Benefits of CD

mm&m2010 · March 2011

I don't know much about cloth diapering, except they look really cute on all your babies who have them. No one I know has ever done it, so what are the benefits- why did you decide to cd? I would assume one reason is- saving money?!

lnelson20 · March 2011

The benefits that convinced us were the costs savings, the lessened environmental impact (this depends some on where you live and how abundant your water supply is), as well as the evidence that CD babies get less diaper rash, and potty train earlier.

yourfaceyourface · March 2011

yank is the cd queen. maybe you two can put away your feud long enough for her advice

mm&m2010 · March 2011

lnelson20:
The benefits that convinced us were the costs savings, the lessened environmental impact (this depends some on where you live and how abundant your water supply is), as well as the evidence that CD babies get less diaper rash, and potty train earlier.

Good to know, thanks!

ashnoelle · March 2011

lnelson20:
The benefits that convinced us were the costs savings, the lessened environmental impact (this depends some on where you live and how abundant your water supply is), as well as the evidence that CD babies get less diaper rash, and potty train earlier.

all of this. The environmental reason was very strong for me.

mm&m2010 · March 2011

yourfaceyourface:
yank is the cd queen. maybe you two can put away your feud long enough for her advice

Person My arms are wide open to anyone who wants to hug it out

greengirl0909 · March 2011

lnelson20:
The benefits that convinced us were the costs savings, the lessened environmental impact (this depends some on where you live and how abundant your water supply is), as well as the evidence that CD babies get less diaper rash, and potty train earlier.

All of these for us, including the enviornmental fact of not only the landfill factor but everything that goes into making disposables. Plus the fear of chemicals in disposables. Once we started doing some research the unknowns really bothered us. We delivered about the time of the big Pampers Dry Max scare and while we never had any problems, it raised our concerns enough to push us this way.

I was scared when we started: would we be able to keep up, would it work for us, how much work would it be, could a family with both parents working do it. I love it. I'd never go back.

norman25 · March 2011

The benefits that we have found:

Saving money: Not only can we resell our diapers, we have only spent less than $500 on a rather large stash of 40 diapers. I live in a small town where prices can get outrageous, so not having to make sure that I buy enough diapers whenever I get to Target is nice. I had to buy an insanely expensive jumbo pack of NB luvs once at our Pamida and I was p!ssed.

No rash: No rashes here, no redness, nothing!

No chemicals: Reading the pampers board with the random posts about the chemicals and asking why pampers stink kinda makes me ill now. They truly are gross when I think about it.

No smelly garbage cans: I am forced to dump the poo out of his diapers (which is not hard) which means no smelly garbage pail! Plus, we used to have to take out the diaper garbage a lot when he was in sposies.

Cute! I love the colors and they look a lot better in pics rather than a crunchy pampers. We color coordinate sometimes his shirt, CD, and his babylegs Embarrassed

Swim diapers: I have an endless stash of swim diapers, since I can use the CD covers that I have as a swim diaper also. I don't have to spend extra money to get it and I don't have to worry about having enough

No blowouts: We had blowouts up his back in disposables all of the time, with his CDs it NEVER happens. We leak pee occasionally, but due to my errors, and that is no big deal like a poop mess would be.

If he stays overnight with his grandma, if she runs out of diapers for whatever reason, she just throws them in the wash. She doesn't have to worry about rationing them when she gets low or running to the store.

I could go on for days, but I am sure that you get the point. Choosing to use cloth has been one of the best decisions that I have made and I am very glad we made that choice.

mm&m2010 · March 2011

Cassie730:

Our main reason was Brady. He had a really bad reaction to the disposables they put him in in the hospital. He ended up getting little blisters in his man-area (fun for no one). Since switching to cloth at exactly 13 days old he's had one diaper rash which lasted 2 days and we've never had a single blow out while in cloth.

We knew about the cost savings but since I'm a fluffly addict I end up buying new cute dipes all the time so I'm not sure how much money I'll end up saving in the long run (god help me if I have a girl).

Yikes! I would probably spend way too much too. On a side note, when do you find out what #2 is?! Or are you being surprised?

yourfaceyourface · March 2011

mm&m2010:
yourfaceyourface:
yank is the cd queen. maybe you two can put away your feud long enough for her advice

My arms are wide open to anyone who wants to hug it out

if you can get her to hug it out with you i will mail you $10.

mm&m2010 · March 2011

Sounds like all good reasons to me. Now, I am not sure how on board my Mom would be- she watches DS & my 19 month old nephew Mon-Fri...

norman25 · March 2011

Oh, and the stupid canned responses over on the Pampers board solidified my choice. The way that they talk about SAP is shady.

Not to mention how gross it was when the SAP would escape his diaper.

mm&m2010 · March 2011

yourfaceyourface:
mm&m2010:

yourfaceyourface:
yank is the cd queen. maybe you two can put away your feud long enough for her advice

My arms are wide open to anyone who wants to hug it out

if you can get her to hug it out with you i will mail you $10.

I ? a good challenge

greengirl0909 · March 2011

mm&m2010:
Sounds like all good reasons to me. Now, I am not sure how on board my Mom would be- she watches DS & my 19 month old nephew Mon-Fri...

Our daycare provider was hesitant at first too. It depends on the type of diaper you use. However, it can be no different for daycare than using disposables. We use pocket diapers. We stuff them ahead of time, pack enough for the day along with a wet bag, and send them to daycare. When she goes to change LO, she takes a diaper off, and instead of throwing it away puts it in the wetbag, then snaps a new one on. After 3 months of using them, she loves them. She says our LO has less diaper rash than anyone else at daycare.

mm&m2010 · March 2011

guppysown@yahoo.com:

mm&m2010:
Sounds like all good reasons to me. Now, I am not sure how on board my Mom would be- she watches DS & my 19 month old nephew Mon-Fri...

Our daycare provider was hesitant at first too. It depends on the type of diaper you use. However, it can be no different for daycare than using disposables. We use pocket diapers. We stuff them ahead of time, pack enough for the day along with a wet bag, and send them to daycare. When she goes to change LO, she takes a diaper off, and instead of throwing it away puts it in the wetbag, then snaps a new one on. After 3 months of using them, she loves them. She says our LO has less diaper rash than anyone else at daycare.

Not to sound dumb, but, every time you change baby, you put on a whole new one? I have heard you guys talk about inserts & covers- are there different pieces to a cd? I just figured it was all 1 piece that you put on- similar to a regular diaper?!

yourfaceyourface · March 2011

mmmmm- it looks like you are losing your challenge.

homebird · March 2011

I am going to C&P a blog post I wrote about this. It's REALLY long, so I apologize in advance. I'd give you the link, but my blog has a privacy setting and you wouldn't be able to see it.

Baby?s health

Disposable diapers contain traces of Dioxin, an extremely toxic by-product of the paper-bleaching process. It is a carcinogenic chemical, listed by the EPA as the most toxic of all cancer-linked chemicals.
Disposable diapers contain Tributyl-tin (TBT) ? a toxic pollutant known to cause hormonal problems in humans and animals.
Disposable diapers contain sodium polyacrylate, a type of super absorbent polymer (SAP), which becomes a gel-like substance when wet. A similar substance had been used in super-absorbency tampons until the early 1980s when it was revealed that the material increased the risk of toxic shock syndrome.
Cloth diapers minimize diaper rash and leak less than disposables. All babies have blow-outs (E has had a couple) but she has never had a leak.
Babies who are cloth diapered potty train sooner. (The gel in a disposable doesn't allow the baby to feel wet, so they are not motivated to use the potty.)

Environment

The instructions on a disposable diaper package advice that all fecal matter should be deposited in the toilet before discarding, yet less than one half of one percent of all waste from single-use diapers goes into the sewage system. Some of that waste leaks into our water supply.
Over 92% of all single-use diapers end up in a landfill.
No one knows how long it takes for a disposable diaper to decompose, but it is estimated to be about 250-500 years, long after your children, grandchildren and great, great, great grandchildren will be gone.
Disposable diapers are the third largest single consumer item in landfills, and represent about 4% of solid waste. In a house with a child in diapers, disposables make up 50% of household waste.
Disposable diapers generate sixty times more solid waste and use twenty times more raw materials, like crude oil and wood pulp. Over 300 pounds of wood, 50 pounds of petroleum feedstocks and 20 pounds of chlorine are used to produce disposable diapers for one baby EACH YEAR.
Even when you factor in the "carbon footprint" of washing your own diapers (detergent, water, energy) it is INSIGNIFICANT compared to the effect that disposable diapers have on the environment.

Cost (The first reason we considered cloth diapering)

Disposables. A large pack of disposables is roughly $45 for 180 diapers. Assuming we use around 7 diapers per day for 3.5 years (at .25 cents a diaper), it will cost roughly $2,000 (yes, I?m rounding because I hate math, and this is too much for me). Oh and don?t forget about the wipes!
Cloth Diapers. There are obviously many routes you can go with cloth diapers. We chose one of the cheapest: prefolds and covers. (There are TONS of options. If you want a more "daddy-friendly" diaper check out all-in-ones or pocket diapers). I purchased 3 dozen infant-sized prefolds for $1.50 each ($54) and 2 dozen toddler-sized prefolds for $1.50 ($36). I used thirsties duo wrap covers. They come in two sizes that will fit your baby the entire time he/she is diapered. I have 10 covers that cost $12 each ($120). Prefolds aren't fastened with pins anymore. I use a fuss-free fastener called a snappi. We got 3 of them for $6. We also purchased a diaper pail liner and a travel bag to put the dirty diapers in for about $20. Grand total: $236. I don't think you need a calculator to see how much money we're saving here. Multiply that by 2 or 3 kids and the savings only increases.
And if you want to see a breakdown of the average cost to wash diapers: https://www.borntolove.com/column5.html

Another thing to consider, cloth diapering isn?t as ?nasty? as you might think. All you have to do is take a poopy diaper to the toilet, dump and flush, then put in a diaper pail. Pee diapers can be put right in the pail. Wash every 2-3 days. Washing is EASY, and you don't have to have a special washing machine. Put the dirty diapers through a cold rinse, then wash on hot with detergent, then rinse again with cold and throw everything in the dryer. Seriously, it's one to three loads of laundry a week. All you have to do is push a button.

Last point before I step off of my soapbox (can you tell I feel passionately about this?): as a Christian, I feel it's important to care for the environment. I think it's part of being a good steward of what God has given us. I realize we're all a bit hypocritical in this area, but I'm working on it. For me, making a choice to use disposable diapers because it was more "convenient" felt wrong. I decided I was going to use cloth diapers and there was no looking back (and no regrets).

Obviously, there are exceptions. I'm not jumping on you if you chose the disposable route. I just get a lot of weird looks and "I could never do that" responses. People would be surprised at how easy it is, and how good you'll feel doing it.

Some other articles that I found helpful if you're interested in cloth diapering:

diaperjungle.com/why-use-cloth-diapers.html
jilliansdrawers.com/newtocloth
sojourning.us/motherhod-monday-why-do-we-cloth-diaper/356
allaboutclothdiapers.com/new-to-cloth-diapers/

homebird · March 2011

mm&m2010:
Not to sound dumb, but, every time you change baby, you put on a whole new one? I have heard you guys talk about inserts & covers- are there different pieces to a cd? I just figured it was all 1 piece that you put on- similar to a regular diaper?!

I use thirsties covers and prefolds. As long as no poop gets on the cover, I can re-use it a few times before I put it in the laundry. I just wipe it and change the prefold.

You can get all-in-ones (one piece diapers) and yes, they're a one-use diaper. You take the whole thing off, put it in a pail, and put a new one on.

mm&m2010 · March 2011

homebird:
mm&m2010:

Not to sound dumb, but, every time you change baby, you put on a whole new one? I have heard you guys talk about inserts & covers- are there different pieces to a cd? I just figured it was all 1 piece that you put on- similar to a regular diaper?!

I use thirsties covers and prefolds. As long as no poop gets on the cover, I can re-use it a few times before I put it in the laundry. I just wipe it and change the prefold.

You can get all-in-ones (one piece diapers) and yes, they're a one-use diaper. You take the whole thing off, put it in a pail, and put a new one on.

WOW! That was a lot of info, but thanks, I appreciate it

homebird · March 2011

mm&m2010:
homebird:
mm&m2010:

Not to sound dumb, but, every time you change baby, you put on a whole new one? I have heard you guys talk about inserts & covers- are there different pieces to a cd? I just figured it was all 1 piece that you put on- similar to a regular diaper?!

I use thirsties covers and prefolds. As long as no poop gets on the cover, I can re-use it a few times before I put it in the laundry. I just wipe it and change the prefold.

You can get all-in-ones (one piece diapers) and yes, they're a one-use diaper. You take the whole thing off, put it in a pail, and put a new one on.

WOW! That was a lot of info, but thanks, I appreciate it

Ha. I warned you.

BethPSU · March 2011

The cost savings is significant the first time around, but monumental when you are using your stash for baby #2. Oh, and DS was potty trained by 20 months:) and all of the reasons others already stated.

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