10 months in, is it worth the switch?

jasperc0748

Recently, I have talked to a few mothers who cloth diaper. They have told me all sorts of information that I didn't get from the people I had talked to about cloth diapering when I was pregnant. This has made me really want to reconsider using disposables. My question is…is 10 months old too late to make the switch to cloth? Will it be a waste of money for me to spend on cloth diapers, if he is already almost a year old? I get mixed answers from people on how long boys are in diapers usually. A lot of people said by 2 they shouldn't be in diapers! (He is a boy if that makes a difference) At that point, investing that much in cloth wouldn't seem that viable…I think? I need some advice!

Also, best places to get second hand cloth? Is that too gross to do? Would it be more worth it just to buy new?

Thank you!

MWoodside

There is a huge market for used cloth diapers!  So whether you purchase new or used diapers as long as you take good care of them you can easily resell them when you are done with them if you don't want to save for a possible future child.  I don't think it's gross, but that's really up to you to decide.  Spots corner or facebook BST pages are good spots to check out for BSTing diapers.

I don't know many children, boys or girls, that are fully out of diapers by 2 for good.  If you wanted to do it on the cheap you can always use prefolds exclusively.

Guennie

I didn't start using cloth until 7 months and I'm so glad I made the switch. I use gDiapers and I bought most of mine used so I have actually saved money from what I would have invested in disposables. Used diapers aren't nasty at all if you buy from someone who has taken care of them. I second looking for groups on facebook, that's where I buy mine.

Chichigo

Used diapers should always be washed with bleach (1/4 c in the bleach compartment of your washing machine, then a few extra rinses).

I wouldn't but a stash full of organic AIOs gir an older baby, but prefolds or flats with covers will be worth it.

jasperc0748

Thank you everyone for your help!

sunnyday016

It's definitely worth it if you plan to have more children. If you don't, it's still worth it. I think PTing by 2 is not unheard of, but is definitely not the norm-especially for boys. My son is 3y3m and is no where near training.

McRad

I found a cloth diaper I fell in love with and I think it'll be worth your money. It's not an AIO, but a snap insert. They are called Best Bottom Diapers. Id give it a look.
The reason I fell in love with them is because you only need a few covers (maybe ~3-5 at your sons age) and the inserts. The covers are ~$17 a piece and then the snap in inserts are ~$4. They have a leg gusset to catch any leaks and they are so much cheaper than doing an AIO. Plus, less laundry because you don't have a big AIO diaper to wash. The thing that sold me was the fact that you just snap out the insert if it's soiled or wet, and replace with a clean one. You don't have was a whole diaper, therefore less water used, less product to clean, less time spent drying. And, no stuffing! Woo hoo!
I love them. I'd highly recommend you give it a look if you're seriously considering. I found this to be the cheapest, second to prefolds, and most convenient cloth diapering system.

kayla123456

I agree with others about prefolds and covers being worth it. Also, some kids do train by two. My oldest was say trained by 23 months and night trained by 2 1/2. My next daughter was 19 months and night trained by 2.

zoihoku

I think there are many ways to consider if it is "worth it" to you. For me, I think it is very much worth it even if you use AIOs and don't plan to have another child. We have decided to use cloth diapers for several reasons. Cost is definitely a part of our choice which may bit be such a huge savings 10 months in depending on the type and whether you buy new our used. However, for us, environmental impact is hugely worth it to us as disposable diapers are such a problem in our landfills. We are also concerned with the chemical components of disposables, which of course can be remedied by using special brands, but those cost so much more. IMO I think whether cloth diapers are worth it would depend on the reasons you choose to cloth diaper. The more reasons you specifically have for cloth diapering, the more worth it cloth shadowing will become for you even 10 months in. There are also several companies that will allow you to test diapers out. The companies all do it their own way, but there are some that offer you multiple brands and types so you can test them all out and decide which works best for you. From all the people I know that have little ones which is a ton, most PT around age three. Some are much sooner, but I wouldn't plan on your son being completely PT by two as that is going to put a lot of stress on you if it didn't happen.

kadokatie30

I'd say if you plan to have another child then for sure. If you don't then maybe and I think it depends on the current size of your boy. 

My son is almost 3 and most of his friends who are 2.5 - 3 are still wearing diapers at least part time. So you have time. With that said, my boy is really big and we had to stop using cloth earlier than I thought we would because they didn't fit. At 2 years old my son was 38 lbs and around 3ft tall. Cloth was too uncomfortably tight for him. I could find much larger size disposables. I bought and tried some of the cloth training pants for older kids but they were too tight for him to pull up and down on his own, so that didn't work for potty training. So we had to stop using cloth around 2. I should say that my boy has always been 100%+ on the growth charts. I do, however, know many other 2.5 year olds who still fit their cloth diapers and will for a long time. 

So anyways....In my experience size was an issue for how long I could CD. If you only get to CD for about a year more though, you can still save a lot of money in that year. 

DecafGrandeMocha

Bumping a zombie thread but OP, did you try out any CDs?