Full and part time cloth diapering

PLS2010 · January 2012

Would love to know if any of you cloth diaper either full or part time? DH and I are still working on daycares so we may only be able to CD part time. At our apt we pay a flat rate for water which I think would make part time still an economical choice...only downside is we have really hard water. So we still have some things to work out in our decision.For full/part time CD what does your stash look like and how often do you wash? Do you find centers or home daycares are more accepting of CD? Thanks!

Sunidaze · January 2012

We started CD'ing when she was around 4 months adnd are now full time with it. I think I now may have about 2 dozen pocket diapers (primarily BG 4.0s with some others thrown in...seems I had 1-2 every few weeks also), 5 bestbottom covers and probably close to 20 inserts for them, a couple of flip covers and lots of inserts (I actually prefer these for the weekends), maybe 3 GroVia AI2 and some inserts with those. I wash every 2-3 days. I didn't start with CD'ing until I was sure daycare would be accepting of it and turns out they are 100% supportive and hoping I could maybe influence more parents to do so. I should note that I only use pockets for daycare (and they prefer velcro closures). We use a daycare center. If you really want to CD that is a question you need to ask them when shopping around for daycare options.

katie4253 · January 2012

Our DC does CDs. We use 1 disposable overnight because we couldn't find a leak free solution. OUr whole stash now is BG 4.0 diapers. However, we also used prefolds and thirsties covers and loved those. They just won't work for daycare (too complicated).

ETA: You should go over to the CD board and ask if anyone has really hard water. They could tell you their routine. It might help you.

Meg&Jesse · January 2012

I think daycares are willing to CD once they see what the diapers these days look like. The only difference between changing a disposable and cloth diaper is you throw the cloth diaper in a bag to give to the parent later.

My advice is to look around for a diaper you like. We used BG 3.0s, but the velcro wore quickly. I think the 4.0's have snaps. I sold the 3.0's when DS was 18 months and then we used FuzziBunz and Rocky Mountains. I would recommend any brand with snaps, as the velcro was the only issue we had.

Not sure on the hard water. www.pinstripesandpolkadots.com is a great website and might help you out on that question. We did laundry every other day and had about 20 diapers. For overnights we just used two inserts.

Good luck. I would also check out the CD board.

the_jackpot · January 2012

We are done with diapers but we cded full time and my ds was in daycare after 10 months. I took them with me when we visited centers and showed how easy they were- I used only aios or fitted diapers for daycare. None of his centers (he went to two) or his in-home (he lasted less than a wk) had any objections. I did not really form it as a question more like we use cds for a variety of reasons including very sensitive skin and they were fine.

If I would have only been able to cd part time I probably would have still done it. They were just so easy.

Comet4658 · January 2012

I full time cloth diaper (daycare center takes it). I have about 30 bum genius all in two (insert plus cover). We had 30 infant inserts and 30 full size inserts. Now that he is 15 months we do both the full size and the infant because he was leaking all the time. We wash twice a week every Sunday and every Thursday/Friday.

ETA: We have the ones with snaps. I guess they are the BG 4.0

kj07 · January 2012

We cloth diaper and both the daycares we used were fine with it. To make it easy on them we use FuzziBunz OS with snaps. They put the dirty diaper in the wetbag and other than that, it's just like a disposable. Oh, and now that he's on solids they will clean his bm if it's ploppable.

I got snaps because I'd heard that they last longer than velcro. I do have a problem with daycare pretty regularly snapping him up wrong - it usually happens when there's a sub/temp in the room. From that aspect I think velcro would have been easier.

everam01 · January 2012

We full-time cloth diaper and have about 30 diapers in the stash, which for twins means we wash daily. I just throw in a load as soon as we walk in the door at night.

I did ask our daycare of choice if they were willing to CD and luckily they already had 2 infants in CD and were very accommodating. If not, maybe you can bring a diaper with you to show them how easy it is, and let them know you will provide everything they need (a trash can with a step, wet bags, etc).

ETA: We use BG 4.0 and Kawaii Baby mainly.

Aloe0l · January 2012

We CD full time (unless we're travelling). It is definitely economical overall - I have not noticed any significant change in our water bill. When DD was a newborn, we used mostly prefolds, and had about 2 1/2 day's worth. We wash every 2-3 days. We still use mostly prefolds on weekends, but at DC we use pockets. DD's daycare won't do prefolds. We have 17 pockets and 21 prefolds with 5 covers.

All the centers we toured immediately said they would NOT do cloth, but then I actually brought in a pocket diaper (I would use this cheetah print minky diaper to grasp the cuteness factor as my demo) and showed them all that it entailed, and they all were willing to try. We're on our second center, and both now take cloth diapers. We'll send DD in a prefold, and then they use pockets from there on out for her changes. We send 5 diapers and a wetbag every day. They require us to wash out the wetbag daily, which is fine and we have two that we rotate through anyway.

I would say if you show them the type of diaper you want them to use, they will most likely be open to it. Many providers are unaware of how easy it is to use cloth these days.

azuremama · January 2012

I do p/t. I work 4 days a week and usually do cloth when I'm at home. I have a variety of diapers, but I like bumgenius best and that's what I use most. I probably have 10. At this point, that lasts a day or two. We use some disposables on the weekends because DH doesn't really like the cloth. I wash them on Sundays and then on Wednesdays (I'm off on Wednesday).

I will say that I have had some trouble finding a good wash routine. We have hard water, too, and a front loader and it seems like every couple of months, I have issues with the diapers smelling and leaking and I have to figure it out. Lately, I've been using good old tide and doing an extra rinse and it seems to be working okay.

I think daycares are more amenable to pocket diapers or AIOs because they're easy. If you show them how they work, they'll probably be more likely to agree to use them.

s00z · January 2012

PLS2010:
Would love to know if any of you cloth diaper either full or part time? For full/part time CD what does your stash look like and how often do you wash? Do you find centers or home daycares are more accepting of CD? Thanks!

We CD full time.

Our stash consists of 24 prefolds, 6 Thirsties covers, and 12 BumGenius 4.0s. We use the prefolds and covers at home and use the BumGenius diapers for overnight (double stuffed) and daycare.

We send DD to an in-home daycare that came recommended. We didn't interview any other daycares, but the one she is currently at was completely open to CDing. She is the only kid there in CDs.

mittensonkittens · January 2012

We CD part time. The daycare centers that we were interested in would not consider it. They said the issue was the Texas state health code, not ease-of-use. Even my friends who use in-home daycares have had the same issue. I use primarily Green Mountain prefolds with Thirsties covers. For the smaller sizes I have about 24 diapers and 3-5 covers. For the larger sizes I have about 12-18 diapers and 2-4 covers. We wash them 2x/week, but we might be able to go longer if I wanted to let them sit that long. If we're home for a long weekend or vacation or maternity leave, we wash every other day. I have a few of the pocket diapers, but I never use them. And anything with elastic or Velcro has not held up well with 2 kids, but the prefolds are still as good as new.

PLS2010 · January 2012

Thank you so much for all of the great advice! DH has been a little concerned about CD, but when he saw the savings I have calculated he is reluctantly on board. IMO it isn't just monetarily smart but health smart.

I think I might take an AIO with me when visit daycares (the cutesy ones of course!) and see what they say. I really am leaning towards a center due to state accountability so it is nice to see so many centers willing to take on the challenge.

Is it really necessary to use a special detergent? We use either Arm and Hammer free of perfumes and dyes or Tide free and gentle due to DH sensitive skin. Will this still affect our diapers? What do you use and do you use it on reg. clothes too?

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