Bum Genius vs. Grovia vs. TotsBots

We never had to make the decision between disposable and cloth diapers. My husband and I are both "Think Zero Waste" people who use cloth napkins and cloth rags. If Iowa City had a diaper service, we would have definitely considered it (where they pick up dirty diapers and drop off clean ones for you). The hard decision to make was which type of diaper to buy. If you can get your hands on some used diapers, great! My mom decided her gift to us was going to be the cloth diapers, so we visited the diaper store in Cedar Rapids and bought some online, too. Here's what we chose and the pros and cons:

1. TotsBots
These were our favorites before we started using them. They are 50% bamboo which is supposed to be super-absorbent. The selling point was that you don't have to tuck an insert into them, you just fold over the long inside, it's all attached (known as "all-in-one"). They are from Europe (where they call them "nappies") and they are a bit different than the other ones I have seen. What I liked, after using them, is the stretchiness to the velcro sides. It's easy to get it on tight on a little baby. I also like the material, it doesn't stain and spraying the poop off is easier than it is with the Bum Genius. What I don't like is that although it doesn't leak, it feels wet to the baby instantly. So if we are in the car or in a restaurant and he pees, he wants his diaper changed NOW. This could be useful in potty training, though.

2. GroVia
You buy the shells, and you buy the inserts (or "stay dry soaker pads"). The inserts snap in on top and bottom and you swap out just the insert with each diaper change.
Pros:
It's cheaper, we have 2 shells ($17 each) and 8 inserts ($9 each) which makes $13.25 for each diaper.
It's great to travel with: the inserts take up a lot less space in the wet bag than cloth diapers do.
Less to wash: the inserts are small, and you only have to wash the shells when they get dirty.
Cons:
The shells get dirty. You don't want to be stuck with only 2 shells when running errands, just in case your baby has a big poop in both of them! I would say it contains all the poop in the insert about 60% of the time. It doesn't leak out, it just gets the shell dirty so that it needs to be washed before being reused.
It takes awhile to dry. Air drying takes awhile, dryer drying (which is low heat) takes awhile.
You need to stretch out the middle part when snapping the insert in. Other people may not have this technique down (like grandparents, friends, daycares) when they are changing the diapers. Which may cause a mess.
When they are wet, the baby knows. Just like the TotsBots, they feel wet to the baby and he WILL complain.

3. Bum Genius
Probably the most popular name among cloth diapers, we weren't too excited about these when we bought them. But after using them, they are what I recommend if you are only buying one brand of diaper, for this reason only:
PRO: They do NOT feel wet to the baby after he pees! Like, you can be at a restaurant and your baby has a wet diaper and he doesn't complain! Like, hooray!
The reason we weren't too excited about these is because you have to stuff the inserts into each diaper. I imagined long days of washing diapers and then stuffing diapers. About as much fun as washing clothes and then folding clothes- it's like a whole extra chore! But they magically work, very well. We started off stuffing them with the newborn sized insert. Then we switched to the larger insert (which folds over to make it adjustable to the diaper size). Now we use "overnighters" when he sleeps: one large one and one small one. After 11 hours of sleep (sometimes, when we are lucky) both inserts are absolutely soaking wet but the diaper still feels dry. It's amazing. And adjustable- as he gets older and produces more piss, and sleeps even LONGER than 11 hours... yeah? We'll have more inserts stuffed into those diapers! Another pro: they dry fast. When we put off washing diapers until the last one and we need to cheat and use the dryer for 50 minutes on low heat, these are the ones (inserts too) that come out dry. And when they air-dry, these are the ones that dry first.
But you do have a choice.
1. Velcro (which apparently is a brand-name so you have to call it something stupid which no one knows what it means, "hook and loop")
2. Snaps
We like velcro best. It's easy. But apparently it's also easy for a toddler to take on and off. Which I've heard can be solved with onesies. But we got 50% velcro and 50% snaps just in case.

Here's what you need to know with all of these diapers:
OS means one size. I recommend this. The diapers (or shells) come with snaps that adjust to the growing baby. We had ours on the smallest setting until maybe 2-3 months, then the middle setting, which he is on at six months.
All-in-one means you don't have separate inserts to stuff into the diaper's pockets. I do NOT recommend this. It sounds easy at first, but the one Bum Genius diaper we have that's an All-in-one takes FOREVER to dry, feels wet instantly to the baby, and it's just awkward and bulky.

You might not be able to use these diapers with a newborn. You don't want to buy newborn sized diapers since you will only use them for three months or less. Because of this, you can rent them for about what it would cost to buy disposables. We did this for our 8 lb. 5 oz. newborn, and after paying for a three month rental, our baby outgrew them in less than a month. We were lucky to have dealt with kind people who gave us a store credit after we returned them in a month. In hind sight, we could have used newborn disposable diapers for about 2-3 weeks and then used the Bum Genius 4.0 diapers snapped to the smallest setting. But we didn't know our baby would be such a rapid grower!

Baby wearing the newborn (or XS sized) diaper