ★	Super durable and also handy to use as burp cloths or changing pads.
Organic DSQ Prefolds Organic Cotton	★ ★	Infant & Regular	$$	★ ★ ★ (much better with a Snappi or pins)	★ ★ ★ ★ ★	Same as our conventional diapers except certified organic.
Organic Hemp and Cotton Prefolds Hemp + Organic Cotton	★ ★	Small/Medium + Medium/Large	$$	★ ★★	★ ★★★★	Hemp fibers hold moisture better than cotton, especially when compressed.
Organic Cotton and Bamboo Prefolds Organic Cotton + Bamboo Rayon	★ ★	Small + Medium	$$	★ ★ ★	★ ★ ★ ★ ★	Very soft and super absorbent prefolds
Birdseye Flat Diapers Cotton	★	One Size	$	★ ★ ★	★ ★ ★ ★ ★	Dries quickly. Best diaper for line drying.
Thirsties Duo Fitteds microfiber / fleece	★ ★	Two Sizes	$$	★ ★ ★ ★ ★	★ ★ ★ ★	Microfiber diaper contains messes.
2. Diaper Covers Each of the diapers above require a diaper cover as a waterproof layer. If you're using cotton prefolds, we recommend 6 diaper covers, which can each be used on average 2-3 times before washing. This will give you enough diaper covers so that you can wash every other day.
Product & Material	Ease of Use	Sizing	Cost	Leak Prevention	Durability	Best Feature
Bummis Super Whisper Wraps PUL	★ ★	Four Sizes	$	★ ★ ★	★ ★ ★	Features a softer, cloth-like feel on the inside.
Proraps PUL	★ ★	Four Sizes	$	★ ★ ★	★ ★ ★	Affordable cover with leg gussets.
Thirsties Duo Covers PUL	★ ★	Two Sizes	$	★ ★ ★	★ ★ ★	Two-size system requires half as many covers.
Sweet Pea Diaper Covers PUL	★ ★	Newborn + One Size	$	★ ★ ★	★ ★ ★	Affordable and durable covers with leg gussets and unique 2x2 snap pattern on the one-size cover.
bumGenius Flip PUL	★ ★	One Size	$$	★ ★ ★	★ ★ ★	One-size system compatible with a wide variety of inserts.
All-in-One Diapers All-In-One (AIO) Cloth Diapers are the easiest to use cloth diapers available. AIOs have a waterproof cover and absorbant liner sewn together in one convenient piece. As easy to use as a disposable but much more economical.
Product & Material	Ease of Use	Sizing	Cost	Leak Prevention	Durability	Best Feature
bumGenius Freetime PUL + fleece + microfiber	★ ★ ★ ★ ★	One Size	$$$$	★ ★ ★	★ ★ ★	One-size All-in-One designed to dry faster than other AIOs.
Swaddlebees Simplex 2.0 AIOs PUL + cotton	★ ★ ★ ★ ★	Three Sizes	$$$$	★ ★ ★	★ ★ ★	Super cute, great fitting cotton AIO with pocket option
Swaddlebees Simplex Stay-Dry One-Size AIOs PUL + cotton + fleece	★ ★ ★ ★ ★	One Size	$$$	★ ★ ★	★ ★ ★	Super cute, one-size cotton AIO with pocket option & stay-dry liner
Thirsties Duo AIOs PUL + fleece + microfiber	★ ★ ★ ★ ★	Two Sizes	$$	★ ★ ★	★ ★ ★	Two sizes fit newborns and toddlers better. Features a channel to stuff extra inserts as needed. Bright colors and patterns.
bumGenius Newborn All-in-Ones PUL + fleece + microfiber	★ ★ ★ ★ ★	Newborn only	$$$	★ ★ ★	★ ★ ★	Easy to use All-in-One that fits very well on newborns.
Pocket Diapers Pocket diapers are cloth diapers made out of three parts: A waterproof cover (usually PUL) sewn to an inside pocket made out of lightweight polyester fleece. A removable microfiber insert is the absorbant part of the diaper. Stuff the microfiber into the fleece "pocket" before use and then remove it before washing. It's a bit more work to stuff and unstuff pockets, but we scored them a little higher on ease of use because they're pretty easy once they're stuffed. The advantage of this design is that moisture wicks away through the fleece from baby's skin to be absorbed by the microfiber inside the pocket.
Product & Material	Ease of Use	Sizing	Cost	Leak Prevention	Durability	Best Feature
bumGenius 4.0 pocket diapers PUL outer, fleece pocket, microfiber insert	★ ★ ★	One Size	$$$	★ ★ ★	★ ★ ★	One-size pocket diaper available in snap or velcro.
Hybrid Diapers Hybrid cloth diaper systems offer the choice of using cloth or disposable inserts.
Product & Material	Ease of Use	Sizing	Cost	Leak Prevention	Durability	Best Feature
gDiapers Cotton shell + waterproof pouch + cotton/hemp/microfiber or disposable insert	★ ★	Three sizes	$$$$	★ ★ ★	★ ★	Versatile system can be used with reusable cloth inserts or with biodegradable disposable inserts.
Flip Disposable Inserts The bumGenius Flip system also offers disposable inserts which are designed to fit inside Flip diaper covers. These inserts can also be used with any of our other diaper covers listed above.

©2012-2013 Peapods, Inc.
*PUL is an abbreviation of Polyurethane Laminate.

New Cloth Diaper Washing Instructions

What microfibers look like up close. This design makes them incredibly absorbant, but it takes a lot of water to rinse clean.

We've recently updated our cloth diaper washing guidelines based on new research conducted by the Real Diaper Association. Thanks to the RDA, we've been learning a lot about different cloth diaper fibers and how to clean them best. (Did you know that microfiber under a microscope looks like a hollow tube with pie-shaped wedges?) The biggest change is that we are now recommending a warm water cycle for the first washing instead of a cold water cycle. And on the second wash, be sure to use plenty of hot water with the correct amount of detergent. (Even with microfiber, using less detergent will not lead to cleaner diapers.) RDA created a handy pdf that simplifies everything and a Laundry Science page with more in-depth answers for solving cloth diaper laundry problems. As always, stop into the store or give us a call if you have questions!

A few products that help keep cloth diapers clean:

Bac-Out Odor Eliminator	Bum Genius Diaper Sprayer	Rockin Green Classic Rock Remix Detergent

The story of a sign

After 12 years of steady service above our old store on Snelling, we had to decide what to do with our old sign. Made of painted sheet metal on an aluminum frame, it was still in good condition, but the logo painted on it was out of date. What do you do with an old sign, anyway?

We designed our original peapod logo in 1999 by editing an MS-Publisher clip art image of vegetables. The font for "Peapods" was Rage Italic, also from MS-Publisher (the same font Panera uses for its menu boards). By 2005, the logo seemed awfully dated and, um, somewhat unprofessional. So we hired Katrina Hase at Mix Creative to redesign our logo. The sign, however, remained--mostly due to the cost of replacing it.

With our move, however, we needed to get that sign down. We're pretty hardy do-it-yourselfers, but we realized removing the sign from its mountings on the brick above the fabric awning would require some professional help. Plus, we were a bit preoccupied with our move and getting our new space into shape. So, we hired a sign company from Eagan to take it down. We would decide later whether to recycle it or keep it as a souvenir.

One day in February, Dan drove our minivan down to Eagan to take a look. We had the idea that he might just load it into the back of the van and drive it home. When he got there, though, it was clear that the sign is much bigger than what we assumed--it's a full 16 feet long and 40" tall. Recycling would be a far easier option. But, it looked so sad, lying there in snow. Dan felt especially sentimental about it, so we arranged to have it delivered to the new store.


So now it's at the new store. Now what? It was too big to even go down the stairs to the basement. The only possible place for it was to hang it high on the wall in our back room, which is phase 2 of our expansion into our new store.

Our back room was the former hardware store's repair shop, where they fixed windows and lawn mowers. A little more than 1,000 square feet, it is actually the oldest part of the building. It was built as a automobile service garage fronting the alley in 1930. The main front part of the building was added 10 years later and became Park Hardware.

When we bought the building, the back had a cement slab floor, cinderblock walls, an uninsulated ceiling, a large space heater hanging in one corner, and was lit by big fluorescent lights. Much of our work in the new store was to convert the back room into usable space. We insulated the ceiling and walls, installed a vapor barrier underlayment on the floor, built space for our office, installed a new furnace, sheetrocked the walls, hung a new ceiling, and installed a beautiful new cork floor. And then hung up our old sign.

So, there it is. Right above our new cloth diaper shelves. It's maybe a little Cracker Barrel--hanging old signs on the wall--but we think it of it as an homage to our old store and all of our memories that go along with it.

Big News form BumGenuis: The BumGenius 4.0 Pocket Diaper

We have just learned that BumGenius is once again updating the design of their very popular pocket diapers. We have placed our order and are hoping to receive our first shipment of BumGenius 4.0's in the fourth week of July. Here's the scoop on the 4.0's new features:

1. Now accommodates even larger babies! Better yet, the diaper still fits small babies too.

2. All new hook & loop closures

3. Accessible, easily replaceable elastic. All elastic tack-points are now visible from the inside of the diaper. To replace elastic, turn the diaper inside out, thread new elastic through the casing and stitch it down at each end.

4. Three new colors. Bubble (light lavender), Noodle (light cream) and Sweet (light green).

5. And the best new feature (we think)... you now have your choice of closures (snaps or hook & loop).

We will still have 3.0's in stock and few more on the way, although color choices may be limited. Stay tuned for more info!

Click on the image below for graphical details:

Announcing the Peapods Cloth Diaper Bottom Line Savings Program

Get rewards for building your cloth diaper stash!

We know that as your baby grows, her cloth diapering needs will evolve. And, we’d like to help you out each step of the way. From newborns to toddler, from prefolds to training pants, we’d like to reward you for coming back to us for all your cloth diapering supplies.

If you sign up for our free Bottom Line Saver’s program, we’ll keep track of your cloth diaper purchases for you—there’ll be no special card to carry. Then, spend $200 on cloth diaper supplies with us, we’ll give you $15 in store credit for your next purchase that you can use on anything in the store.

Every cloth diaper, diaper cover, or pocket diaper you buy adds to your rewards total. Save up and spend your rewards on a new toy, some great kids’ music, or… some more cloth diapers!

Simply stop into our store and sign up when you make your next purchase. Or, email orders@peapods.com with your name, address, and phone number and we'll add you to our system. No cost, no obligation. As one of our employees said, "There's really no reason not to do this."