Any working CD'ing moms here?

Mrs. K in TX

Are there any working cloth-diapering moms here?  My daycare will use the cloth diapers, so that's not my concern. 

How frequently do you wash the diapers?  How many do you have?  Do you feel like you're spending a lot of time washing diapers?

This is something that I really want to do, and I keep getting mixed reactions from friends and family (I know it's our decision, not there's).  Some people commend me for it, since I'm not going to be throwing all that trash into our landfills.  But some people tell me "Oh, just wait a couple of weeks, and you'll be ready to switch to disposable."

I figure it's probably not that big a deal.  I'm going to order some starter packs of a few different brands to see what we like best.  I figure the laundry isn't really that big a deal.  It's just a few more loads a week.  even if I'm doing a load a day or a load every other day, I don't think it's that big a deal.  I'm just wondering what your experiences have been.

simplyatomic

I work 40 hours a week from home. I just do a load of diapers at night. ( my stash is in a process of rebuild since Liam cant use prefolds) I have to wash nightly and I hang them by the heat vent before I go to bed. Right now I have about 6 diapers and if needed I use the prefolds with a fleece liner,he cant have his skin touch the prefold Also we do not do cloth at night yet

edited to add: I want about 15-20 in my stash.(aio,pockets) but I might increase that number as I build up.

diamondcks

I work 3/4 time, so I have a little more time in the mornings, but I don't find it to be a huge deal.  I will either start the laundry in the morning and hang them to dry right before I leave, or when I get home in the PM, or start them right when I get home from work and hang to dry right before bed.  I wash diapers every other or every 3rd day and I don't actually know how many diapers I have... but I think if you wash every 3rd day and hang dry you would probably want 30 or so, maybe more during the newborn stage.

sweetpea18

Dh and I both work full time and have had no issues. After dd goes to bed, we throw the diapers in the wash. Or if I have time, I'll throw them in before I start dinner. I fold them while I watch the news. We wash every other day and doing diaper laundry has taken no time away from dd.

StephanieDM

Mrs. K in TX:

Are there any working cloth-diapering moms here?  My daycare will use the cloth diapers, so that's not my concern. 

 - Yes, I work part time and DH works 70 hours a week.  

How frequently do you wash the diapers?  How many do you have?  Do you feel like you're spending a lot of time washing diapers?

 - Every 2-3 days. You don't want to go much further than that or they will get gross. CD laundry is the easiest laundry there is. I normally hate laundry but I don't mind CD laundry at all. Its easy. I swear.

I have um.... way too many diapers. But that's only because I'm addicted to buying cute new dipes. Last count was 56 but I have 4 more on the way and 1 more than arrived... so 61? 

This is something that I really want to do.... some people tell me "Oh, just wait a couple of weeks, and you'll be ready to switch to disposable."

 - I had the SAME crap to deal with when we told people we were going to use cloth. Ignore it. Most people don't know how easy modern CDs are unless they know some who CDs now, or they've done lots of research. Don't let them deter you from CDing. Just because they went the disposable route doesn't mean that you have to. Ignore it. Ignore it. Ignore it.

You are right! Its NBD. We LOVE our CDs.  Give it a fair shot and don't let people interfere. You'll probably love it too.  

Mrs. K in TX

Thanks ladies!  This is my first baby, and his arrival is getting much closer.  I think I'm just getting a little nervous about everything.

I was starting to doubt my decision for cloth diapering, but I think that y'all talked me back into it.

stefanieleigh

Both DH and I work FT. We do the CD laundry in the evening, every other day. I throw them in to soak around dinner time. After dinner, I start the wash. When DS goes down for bed, I switch them to the dryer. one dryer run doesnt dry them all the way, so before I go to bed, I pull out the covers, pocket covers, etc that are dry enough, and then run the dryer one more time with just the inserts and AIOs that are inside out. When DH gets home from work, he works swing shift, he will pull them out of the dryer and stuff them for me.

 It is sooo EASY to CD while working FT. It takes a total of about maybe 10 minutes to do the entire CDing (running down to switch the laundry) and a little team work with DH and I.

We only have about 14 CDs in our stash, but need more. We are slowly building up so we can CD at night too.

 GL and you can totally do it!

mopsie

I work part-time (three 1/2 days, one full day) and I do CD laundry every 3 days.  We have 13 pocket diapers, 1 AIO, and about 24 prefolds and 4 covers.  I only use the prefolds when I'm home with DD, and we use the pockets at night or when DH is on baby duty.  

yankeebaby2

I work 40 at work and 10 at home and I don't have any issues.  When the pail gets about half full, I wash and then sun them outside.  

I have about 30 AIO and 25 fitteds and 25 pockets.  

I don't anyone that CDs in real life so everyone is a critic.   

Sarahbear621

CD's are so easy for me.  DH and I work full time away from home (DH is military so he is typically at work 65+ hours a week).  We have 21 diapers which means I do laundry every other day.  I throw in however many diapers are dirty after we put DS to bed.  Then I throw the inserts in the dryer so the shells air dry through the night.  The next morning we are good to go.  It takes me about 2 minutes to stuff the inserts into the diaper shells in the morning. 

 We have the BM one size fits all diapers and I love them.  Several of my friends have started to CD after us- including a very good friend who was really outspoken about how she thought I was crazy to even think about it in the first place. 

MamaFantastic

i work full time right now.  we use about 50% BG organic AIOs and 50% pocket diapers.  i do laundry every other day (though i'm starting to make a new schedule that has me doing diapers monday and wednesday nights and saturday mornings, so 3 times a week).  i do way more work than i should when it comes to CD laundry, so my routine is much harder than most.  i manually dump in pitchers of water to my load so my process is pretty involved and long.  i never have time to wash, dry and fold in the same night so we always have piles of clean diapers in the dryer or on the floor of the bedroom.  such is life!  i'm planning on moving to part time work soon, though, so i am hoping the diaper situation becomes easier.

MWoodside

DH & I both work full time.  CDing is very easy really.  It boils down to a few extra loads of laundry weekly.  No biggie at all.

GreekyPie

We wash every other day. I absolutely do NOT feel like I am always doing diaper laundry. Call me crazy, but I look forward to it. It is one chore that makes me happy. I think we have ~25 to 30 diapers, but really only 18 are our daycare diapers (they don't do snaps, and I have some snaps diapers for home use).

numeria11

DH and I are both working FT and each commuting about an hour each direction.  We have about 35 AIOs total mostly BG 3.0, a few BG 4.0 and a few FB OneSize.  We do laundry every 2nd or 3rd day, generally I try to put a load in right when I get home or shortly after she goes down for the night and then (depending how short I am on diaps) either hang dry just the covers and put the inserts in the dryer or put it all out to hang dry.  Stuffing really isn't hard I just do it while watching TV at night with DH.  I think it can get hard at times if you have a busy week planned and are getting home later than usual or have a lot of outings planned and dont have time to get laundry done but we always keep a few disposables on hand just incase we had a rotten week.  We are also a bit more challenged since we live in an apartment building and have to share our laundry faucilites with the other 3 tenants so it takes a bit of extra planning (hence the disposibles for emergencies), but in the 4 months we have been CDing we have only had to break into the disposibles 2 times.  GL

Lilrdmandy

CD wash is really just another load of laundry really.  I wash every couple of days when i notice we are running low on dipes just like I would with my clothes or DS's clothes.  The hardest part of CD's to me is the same as any other wash, and that is putting them away.  Often times I just dump the clean ones in DS's drawer and stuff them as I find time (or right as I need them!) 

For us, the hardest part of learning to CD was finding a combo that didn't leak at night and also realizing what a good fit is.  When DS was a newborn he really didn't fit into NB sized covers and prefolds but I thought I was just putting it on wrong.