My 5 Favorite Cloth Diapers for Toddlers
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“The best” is always subjective. What works well for one child won’t necessarily work as well for another, but the diapers in the list were chosen for a variety of reasons. Their generous fit, comfort and flexibility for an active toddler, and customizable absorbency. For toddlers it is important to be able to easily add absorbency as you need it. You also want a diaper with strong leg elastics to hold in toddler poo. This has been the biggest challenge for us since K is now so active that we do end up with the occasional leak from the leg elastics.
As time has gone on and K has gotten older I’ve sold off a lot of diapers that simply stopped working for us. The ones I have had the longest and reach for the most are:
You had to know this was coming. I have sung RagaBabe’s praises for a long time. Since it is a sized diaper you get a better, more generous fit. The leg elastics are nice and strong to keep leaks in and the snap-in inserts and doublers make it easy to customize the absorbency to your needs. These work well for us at night as well as during the day.
AppleCheeks is a two-size system so again, you get a more customized fit. Their elastics are stretchy but snug so they hold in messes and the envelope opening makes it easy to add as much asborbency as you need. I like my AppleCheeks diapers more now that K is an older toddler than I did when he was younger.
The Omni is a versatile system that can adjust to be very small to fit the littlest newborns to very large to fit the biggest of toddlers. You can also use the Omni either as an AI2 or a pocket diaper.
The toggle elastics allow you to get this diaper to the exact size you need it to be so you have less chance of gapping at the legs. You can add as little or as much absorbency as you need to make it the perfect diapering solution.
Blueberry (formerly Swaddlebees) Capri
The Capri is my favorite diaper cover for a few reasons. It has a flap on the front and back of the diaper so it holds your insert of choice in place making it as easy to put on as any AI2. It is also a two size system so it’s big enough to fit my 33 pound almost-3-year-old wonderfully.
The Capri has inserts that you can buy but for my toddler but I prefer to use prefolds. I use GMD prefolds in a size small, trifold them and lay them inside like an insert. I also use these as pocket diaper inserts for better absorbency for a toddler.
Blueberry Basix & (sized) Simplex
I put these two together because they are very similar diapers. They are both a side-snapping, tongue style sized AIO diaper. (the Simplex also has a one-size option). The differences are that the Basix is made of microsuede and a microfiber tongue insert where the Simplex is made of cotton. The Simplex also has stretchy tabs and fits ever-so-slightly larger.
The large size of both of these have fit K since he was about 18 months old and he is still on the smallest snap setting. How that is, I couldn’t tell you, but he still has a long way to go before he outgrows these and with any luck, he should be potty trained fairly soon. The tongue style AIO also means that there is a pocket opening so you can add extra inserts if you need more absorbency.
As you can see, I tend to prefer sized diapers or two-size systems for my toddler. This doesn’t mean that one sized diapers don’t fit him because they do, but I find that the sized and two-size diapers are meant to fit bigger babies.
What are your favorite diapers for your toddler? Are they different from the diapers you preferred when your toddler was smaller?
I want to also add that wool covers are great for toddlers, especially the pull up style. My toddler didn’t want to lay down to have a diaper changed, so I often rediapered him while he was standing. Trying to snap a cover while they stand can be frustrating and won’t end in a very good fit if they are moving.
I LOVE my AppleCheeks and Blueberry Capri. My Capri stuffing of choice is a Flip stay dry insert. Eudora has such sensitive skin that if you look at her funny, she has an eczema flare up, so that means that keeping her dry is the most crucial thing.