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January 2013 Moms
Cloth Diapers?
Is anyone thinking of cloth diapers or done them in the past? My husband and I are thinking heavily on this before we get our registry up and running. I have a friend who uses all in one's and she loves them! I want to give them a shot, but don't want to leap before I get some more input. My mom thinks we should do prefolds if we are going cloth route, because she thinks the all-in-ones are so expensive! We've looked at fuzzibunz and bumgenius. I'm worried they will take too much time, and hubby is having a hard time with the idea of washing them in the washing machine...
anyone have experience they would like to share? I don't want to waste my time with the cloth if they aren't going to be a good fit for us. Just looking for any input you all might have!
Thanks guys!!
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Re: Cloth Diapers?
I use prefolds and Thirsties covers for 0-3ish months on my babies. They are super easy and cheap. After that with #1 I used BumGenius and they were great, but stuffing them in a pain in the ass after while. I was using them until #1 got close to 2 and then she just out peed them no matter how many inserts I used. I had a friend that recommended Best Bottoms and I didn't' listen for #1. For #2, I gave up on the BumGenius because I got so tired of stuffing diapers for 2 kids. I bought a big stash of the Best Bottoms and they are SOOO easy. I love them. I wish I had used them sooner with #1. The cost is pretty awesome compared to BGs because you buy 1 cover and 3 inserts you can just switch out the inserts with each cover throughout the day. They (both BumGenius and Best Bottoms) are SUPER easy to sell off if you change your mind because they are so in demand. I was able to sell off my huge stash of BumGenius that I used for nearly two years for $8 bucks each with inserts. That was really because I just wanted to get rid of them. What I strongly recommend are diapers with GUSSETS because they help hold stuff in when you extra stuff. I will warn you, the cloth diaper board is going to over load the sh!t out of you. ;-)The way I do the Best Bottoms is I use a cover and an insert, then when I change a diaper I put a new cover and new insert on, then put baby down. Then I dump the wet insert and leave that cover out to dry on the changing table, then it's ready for the next diaper change. If it is poop then the whole cover goes into the diaper pail (That is just a kitchen step trash can with a PUL liner.)
Here is a link to Best Bottoms: https://www.nickisdiapers.com/best-bottom.html
I started DS with disposables and when he was about 2 (I know, way late), I wondered why I never tried cloth and gave them a try. I got two different kinds - the bum genius and gDiapers.
I think it's an awful idea. I know the cloth diapering people would hate me. Unless you live in a city where you can get diaper service (we don't), it sucks to wash - it's gross.
The main complaint I have is the leaking out. Over 2 years my DS probably "blew out" or leaked less than 5 times. EVERY single time he pooped in a cloth diaper it blew out. Very messy.
That is just my opinion on them. Maybe it's easier with a smaller baby and maybe there are better brands.
Right now we are getting great use out of our gDiaper cover because LO kept wetting the bed because the gap in his diaper at the top was allowing him to pee out even when it wasn't full. I put the gDiaper cover over a disposable and the elastic keeps the diaper flat=no gap.
Good luck!
We used disposables while DD was a newborn and then switched to cloth. I'm planning on using cloth from the beginning this time, but as a first time mom, using disposables just for the newborn stage was be less thing I had to worry about. Cloth diapering isn't hard, but just figuring out a wash routine was difficult in the beginning because we have such hard water. Also, generally one size diapers don't fit newborns so we would have needed to plan ahead and have a newborn stash which we didn't do.
The cloth diapering board here is wonderful. You should at least check out the FAQ at the top of the board to learn more about your options and to answer questions you might have. I don't think I could have made it without that board!
As far as what diapers we use, we use a combination of pockets and all in ones mostly. All in ones are my favorite because they're so easy, but they take forever to dry. You would have to have a HUGE stash if that was your only type of diaper, that is, of you line dry which most CD moms do.
Also, don't buy too many of any one kind. Just like disposables, different diapers work different on different babies. For instance, I heard great things about Fuzzibunz but they almost always leak on DD. I was glad I only bought two! There are diaper trials out there (I never did one) and that's a great option for someone starting out.
DH and I love CDing now! We save a ton of money not having to buy diapers which is a huge plus and the diapers are super cute!
You can buy them from swap groups for MUCH cheaper than buying them new, and they'll be just as good.
You can call any brand of cloth diaper "expensive" but in the end, it's still going to be WAY cheaper than using disposables.
I would suggest just watching tons and tons of informative videos on youtube. I love Cloth Diapering 101 video series, and the OobsandLala channel is great to. You can see lots of reviews on youtube.
You can even join brand specific swaps if you know what brand you want. You can find them on boards or just search for cloth diaper groups on facebook. Good luck!!
Did you make sure to prewash/strip your cloth diapers? Also some infants need different sizes around the waist and legs to prevent blow outs. Not hating on you, disposable vs cloth isn't the end of the world, just suggesting what might have gone wrong. :P
As to preventing the gross factor, diaper sprayers are great!! No need to touch the poo, which you would have to dump into the toilet whether you used cloth or disposable anyway (well, at least if you're keeping with sanitation advisories. Which disposable diaper packs will state on their packaging or some will say it on their website instead.)
Just keep to learning as much as you can online by asking tons of questions!!
We used cloth (service to 3 months then our own) until my DS was 19 months and we moved to a place with terrible laundry.
It's not as much work as people think, it's great for the environment and you can save a lot of $.
Do a lot of research and don't be afraid to try different brands and types until you find what works for you. I bought diapers second hand or just one of each until I figured out what worked for us and what we liked. Ended up going with mostly pockets like Fuzzi Bunz and Bum Genius.
We've moved somewhere with better laundry so I'm going to start with some flats and prefolds for this one and then move him or her into our adjustable and medium sized pockets from DS.
Oh, and you deal with poop with cloth or disposables. We try and put all solid matter into the toilet even with disposables. You get over it.
yep, for sure.
i did a ton of research when i was pg with DD to figure out what i wanted and what would work best for us. my number one motivator was/is money savings (which keeps me from buying more diapers, even though i really want to! haha) and beyond that i love that i am keeping tons of diapers out of the landfill.
we used GMD prefolds and thirsties covers for the first 4-5 months (my DD has an extremely tiny waist, so we stayed in the orange edge that whole time! snapped for probably the first 3 months, then tri-folded). now we use the flip system which is similar to the best bottoms that PP was describing.
to OP- definitely do your research. know what you want and what would work best for you. obviously there are things you won't know until your baby gets here like if you'll have a thin or chunky baby. but you can still include other factors in your decision. i learned a ton simply by lurking on the CD board.
We love cloth diapering, definitely one of the best decisions we've made. I don't find them to be that much additional work. I wash 3x per week and washing them takes what? 5 mins of active time and then I probably spend 15 mins in the evening while I'm watching TV stuffing them. Totally worth it. Oh, and I only washed 2x/week when DS was younger. The only drawbacks I can think of is when we hit rough patches, once when DS started to approach a year he started leaking out of his nighttime diapers because he was a heavy wetter and then again shortly after his 1st birthday the wash routine we had used successfully for a year just didn't cut it anymore with toddler diapers, but after a little trial and error we found successful solutions to both problems. Other than that CD'ing has been totally successful and easy IME.
The only other thing I'd say is I would recommend against AIOs. At first they seem like a good idea, but as baby gets older (and their diapers get more... interesting) they're harder to get clean, take longer to dry, etc. And that's not true of all AIOs now that I think of it because some are designed a little differently, but we've been extremely happy with pockets. Yes, you have to stuff them, but like I said it doesn't take much time and the benefit is when you go to put them on they function just like a sposie would, but you can stuff with whatever you want (and as I mentioned we did have to eventually go to something else for nighttime) and they're known to be easier to clean. They're typically a little less expensive too when compared with AIOs.
GL!
ETA: I also wanted to address your H's worries about washing dirty diapers in the washer - with a kid, you're going to have icky stuff in your washer regardless. Before switching to CDs we had a lot of leaks and blowouts so we had pee and poo clothes going through the wash. You'll have clothes and bibs covered in food and vomit and sheets that are dirty, etc. Kids are dirty even if you aren't washing diapers! Maybe it'll help him to think about it that way? I've been washing CDs for nearly 2 1/2 years now and I've never had trouble with my washer getting dirty from it (not really sure if that's your H's worry or what), I mean... it's constantly running soap and hot water through it! But maybe if he's worried you could run an empty cycle with bleach every so often or something? It's really NBD!
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We love our cloth! We have a stash full of a mix of prefolds and covers, a few AIO, and pockets. In my opinion the pockets are the easiest because they don't need covers but are more customizable then AIO because during the day I pop in a insert and at night I can stuff them with more hemp. But I do love my Grovia with prefolds to. I have a very varied mix of Kiss luv pockets, Grovia covers, green mountain prefolds, rumparooz pockets, Blueberry AIO, and swaddlebees AIO. We also did some cute wool covers off of Etsy with prefolds for the NB/baby stage and loved those. most of those were one size (using that wool and prefold to get through that NB stage when nothing fit) and we will reuse that stash with this baby so we will save TONS!
Washing is no big deal at all. And we never had issue with leaks unless we needed to strip them.
We're going to CD. We registered on Amazon for some starter kits, several companies have newborn kits and larger sizes so you buy just a few in the sizes you need. I also have a lot of friends who CD so I plan on buying from them and using the CD exchanges I've heard about. I also HIGHLY recommend a toilet attached sprayer. I was a nanny for a long time and the families who CD'd and had a sprayer were my much preferred families
It really isn't that much extra work and to me it was a lot less mess and nasty. Disposables are just stinky and you can get rid of stinky right away when you CD if need be. Also, you're supposed to dump waste from disposables just like you are CDs. It's on the box. I was shocked when I learned that!
Good luck!
Prefolds are good for newborns and for toddlers.
I used Motherease, fuzzibunz, and chinese prefolds. I loved it. I wasn't thrilled with the Motherease at all. I really loved my fuzzibunz.
I used the Diaper Champ pail (dry pail method) If you have your own washer/dryer it's very doable. If you have a top loading washer, you can do an overnight soak in the machine. If you have a front loader HE like me then you would have to do the no soak method which is a cold wash, followed by a hot wash with 2 rinse cycles.
Check out: The Diaper Pin (https://www.diaperpin.com/) to get you started. Also ask on the CD board on here. The mamas are definitely in the know about the latest CD trends.
That said, I have no more of my cloth diapers left because of the huge age gap. Would I do it again? Probably not. At this stage in my life it's not a good fit for me. I loved every minute of it though.
Why isn't he interested? I only ask because it's really no more work to MH at all because I do all the laundry (unless I ask him for help for some reason, which he doesn't mind, but I just usually do it during the day while he's at work). He just puts a diaper on DS like he would with a sposie AND he doesn't have to haul out trash day after day the way he did for the first few weeks before we started with the CDs. MH was a little unsure about diving in at first, but when I really explained everything to him as far as the benefits go he got on board and now he even sings the praises of CD'ing!
Not to say you're wrong for deciding against CDs, but just that if you're interested I think it's a shame to let your H sway you unless he has real reasons for not being interested, you know? Not that his opinion doesn't matter
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My DH was the same way. It was totally ridiculous. It's been easy and the covers are so freaking cute. He only bitches occasionally now.
One issue that comes up is DD gets PT for gross motor, didn't walk till 17 months and still walks with a very wide gait. Sometimes he and even her PT provider from early intervention wonder if it's because of the thick dipes. I kinds think that's crazy since all babies were CD'ed up until disposable got popular in what the 70s? 80s?
Not true. Velcro wears out in the dryer if you do not correctly launder them. You have to use the laundry tabs religiously. If not, then your velcro wears out. I dry almost all my diapers and have no issues.
FOR ANYONE INTERESTED IN CDS try a diaper trial through some of the websites. It is super cheap to "try" and you can keep what you like or return then batch and only end up paying a very small trial $ amount.
Also, did anyone against cloth diapers know that you are also supposed to dump the poop from disposable diapers? It says so on the box too. Throwing poop diapers away in the trash without getting rid of as much waste as you can into the toilet put that waste into landfills and into our groundwater systems over time.
With cloth diapers if you get most of the poop of the diaper before you put it in the wash it's really no more than the amount of poop or puke you'd get on clothes normally.
I've heard people say similar things before (usually in regards to their child being a "late" walker or crawler) and I think it's crazy. I think it's just because it's "different", you know? Something to "blame" it on.
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Yep. You do just that. I had to do it in a cloth diaper out at a play place with my kids the other day. I just took out my Best Bottoms insert and swished it around the toilet until most of the poop came off. Rang it out and plopped it in my pretty wet bag (planet wise brand I LOVE). Washed my hands then went on my way. I mean, you're going to get sh!t on your hands with any kind of diaper. It washes off either way.
I've never done the dunk and swish method, but some people do. Technically, when baby is EBF the poo is water soluble so you can throw it straight into the washer and it will all just wash away. Once formula or any solids are introduced you can't do that anymore, but at that point I found most dirty diapers were ploppable or worst case scrapeable.
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There's nothing about it that impairs their development, but yes, some diaper styles are bulkier than others especially on smaller babies. For example, one-size diapers are going to be bulkier than sized diapers.
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Used cloth all the way through with DD. Only disposables we used were the ones we got from others for newborn and stage 1 while she wasnt sleeping through and while she was small and the cloth didnt fit as good. We use BG pocket diapers. I cant say enough about these!!!! They dont take as long to dry as All In Ones (AIO's) And we can line dry them much faster bc of the seperate pieces we can also just dry the shells and put the inserts in the dryer w/o worry that the waterproofing will break down! The BG diapers run around $15 if you can find a good sale, totally worth it!!! THey lasted and we never ever had a poop blow out. Whenever we traveled and used disposables we had sooooo many leaks and blow outs we hated having to use them!
As far as washing when baby has bm you can rinse the covers off so that theres nothing going into the washer.. Also when they get bigger and it gets messier there are liners that you can put in that you just take off and flush in the toilet! Voila no big mess! We always do a cold rinse in the washer to remove stains or anything on the diapers then we do a hot wash.. Just make sure your hot water heater is set up high enough that it will sanitize the diapers adequately you can find info like that on CD websites! GL hope it goes as well for you as it did us. ANd as PP said there are sites like www.diaperswappers.com that you can buy used before you take the full priced plunge!
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We have a few friends who CD and want to go that route but haven't started in-depth research, yet. Thank you for all of the advice.
I do think that we will use disposables for the first few weeks because I know that for me, when I get stressed, laundry is the first thing I ignore and DH is just as lazy about his own laundry. But then once we get the hang of things we'll start CD.
While I like the idea of cloth diapers in principle, I know my DH would simply never change a diaper if we used them. The whole dumping stuff out and washing such a volume of poopy clothes in the same washer we use for everything else is far too much for him. He's so squeamish that he also can't stand outie belly-buttons! So yeah, definitely no cloth diapers. There are services that take them and clean them elsewhere for you, but that's just a lot of money that we really don't need to spend right now. Sorry, environment. ;-)
Also, pray that our kid has an innie. He seriously can't even talk about them, let alone look at them, which means I would be responsible for baths for YEARS. Or we'd be spending tons of moola on therapy for DH to get over it!
This is what we did as well. Actually, I wasn't even sure I wanted to CD, but after using disposables for the first few weeks I was convinced
We started CD'ing DS full time at 7 weeks. At that point we were settling into more of a routine and felt ready to add "one more thing" to our plate. The other benefit was he was big enough to fit into his one-size diapers, which don't typically fit from birth.
Of course this time around we're debating whether to do sposies again for the first few weeks or to CD from day 1. If we do it from day 1 we'll have to invest in some newborn diapers. I'm pretty torn on the issue to be honest.
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