What is the difference between inserts, doublers, boosters, soakers, liners, etc?

The cloth diaper world includes a lot of lingo and it can get quite confusing for someone who has never used cloth and even for those who already use cloth since many companies interchange the same term for different products. Hopefully this short post will help you out with lingo around inserts/boosters/doublers/soakers/liners, etc.

The term inserts (sometimes also called stuffers) is usually used to mean an absorbent multi-layer fabric that can be placed inside a pocket diaper. These can be made of various materials such as cotton, microfiber, terry, hemp and bamboo. Some inserts can be also be used as doublers (see definition below). An example of an insert is the bumGenius one-size microfiber insert that is used with the bumGenius one-size pocket diaper.

Doublers or boosters are thick pads that can be used to add absorbency to your diaper. These are usually added inside a fitted, AIO or prefold diaper. They often have a fleece lining that lies against your baby’s skin to keep it dry. These are great when extra protection is needed such as nighttime. Example: Gro Baby Stay Dry Booster.

Soakers usually refers to the inner layer of the diaper (the part that will absorb wetness) which can be made of various fabrics such as cotton, bamboo, hemp, etc. Some diapers have a detachable inner soaker (All-In-Two diaper such as the Gro Baby one-size diaper) and others are all one piece (All-In-One diaper such as the Annie Marie Padorie Stay Dry AIO). To confuse you even more, the term soaker can also be used in reference to wool or fleece covers.

Liners are thin layers of biodegradable paper (ex: Bummis biosoft liners) that are placed between the diaper and your baby’s skin. These are used for easier clean up by keeping poop from sticking to the diaper. Once soiled, they are thrown in the garbage or flushed down the toilet. Another type of liner is polar fleece liners (ex: AMP microfleece liners). These work great to keep the baby’s skin dry by wicking away wetness from the skin. They also help with poopy messes since stool tend to peel off the fleece. Once soiled these are machine washable. Another less commonly used liner is raw silk. Raw silk is the only option for 100% natural wicking material to help keep skin dry. The term liners is also sometimes used to mean doubler, booster or insert.

Hopefully this helped a little bit for whoever needed it. Please feel free to add any comments are to ask any questions.

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