What is the point of a pocket style cloth diaper?

Pocket style cloth diapers are probably the most popular modern cloth diaper, but why is that? what is so great about pocket diapers?

Pocket cloth diapers are as versatile as cloth diaper covers, and once they are stuffed, are just as convenient and easy to use as all-in-one cloth diapers.

The vast majority of my cloth diaper stash is pocket diapers and I absolutely love them.

If you want to know how many pocket diapers you need in order to cloth diaper your baby check out my article ” How many cloth diapers do I need?”

What are pocket cloth diapers?

If I had to use 1-word to describe pocket diapers, I’d use the word “awesomeness”.

A pocket style cloth diaper is made with a water-resistant outer layer and a stay-dry or natural fiber lining sewn to the inside of the diaper while leaving a small opening.

This opening is typically at the back of the cloth diaper, but it can be at the front or at both the front and back, which is known as a “tunnel pocket”.

This opening and the space between the water-resistant outer layer and the stay-dry or natural fiber inner layer make up the “pocket” that these cloth diapers get their name from.

This opening is also how you get your absorbency into the cloth diaper, while you can just lay your inserts on top of the inner lining.

That does remove the convenience of a pocket diaper, while the amount of laundry and shells (part of the pocket diaper that is not absorbent) you need to buy remains the same.

Unlike with cloth diaper covers where there is only the water-resistant layer that can be wiped clean, so unless baby gets poop on the cover, you can reuse it several times.

Therefore, cutting down the amount of laundry that has to be done, and the amount of cloth diaper covers you have to have in your stash.

What can you stuff pocket diapers with?

If it fits in the pocket and absorbs pee, you can use it in your pocket diapers, no matter how cheap, or expensive it is.

Sorta like ” If the shoe fits, wear it ” Well then ” If the insert fits, use it” 🙂

This is the awesome part of pocket style cloth diapers, you can take literally any absorbent material and not only use it for cloth diapering, but since it is stuffed inside the pocket, it is also now a super easy and convenient cloth diaper.

Take flat cloth diapers for example, most people are very intimidated by flats at first because of the folding.

So, how would you make a flat cloth diaper babysitter, or just new cloth diaperer friendly?

Well, you pad-fold that sucker and stuff it in a pocket diaper, now the babysitter doesn’t have to deal with the flat at all, and the new cloth diaperer only has to deal with the simple pad-fold that won’t come apart if dropped.

Or microfiber clothes that cannot go directly against baby’s skin can be stuffed inside a pocket diaper since the inner stay-dry or natural fiber lining will be between the microfiber and baby’s skin.

If you want to learn more about cloth diaper inserts check out my article ” Cloth diaper inserts: What are they & which are best?”

Do you have to wash pocket diapers after each use?

Yes, you do have to wash pocket diapers after every use since the inner layer that touches baby’s skin will be either wet or poopy.

Luckily, pocket cloth diapers are very easy to wash, and are very quick to dry.

Over the last few years, I have even participated in the Flats & Handwashing Challenge where I used mostly pocket diapers and handwashed and line dried them for a whole week.

And while I wouldn’t call handwashing super-duper-extra fun, the diapers got clean and dry, even though I was 9 months pregnant with my 3rd baby and had 2 toddlers whose diapers needed washed every day.

This is another reason I love pocket cloth diapers, their versatility is second to none, their extremely easy to use for a new cloth diaperer or babysitter, and like most other cloth diapers, they are adorable.

Resources

Link to my favorite pocket diaper the Thirsties pocket diaper at thirsties.com

Link to cheap and adorable pocket diapers at barnyardbums.com

Link to probably the most popular pocket cloth diapers at alvababy.com