Diaper Wars: Return of the Disposable

My daughter is almost 4 weeks old now and everything has been great. She has me wrapped around her finger and I don't think I would have it any other way. I have been writing about cloth diapers for a while now and it has been hard coming up with material on the subject. I know I could go and look up different stuff and report on it but I want to write about my personal experience. It had been the same thing day in and day out and I didn't want to bore everyone with the same crap so I had to step back a bit. I wanted to write something to fit the name of this entire segment. I was waiting for the right situation to come up so that I could continue the "Diaper Wars" and finally something happened. Last week I came home from work and noticed something white that was visible from my daughters onesie. I picked her up and my wife told me that she was wearing her first disposable diaper. There had been a frustration building up from the constant wetting through the cover so I figured that was why she used it but it turned out that the cloth diapers were drying so this was her only option. Since my daughter had the disposable on I figured this was what I was waiting for. How could this segment of my blog fit the title of "Diaper Wars" without an opponent? The idea was obvious and in front of me the whole time but like any man looking for something, we never see it the first time and need a helping hand. So let's start with the frustration I mentioned. How does one stop this from happening? If any moms or dads of the cloth can help with this, I'd really appreciate it. We've tried different ways of folding the pre-fold and everything is tucked in but she still pees right through to the cover. I can see this happening if we let her sit through a few pee sessions but this is not the case. We change her right away and I guess it could be that she just pees a lot but has anyone else dealt with this? At night we double up and she's fine but during the day we use a single pre-fold. I guess if we have to use two all the time it's fine but I'm curious to see if there is a better way to fold it? I'm also thinking that she's too small to be completely snug and hold it all in but what do I know?

Now, my wife and I have been using disposables for about a week now and although there is a convenience factor to them, I'm not all that impressed. I will admit that it has been nice to toss them out after each change. This would be my favorite convenience. On that note I have been happy with the fact that my daughter has not peed through them but ultimately the convenience factor does not help the case for the disposable diaper. We have encountered the dreaded "blowout" a few times since using disposables and at some point it has taken both my wife and I to tackle them. Last night was so bad that it went up to my daughters neck. I held her up and my wife took her battered onesie off and my little girl just stared at me. I believe at one point she even gave me the stink eye. She was probably wondering what the hell happened and why there was poo on the back of her neck. I know I would be and if she could she would have let me have it with some verbal judo. It's crazy how someone so small can do so much destruction in such a short amount of time. I was holding her and her face said it all. When she finished my wife laughed and said that it looked like there had been a blowout. When I turned her around you could see the damage.

So here's the issue. Disposables are convenient, hold in pee, but do nothing for blowouts. When we were using cloth diapers we never had a blowout. I will be using both to see who will be victorious. I am going to weigh the pros and cons of both but so far I'm leaning toward cloth diapers. I'd rather deal with pee than poo and frankly, I don't mind washing the diapers. It's pretty easy and I can put the cloth diapers on with a quickness. In the beginning it was a pain but I'm not one to give up. With everything that has been said, I now turn to you for help. What can I do to battle the wetness of the cloth? Could it really be that my daughter is too small for even the newborn pre-folds? Time and experimentation will tell which is truly the best but for now the Diaper Wars continue.