POTD: Disposable Diapers or Cloth Diapers?

keiraanne

Ladies - what are you planning on using? Or for you STM+ mamas, what are you already using and why? 

While I'd prefer to use cloth, I will definitely give both a try!

VLillyV

I'm a FTM here, but when I pitched the idea of cloth diapers, DH threw a bit of a fit. So, there was that. 

dogperson11

Used cloth with DD and will do the same with this LO

TallMomma29

I love the idea of using cloth even more for the environment purposes than for the awesome cost savings, but I have no sense of smell and my DH leaves a lot.  I just have no way of knowing if the diapers are actually getting clean, if there is ammonia buildup, etc.    plus, I can't even keep up with the laundry we have now so we'd never have clean diapers!  

winterecho

I can't fathom the idea of washing cloth diapers. I already put off laundry day until I'm down to just the sexy undies

purplestarz

I like the idea of cloth diapers. But that's where it ends. I just can't do it. I figure I can help the environment in others ways, and this is my one time pass.

wittyacronym

I was all about the cloth diapers prior to DD being born. I even had DH on board. Then at our baby shower we got hella disposables and once we started DH refused to consider the cloth. 

I tried to re-intro around potty training time and I have a few cute pictures of her fluffy bottom but sadly we could not do the cloth option. 

curlyq423

Uh, I'm too lazy. So we will go disposable again. Ain't nobody got time to keep up with washing diapers when there's two babies. 

ezavasky

I initially had no interest in cloth diapers, but hubby is wanting to try it. So, I chose a combination. I'm hoping he will be doing the diaper laundry lol!

MCraig1484

Disposable all the way.  I'm too lazy and can't keep up with our laundry as it is.

melarowan

If I could afford afford a diaper service, I'd totally go cloth. Sadly, I can't and, like many other mommies, I'm total crap at staying on top of the laundry. So, disposable diapers it is.

kmornelas29

Disposable all the way! I couldn't handle cloth! Bless our ancestors! Haha 

KSweet

I have tried cloth diapers with seven children and they always end up leaking through and getting a nasty diaper rash. I'm not even going to try this go round -- disposables all the way. 

canonmom413

I would love to. But it's not a good investment for me with it being my last kid. I know I can resell shells etc.  But it's just not feasible with our lifestyle of constant travel. I can't imagine being in a venue for a competition with a bag of dirty cloth diapers. I know in those instances I could just use sposies, but meh. I will limit my carbon footprint in other ways. 

canonmom413

Fun fact though: the creator of SprayPal is a lady who was on my PGAL and PAL board in 2010. I remember the very first prototype she made and showed us. It was like a thin plastic binder with a potato chip bag clip.  Now it's this awesome produced product! 

Edit: mobile 

emwj10187

i live in a city apartment with no washer dryer in our unit... cloth diapers would be a nightmare until we can send our laundry out.. yikes

monstera13

I love the idea of cloth diapers, and would consider them if I was SAHM-ing. But with going back to work, and the general ease of disposable, I'm going to take the easy way out here 

ChocolateIsLife

One of my SIL's did cloth diapering, but a few months in they decided to upgrade to a front load washer, and she could not get them to clean thoroughly enough. It could have something to do with her detergent as well, since she made it at home. Her boy had some mad poops though so that could be another factor. I know that I am not disciplined enough to do my laundry as it is, so I'm going to stick to disposable. 

Boobopgirl

I did mostly cloth until my kids were walking.  My girls are so skinny that even the slim ones were too bulky and made them walk funny.  I'll probably do the same with this one...with the exception of not taking cloth when we travel.  It's too much and I have enough to pack already.

sdarling2010

Like many others, I like the idea of cloth and the environmental benefits, but I can't stay on top of laundry let alone diapers with poop in them. We will stick with disposables again this time around. We do like Honest diapers so that helps the environment at least a little, right?? 

beezeee

I wanted so badly to do cloth diapers with DD, but we were renting at the time and shared laundry with the guy that lived upstairs, so it wasn't doable. 

This time around, we could switch to cloth, but I doubt we will. Just being realistic.

shan24

Cloth!  My DS has been in cloth since day 1 and we'll continue with this baby. 

Amesie13

I am planning to do cloth except probably right at the beginning week or so. We have a great diaper service near me that washes the diapers and when you need a bigger size it is included in the price which is standard and this way my washer does not have to take a huge hit from all the washing diapers.  

MamaStreeter

Using cloth with my 18-month old, started in the hospital. And we will definitely be expanding our stash for the new baby! Already bought a couple diapers *insert heart eyes*. It's totally doable!! 

Edited to say:  I only do one extra load a week, so it's really not a big deal. But of course, it's not a good fit for everyone. 

Maksim's Mom

I WISH I could have done cloth for DS. But now as a STM I'll be surely too busy w two kids to do cloth diapering. Is this not true though? Do mamas with more than one kid manage to cloth diaper? 

A fellow mom at my work has two boys and they're both cloth diapered about 90% of the time. She has 200 cloth diapers! I'll need to do a ton of research before committing to it cost vs health benefit vs environmental benefit/waste reduction. 

dumbledoredies

I really, really want to try a combination of cloth and disposable. Cloth when we are home, disposable when we are out. Since I only work 3 days a week I have the time to throw in an extra load of clothes a week and I do a really good job of keeping our laundry up now. I love the idea of saving some money and being green! But I've done very little research so I'll probably decide on this later. Being a FTM I really have no idea the work involved with a baby so if it's too much I will likely just use all disposables. If any STM's who have used cloth have any good resources (reading material, etc.) please share!

dogperson11

ChocolateIsLife said:

One of my SIL's did cloth diapering, but a few months in they decided to upgrade to a front load washer, and she could not get them to clean thoroughly enough. It could have something to do with her detergent as well, since she made it at home. Her boy had some mad poops though so that could be another factor. I know that I am not disciplined enough to do my laundry as it is, so I'm going to stick to disposable. 

I would venture to say it's most likely 100% due to her homemade "detergent". Lots of people successfully CD with front loaders.

mrs_fogue

I seriously debated this with my first.  If I were a SAHM I would totally do cloth.  But I can barely keep my head a float working and having a newborn that I'm trying to BF/pump I didn't have time for additional laundry responsibilities.  So cloth diapering got the axe. 

natleilynn

As many others have said, I would love to cloth diaper. But the only people I know of, IRL, who have successfully managed to cloth diaper from start to finish, were SAHM's. My SIL had plans to use a laundry service and even that fizzled out after about a month. With our work schedules it's hard enough to get the regular laundry done each week. 

hopeby2015

@ChocolateIsLife - its definitely the detergent.  I have a front loading machine and our cds are just fine.

@dumbledoredies - there used to be an active board on here for cd-ing and thats what made it possible for me to cd.  If you read through the old posts, i think its still a great resource.

With dd, we cd-ed for about 3 months then my mom got me some disposables and we havent used cds since then.  Since im pg w 2 this time, im hoping we can cd for longer.  Its just hella cheaper and such a savings for the environment!   I also work but i usually dont get home till very late.  So i rely on dh to do the laundry during the wk.  When we initally discussed cds this time, he was hesistant at first but since then has changed his mind.  I guess it also helps that we have a washer/dryer in a very easy to get to area.

ChocolateIsLife

@dogperson11 and @hopeby2015 thanks guys, yeah I figured it didn't make sense to be a front loader issue, otherwise you would hear more about it. I'm pretty sure the detergent was the issue, but her reasoning for stopping cd is because of the front loader. 

For those that use cloth diapers and utilize daycare, do they use cd there or are you required to bring disposable?

dajocl

We used cloth with DS until I got pregnant and just kind of gave up. I couldn't handle the work and DH was already doing so much to help out since I was a mess, that we decided it was okay. So he was in cloth from about 8 or 10 weeks old to 21.5 months. I had planned on using disposables for about a week and then switching to cloth, but 4lb babies don't fit cloth so we had to wait until he had gained some weight. For us it was 3 extra loads a week, I bought 24 diapers and it worked out great. One of us would start a load in the morning before work and then finish it when we got home, it honestly wasn't too bad. Every now and then I had to use an ammonia bouncer on the diapers but that was honestly may 3 times total. 

I work 35 hours a week so some times it was a stretch to get the laundry done, and those times I would use disposables and not feel bad about it. I also used them anytime we took a trip or were away from home for more than a day. It took me a long time to be okay using both types but what we realized was that after the first 7 months of using them, they had paid for themselves based on the money we would have spent on disposables. So anytime we used them after that, we were saving money. We still have them this time around for the new little one, and I plan to use them for at least the first 6 months. It may end up being a lot longer, it may end up being shorter but either way I'm okay with that. 

dogperson11

ChocolateIsLife said:

snip
For those that use cloth diapers and utilize daycare, do they use cd there or are you required to bring disposable?

DD started daycare at 8 weeks old and we used cloth full time, daycare included. We discussed it all with them before she started and kept an open dialogue along the way (what was working for them, etc). I'm sure each daycare has its own rules, but it's definitely something they should be willing to discuss.

ksf13

I'd love to do cloth, but I hate to do laundry. I'm already behind enough on laundry as it is lol.

We used disposables with DD. I loved Pampers Swaddlers in the newborn stage, then switched to a mixture of Luvs and Honest Company when she was older. I'll probably do the same with this one. 

yasandson

I voted SS, cause im still counting on all the info (pros and cons) i get from you all to make a decision lol. 

riverrainez

We do disposables. I'm debating whether to stick with our Honest subscription or switch to something cheaper.

shan24

@ChocolateIsLife we CD at daycare, both home care and a center, and have never had an issue. 

It's totally doable with a front loader.  It can take awhile to find a good wash routine, but once we got it down, we were fine. You don't need the fancy cloth detergent, either. Regular old Tide is fine. 

We've got about 40 diapers. I don't plan on getting more, but I might, depending on how much the baby goes per day and how potty trained DS is (or is not). 

roo_baby

We are planning to do cloth. If we end up quitting, so be it. We will most likely do a nanny share for child care, so I'm thinking the nanny would do baby's laundry 1-2x a week and that would make it a bit easier for us to keep it up. 

sjohns908

We do disposables. I can't even handle throwing pee clothes and blankets in my washer, there's no way I could wash cloth diapers in it. I'm insanely anxious in regards to germs/bacteria for everything. 

I love Pampers Swaddlers for the first few months and then I usually switch to store brand since they're cheaper. 

feeislove

I like the idea of cloth diapers to save money and for environmental purposes BUT there's no way I'd be able to convince DH to get on board with the idea of throwing poop covered cloth into the washer. He won't even let me wash the dogs' things when they accidentally pee or get sick on their beds. I mean, I still do. Just not when he's home 

natleilynn

@feeislove are we married to the same person? Because he is most definitely the neat freak in our household. 

I'm not even gross. I feel like I'm just...normal. lol