Washing at home vs. diaper service

tjanca22

my DH and I are on board with CD and are doing the research to see which type will work for our lifestyle. My husband is totally against washing CD at home and insists that they won't get clean and refuses to wash our clothes in the same washer where poopy diapers are washed too. He only wants to use a DS, I don't see much of a cost savings with this method. We've started researching hybrids, but again I don't see a cost savings going this route. We have an older washing machine which I've heard does a decent job at cleaning. Thoughts on ways to convince a DH?

violajack

Where will you wash poopy clothes and car seat covers after a blow out? Babies poop, poop gets on things. Washers wash things. Cleaning diapers is not hard. Baby poop really isn't particularly gross, especially if you breastfeed.

EssJayCee

^wss

I'm a FTM, but I nannied for years. Even if you use disposables, you'll be washing poop. Poop on baby clothes, poop on the carseat cover, poop on the sheets, poop on your clothes... poop everywhere. They are poopy little things, and you'll be spending a lot of time at the laundromat if your husband refuses to let poop go on the wash!

freezorburn

Also, my understanding is that most diaper services will only do prefolds, maybe fitteds. And you might have to still have your own covers which you would wash. Prefolds and fitteds are awesome but there is nothing wrong with using them exclusively -- plenty of people do. But you might find yourself wanting to branch out from there. If the service picks up once a week, then you have to figure out how to store that many dirty diapers until pickup day.

If you wash at home you only need storage space for 2-3 days worth of diapers, and you can get whatever diapers you like. It's nice to have a mix of different types, for different situations and different growth stages.

FWIW, MH was skeptical until he saw how many sposies we went through in a week... especially after we moved to a neighborhood where foxes are really active, and he can't put the garbage out the night before pickup, otherwise the critters will toss everything all over the sidewalk and the street in front of our house. Yes, that happened right when we moved and DS was in sposies while our stuff was in transit.

As far as convincing YH, sometimes guys need to hear about it from another guy. So if you have any friends who CD, maybe spend some time with them so YH can hear another CD Dad's point of view. If there is a brick and mortar CD store in your area, visit it. It helps to be able to see the merch in person. Also, quite a few online vendors offer diaper trials, so you can try it out and see what works for you, without making a huge investment.

JNU76

Yes- he'll be amazed at how much poop you're washing, and at least if you're washing diapers at home, you can throw the poopy stuff in with those instead of with clean-ish clothes. The poop doesn't stay in the washer- I've never had poop from a diaper load contaminate anything else, and I was surprised at first when I saw how clean the diapers came out. At least if you wash at home, you have control over type of detergent, whether or not to bleach ever, how often to wash, and other things related to your baby's skin. Sometimes diaper rashes can be solved in the washing machine.

Good luck! The amount of poop with a newborn can be alarming, but the amount of spit-up blew my mind with my first...

freezorburn

Also, cloth diapers are so much better at containing poop. I think we have had two CD blowouts, ever. One was just not put on well by my mom, and in the other instance it was just an extraordinary event. I actually don't bother carrying spare clothes around for DS, because it has been so rare that we have needed to change all his clothes while out of the house. I would rather wash poop out of diapers than wash it out of clothes.

I'm under the impression that poop blowouts are much more routine for disposable users. I keep hearing about poop getting all over clothes, strollers, carseats, bouncers, etc. I've had to clean those things from an occasional leak caused by a saturated diaper, but I can't imagine having to do that on a regular basis because sposies aren't containing poop.

Brandiewine11

My husband wanted to buy a second washing machine for diapers and put it in the garage which is not attached to the house. I told him that was dumb. I told him I would use our washer and if our clothes had issues we would go with his plan. We haven't had an issue yet.

tjanca22

Thanks everyone for the suggestions, I never really thought of poop getting on the stroller, car seat, etc. FTM here! I think asking to give me a week or two to prove it to him after baby comes might win him over. Appreciate all your advice

sarenu1

I don't even want to think about how many poopy clothes I would have had to change if I didn't use cloth.  I called my son and daughter power poopers.  And as soon as they could sit up and play I was thankful for the elastic in the back.  It saved clothes so many times.

countrycotton

Sort of off topic, but why is washing a diaper any different than washing underware? I don't care how well you clean your self you are going to have drips of pee and occasional smears of poop. And men don't wipe, they shake, do they really think they got all the pee off befor they zipped back up? What about when the kids are toddlers and have accidents? That stuff gets washed not sent to a sevice or trashed. I think more pee and poop go in the washer than most people are aware of, or simply have blocked out of there minds.

sarenu1

countrycotton said:

Sort of off topic, but why is washing a diaper any different than washing underware? I don't care how well you clean your self you are going to have drips of pee and occasional smears of poop. And men don't wipe, they shake, do they really think they got all the pee off befor they zipped back up? What about when the kids are toddlers and have accidents? That stuff gets washed not sent to a sevice or trashed. I think more pee and poop go in the washer than most people are aware of, or simply have blocked out of there minds.

Agreed.

I'm kind of glad I cloth diaper.  Now if my potty training toddler has an accident I just clean up the underwear if needed and throw it in with my son's diapers.

sarenu1

Mapleme said:

sarenu1 said:

countrycotton said:

Sort of off topic, but why is washing a diaper any different than washing underware? I don't care how well you clean your self you are going to have drips of pee and occasional smears of poop. And men don't wipe, they shake, do they really think they got all the pee off befor they zipped back up? What about when the kids are toddlers and have accidents? That stuff gets washed not sent to a sevice or trashed. I think more pee and poop go in the washer than most people are aware of, or simply have blocked out of there minds.

Agreed.

I'm kind of glad I cloth diaper.  Now if my potty training toddler has an accident I just clean up the underwear if needed and throw it in with my son's diapers.

It's like I don't even know you

Two in diapers at the same time as been a little tough.

Actually it's been harder keeping up with the wetbag laundry.  I like to send a fresh bag each day.  That's two a day, 5 days a week, for a total of 10 bags each week. 

:-O

freezorburn

sarenu1 said:

Mapleme said:

sarenu1 said:

countrycotton said:

Sort of off topic, but why is washing a diaper any different than washing underware? I don't care how well you clean your self you are going to have drips of pee and occasional smears of poop. And men don't wipe, they shake, do they really think they got all the pee off befor they zipped back up? What about when the kids are toddlers and have accidents? That stuff gets washed not sent to a sevice or trashed. I think more pee and poop go in the washer than most people are aware of, or simply have blocked out of there minds.

Agreed.

I'm kind of glad I cloth diaper.  Now if my potty training toddler has an accident I just clean up the underwear if needed and throw it in with my son's diapers.

It's like I don't even know you

Two in diapers at the same time as been a little tough.

Actually it's been harder keeping up with the wetbag laundry.  I like to send a fresh bag each day.  That's two a day, 5 days a week, for a total of 10 bags each week. 

:-O

That just means you need more diapers and wetbags. I stocked up on DC-friendly diapers when we increased DS's days, partly so I don't have to cut it so close on laundry and drying. It's nice to be able to pack a couple bags a day or two before they are needed, and just be able to toss them in his daybag when we are heading out. I don't have to spend time hunting around for the right diapers or check on what's dry, because having extra diapers gives me some breathing room.