Talk us into using CDs?

jkchs2003

I am considering using CDs but have many conerns. My DH is very concerned.

I am concerned about how much more work, what you do when you are on vacation or just out and about, how anyone watching the baby may feel about it.

How much does it cost? There is a diaper service here who does 100 diapers a week for $20 and they provide the diapers, I just have to purchase covers. But how many covers do I need.

I have tried to read up on it and such, I am just getting overwelmed.

Dr.Loretta

Check the FAQs at the top of the page

It's not more work. CDs aren't like the olden days. A lot are just like disposables, you just wash them. So it's another load of laundry--no big deal.

When you're on vacation you store your diapers in a wetbag until you get home or you use disposables if that makes you more comfortable. If you're out and about, you put the diaper in a wetbag until you get home and toss it in the laundry pail.

I can't tell you how others will feel about it. You'll have to ask, and show them the options available.

A diaper service kind of defeats the cost-saving purpose, and your choices of diaper types are limited. But it's an option if CD laundry is that much of a probem for you.

You'll need 4-6 covers. They don't need to be washed unless they're stinky or soiled. You can air them out and put them back on.

Take your time. It took me 2 months of lurking to figure things out enough to be comfortable to start buying CDs.

dulcinea03

I don't know if I can talk you into using CD's, but I'll answer your questions.  FWIW, I CD twins.

Work- for me, its 3 loads of laundry a week since I wash every other day. Not a big deal as its built into our bedtime routine- girls in jammies, diapers in washer to soak. Nurse/snuggle the girls to sleep, put them to bed. Add soap and do wash cycle. Toss in dryer before DH and I head to bed. Wake up to clean, dry diapers.

Vacation- we haven't gone for more than day trips with the girls yet. Some ladies take their cloth diapers with them, others use disposables while traveling.

Out and About- I use pocket diapers when out, so they're pre-stuffed and ready to use. The soiled CD goes in a wet bag in the diaper bag, fresh diaper goes on the baby. When I get home, dirty diapers go in the pail to be washed. The wet bag contains and wetness or mess from getting in the diaper bag.

Cost- I've invested roughly $650-700 in CD's for my twins. Keep in mind I've had to stock for 2 bottoms, so my total is higher than some. I may need some more as they get older, but I'm sure I'll be under $1000.00 total. Far less than I'd spend on disposables for them.  Plus I'll have a huge stash for a future baby if we choose to have more.

Service- we've never used one. The laundry isn't bad, so we've never looked into one.

Covers- nearly every brand offers covers- I know that Thirsties Duo are very popular covers for newborns/smaller babies. I'd get 6-8 covers for a newborn due to the amount they poop.

lpstl

Go here and start reading up: https://simplemom.net/tools/cloth-diapering/

To answer your questions:

Work: We CD one child and have about 30 CDs in our stash. The extra work amounts to one load of laundry every other day. Totally no big deal.

Out and About: Simple, just buy a wet bag, toss the dirty CD in there, and put it in your pail to be washed when you get home. 

Vacation: We've never been anywhere that we didn't have access to laundry facilities, so we just CD as normal. If you don't have access to laundry facilities you could do sposies or a hybrid depending on your resources.

Caregivers/sitters: The only people who have ever watched X are family and friends, we just tell them to put the CD in the wet bag and we'll deal with it later. It's really no different for them. We've even made CD advocates out of a couple of them .

Cost: I've never come across any CDer who uses a diaper service, that method is pretty outdated and doesn't really save you any money. We built up our stash by stalking the deal a day sites like baby steals, registering for CDs, finding deals on kellys closet and diaperswappers. We invested about $400 total for everything (including accessories). We were spending about $50 a month on disposable diapers, so we'll break even pretty soon (started CDing at 3 mo). Our water bill didn't increase any amount that's meaningful, and we spend about $5 a month on detergent. That means we'll save anywhere from $600 - $1200 by using CDs.

Allie30

lpstl:

Cost: I've never come across any CDer who uses a diaper service, that method is pretty outdated and doesn't really save you any money.

Obviously, many CDers use diaper services. If not, there wouldn't be diaper services. The woman who introduced me to CDs used a service -- she used one in Berkeley CA, where she was from for two kids, and for a short time here in DC. I thought that would be easiest, so I signed up for their service, but I didn't care for it. It was about $70 a month, and they kept sending me holey, ragged Gerber prefolds. (One downside of a service is they pretty much ONLY have prefolds or occasionally flats). I think it's funny when I go ont eh CD sites and they talk about "diaper service quality" prefolds -- in my opinion, teh quality was . (I'm told the service back in CA was better.)

I canceled the service after a month and a half and invested about $300 in CDs. I've recently decided that my stash needed bolstering (I had fewer than two dozen diapers) so I just invested about $150 more to bring my total stash up to around 30+.  you could spend a lot more, you could probably spend a little less. I have a mix of pockets and prefolds, with a few AIOs thrown in, and I just bought some fitteds to try out.

The nice thing is if you try something and it doesn't work for you, you can recoup most of the cost and sell it. I just sold some Fuzzibunz that weren't my thing for as much as I bought them for, since i got them on sale. 

RE: care. Honestly, I thought the laundry was going to be gross and a pain in the butt, which is why I thought of using a service to start with, but it's nothing. You have to do so much more laundry for a baby anyway, one more load doesn't make a difference. I take the diaper off and throw it in the pail. I take the pail downstairs and throw it in the wash. It might take a LITTLE more time to transfer the wash to the dryer or the line and to stuff the pockets once everything's clean -- but really, we're talking about 10 minutes every other day -- it takes time to go to the store and buy diapers, too!

When I go out I use the wetbag method mentioned above. No big deal at all. When people are over at my house, they use the cloth. It's not rocket science,and the pockets/AIOs are basically the same as disposables. I haven't gone on a long vacation yet, but I bet if I did I'd just use disposables for the vacation.

My husband was "concerned" (read: grossed out) by the concept of her poop going into our laundry, but once he saw how much poop was going into her laundry anyway what with washing poop/pee/spit up/etc from baby clothes, he got over it. Washers are self-cleaning.