Cloth diapers

lizerspitz

They've been mentioned here and there in posts, but I was interested in hearing from the ladies who are planning to wrap their baby's bottoms in reusable fabric vs pampers, or your favorite other brand. Any moms have some tips or perspective on affordablility and ease of getting the hang of it?

Poppy2014

We started out cloth with our DD (20m), but then switched to honest diapers and did the subscription.  It got a little hectic with 8 diaper changes a day in the beginning and I seemed to be the only one who could do it.  My husband lot it every time he had to change her.  And the grandmas just didn't take to it.  So sadly I picked my battles and this is one I lost.

awillis13

I used cloth with DS, and it took a lot of convincing to get my ex on board.  DH is dead set against it.  I wish I could get him to change his mind.  I loved using cloth!

awillis13

We had a variety of brands.  Just like disposables they are all it a little differently and fit varies depending on baby.  My stash was predominantly tots bots, with a few bum genius pockets/freetime, rumparooz, and I forget the other brands.  As DS got older I went to a fitted with a fleece cover for overnights because he would wet through.

lovesclimbing

I'm doing fitteds with covers. I'm sewing my own fitteds to save on cost. Right, now, I'm at around $6 in supplies per fitted, and that's honestly high because I have some stuff left over that I don't need. So if I did the math based on just what material I used instead of all of the materials divided by 44 diapers, the cost would probably be $4-$5. And if I wasn't an idiot and forgot to use my 40% off one item coupon when I bought yards of fabric at Joanns for the outer layer, it'd be even lower. The cheapest fitteds you'll find like what I'm making are typically $13-$14 and go up from there, so I'm saving quite a lot with the sewing. 

The cheapest cloth diapering option is generally flats or prefolds with covers followed by fitteds with covers. I believe pocket diapers come next after that with all-in-ones/twos being the most expensive. 

I'm not sewing my own covers because the hassle of working with waterproof fabric is not worth it to me. I'm buying Thirsties Duos covers to use with the fitteds. 

danij0

I plan to cloth diaper with pocket diapers mainly to save on cost. I have done so much research on diapering and the laundry it entails that I'm honestly not worried about it at all. We plan to use disposables for about the first month to get the hang of diapering in general then switch. I will be staying home (finally came to that decision this week) so I'll be doing the majority of it and DH is on board. I have a friend who swears by it so I have someone close to get advice from. I'm going to start with Alvas and their Charcoal Bamboo inserts and also have FSTs as inserts and adjust anything from there. I'm pretty excited about it! 

mezalune

We did Bumgenius 4.0 with snaps while at home with our little man from about 2 months through 2 years.  I had a stash of about 14 I think and washed every other day.  We will try again with this kiddo but we are sending him to FT daycare at 6 months so I wouldn't be surprised if we stop at that point.  Overnights never worked for us and it just wasn't worth the stress so we did disposables then as well as when out of the house.  Still saved us a ton of $$$.

krex-2

We're planning to CD, and have a pre-loved stash of 45 BumGenius 4.0 pocket diapers.  We'll use disposable diapers for the first month while we're waiting for baby to grow into the diapers, but then that's the plan.  Hopefully it works out!

ladylolly89

We CD, and use GMD prefolds or fitteds with Blueberry Capri covers. I like the Blueberry covers because they are great quality and have double gussets around the legs (never had a blowout or leak with my Blueberrys).
 We also used wool (Disana and Babee Greens) a lot when DS was tiny and will with this LO as well. It's just so nice and breathable for that delicate newborn skin! 
My favorite combo so far is fitteds and covers. GMD fitteds have a built-in doubler which is so convenient. I have to add a doubler when using prefolds (I prefer hemp or wool over cotton for doublers; it lays much smoother/flatter).
I buy the fitteds without snaps so that they are more adjustable. I have a bunch of pins, but so far have just used snappis. 

jesselayne8

I have used cloth for my first 3 kids so at this point I am saving mooola because I don't need to buy anything.  I use covers and prefolds for newborns then I have a stash of one size BG old style elementals.  They are all in ones.  I have used pockets too but stuffing gets old.  I think you need to try a little bit of everything.  My stash has included blueberries, BG 4.0's, thirsties, fuzzibunz, and rUmparooz.  Once I found what I loved I sold the rest.  

NarrowHouses

We used CD with DD1 from about 2 months-2.5 years. Our stash consisted of BumGenius (4.0s, Flips, and Freetimes) and Charlie Bananas. For day time I preferred the flips (we had microfiber, hemp, and flour sack towel inserts) for bed time I preferred the AIO Freetimes.  Once she was eating solids I used biodegradable, flushable liners.

The Facebook group Fluff love and CD Science was really helpful for any wash routine issues.

We absolutely plan to CD DD1. We used cloth pretty exclusively and even used it on vacations/road trips, but used disposables on occasion too!

Kylieslip24

We cloth diapered dd and plan on using our cloth for this baby and any after him. I loved using cloth. We started off with 24 bum genius freetimes. About half we're used from jilliansdrawers.com or diaperjunction.com and the other half we bought from target with gift cards.  We used freetimes because they seemed like the easiest to use and they were! We ended up buying 6 more around her first birthday and that was enough to get us through 3 days. For overnights we added a thirsties doubler and we rarely leaked. We had our diapers ready for her before she was born, but unfortunately she was and still is tiny and didn't fit until around 4 months old we also learned during that time that she was allergic to disposables we tried pretty much all the brands and she always got a rash. 
For this little boy, the plan is cloth from first diaper to last. We were given a bunch of prefolds (24? I think) and we bought 5 kissaluv fitteds used from diaperswappers and eBay. The prefolds will be our day time diapers using the jelly roll fold and kissaluvs will be good for night. I bought 5 thirsties xs covers and snappis for the newborn days too. And we're adding a few more boy colors to replace our pink ones. We like our snaps for the bum geniuses, they last longer. But I did buy aplix for the newborn covers because they are supposed to be better for tiny babies. 

Also for potty training, dd stopped using diapers at 11 mos old and I started putting her in Charlie banana 2-1 swimming/training diapers. She was in those for probably 6 months because she wasn't really ready to be in underwear, but only had 1 or 2 accidents a day. 

Oh oh and we tried a few detergents, but what worked best for us was original powdered tide and borax because we have hard water. 

kahlan82

We also CD with DS (Bumgenius freetime during the day and bumgenius pockets at night). We eventually switched to disposable at night because DS wet through as he grew up. Although, I might try the wool covers mentioned above this time. Doing it again this round, since it is pretty much free now.

huskermom14

We CD and absolutely love it. We did disposables until he could fit into the OS dipes (roughly 6 weeks) and have been using BG 4.0/5.0s ever since. I love how customizable pockets are as far as absorbency. We do the microfiber inserts they come with during the day and pair up with a hemp doubler for nighttime. There was a stretch where no cloth dipe was containing all his pee for nights so we did have to do disposables, but that got better once he stopped eating during the night. 

The cost can be a lot upfront depending on which brand you use, but we have built a stash of 45 dipes over the last 2.5 years (started with 30) and now we don't need to buy any for this baby. They pay for themselves pretty quickly. 

I've done the same laundry routine for my dipes since day one and have never had any issues. I wash once on a normal cycle with warm water, heavy soiled setting, and to line 2-3 of Tide powder, then wash again on heavy duty with hot water and a full scoop of Tide. Once you get a routine down it's not too bad! 

jennas312

Do you clean cloth in the washing machine? Just wondering how clean they come out.
I'm a ftm and know nothing about cloth diapers.

huskermom14

jennas312 said:

Do you clean cloth in the washing machine? Just wondering how clean they come out.
I'm a ftm and know nothing about cloth diapers.

Yep! I wash them in my washer and dry them in the dryer like I do my other clothes. I only have a few with stains, but usually the sun takes those out. We just haven't had good sunning weather on a laundry day yet this year!

ladylolly89

jennas312 said:

Do you clean cloth in the washing machine? Just wondering how clean they come out.
I'm a ftm and know nothing about cloth diapers.

Yes! I put poopy diapers in there too until they were completely solid (for us it took until 8 months or so). Never had an issue. I do a warm water soak/wash/extra rinse without detergent, then hot water wash/extra rinse with detergent (Target store brand free and clear). Then dry on a regular setting (not too hot). I have no staining and haven't even used the sun trick yet. 

lizerspitz

Has anyone tried to do this for kiddos who will be in day care instead of at home? I'm debating how useful it will be if I'm only able to do at home.

sevenn

FTM here but plan is for CD from the start. Our stash is mostly gmd fitteds and pre-folds with blueberry and thirsties covers. I have bought some pre-loved AIOs to try too. I hope it all works out!

Kylieslip24

jennas312 said:

Do you clean cloth in the washing machine? Just wondering how clean they come out.
I'm a ftm and know nothing about cloth diapers.

We started out with a top loader that washed great. Then we moved and now we have a front loader. We had to strip more after that, I'm not sure if it's because of the hard water or front load though. Rlr is great for stripping though. We also use a mix of line drying outside and dryer depending on weather. 

shmarpler

lizerspitz said:

Has anyone tried to do this for kiddos who will be in day care instead of at home? I'm debating how useful it will be if I'm only able to do at home.

I'm a sahm, so I haven't dealt with this personally, but I've heard others say it's easiest to get a daycare to CD with pocket diapers. You can adjust and stuff them ahead of time and daycare can pretty much change as they would normally. They are less scary looking to those who aren't familiar with CDing.

I'm a part time CDer, but we're using disposables right now due to washing machine problems. I was given a bunch of diapers second hand. I've used Thirsties AIO, Bumgenius, Alva, and Fuzzybunz pockets. I also have some size 1 prefolds and covers, that I think are Green Mountain Diapers. My favorites are the fuzzibunz and Alva.

I second the Facebook group Fluff Love and CD Science. They are very helpful.

You can sometimes find diapers second hand on Craigslist, or Facebook yard sale sites. My town has a Facebook group for local CDers and has been another helpful resource. I've purchased Alva diapers off of wish.com, and we've been happy with them.

huskermom14

lizerspitz said:

Has anyone tried to do this for kiddos who will be in day care instead of at home? I'm debating how useful it will be if I'm only able to do at home.

We send our little guy to daycare with his cloth and have had no issues. We send stuffed pockets and a wet bag and they just wrap the diaper up and put it in the bag for us. If the poop is ploppable they dispose of it for us before putting it in the bag. 

jesselayne8

My 2nd and 3rd babies never had ploppable poops so diaper sprayer is a must.  

MrsCaliRN

We also started with cloth for DS and used the Alvababy brand. They were too big for DS until about 1 month (DS was 6lb 5oz when he was born) and we bought these bamboo inserts that were super bulky, but very effective. We used cloth for about 6 months while I was still at home with him and then had to switch to disposable when he went to daycare. We still used cloth on weekends, but eventually stopped around one year old because DS was trying to walk and they were too bulky in the groin area.

Most of the cloth diapering moms in my circle used/use BumGenius and love them! Although it seems many stopped by 15 months old which is when most LOs are walking. I BumGenius pricing a little steep, which is why I did Alvababy.

CLOTH DIAPER STARTER LIST:
My recommendation to get you started as far as quantities is 10-12 liners (outside part with cute patterns) and 20-25 inserts (pad part that gets switched out when wet or soiled). Also, invest in Seventh Generation brand washing fluid and hang a clothesline in a sunny spot outside (best way to get out stains). 

kahlan82

@jesselayne8  we love our diaper sprayer. It is great for throw up too.

Xath

kahlan82 said:

@jesselayne8  we love our diaper sprayer. It is great for throw up too.

It's great for everything; I'll keep it attached after we're done with CDs.  So useful for all of the gross things kids do.

NathanheartsKim

I have cloth diapered 3 babies and plan to CD this one too. I have tried a lot of the options available and now use prefolds and Flip covers exclusively.   They have worked the best for all my babies so far.  

merrylea

We are toying with the idea of Cloth Diapering.  One of my best girlfriends is giving me her stash so.... we shall see what happens?  At the end of the day, I like the idea of saving money, but right now trying to organize and research cloth diapering in general seems overwhelming with everything else going on.

CapricaAndrea

Is it ridiculous to think that I'll use disposables for the first month and then be able to decide if I think I'll actually put in the effort of cloth after that? I don't want to invest the money and then discover that there's no way I'll actually use them. 

ladylolly89

CapricaAndrea said:

Is it ridiculous to think that I'll use disposables for the first month and then be able to decide if I think I'll actually put in the effort of cloth after that? I don't want to invest the money and then discover that there's no way I'll actually use them. 

We did! Between baby pooping every.single.time. he ate, caring for the circumcision (I didn't want to bother with a liner every change) and just being in a sort of fog, we used disposables for 3 weeks before switching to cloth and figuring those out. But we already had our cloth stash ready to go. 

danij0

@CapricaAndrea I definitely plan to use disposables for the first month. I will probably buy and prep all the CD stuff before he arrives because I've already settled on the idea of at least doing it part time. I think if you already know what you'd buy and have everything researched deciding after and buying then is also probably fine, but I would assume if you don't know the wash routine/what to buy before hand researching with a new baby will probably not happen.

CapricaAndrea

danij0 said:

@CapricaAndrea I definitely plan to use disposables for the first month. I will probably buy and prep all the CD stuff before he arrives because I've already settled on the idea of at least doing it part time. I think if you already know what you'd buy and have everything researched deciding after and buying then is also probably fine, but I would assume if you don't know the wash routine/what to buy before hand researching with a new baby will probably not happen.

I've done a lot of the research and have a pretty decent idea of what I would go for, it's a matter of if I actually feel too overwhelmed with a newborn to take on the extra effort of cloth once baby is actually here. 

danij0

@CapricaAndrea That makes sense. Sounds like a good plan then!

huskermom14

We did similar to what @ladylolly89 did. DS was in disposables til he was roughly 6 weeks old and fit into the OS dipes that we had bought. I'm glad we did it this way because I think dealing with adjusting to life with a new baby and figuring out my cloth routine would've been a little too overwhelming for me. 

Kylieslip24

@CapricaAndrea unless you buy newborn dipes too you pretty much have to wait until around 12 lbs anyway. Unless you plan on doing sized diapers I guess. 
Another option is to try part time cloth. This was our original plan before we dropped disposable all together. Just buy a few cloth, try them out at home when your having a calm day and see what you think of them. Then you don't waste a ton of money just to find out you might not like it. Or you may love it, and just keep adding to your stash! 

awillis13

@CapricaAndrea I have a local (ish, it's in the Boston area which is like 45 min from me) cloth diaper store that lets you do a 2 week trial.  You pay a small fee and they set you up with 8 different kinds and their recommended detergent.  After the 2 weeks you keep and pay for the ones you liked and give back the others.  I bet there are other places that do the same.  Then you can get a feel for how you think you will be able to manage the upkeep without shelling out $$ for a stash.

i don't know if I'm in the minority but I found the cd laundry to be somewhat therapeutic.

hopeful808

CapricaAndrea said:

Is it ridiculous to think that I'll use disposables for the first month and then be able to decide if I think I'll actually put in the effort of cloth after that? I don't want to invest the money and then discover that there's no way I'll actually use them



stuck in box 
In my research into cloth diapers I have found these website that do trials that are fairly low risk. 
https://jilliansdrawers.com/products/clothdiapers/tryclothfor10/tryclothfor10

https://www.modernclothdiapers.com/customizableclothdiapertrial.html

There are probably others I missed. 

CapricaAndrea

Oh wow I had no idea trial places were a thing. That's a fantastic idea! Thanks @awillis13 and @hopeful808! 

danij0

Just a heads up that tons of Cloth Diaper companies are having sales this weekend for Earth Day!
https://change-diapers.com/2017-earth-day-cloth-diaper-discounts-sales/

sevenn

Anyone with good recommendations for diaper bags for CD?

lovesclimbing

danij0 said:

Just a heads up that tons of Cloth Diaper companies are having sales this weekend for Earth Day!
https://change-diapers.com/2017-earth-day-cloth-diaper-discounts-sales/

Thanks for posting this! Today's the day I was going to start looking around for sales and websites that collate all the deals.