switching to cloth?

nootie24

help me out...

im thinking of switching my 7 month old to cloth diapers. i use huggies pure and natural now because theyre nice to her skin but im thinking cloth would be better.

can anyone sell me on switching? and whats your favorite type? do you wash them yourself? anything else i need to know?

thanks!!! 

BFab11

We use mainly bumgenius 4.0 one size pockets and love them! I wash at home, one load every 2-3 days, it's not bad at all!! The CD board will have tons of tips and suggestions

pixieprincss

Check out the FAQs on the Cloth Diapering board and then read back posts on that board. We adore our CDs (we never even considered disposables). Washing them is very easy. Personally, I would never use a service--they use harsh chemicals like bleach and services tend to only offer prefolds, which I love but they are not for everyone. There are all different types and brands of CDs. It depends on your budget, preferences, etc. which is why I suggest just lurking around the CD board. GL!

kristenrudderham

I adore our Gdiapers. You only need a handful (six) and I do laundry about twice a week. They are three separate parts (unique in the CD world) and while we have six of the pants, we have twelve of the pouches/hammocks, which you stuff with either a cloth liner or a diposable liner. I have about 18 cloth liners.They are great because they are a hyrbid. At home and 99% of the time I use a cloth insert but you can also use a disposable insert that is awesome for grandparents/babysitters/daycare etc. We are going to Europe for three weeks and I can still keep her in the GDiapers. The disposables are compostable for pee and poopy ones can be flushed (if you have reliable plumbing) or trashed. We never have leaks and they wash beautifully.

Meg&Jesse

We used BG's, but switched because the velcro wore quite a bit.  Now we have FuzziBunz and Rocky Mountains.  My main recommendation is to use diapers that have snaps.  We wash them on our own..maybe every 2-3 days.  For night we use an extra insert.  We love them (or should I say loved..as DS is mainly in underwear now).  The cost savings is amazing too!

jamiedsgirl

I LOVE using cloth.  I am so glad that I made the initial commitment and did the research to find a system that works for us.  I use bottombumpers because DS is not allergic to the inner lining.  This is an all-in-two, which means the shell and the inner are separate but snap together easily.  I tried one pocket once, and stuffing it was very frustrating for me, so I needed something that was quick and easy.  I also like the diaper swappers website (not sure if I can reference other sites on here) because they have a ton of specific info and a functional search feature.  At night I use a fitted on top of my bottombumpers inner, under a woollybottoms wool cover.  He wakes up very wet, of course, but I love that he is not sleeping on a pile of gel chemicals and instead has breathable wool and cotton against his skin.  We have a ton of bottombumpers - probably about 30.  I also have six fitteds for nighttime and about 4-5 wool covers.  

I wash them myself.  During the week I wash every other night because I only have enough velcro diapers for daycare for two days, so I want to make sure I have a full supply for daycare each day.  During the weekend, it might stretch out to every three days.  However, I've noticed the diapers get MUCH cleaner if I really try to keep the load size down.  

We still occasionally use disposables - usually when we are running errands and I am not sure if I will have a chance to change him as soon as he is wet.  In the cloth, I change him as soon as he is wet.  I check pretty often.  We probably only use 1-2 disposable diapers per week.  

Good luck!  Cloth is so addicting - once you start learning about all the different types, it is so fun!  And getting fluffy mail is the BEST!!!! 

jamiedsgirl

Also wanted to mention that at 7 months, you will need a diaper sprayer.  You can't put dirty diapers directly into the wash once LO has started solids.  Spraying diapers is a total pain (I miss the EBF days) but it is still worth it overall.  

WiggleBaby

jamiedsgirl:

Also wanted to mention that at 7 months, you will need a diaper sprayer.  You can't put dirty diapers directly into the wash once LO has started solids.  Spraying diapers is a total pain (I miss the EBF days) but it is still worth it overall.  

not necessarily... we never had one.  once the poop got more solid, we just plopped it into the toilet.  some people also say they've used plastic knives to scrape the poop off into the toilet, but we never had to do that.  you'll find what works for you!  (btw- plopping the poop, whether you use disposables or CD, seems to help them when potty training!)

we started CDing at 5 months, so not much earlier than you, and it was definitely easier than i expected!  even my DH, who was not on board, eventually said "this is just like disposables.  Why doesn't everyone do it??"  LOL

we also used FuzziBunz.  go for it and good luck!

Meg&Jesse

WiggleBaby:

jamiedsgirl:

Also wanted to mention that at 7 months, you will need a diaper sprayer.  You can't put dirty diapers directly into the wash once LO has started solids.  Spraying diapers is a total pain (I miss the EBF days) but it is still worth it overall.  

not necessarily... we never had one.  once the poop got more solid, we just plopped it into the toilet.  some people also say they've used plastic knives to scrape the poop off into the toilet, but we never had to do that.  you'll find what works for you!  (btw- plopping the poop, whether you use disposables or CD, seems to help them when potty training!)

we started CDing at 5 months, so not much earlier than you, and it was definitely easier than i expected!  even my DH, who was not on board, eventually said "this is just like disposables.  Why doesn't everyone do it??"  LOL

we also used FuzziBunz.  go for it and good luck!

We never used a diaper sprayer either.  We just flushed the solid poops.  We had one bad episode of diaherra that was a mess to clean up in many ways.  After that when DS had diaherra we just used disposables.