Which cloth diapers, car seat and strollers should I be looking at?

August 5, 2012 1:44 PM

Baby gear advice, the EU/Italy edition. I need some MeFi help for winnowing down the plethora of choices so friends and fam stop bugging me about my baby registry. Advice on cloth diapers, car seats & strollers sought...

Premise: I live in Rome, my family lives in the States, and various friends are scattered all over the globe. My mom will be coming over for the birth, and has volunteered to be my baby stuff mule, within reason We also have (very very, as in "holy shit a 10+ hour flight with a 2.5 month old" very) tentative plans to visit stateside come January.

So keeping that in mind...

Cloth Diapers: I would really like to go with cloth diapers, because disposables here are hideously expensive and the ecological benefits makes my little inner hippie do a happy dance. Everything I've read says to get a sampler pack to see what works best for your baby.

Problem is that cloth diapers are not to be found in abundance here, pricier, and with a very limited choice on brands in comparison with the States. I will probably also need to double what the usual recommendations say to stock up on, as driers are practically non-existent here.

MeFites who have cloth diapered: what would your diaper armory look like if you were in similar circumstances?

Car Seats & Strollers: Everyone here seems to buy the bassinet/car seat/stroller travel systems. We've only done preliminary perusing thus far and being on the smaller side, I find a large percentage of them to be hugely unwieldy. And the bassinet part confused the hell out of me, considering that you would only use it for a few months, so why bother?

Then I found out that the majority use them to transport infants for the first few months in lieu of car seats. Um, hell no. Don't care if they are rated here for car use up to 10 kg.

I have got my partner on board with a car seat from when we leave the hospital. He is, due to some first time Daddy nerves and aforementioned "everyone has them", less convinced on the idea that we don't need the freaking bassinet stroller attachment "to protect her" while out and about.

Other stroller considerations would be Rome's cobblestones and the fact that public transport (buses, underground with limited or no escalator/elevator access in areas) will probably come into play eventually. European brands I can get here are also a requirement, so I can test drive/check them out in person and as shipping US brands seems to be a no-go due to differing safety regulations.

EU MeFite Parents: What car seat/stroller systems or separate pieces would you suggest?

posted by romakimmy to Shopping (17 answers total)

Can you post a link to the sort of car seat/bassinet travel system you're talking about?
posted by purpleclover at 2:00 PM on August 5, 2012

John and Sherry from Young House Love did cloth diapering and blogged about it here. I don't have first hand experience, but I'd trust them with my life.
posted by Flamingo at 2:18 PM on August 5, 2012 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Yup. Car seat + car-rated bassinet + stroller system
posted by romakimmy at 2:20 PM on August 5, 2012

"everyone has them"

Lots of really stupid things have come out of being sheeple-ish. While pregnant I noticed a lot of people struggling -- stupidly -- not because they had an infant, but because they had an infant with an inexplicable hard plastic outer casing. The infant didn't much care for not being in arms, and the parents were hauling luggage through the mall. It's widespread but it's also bizarre. Those "travel systems" do anything but make travel efficient. They must have convertible car seats that stay in the car there?

I would skip the stroller until you have the actual child; stores will still be open Especially given your terrain/transport; I think a stroller would be a nightmare there. Each of you should pick out a nice, well-reviewed carrier like an Ergo or Maya Wrap. Find something with good wheels but a small footprint when the kid gets heavy.

My diaper suggestion would be to not spend too too much time Googling and thinking about it. They're all rags for catching waste. There are all sorts of web pages with crazy-detailed reviews and washing orders instructions for them; I have no idea what that's about -- everybody's grandparents got on just fine without fussing about the diaper detergent. I had a great fondness for a fairly generic AIO and loathed every brand-name cloth I tried, but all bums are different. You also don't have to choose cloth OR disposable; you can use cloth on lead-ups to wash days, disposable the rest of the time, whatever.
posted by kmennie at 2:40 PM on August 5, 2012 [1 favorite]

It's worth paying good money to get a lighter stroller with bigger wheels. You want something that rides over the cobbles and curbs and that you can carry up stairs without busting your backbone. If you aren't too pregnant for such things, when you go shopping for a stroller, throw some shit in the stroller seat or basket to approximate a baby's weight and then pick it up off the ground to feel how it would be to hoist it. We ought a Roan (local brand), which is entirely serviceable but too heavy. If I had to do it again, I'd pay two or three times the money to get some sort of superlight alien tripod on wheels, because there will be days -- hot, sticky, hurrying from bus to train -- when you are just ready to say fuck this shit.
posted by pracowity at 2:41 PM on August 5, 2012 [1 favorite]

We used disposable diapers for the first couple of weeks (easier in terms of meconium and any umbilical cord left). We then use The BumGenius Elemental (same as Young House Love) diapers (probably easier than disposables). And a collection of organic cotton prefolds with either "snappies" with vinyl covers or flip/some other basic cover. Use 18 elements and who knows how many prefolds, and do a wash every 4 or 5 days (we really should be washing more often), but with a drier.

We bought a stroller holder for our carseat, but we barely used it other than storage. We use a Baby K'Tan (which is great for newborns) and an Ergo Carrier for all our non-driving transportation needs. Our kid has always seemed to like them more than strollers.
posted by skynxnex at 2:43 PM on August 5, 2012

I'm an Amsterdam-based father of a nearly 2 year old boy.

Part one: we considered the cloth route but ultimately went for disposables. We're vegetarian, organic, do-the-right-thing people, but on this occasion convenience (at a price) trumped "being good". Not trying to dissuade you - just saying how it was for us.

Part two: we went for a Stokke Xplory, which I absolutely love. I like its looks, manoeuvrability, and the way we're face to face with our boy (you can also have it the other way round if you like).

Cons: it's big, heavy and doesn't fold down much at all. Really not very convenient when flying, or fitting in the car boot. It costs a bomb too.

We also got a separate Maxi Cosi car seat, because you have to have one - simple as that.

On the bassinet thing: from what I understand they're the best thing to use for the first 6 months or so because it's not a good idea to keep infants strapped into a car seat for prolonged periods of time. Why? Because car seats don't allow them to move! In a bassinet, they're free to wiggle around and develop their muscles and motor skills etc.

Oh and all strollers seem cumbersome and unwieldy to start with, but you soon get used to them.

Good luck!
posted by ZipRibbons at 2:44 PM on August 5, 2012

We just did the car seat + stroller frame thing until our kid was sitting and we were able to switch to a lighter weight stroller. I dont get your husband's argument about the bassinet--what's more protective than a car seat? We live in NYC, so no cobblestones bUt lots of stairs and walking, and the car seat + frame worked just fine. How much time is the baby going to be in the stroller? Ours probably spent a maximum of an hour at a time in his. If you're going to be going out to dinner or other events where the baby will be spending prolonged amounts of time in the stroller, a bassinet is probably going to be more comfortable.

Many of my friends have and liked various carriers and we optimistically bought several but we never managed to find one that was comfortable for both wearer and baby. Those tend to be really user-dependant so it's probably worth going shopping for one after you have the baby.
posted by The Elusive Architeuthis at 2:56 PM on August 5, 2012

I"m US-based, but we took our three month old to the south of France and the airplane ate our stroller, so we had to buy a replacement in Monaco (of all places!) Because my son was still very small, the imperious madame at the sole monegasque baby shop gave us a choice of three strollers, I believe we got the cheapest of the three. We wound up buying a Chicco Liteway (link to UK version, so you can figure out what Chicco calls it in Italy) and it has served us extremely well. It folds up very easily and quite compactly. It handles cobblestones like a champ - we took another trip with our son to Spain and Portugal when he was 22 months old, and that stroller took every step and cobble in stride. When baby ambrosia was a wee three month old, we could recline the back and he would nap right in the stroller while we had lunch in Arles or Avignon or wherever we happened to be. It has withstood a bunch of plane trips and is still in great shape. We are now on our second child, and we still use it a lot. I think car seat + stroller is all you really need, especially if space is at a premium.

With regards to flying with a 2.5 month old: it's a great time to travel. Your baby will sleep most of the time, and isn't mobile so won't be squirmy. Try to feed at takeoff and landing (boob or bottle) so that baby's ears equalize, and you'll be in good shape. Flying with a ten month old? Totally different thing.
posted by ambrosia at 3:20 PM on August 5, 2012

Response by poster: Some clarification:
- We will be using a proper car seat from day 1. After some discussion involving the laws of physics and infant whiplash, Daddy is in agreement with me on this one. He is less convinced on using a stroller with a fully reclining back versus the bassinet outside of the car.

- The stroller will be purchased after Peanut makes her world debut. Locally it's apparently bad luck to buy it beforehand, and once she's born Dad has to go buy the stroller I pick out while Mom & babe are chilling in the maternity ward. (*snerk*). So right now I'm doing my due diligence on our best options vis-a-vis systems or separate car seat/stroller.

- For those with cloth diaper advice, considering a drier is not an option here and laundry takes a few hours to dry in high summer but a few days to dry in the dead of winter, how many would you want for the clean-dirty-drying cycle?

Thanks for all the help thus far, y'all :) (and special props to ambrosia for the reassuring advice on travel)
posted by romakimmy at 4:03 PM on August 5, 2012

I'm currently cloth diapering my 9 day old and the Internet made it seem a lot more complicated than it is! We currently use Gerber cotton prefolds in the newborn size that I got from Walmart (heresy I know) for $13/10. They're not the thin burp cloth ones they make, they're the next thickness up. We have 20 of those and no dryer, so Baby Jungle wears disposables every 2 days for a few hours while I do laundry. I have 3 snappis and 6 of the thirsties covers (size one) that I got from Target.

My laundry routine goes like so:
Wake up bleary eyed at 4am to feed baby. While Baby is nursing dump diapers in the washer on the soak setting in cold water, no detergent.

Wake up at 6:30 to feed baby again. Shamble to washer and drain. Add 1 capful All Free and Clear (we have the military edition with no optical brightners because my husband is in the Army and we use it on his uniforms, but I dont think that matters so much). Turn on hot wash/cold rinse cycle with extra rinse. Shamble back to bed after burping baby.

Wake up at 9, feed baby, hang diapers to dry. Depending on the day the diapers are dry by 1pm or so, so Baby Jungle generally uses the last of her cloth and maybe 1-2 disposables. Today she didn't use any, so that was nice.

If you have any questions you can memail me, I hope that helped!
posted by julie_of_the_jungle at 4:24 PM on August 5, 2012

To clarify it's these diapers with these covers. The diapers had to be washed and dried 3 times before use to get the natural oils out, so if you go that route I'd recommend you have your mother wash them (on hot, they will shrink up a little and that's good) before she brings them to you. Also, those are good for 7lbs* - 15lbs or so, so I have a second set of cloth diapers that are for when Baby Jungle is 15-35lbs that I got on craigslist.


*Baby Jungle was only a 6lbs baby but we didn't have any leak problems because she has chubby thighs, your baby may vary.
posted by julie_of_the_jungle at 6:08 PM on August 5, 2012

A friend who had a baby in Rome some time back told me that she also had family mail her basic baby clothes because the local shops only sold extremely nice and expensive baby clothes, rather than the six-pack-onsies-basics.

We have a stroller that takes a carseat for the first year, then converts to a stroller (Maxi-cosi carseat plus quinny buzz) and with a very small baby, it was quite nice to lift her direct from the car into the stroller. But a lot of the time, the stroller is carrying the diaper bag and shopping while the baby is in a sling and much happier. I agree that the infant bassinet thing is ridiculous, especially if you are going to be using a sling.

If you have uneven pavements, it's really worth testing out the stroller. My quinny stroller does not do well on larger steps, but a cheap umbrella stroller we were given is brilliant with steps, so we use that for around the neighbourhood now that she's bigger.
posted by viggorlijah at 7:17 PM on August 5, 2012

I would use basic prefolds and covers. It's easy to store a gazillion prefolds (I think we have four dozen right now) and the covers dry really fast.
posted by linettasky at 7:49 PM on August 5, 2012

We've been really happy with prefolds and covers. We have 6 covers and about 20 prefolds, but have a dryer. it's hot here now, and they dry fairly fast on the line. You could double the number of prefoldsand have enough. He has really skinny legs and that is working better than some disposables at not leaking. However, we've been using disposables at night to try and keep the diaper rash at bay.

we also bought an assortment of the all in ones on craigslist, which are still a bit big for him so we haven't tried them. It is a cheap way to try lots of different things. that said, if we'd seen how well the prefolds work,I don't think we'd have bothered.
posted by lab.beetle at 12:48 AM on August 6, 2012

Response by poster: Thanks to all the advice above, we've gone with:
- a mix of Bumgenius Freetime, prefolds and disposables for these first few days due to the umbilical cord, her size, and so daddy can get the hang of changing diapers.
- the Peg Pergola Aria stroller and compatible Primo Viaggio infant car seat. The stroller is 5-something kilos and the car seat can be snapped into it.
posted by romakimmy at 4:16 AM on October 28, 2012

If you're line drying, I highly recommend including some flats in your stash. They're single layer so they dry super quick, and you have several different folds options so you can tailor it to what works for your baby. They're not as much of a pain to fold as you'd think. If you have an IKEA nearby, they sell a pack of "burp cloths" called Vandrig that work awesome as flats too.
posted by litnerd at 7:44 AM on October 31, 2012