Cloth Diapering

knitsandgiggles

I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here, but I keep coming back to the idea cloth diapering as a possibility for when LO arrives.  The cost savings alone seems worth it to me, but there are other factors to consider.  I have just scratched the surface in looking into this and have been lurking on the cloth diapering board, but is anybody else thinking of going this route? 

ungraceful13

We are going to cloth diaper. I am pretty excited about it and have already started my stash. Just as a side note if you are doing daycares not all daycares will do cloth diapers. I called 4 and 3 would but 1 refused.

sbevmc09

We cloth diaper DS and are planning to CD this baby as well. 

When I was pregnant with DS I was intrigued by the idea of CD'ing, but I just didn't think it was really for me.  Once I had DS my viewpoints changed about a lot of things (including chemicals and the kind of stuff I wanted my baby's skin to come into contact with) and a few weeks of dealing with disposables taught us that they were a PITA.  Starting at 7 weeks DS was cloth diapered full-time and a disposable hasn't touched his tush since.  It's definitely one of the best decisions we've made.  

It's totally worth it.  I haven't found it to take that much extra time (I do 3 loads of cloth diapers per week.  What's really the active time on doing a load of laundry?  10 mins total?  And then I stuff them while watching TV at night, which takes all of 10-15 mins) and you save money, don't have to worry about the chemicals in disposables or putting mountains of trash into the landfill, don't have to run out last minute to pick up some diapers if you forgot you needed them, and they're pretty darn cute too

bandwife

I clothed diapered DS until 20 months (we moved and laundry was terrible).

It's not that hard and if you get into it it's actually kind of fun. We tested the waters last time, first with a diaper service for 3 months and then I bought a bunch of CDs second hand to see if I could make it work. I didn't find it that hard but I am a SAHM - although I know WOHMs that also CD and don't find it that hard.

We moved again and now we have better laundry. Still no dryer but I'll just hang CDs to dry. I still have my stash from DS so only need to get some NB size diapers. 

The cloth diapering board is very helpful and I think has a good tutorial blog/site.

akating

I cloth diaper my son. I exclusively use bum genius. But used prefolds with him when he was too small for bum genius.

my biggest issue is getting lazy and going to long before washing and stuffing to put away. Anyway I really do enjoy them and they save lots of money. Also bum genius one size pockets can be used as a swim diaper without the inserts.

arekamike

We will be. 
https://fluffyrump.com/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&keyword=fuzzibunz+one+size&categories_id=&inc_subcat=1&manufacturers_id=2&pfrom=&pto=&dfrom=&dto=&x=39&y=9&gclid=COvJpp28v7ECFUITNAodVX4ABw

We use this site and jiliansdrawers.com to buy our diapers and supplies. 

pistolpackinmomma

I plan to CD but I need to get my butt in gear and make a list of what sizes I'll need so I can put them on my registry!!

Noethola

We are planning on it. Have started gathering, but cant quite decide on which type I like best. So many to choose from!

ShandaB

I started CD DS when he was about 6 months or so and I love it.  I work out of the home and send DS to day care.  The DC won't CD so I still have to buy disposables but I only have to buy a box every 6 weeks as opposed to buying a box every week.  I haven't had an issue working and cloth diapering.  I highly recommend giving it a try.

 

FreyaWin2382

We plan on doing that too. I have been lurking on the cloth diaper board (and reading through the links provided in the FAQ) and speaking with a few friends and relatives who have done it.

JumpAroundBucky

We will be cloth diapering, but will have some disposables on hand in case we need them (baby sitter, long car ride, washing machine broke, etc). 

We found a ton of them used on craigslist- someone was selling them for $5/ea! 

I figure we'll be doing so much laundry that one extra load won't be that big of a deal. We can keep them for our next child, and we will spend maybe $250 on diapers! Awesome! 

this decaf life

I'm definitely considering it but DH & I will be moving abroad [we find out where on August 17] and I'll need to figure out if we'll have a good laundry set up wherever we go! 

SunshineShades

We are. Cloth diapers were actually my first baby purchase weeks ago. There was a Canadian online store that had a huge sale on Bumgenius diapers. So I got 24 diapers for I believe the cost 20 or something.
These are the diapers my sister uses. But she also uses disposables when she is visiting up here. I find cloth way way more easy to get on her kids then disposables. I am always fiddling with the disposables to make sure I have them on right.

dannon2009

I don't think you're getting ahead of yourself at all!  I decided before we got pregnant that I wanted to cloth diaper, knowing that it would take DH a little while to get on board.  I have been researching and watching sales so I know when I'm getting a good deal.  I have a friend that exclusively cloth diapered and said that she found quite a few good deals on Black Friday....not sure how good they were or if they were worth waiting for but something I'm keeping in mind.

mrsodonnell12

H and I are seriously considering it... I just need to do my research.

knitsandgiggles

dannon2009:

I don't think you're getting ahead of yourself at all!  I decided before we got pregnant that I wanted to cloth diaper, knowing that it would take DH a little while to get on board.  I have been researching and watching sales so I know when I'm getting a good deal.  I have a friend that exclusively cloth diapered and said that she found quite a few good deals on Black Friday....not sure how good they were or if they were worth waiting for but something I'm keeping in mind.

 @dannon2009 - The bolded part.  DH was picturing square clothes, folded origami style, closed with a pin.  His first question was, "Do we know anybody who does this?"  I told him that plenty of ladies on the bump do it/have done it, but he was really sold when I started telling him about the cost savings!

Thanks for all the responses!  I'm definitely ready to jump into this so thanks for the encouragement!  I'm off to read through some more faqs!

LovelyLou23

We CD and love it. Seriously, every time i do the laundry, I think to myself, "this is so easy, I can't believe not everybody does it!" lol, but I do realize it's not for everyone. With DD, I probably started buying them when I was around 27ish weeks, but I had been doing my research well before she was even conceived

clariknittist

I agree with checking out the Cloth Diapering board - the FAQ's alone will really give a good start.  My mom cloth diapered all three of us, so it's always been something I just assumed I would do - lucky for me it's actually almost sort of the "in" thing now and there are soooo many options out there - nothing like when she was doing it back in the 80's.  I found an awesome stash on Craigslist, and the lady who sold them to us was so awesome about explaining everything to me.  I think it's going to be great, I couldn't wait to get started so I washed them all right away...dorky I know...

JJsMum

akating:

I cloth diaper my son. I exclusively use bum genius. But used prefolds with him when he was too small for bum genius.

my biggest issue is getting lazy and going to long before washing and stuffing to put away. Anyway I really do enjoy them and they save lots of money. Also bum genius one size pockets can be used as a swim diaper without the inserts.

This!  I love bum genius for DS, though occasionally I'll use the flip diapers for him now.  When he was smaller we liked the fuzzibuns as well.

lulamagoo

We signed up for a cloth diapering class in our area so that I can fully get dh on board. I also want help in deciding which brand and type to use. 

weddinginbloom

I am seriously considering CD.  With twins we will have twice the diaper expense and lots of laundry anyway.  I am very overwhelmed with all the choices, though.  I still have lots of research to do.

runlong3

We are looking into CD as well. I actually got to babysit my friend's 2 mo old this morning and had to change her diaper and I was surprised I figured out the right snap setting on my own. I think starting early is a good thing so you can catch sales and figure out what exactly you want rather than rushing to buy everything at full price at the last minute.

EAMommy

We're going for it... Haven't started building my stash yet and have just been mainly lurking on the CDing board... I'd be interested to know how those of you who are working on your stash are building it. Are you going with all one type? Buying what you can a little at a time? Gathering a little of everything?

EAMommy

weddinginbloom:

I am seriously considering CD.  With twins we will have twice the diaper expense and lots of laundry anyway.  I am very overwhelmed with all the choices, though.  I still have lots of research to do.

Yes! Me too!

SanDimasMama

Yes we will, I am getting tri-folds with safety Y clips and waterproof covers (Thirsties). This is the most flexible and affordable system, I'm fortunate to have done it before with my niece, and in my experience they actually leak less than disposables. 

The only potential drawback is cloth does not wick the pee away so babies want their wet diapers changed stat--the babies I know won't last long in a wet cloth diaper without a meltdown.On the flip side, babies in disposables are more comfortable, so it may be safer to go a little longer without a diaper change for convenience sake. This also applies at night, when a disposable diaper baby may be more likely to sleep through at least their first pee. My personal belief is that cloth diapers help a baby understand her body later, which facilitates potty training and helps prevent bed-wetting, but if you don't buy into that it can be more frustrating to work with cloth. 

nattn

SanDimasMama:

Yes we will, I am getting tri-folds with safety Y clips and waterproof covers (Thirsties). This is the most flexible and affordable system, I'm fortunate to have done it before with my niece, and in my experience they actually leak less than disposables. 

The only potential drawback is cloth does not wick the pee away so babies want their wet diapers changed stat--the babies I know won't last long in a wet cloth diaper without a meltdown.On the flip side, babies in disposables are more comfortable, so it may be safer to go a little longer without a diaper change for convenience sake. This also applies at night, when a disposable diaper baby may be more likely to sleep through at least their first pee. My personal belief is that cloth diapers help a baby understand her body later, which facilitates potty training and helps prevent bed-wetting, but if you don't buy into that it can be more frustrating to work with cloth. 

Just an FYI, there are a lot of CD options that do wick away moisture. Pockets, as far as I know, are all stay-dry and wick away moisture and they are probably the most popular CD option. Flips are another one. You can also use stay-dry liners on top of inserts and probably flats/prefolds but I've never used either of those options myself.

nattn

EAMommy:

We're going for it... Haven't started building my stash yet and have just been mainly lurking on the CDing board... I'd be interested to know how those of you who are working on your stash are building it. Are you going with all one type? Buying what you can a little at a time? Gathering a little of everything?

You're on the right track lurking on the CD board. I learned so much from there and still visit often. Make sure and check out the FAQ at the top if you haven't already.

We tried several different CDs on DD and loved some of them and hated some of them. It really is true that different diapers work better on some babies than others. I absolutely think it's a mistake for anyone to build a whole stash of the same diaper before baby is even born. For instance, most people love Fuzzibunz. I bought a couple for DD and they are the most leaky diapers I own. I try them out about every 2 months thinking she'll grow into them, but she is 16 months now and they still leak every time!

There are diaper trials that are a great option once LO is big enough for one size diapers. The other option is to just buy a couple of several different kinds to try out (when LO is big enough) and then order more of whatever works best.

I didn't use newborn CDs on DD so I'm building a newborn stash now. I have a small assortment of different newborn diapers. I feel like a newbie building a newborn stash because I'm totally going off of other people's recommendations. Most everyone says to use prefolds and covers for newborns, but I haven't shopped for those yet.