Can someone walk me through Cloth Diapering?

Re: Can someone walk me through Cloth Diapering?

• mrs.a.butler

  May 2010

  What do you do with the diapers immediately after you take them off?
  I put them into the diaper wetbag
  

  Do you have a pail - and if so does it have bleach or liquid in it?  Is it in the same room?  Does it have a lid?
  We used to use a dry pail, so no liquid and we used to keep it in ds's room.  Now we use a hanging wetbag and hang it in the bathroom. 
  

  Do you separate wet and poopie diapers? 
  Nope
  

  What do you do with diapers with solid waste?  What about loose waste?
  If it's poop before solids are introduced, it's water soluble so it just gets washed off in the washer.  If it's when you first start solids and it's thick and sticky, like peanut butter, you have many options.  We scraped with an old knife into the toilet.  They also make flushable liners that you can put in the diaper so just "plop" it off into the toilet, and they make diaper sprayers so you can spray the poop off into the toilet.  Now, ds's poop is solid and what is called "plopable", so we just shake it off right into the toilet.  Flush the poop and through the diaper in the wetbag
  

  How often do you do wash? 
  every 3rd day
  

  Do you add anything extra to the washing machine? 
  Nope, just cd safe detergent and water
  

  How much more work is it REALLY?
  I haven't found it to be any more work.
  

  Does it really save a lot of money?  Especially if you'll use disposables for daycare?
  Absolutely.  We didn't start cding until ds was a few months old.  We were buying packs of disposables every 2-3 weeks, at about $20 a pack.  So around $40 a month.  We've spend about $200-$300 dollars in cd's and we've been doing it for a year now.  If we would have been buying disposables we would have spend at least $500-600, and we would still be buying more, so that number would keep rising.  The diapers I have for ds are OS, so they will fit him until he is out of diapers.  Plus, you can always sell the diapers when you are done with them and recoup some of the money.   And even if you are buying disposables for daycare, you won't be buying nearly as many...buy most daycares will do cd's, as long as you take them in to show them how easy they are (like the aio's or prestuffed pockets)

  what type of cloth diapers do you use? 
  I use pockets, fitteds, and prefolds.    Fitteds with wool covers are my favorite.  And I like OS the most since they last longer, but sized are nice because they are slightly more trim
  

  Did you have to use one type for an infant and another when baby got bigger? 
  I only used pockets at first.  Then I needed more to fill me stash, so I tried prefolds.  And then I got really into them and wanted to try fitteds.
  

  And do you ever regret going cloth?
  Absolutely not.  I love cding.  I think cd's are so cute, better for the environment, cheaper, and most important, don't have chemicals on my son's bottom (I was out with my sister and ds pooped a lot so she gave me a disposable to use and my ds got really bad blisters from the chemicals in the disposable!!)

  And The Eco-Friendly Family Blog can probably answer a bunch of questions for you too
  

  
  

  Report0 Reply
• Loading the player...
• Ris1127

  May 2010

  mrs.a.butler:

  What do you do with the diapers immediately after you take them off?
  I put them into the diaper wetbag
  

  Do you have a pail - and if so does it have bleach or liquid in it?  Is it in the same room?  Does it have a lid?
  We used to use a dry pail, so no liquid and we used to keep it in ds's room.  Now we use a hanging wetbag and hang it in the bathroom. 
  

  Do you separate wet and poopie diapers? 
  Nope
  

  What do you do with diapers with solid waste?  What about loose waste?
  If it's poop before solids are introduced, it's water soluble so it just gets washed off in the washer.  If it's when you first start solids and it's thick and sticky, like peanut butter, you have many options.  We scraped with an old knife into the toilet.  They also make flushable liners that you can put in the diaper so just "plop" it off into the toilet, and they make diaper sprayers so you can spray the poop off into the toilet.  Now, ds's poop is solid and what is called "plopable", so we just shake it off right into the toilet.  Flush the poop and through the diaper in the wetbag
  

  How often do you do wash? 
  every 3rd day
  

  Do you add anything extra to the washing machine? 
  Nope, just cd safe detergent and water
  

  How much more work is it REALLY?
  I haven't found it to be any more work.
  

  Does it really save a lot of money?  Especially if you'll use disposables for daycare?
  Absolutely.  We didn't start cding until ds was a few months old.  We were buying packs of disposables every 2-3 weeks, at about $20 a pack.  So around $40 a month.  We've spend about $200-$300 dollars in cd's and we've been doing it for a year now.  If we would have been buying disposables we would have spend at least $500-600, and we would still be buying more, so that number would keep rising.  The diapers I have for ds are OS, so they will fit him until he is out of diapers.  Plus, you can always sell the diapers when you are done with them and recoup some of the money.   And even if you are buying disposables for daycare, you won't be buying nearly as many...buy most daycares will do cd's, as long as you take them in to show them how easy they are (like the aio's or prestuffed pockets)

  what type of cloth diapers do you use? 
  I use pockets, fitteds, and prefolds.    Fitteds with wool covers are my favorite.  And I like OS the most since they last longer, but sized are nice because they are slightly more trim
  

  Did you have to use one type for an infant and another when baby got bigger? 
  I only used pockets at first.  Then I needed more to fill me stash, so I tried prefolds.  And then I got really into them and wanted to try fitteds.
  

  And do you ever regret going cloth?
  Absolutely not.  I love cding.  I think cd's are so cute, better for the environment, cheaper, and most important, don't have chemicals on my son's bottom (I was out with my sister and ds pooped a lot so she gave me a disposable to use and my ds got really bad blisters from the chemicals in the disposable!!)

  And The Eco-Friendly Family Blog can probably answer a bunch of questions for you too
  

  this! I use One size Bum Genius pockets and their organic all in one! I love our CDs!! I used sposies on DD till she was 3 months and I'll never go back!

  Report0 Reply
• grace_smith03 member

  May 2010

    What do you do with the diapers immediately after you take them off? 

    We put them in a leslie's wetbag.  It is the same room. It has a zip, but for the morst part, we leave it open...newborn poo doesn't really smell. (breastfed) We do not separate. We have a sprayer attached to the toilet, but so far we haven't used it...we are just starting solids. We wash once every 2 days...which is the suggested amount. Nothing extra to the washing machine, although we use charlie's soap which is safe for dipes and bottoms.

  I don't think much more work, although it seems overwhelming in the beginning...and if it is, don't beat yourself up and use the free disposable dipes that you get from the hospital and/or your babyshower.    I like cloth dipes, because you DO save alot of money, and it gets you used to changing the dipe when you should (like every hour or two), as opposed to the sposies, which you get in a bad habit of leaving on for awhile.  The first month we used disposable because i was overwhelmed.  It cost us about $20 every 1-1/2 weeks.  Then i used GMD prefolds and thirsties covers...looking back, i would have used just BG 3.0's, but the prefolds are much cheaper....and i didn't know i'd have such a big girl...:)  The BG 3.o's are awesome. I had a fuzzibunz; didn't care for the fit or the snaps. I like velcro, although apparently it gets worn out kinda fast.

  I still use sposies some nights for convenience/laziness sake. But even if i used one every night, i'd save A TON of garbage...and money.   GL!

   

   

  
  Make a pregnancy ticker

  

  Report0 Reply
• Poonico member

  May 2010

  What do you do with the diapers immediately after you take them off?
  I use velcro diapers mostly, so I stick the tabs together and toss them in the pail (dry pail).
  

  Do you have a pail - and if so does it have bleach or liquid in it?
  No liquid or bleach!!!  Dry pail, nothing in it but diapers.

  Is it in the same room?
  I keep mine in the bathroom closet.
  

  Does it have a lid?
  Yes

  Do you separate wet and poopie diapers?
  No
  

  What do you do with diapers with solid waste?
  Baby is breastfed, so I do nothing.  Just toss and wash.  When my older DD was CDd and eating food, I dumped the solids (or scraped if need be)
  

  What about loose waste?
  Scrape
  

  How often do you do wash?
  Every 3-4 days.  5 if it gets too crazy here, but that's rare

  Do you add anything extra to the washing machine?
  Detergent, vinegar if needed to the hot wash

  How much more work is it REALLY?
  Less.  Honestly.  I do slightly more laundry, but I save a ton of $$ and I don't have to clean poop out of all of her clothes (because if it gets on them I do care about stains), clean poop off of swings, bouncers, me, etc.

  Does it really save a lot of money?
  Yes and I have a great stash IMO.

  Especially if you'll use disposables for daycare?
  I don't use daycare, so no input here except that they time w/out chemicals on them would be beneficial.
  

  And finally - what type of cloth diapers do you use?
  I use mostly BG AIOs (sized) and the BG OS for nights.  I also have some goodmama fitteds, wool, prefolds and Thirsties covers.

  Did you have to use one type for an infant and another when baby got bigger?
  In the newborn phase I used a lot of fitteds.

  And do you ever regret going cloth?
  Not for a minute.  Quite the opposite.  I wish I had always used it.
  

  Check out The Eco-Friendly Family, a
  Green Living Blog
  for eco-information and fun giveaways!
  
  

  Report0 Reply