I'm a lurker who is considering CDing our first born due in August. I am 99.9% sure I have DH on board by weighing pros and cons of each. The only problem I think I'm going to have is with daycare. I do plan on remaining a working mom, at least part time. DH and I are both federal government civilians and plan on using the DoD daycare located here.
I'm pretty sure if I call and ask about it, they will tell me their policy is against CDing. Keep in mind if we do CD, I will only consider AIOs simply due to time and ease. Does anyone have any experience with DoD daycares or convincing daycare in general? How can I sell it to them other than make it very simple with the AIOs? I've considered waiting until baby is here and telling them he/she has allergies to all disposables.... ?? desperate I know, I'm sure I will need a pediatricians note.
Any experience, tips, etc would be greatly appreciated! Thanks ladies!
Re: Anyone with daycare experience?
I don't have any experience with DoD, but my daughter does go to daycare full time and they had no issue accepting cloth diapers.
The two in our area that I interviewed, but had no issue with this. One of them had never used cloth diapers, but they were on board without an issue. The other already had a little boy that was using cloth diapers.
Just go in with an open mind, and bring a diaper to show them. If they've never used them before they may be surprised how easy they are.
Make it easy on them by not expecting them to deal with the poop ie they just throw the dirty diaper in the wetbag and you get rid of the poop at home. Send either disposable wipes or prewet cloth wipes that you send every morning so there's no extra hassle at the changing table. And if you can send Velcro dipes that will make them pretty much exactly like disposables to put on and take off.
Take the time to show them how to put a diaper on before your LO starts there, giving special attention to putting it on tight enough. Most people don't put them on tight enough and will then get leaks that's the last thing you want your daycare to have to deal with.
Good luck!
Ps: we use an inhome dcp and she loves our CDs since she never has to worry about blowouts with them. All the kids in sposies have frequent blowouts.
I was really worried about finding a daycare that would use cloth diapers as well. So when I went to visit the daycare I brought along the diaper (I use AIOs) to show them what they would be using. I told them that I would provide them with a diaper pail and bring a liner for it everyday. This is our second week with daycare and so far it seems to be going well. The only thing is trying to make sure they change her a bit more frequently than they would have to with disposables. I'm sure as long as you explain it to them and show them how it works they may be willing to work with you on it. Or even ask if they would be willing to do a trial run. You'll never know if you don't ask.
I am at a private in home licensed daycare. When I was interviewing, asking if they'll do CD was on top of my list. Only one said "no, it's against state regs..." which I do not believe, I just think she didn't want to deal with it. All the other home daycares were fine with them (some were older women who said "oh yeah, that's what I used on my kids, these are much better though...") I called two centers, one was not a chain and would use my CDs, the other was a national chain and would not use CDs.
I started with prefolds and snappis with covers and daycare did fine with that. I then found Best Bottom Diapers which are similar to prefolds having a changeable insert that snaps in and reuse the cover. I think it would be easy to convince most people to use the AIOs since they're just like disposables to put on, it's not like you're expecting them to rinse them out in the toilet, they'll just put them in the wet bag, like they'd throw a disposable away, and you'll take care of it at home. At least that's what I do. It kind of sucks when you're tired at night and don't rinse the poop off that night and it's really glued on there the next day but oh well, just takes a few more minutes.