New Here and have questions

Danac210

  Hello, I'm new to the cloth diapering community. I'm due to have my first baby in July and we really wanna cloth diaper. I have worked for years in childcare (daycare teacher, nanny), but have never, no, not once, in over 10 years used a cloth diaper.

   My husband and went to some shops last weekend to look at the options, but felt overwhelmed. Um, ok I think velcro would be easy for a toddler to remove herself, and I don't wanna mess with pins, but other than that we couldn't narrow down what we liked best.

I saw some pocket diapers that looked nice enough, but we were confused: you put the insert in the pocket, then the baby poops and pees on the outside of the pocket, and it gets absorbed into the insert through the pocket fabric--but doesn't that make the outside top part of the pocket gross, demanding it be washed before its reused? Am I correct in then assuming both the insert and the outter cloth cover must be washed each time? Won't this quickly wear out the outside cover?

If so, that seems like a lot of laundry. Any other cloth diapers that demand less washing or am I just not understanding the process of pocket diapers?

Sorry if this is a totally stupid question and thanks in advance for taking the time to explain.

 

 

pixy_stix

Yes, when the baby uses the pocket, the whole thing needs to be washed.  Nope, the diapers don't wear down very fast.

Honestly, its not a lot of laundry.  You get a lot more laundry with baby clothes than you do cds.

LeanneCM

I think you should try both velcro and snaps. I thought I'd prefer snaps too, but our LO is a wiggler and they are impossible, so we are all velcro now. I mean, screaming wiggly baby at 3am and snaps just don't mix for me

 And if you're washing every 2 days using pocket diapers you'll not even have a full load if you have a regular size washer, and that's including diaper pail liners and daycare wet bags for us.

balihaigirl

Yes, with pockets you will need to wash them after every use.  One option you may consider to cut down on laundry would be a hybrid system.  I have used flip diapers and really like them a lot.  there are other brands of hybrids, but I can't vouch for them since I haven't used them.  But with hybrid diapers, you only need to change out the insert after each use and then you can continue to use the same cover until it gets soiled. 

I currently use mostly pockets (they're easy for our sitter to change) and flip diapers.  There are other options such as fitteds, and prefolds, but I don't know much about those.

As far as doing the laundry for the pockets, I don't feel that it takes that much time at all. I currently have around 25 or so diapers and find that I only do the laundry about 2 days a week -- each time, it takes me maybe 15 minutes to stuff the diapers, the rest of the time the washing machine does most of the work.  

Danac210

balihaigirl:

Yes, with pockets you will need to wash them after every use.  One option you may consider to cut down on laundry would be a hybrid system.  I have used flip diapers and really like them a lot.  there are other brands of hybrids, but I can't vouch for them since I haven't used them.  But with hybrid diapers, you only need to change out the insert after each use and then you can continue to use the same cover until it gets soiled. 

I currently use mostly pockets (they're easy for our sitter to change) and flip diapers.  There are other options such as fitteds, and prefolds, but I don't know much about those.

As far as doing the laundry for the pockets, I don't feel that it takes that much time at all. I currently have around 25 or so diapers and find that I only do the laundry about 2 days a week -- each time, it takes me maybe 15 minutes to stuff the diapers, the rest of the time the washing machine does most of the work.  

 

Okay I'm finding a lot of positive online reviews of Flips online. Caan you tell me a little more about your experience with them? Did you try them on a newborn?

balihaigirl

Danac210:

balihaigirl:

Yes, with pockets you will need to wash them after every use.  One option you may consider to cut down on laundry would be a hybrid system.  I have used flip diapers and really like them a lot.  there are other brands of hybrids, but I can't vouch for them since I haven't used them.  But with hybrid diapers, you only need to change out the insert after each use and then you can continue to use the same cover until it gets soiled. 

I currently use mostly pockets (they're easy for our sitter to change) and flip diapers.  There are other options such as fitteds, and prefolds, but I don't know much about those.

As far as doing the laundry for the pockets, I don't feel that it takes that much time at all. I currently have around 25 or so diapers and find that I only do the laundry about 2 days a week -- each time, it takes me maybe 15 minutes to stuff the diapers, the rest of the time the washing machine does most of the work.  

 

Okay I'm finding a lot of positive online reviews of Flips online. Caan you tell me a little more about your experience with them? Did you try them on a newborn?

I didn't start CD'ing until my son was 14m so I can't help you with the newborn questions.  Have you ever visited www.diaperswappers.com?  There is an online community on there that was SUPER helpful to me when I was learning about CD'ing.  

Personally, I like my flip diapers (although I prefer my pockets).  I have not once had a leak out of a flip diaper which is a huge ++ in my opinion.  Also I like how they are really easy to pack -- I use them a lot on the weekends when I'm out and about.  The only problem I have is that pretty much every time my son poops, it gets on the cover (which means I have to change the cover).  Thus, I usually wait to put the flip diapers on him after he has already pooped for the day.  But I use them with the stay dry liners.  If you used prefolds inside the cover, that might not be such an issue.

Dr.Loretta

See the FAQs at the top of the board.

Velcro won't be an issue for a while. DD is almost a year and just discovering Velcro. She isn't even close to taking it off, and if she has onesies or pants on, she can't access it anyway.

Very few people use pins any more. There's a thing called a Snappi (you can google it for info) that makes securing a diaper much easier than pins.

Yes you put the insert in the pocket, and can adjust absorbency that way (1 insert or more depending on how heavy a wetter you have). And yes, you have to wash the whole diaper. The point of the inside lining is to provide a stay-dry layer so the LO doesn't feel so wet. Yes the inserts and the outer have to be washed each time, and no, it doesn't wear out the diaper quickly. They're made to withstand multiple washes. I've been using some (previously used) pocket diapers for 6+ months and they still work fine.

It's not a lot of laundry. I wash every 2-3 days. It's just another load, just like I do just another load of baby laundry each week.

GL. Take your time to figure things out. It took me 2 months of lurking on the board to even get comfortable with building a stash. And I still learn new things each week.

Danac210

balihaigirl:

Danac210:

balihaigirl:

Yes, with pockets you will need to wash them after every use.  One option you may consider to cut down on laundry would be a hybrid system.  I have used flip diapers and really like them a lot.  there are other brands of hybrids, but I can't vouch for them since I haven't used them.  But with hybrid diapers, you only need to change out the insert after each use and then you can continue to use the same cover until it gets soiled. 

I currently use mostly pockets (they're easy for our sitter to change) and flip diapers.  There are other options such as fitteds, and prefolds, but I don't know much about those.

As far as doing the laundry for the pockets, I don't feel that it takes that much time at all. I currently have around 25 or so diapers and find that I only do the laundry about 2 days a week -- each time, it takes me maybe 15 minutes to stuff the diapers, the rest of the time the washing machine does most of the work.  

 

Okay I'm finding a lot of positive online reviews of Flips online. Caan you tell me a little more about your experience with them? Did you try them on a newborn?

I didn't start CD'ing until my son was 14m so I can't help you with the newborn questions.  Have you ever visited www.diaperswappers.com?  There is an online community on there that was SUPER helpful to me when I was learning about CD'ing.  

Personally, I like my flip diapers (although I prefer my pockets).  I have not once had a leak out of a flip diaper which is a huge ++ in my opinion.  Also I like how they are really easy to pack -- I use them a lot on the weekends when I'm out and about.  The only problem I have is that pretty much every time my son poops, it gets on the cover (which means I have to change the cover).  Thus, I usually wait to put the flip diapers on him after he has already pooped for the day.  But I use them with the stay dry liners.  If you used prefolds inside the cover, that might not be such an issue.

 

Thanks, I'm gonna check it out. I know I have time to decide but I'm feeling the pressure from some ppl to put diapers on the registry soon.

Dr.Loretta

Danac210:

I know I have time to decide but I'm feeling the pressure from some ppl to put diapers on the registry soon.

Tell them politely to back off until you have decided on what diapers you want. I wouldn't cave to registry pressure just because.