Because my ideal diaper doesn't yet exist, we use Thirsties Aplix Duo Wraps and Blueberry Snap Coveralls with prefolds: double leg gussets on both brands, adustable fit, versatile, cute prints, and easy to throw in the pail and wash without touching anything gross. Good enough!
We all have different favorite diapering systems, so it’s hard to say what the ideal diaper would be, but I’ve been thinking lately that there are a lot of things many cloth diapering parents agree are best when it comes to diaper features. Double leg gussets, for instance, keep messes in. Why wouldn’t you have them? Hemp is ultra-absorbent and can turn any diaper into a night diaper. The ideal diaper should make it easy to add hemp when it’s needed. And most important in our house, you shouldn’t have to touch a wet insert before throwing it in the pail. Can you do all these things while preventing diaper rash and leaks and keeping your wash routine simple and quick? I think so.
Now, I don’t know what it costs to develop a cloth diaper line or to modify one that already exists, but my ideal diaper isn’t anything extra fancy or newfangled: it’s just a pile of best features that show up one at a time in different diapers. How hard could it be to combine these features to get the perfect diaper? Cloth diaper makers, are you listening? I’ve tried pretty much all the options out there, and here is what I wish you would make for me… affordably, of course. 
1) Leak-Proof: In my experience, a diaper is truly leak-proof when it has an adjustable fit to hug the curves of any baby, and when it has double leg gussets and super stretchy waist elastic in back to prevent blowouts. Also, standard microfiber inserts have never cut it for my heavy wetter, so the ideal diaper would have to allow me to add hemp inserts under the standard insert in order to make the diaper work at night. These could either snap in on one end or lay in under the regular insert. Or why not make a diaper insert out of a prefold? They’re three times as absorbent as the average microfiber insert! Can someone please invent a new diaper insert made of organic cotton and antimicrobial bamboo that is absorbent and made of natural materials without costing the earth? I know it will be tough at first, but I suspect someone could do it and then the rest will follow.
2) Washable and Quick-Drying: The ideal diaper needs to be easily washable and needs to dry in one dryer cycle to keep me on schedule and keep my energy bills down. This means the standard insert should be snapped to the cover like an AI2, but hang loose on one end or at least in the middle so the insert and cover both get washed thoroughly without unsnapping. Allowing air between the insert and cover would also make the diaper quick-drying.
3) Eliminate the Gross Factor: The reason we use prefolds and covers in our house is that you don’t have to touch anything gross before throwing the prefold or the prefold and cover in the pail after a change. Pocket openings at the front and back of a diaper allow an insert to shimmy out on its own in the wash (awesome!), but I don’t want to have to restuff my inserts after they’re clean, so I would like a shell system that allows me to keep my inserts snapped into the shell so they’re ready to go immediately after coming out of the dryer.
4) Rash-Reducing: The one thing prefolds don’t do for us is wick moisture away from baby girl’s skin. A snap-in insert could be lined with microfleece on top to mimic a pocket diaper lining that wicks moisture into the core of the diaper. It would be nice if this could be created from natural materials somehow so polyester isn’t up against my baby’s skin, but I realize that the reason microfleece wicks moisture instead of absorbing it is that it isn’t a natural material. Tough call. Also, this would have to be the right microfleece, as certain brands such as BumGenius don’t seem to wick fast enough to prevent occasional overflow leaks during flash floods.
5) Bright, mod prints: This is something all sorts of brands are getting right, so it shouldn’t be too hard to get this feature in my ideal diaper. Natural materials are great for covers, but I’m a sucker for bright, mod PUL prints. Please offer me a full line of creative options that vary from season to season. Snaps or Aplix are an important option, since they change the fit and I like a few of both in my stash. Could you offer the same style cover in PUL and a natural alternative such as wool or natural fleece for the ultra-natural mamas? That would be cool.
6) Fit: Finally, we come to the all-important fit. Two vertically aligned sets of snaps would allow me to angle the fit so the waist is on a smaller snap setting than the legs. Aplix shouldn’t be too thick, to avoid an awkward fit and chafing at the waist. Also, I like wide waist tabs that don’t allow wing droop and assure a snug fit. And finally, my favorite system for adjusting a diaper would have to be SoftBums Slide2Size or good old rise snaps. Maybe the ideal diaper should employ both options for an uber-adjustable diaper.
7) Versatile: Okay, one more thing. Let’s make that PUL cover unlined on the inside so I can unsnap all these nifty inserts and use it as a straight diaper cover with a prefold or fitted if I want to. Even I like to change it up occasionally and pair a soft fitted with a cover or use a toddler prefold instead of my usual infant prefold or insert combos. The ideal diaper should allow me to configure it any way I choose, with inserts, prefolds, or fitteds–and not leave snap marks or elastic marks on baby’s skin.
All right, I know that’s a lot to ask. And everyone has their own idea of what makes the perfect diaper. Fitted diaper fans, wool cover fans, all-in-one fans, speak up! What is your ideal diaper? I know those of you who have been diapering a while have some ideas, and I’d love to hear them. Those readers who are just getting started could benefit from your experience and advice on what makes the best diaper. Please dream up your ideal diaper in comments!
Have you checked out Hieny Lineys? I just found about about them today and they look intriguing…
Have you seen the leg adjustments on Greenline.com diapers. They sound a bit like the Slide2Size feature you mentioned in your post. I just ordered a couple to try. You might want to check them out because the soaker might be a bit like something from your wish list.
P.S. I agreed with a lot of what you said in your post. Thanks for sharing.
I have not heard of either of those brands, but I will check them out! Thanks!
The only diaper I’ve found that fits a lot of your list are the rainforestbabies.com I LOVE their prefold-style snap-in hemp/bamboo liners, and they hold quite a bit, though I too have a heavy wetter and they don’t hold up more than an hour on him. They have lots of snaps to customize the fit.
They do not, however, have the double gussets, which would probably help when leaking time comes. I also wish that they had softer material on the gussets as all the cd’s I’ve used leave marks on my son’s chubby thighs.
They do have a layer of flannel on the inside of the pul, but are thin enough to be used as a cover. No cute patterns yet though!
PS I have a feeling we are, for better or worse, going to see a decline in WAHM brand diapers, because the government is tightening regulations as far as lead testing, which would require each “batch” of snaps and/or PUL to be tested (at the expense of the maker) for lead.
Hi Holly,
One of the reasons I like double gussets is that they seem less likely to leave red marks on chunky thighs than the single gussets found on most pocket diapers. I don’t know if it’s the positioning of the gusset on the leg or the type of elastic used, but we’ve never had issues with marks when using double gussets on diapers from Thirsties or Blueberry. I will check out that brand. I love learning about new diaper makers! If each batch of PUL and snaps are required to be tested for lead, I wonder if that will lead to a decline in the number of prints available? Because diaper makers would probably have to spend less to test batches of materials if they had fewer numbers of different prints, different snaps, etc. Too bad (though of course I want my diapers to be safe!).
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Start Cloth Diapering for Only $20 (no sewing required)
http://a-heart4home.blogspot.com/2011/01/start-cloth-diapering-for-only-20-no.html
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Allyson
A Heart for Home