Cloth Diapering 101: What’s the Deal with Pockets?

Yesterday we looked at the humble flat/pre-fold diaper and the slightly more evolved fitted diapers. These types of diapers, when used with a cover, work great for families looking for simple and effective ways to start cloth diapering. But for families that want to speed things up on the changing table, while still keeping things easy to launder, there’s a new kind of cloth diaper in town. The “pocket”. Pocket diapers are to flatfolds what the minivan is to the model t. Proof that we’ve come a long way and a marvel of diapering technology in action.
Pocket diapers were first developed and marketed by Fuzzi Buns, so it is no surprise that their pocket diapers were my favorites to use. The concept is simple and brilliant. A pocket diaper is essentially a fleece lined diaper cover with an opening for inserting an absorbant insert/ pad of layered cloth, or a prefold diaper that has been folded in thirds. The fleece allows moisture to pass through and the insert traps the moisture away from baby’s skin. The outer layer of PUL keeps baby’s skin dry.
The beauty of this system is that it allows for complete customization with little fuss. You can tailor the type of insert you use to how heavily your child wets. Most pocket diapers come with a microterry insert that is good for most situations, but hemp, bamboo, cotton and combo inserts can easily be purchased as well and can be used instead of or in combination with the microterry. If you “prestuff” your diapers after laundering, then changes are a breeze. The clean diapers go on at least as fast as a disposible. One other benefit of the pocket diaper is that it can also be used as a diaper cover with a fitted or flatfold, should you choose to purchase more than one system. For this reason I would encourage cloth diapering newbies to purchase one or two pocket style diapers to try. Even if you find that pockets are not for you, you can always use them as diaper covers.
Of the pocket diapers I tested, three brands stood out:

Fuzzi Buns Pocket Diapers are my absolute favorite. They wash beautifully, fit well and have not had any issues with leaking for us. I love their bright simple colors. For us they seemed to run a bit large, so I would not size up in this line.


Blueberry’s minkee pocket diapers won me over with their luxurious designs. These easy to stuff diapers wash well and perform beautifully. It’s a shame to wear pants on top of them!


Bum Genius All in Ones are an economical pocket diaper. They use an ingenious system of snaps and velcro to fit babies from infancy right on through toddlerhood. Unfortunately we did not find any of the one-size-fits all diapers available (in any brand) were the best fit for our son. But I am including the Bum Genius Pockets in my list because they are so popular and have such a huge following. Who’s to argue with such a big fan base?!
Part of cloth diapering is discovering the products that work and fit best on your child. It’s an adventure because not every product is going to to fit the same on every child, much like clothing. But when you get it right, you will be amazed at how simple cloth diapering can be.
Stay tuned till tomorrow when we’ll discuss All in Ones and Diaper Covers!