The right Cloth Diaper for you?

Lets face it, the world of cloth diapering can be a jungle to rookie cd'ers! Complicated terminology like contoured, all-in-ones, or even the good old-fashioned prefolds can leave your head in a whirl!
So here's a breakdown of the most commonly used cloth diapers and based on my personal experience how they rank in fit, durability and ease of care (scale of 1-5).

Prefolds: These are the original, workhorse of the cloth diapering world. Think back to the days of those huge baby pins. The great thing about prefolds is their versatility. Not only can they be folded in several different manners to best fit boys or girls, but they also make great doublers to ensure overnight dryness. The bad about these is the bug butt that they have a tendency to give newborns and slender infants.
Fit: 2 Durability: 4 Ease of Care: 4

Contours: The contour diaper is a pretty successful attempt at trimming down the bulk of a prefold. Like the prefold, it requires a cover. These diapers are shaped to fit snugly around a baby's bum. If you don't have a snug fitting cover, then snappi's or some sort of pinning system to hold these together is recommended. I love tiny tushes contour diapers, and currently use them on both my 17 month old and 4 month old. These are fantastic because they also have a sewn in doubler. A little secret, I like to use a second insert either on top of the sewn in or underneath it, depending on if my little ones have had a poopy yet or not (on top if they haven't, and under if they already have) The downside of these is that you are more likely to have some leakage with poopy diapers, which will require more covers. This problem seems to present itself more with babies who have slender thighs.
Fit: 3.5 Durability: 4.5 Ease of Care: 4.5

Fitted: Now we are moving up into the cadillac diapers, not necessarily in regards to durability or quality but rather ease of use. Fitteds resemble disposables and are fastened with velcro or snaps. They do still require a cover and sometimes matching the cover to the fitted can be a tad tricky. I honestly don't have too much experience with fitteds, having used them only when my daughter was a newborn. They can pose a problem for babies with extremely chunky legs, particularly if the closures don't adjust to accomodate leg size. My rank are based on my limited experience, so please take with a grain of salt!
Fit:4 Durability: 4.5 Ease of Care 3.5

All-in-ones: Coined AIO's among experienced cd.ing moms, these diapers are the Gucci of cloth diapering. The price tag is a good give away of that as well! These diapers are made with easy in mind. These are the best to use if your leaving your little one with someone with little to no c.d. experience. These bad boys have passed my test as far as holding large messes! I loved my Bum Genius 2.0 diapers and the only change I would ever ask them to consider would be to move from velcro to snaps. Velcro can get messy over time with continous washing, and also something to consider is when your little one reaches the "ripping of my diaper" stage. Velcro makes this much easier! A subset of the AIO's are known as pocket AIO's (FuzziBunz). These diapers are considered AIO's however one must stuff the insert into the pocket of the diaper. Due to my limited time, I haven't always been a fan of these, however I will admit that they are great to use overnight. The reason being that you can stuff several inserts into the pocket and pretty much guarantee a leak free night, even with the heaviest of wetters! The downside of AIO's is the time it takes to wash them! You are more likely to see the effects of hard or soft water with these diapers and must be careful to wash ALL detergent out of them. I'll post a separate blog on washing and maintaining your AIO's. Drying can also be tricky as they may seem dry after about 60 minutes of drying on high, but in all honesty they need to go about 2 or 3 cycles through the dryer.
Fit:5 Durability: 4.5 Ease of Care: 4 (because of cleaning time)

So that's my manifesto on the world of cloth diapering! If you have any good tips to share or your own experiences to pass on, please feel free to leave a comment!

Happy C.D.ing!!