Cloth diaper trial and error

The world of cloth diapering is a huge daunting one. Not only do you have different ways of doing it (pockets, all-in-ones/2's, covers and prefolds, wool, hybrids), but you also have a million different brands with a lot of different features.

Honestly, I have only tried a few brands. I don't like to spend money on something and then lose a few dollars on it after only using it a few times.

Based on what I've tried, I think I've come up with what I want in a cloth diaper.

Here are what I've tried and what I like/don't like about each. (bonus, you get to see Kaitlyn in them when she was only a couple months old!)

Fuzzi Bunz Sized {old style} (like really old. They are smaller than the newer old style)

The one in the pictures is a newer old style just FYI.
I love that these started fitting really well at a younger age. I only have experience with Kaitlyn in the smalls since we started CDing her at about 2 weeks old. She was 8lbs at birth, so I imagine pretty close to 8lbs once we started with CDs. Even some of the newer old style that I had that were a little bigger still fit pretty well. (pst Jess I may be tempted to either borrow some of those older old style ones from you or something for the couple weeks you have to deal with a newborn not fitting into some diapers yet)
I love the snaps for the most part except that now that she's 15 months old she doesn't like to hold still for diaper changes sometimes and that makes getting the snaps done up hard. I end up with a crying baby many times and if I'm changing her on the floor she's endlessly rolling and crawling away. Changing her on the changing table (aka dresser) seems to solve this issue. (And if I mention cream she lays totally still. Love it.)

Bum Genius OS 3.0 (one size)

apologies for the small picture. I didn't have a big one in photobucket.

I'm loving the fit of these on Kaitlyn right now. She's about 20 lbs, so she's on the 2nd row of snaps (middle row). These look really thin when they are on.
The things that drive me crazy on these are the velcro, the back flap part that comes over the pocket opening, and they don't fit well on smaller babies.
First, the velcro is always pulling up on the edge/curling, so it's super easy to catch on pants or for Kaitlyn to grab it and get it at least partially open (in both cases). Also the laundry tabs that hold the velcro in place eventually wear out to the point that they won't hold the velcro in place while washing. I have some BG all-in-ones (they don't have the pocket) that I bought used and the velcro on the front that the tabs stick to is worn and coming unstitched in places. I noticed some issues with stitching on some of my brand new ones after a few washes, so that was disappointing. To solve this issue, I'd just buy the snap version that they have now.
The issue I have with the flap on the back is that it's an extra step to get it to lay down flat under Kaitlyn instead of flapping up. Annoying.
As for fitting smaller babies, these didn't work at all around the legs for Kaitlyn until she was about 2 months old and I want to say somewhere around 11 or 12 lbs. I guess if your newborn has chunky legs you wouldn't have a problem, but my babies don't have that much chunk on their thighs at that point. I didn't really start liking these until she moved to the middle snap a few months ago.

Fuzzi Bunz OS (one size)

These look hugely fluffy in the pictures. This is because of the extra fabric kind of fluffing up. Once you put pants on, they were fairly trim.
Be careful if you are buying used because the first versions of these are not great. They only have a single row of snaps and I got a lot of leg leaks. I added a hip snap, but I still don't love how the old ones fit. They are bulky and I still get leg leaks even with the hip snap.
The newer version is more narrow in the crotch and is shorter when you have it fully stretched out. I find that this size works MUCH better. The more narrow and short diaper along with the customizable leg elastic (the legs have button hole elastic like you would find in adjustable waist pants) made it fit on Kaitlyn the BEST when she was tiny. Naturally there was some bulk but I didn't think it was excessive. Since the elastics gather the fabric, you just end up with a gathered looking diaper, so the excess fabric is spread over the whole diaper as opposed to just being folded up and under like it is in a snap down OS diaper.
One down side of the elastic leg sizing is that the fabric around the legs inside the diaper gets really scrunched up as well, which can sometimes make cleaning out poop harder since there are a lot more little crevices for it to get into.
Thank goodness for diaper sprayers!


Envibum
(sadly no pictures of them on Kaitlyn, but you can go here to see them.)

I absolutely love the look of these diapers. They look adorable on and the fit is great. The HUGEST problem for me was the BULK. These are FAT diapers. The combination of the minky and the inner cloth just make this diaper really big. I did just discover that I don't necessarily need to put the inner absorbancy pad in, so that may cut down on some bulk. The other thing I hated about this was stuffing/unstuffing the absorbency pad, but I also just discovered that it can be left in when you wash. It has velcro that helps them stay in place, which now makes much more sense (I wan annoyed by having the exposed velcro from the pad in the wash with my diapers).
So I need to give these another try to see how they perform and how much more trim they are without the absorbency pad in.
Knowing that I can wash them to unswith the pad in makes me like them much more though! I'm a fan of not having to stuff/unstuff, but I do have the option to unstuff  if I want to if I notice stink issues and would like those pads to get more exposure to water/detergent.
My favorite feature of this diaper by FAR is the elastic in front that adjusts the size. I think it is genius. No snaps, no leg adjusters. It just sizes for the baby as you put it on. AWESOME. This makes diapering SUPER easy if you have an older child and baby both in diapers.
Oh and when I got my diaper (used. Always the best way to go to try things out), I noticed 2 immediate issues 1-one of the diapers didn't have laundry tabs (grr) and 2-the red minky had bled into the white velcro.


Kushies

(images from here)



I got a whole set of Kushies used for Alex for pretty dang cheap. I'm thinking I paid $2-3/diaper shipped. They were older and by the time we were done with them (after using them for about a year), some of them were getting cracks around the leg elastic outer fabric and the inner cotton was wearing out and getting holey. But they worked. I did get more blowouts with these than other diapers. I also found the inner flap to be highly annoying when it came to poop. They were also incredibly bulky. We used these around the house and they got a lot of use in the summer when he would run around in just a diaper and shirt.
I have a sole medium left that I just threw in the stash for Kaitlyn. I'll have to use it more to decide if I still have the same issues.
I do think that the cotton inner helped Alex to feel/recognize being wet and thus, he potty trained pretty early (started around 18 months, totally trained shortly after 2), so I think that could be a potential advantage to them.
The biggest advantage of Kushies is that they are really inexpensive new, so it's an easy way to get into cloth diapering.


Right now I am contemplating making a diaper with all of my favorite features.

• It would have the same elastic sizing system as Envibum, but with cute cotton outer fabric instead of the minky so it's not as bulky. 
• I would put stretchy tabs with snaps on it like the BumGenius.
• It would have a pocket that I could stuff and leave stuffed like Envibum.
• Another alternate there is a pocket with an opening on both ends so the diaper comes unstuffed in the wash.
• A third alternate is doing a sewn in loop so that it's an all in one, but still dries quickly.\
• All inner fabric would be the trimmest and most absorbent fabric possible (pretty sure that would be bamboo...)
• I also really like the idea of gussets to hold poo in. Both in the legs and in the back. (honestly though, I've had maybe ONE poo blowout in the back, so it may not even be worth it)
• I would like the option of being able to resize the elastic around the legs for a better fit on tiny babies. I'm not exactly sure of the best method of doing so though cause the buttonhole thing is kind of annoying.
  

Now it would be great if someone would just make a diaper like that for me so that I don't have to figure it out myself. :)