Cloth diaper moms-come in!

stephmarie · January 2011

DH and I have been discussing cloth diapering- I would like to, he seems a little put-off by the idea. Granted, he hasn't ever changed a disposable diaper so I'm not sure how he is coming to his conclusions about cloth diapering being too much work!

I have been doing some internet research but I am still feeling a little overwhelmed with the whole process and do not really know where to start. So if you cloth diaper/intend to, I would love some insight!

How did you make the decision to cloth vs. disposable? Are there stores you recommend to peruse all the options, with the possibility of testing things out? What kind do you use and why? Are you happy with the decision to CD? Any advice/tips?

TIA!

Mrs.Leah.Maria · January 2011

I CD and went the super easy route. I only bought Bum Genius All in One [AIO] one size diapers. We bought 24 to start and haven't had to purchase more.

A great resource is the Cloth Diaper board, as well as sites like this: https://www.jilliansdrawers.com/newtocloth

Good luck convincing DH!

angel1015 · January 2011

We cloth diaper at home, but not at daycare yet. We use the Bum Genius pockets as well as a few other styles. Like Leah mentioned, Jillians Drawers is a really great site. They have a "trial package" where they send you 2-3 of each style to try out and you send back what you don't like and keep what you do.

As far as stores, Patti mentioned a new store in Blaine so if you look down the page a bit, I think the info is there somewhere. Also, there are a few stores in St. Paul that are very nice and you can ask lots of questions.

As far as getting DH on board....I don't have many pearls of wisdom, I just make sure to take over a lot of the cleaning and stuffing of diapers. The Bum Genius are a lot like a disposable which really helps the men-folk. My one suggestion would be to make it as easy as possible and go from there.

We didn't start using cloth until DD was about 3 months old. She was pretty little and we didn't invest in a ton of newborn diapers so we waited until she fit into the regular cloth diapers. When we have child #2 I think I will look a little more into newborn sizes because you go through so many diapers when they are little it really helps cut down on the waste.

The Eco-Friendly Family board and the Cloth Diaper board have some great ladies who would love to help in any way they can.

ErinRC · January 2011

I love peapods in st.paul. they recently moved ( i haven't been to the new store); they have a great selection. I mostly use prefolds w/ covers and thirsties pocket diapers at night. Prefolds and covers are the cheapest way to diaper and I like the way the inserts of the thirsties agitate out in the wash, so I don't have to shake them out. Bumgenius are nice, but much more expensive.

Denise70 · January 2011

I LOVE cloth diapers!! They are so easy. The way I learned about them is I went to a class at Amma Maternity. They offer a free class and it helped me tremendously. After lots of researching and talking with friends I went with Bum Genius one size. I also got Bum Genius x-small to start with for the first month or so because the one size diapers didn't fit her very well. I found most of mine on craigslist and got a VERY good deal for excellent condition diapers. Also, cotton babies sometimes has sales for seconds and to be honest, I can't tell the difference between those and the full price. When I was given a baby shower, I asked to have a diaper party and requested a couple different types on my registry then I could try a couple different kinds. Some also use a diaper service for the first month or two but to be honest I would just buy a couple different kinds on craigslist if you are unsure. I just requested no pets/no smoking homes and then went to see the diapers before I purchased. The only ones that have not worked for my daughter is Happy Heiney's as they leaked for us.

Hope this helped!

ilovebijou · January 2011

The two main reasons we decided to use cloth vs disp was to save $$ and also protect our dd from a lot of the chemicals in disp dipes. I purchased almost all of my stash online. My stash is mostly BG 3.0s, Flips, and BGs AIOs. I have a couple Happy Heinys, Kawaii.

There are tons of good deals out there for cloth diapering. If you join the kellyscloset.com newsletter she almost always has a free one size coupon with a $29 purchase. I only spent about $200 and I have enough diapers to diaper twins and wash every 3 days:)

As far as deciding options, I knew that I needed it to be as easy as possible so dh and I could both do the diapering. I love the BG brand diapers. They are really good quality and I feel like you could truly use them for 2 or 3 kids. Some of the other brands of cloth diapers seem cheaply made and I can't imagine stretching the stash through a couple kids. I like using all-in-one diapers or pocket diapers because they are easy and with how squirmy my daughter is right now with diaper changes I'm really glad I went with this style diaper.

I love cding and so does my dh. I overheard him telling relatives over the holidays that we love using cds and it just made me smile. I would do research online and then think realistically if it's something you could make work. I wouldn't try to cd your first child for probably the first 6-8 weeks. I think it would have been overwhelming for me to add cloth diapering to all the other things I was trying to figure out as a new mom. We started at about 10 weeks. If we have a second, I would feel more comfortable starting cding with a newborn. Good luck!

jennifermarieb · January 2011

I was in a similar situation when I started looking into it. I had some friends that were cding and heard a lot of good things about it from them. My DH (who is the one that stays at home) was totally against it and almost refused to consider it, but I finally was able to convince him to give it a try. We got a few different brands but have stayed with pockets because how easy they are (bum genius and Fuzzibunz) and gave it a try. After trying them out he really came around and we cd full time and both love it and can't believe how easy it really is. I would really recommend starting out small with a few different brands and styles to see what you like, because some brands I have heard rave reviews for didn't end up working great for us, either because of the fit or personal preference. Also, I have gotten some on craigslist as a way to try things out without having to pay a ton. Now I love my fuzzibunz, totbots and tweedle bugs brands the best and have pretty much stuck with one size diapers so we don't have to buy different sizes (I do have a bunch of the fuzzibunz perfect size mediums which I love because they are more trim then other diapers). I would recommend looking at kellyscloset.com because they do run a ton of free diaper coupons which are great for building up your stash and trying new diapers and also one of my favorite online stores is The Green Baby Store, they always answer any cd questions I have and have definitely suggested things when issues have come up and I don't know what to do. They also have some trial packages for people wanting to try them out and they even have a newborn package if you don't want to have to buy separate diapers in the beginning. I would recommend looking at both stores. The hardest part for us was finding the best method for cleaning them, after a few months I had some stink issues and have been experimenting with different detergents. But even that isn't too big of a deal. I have been wanting to stop by the new store in Blaine that people have been talking about, but haven't yet. If I do go, I will post about it. Good Luck!

HannaB · January 2011

How did you make the decision to cloth vs. disposable? Are there stores you recommend to peruse all the options, with the possibility of testing things out? What kind do you use and why? Are you happy with the decision to CD? Any advice/tips?

We decided to CD for cost + avoid chemicals.

Peapods in St. Paul is awesome. A CD mama went with me this summer, and it was so helpful to look at and hold all the different types of CDs. Because just seeing things online like pocket, all in one, fitted etc., didn't mean anything to me till I actually went and saw them and held them.

We started CDing as soon as we got home, around day 6 of life. We're still using the newborn CDs --- Kissaluv fitteds size 0.

Our stash is mostly Kissaluv fitteds, because I inherited a hand-me-down stash of size 1s from a friend.

I am slowly adding in some pockets and AIOs for when he starts staying with a caregiver next month.

I wrote a blog post just last week about our experiences so far CDing if you want to read it.

https://theseprices.net/2010/12/adventures-in-cloth-diapering/

HannaB · January 2011

dup

allie3136 · January 2011

Peapods in St. Paul is a great resource. There is also a cloth diapering service that we came across when researching about it. Its called Do Good Diaper Service and they pick up your dirty diapers and bring you new ones so you don't have to do any of the dirty week. I believe the price is about 19-20 dollars a week for 80 diapers. And they run free tutorials at pea pods or will come to your house and show you how it all works!

snowbaby811 · January 2011

I plan to CD and this website https://www.allaboutclothdiapers.com has been a great resource. There are also a couple CD websites (pooters and sweetbottoms) that I have found that have a newborn rental package if you can't stomach buying NB dipes for just three or so months of use.

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