CD Mama's, talk to me.
PnkDingo
member
I was tempted before Colton was born, but after going through disposables like there's no tomorrow and realizing the cost, I have decided that I really do want to CD. I'm home. There's no reason not to.
That being said I have a VERY limited budget and I'm looking at taking a while to acquire things needed.
What are the differences between cloth diaper types?
What works best for you/why?
How true to size are some of the popular brands? (I'm looking at size 2's because size 1's tend to say 6-18lbs...are there one size that truly fits all covers?)
How costly/hard are they to MAKE if anyone is the sewing sort? (I'm moderately handy with a sewing machine, if it's a super simple pattern)
Any general advice you have for making the switch? Currently we go through about 10 diapers a day. I'd like to slowly transition, and was thinking about replacing out overnight diapers (2 tops) with cloth to start, and then replacing the ones during the day as our stash builds...
Re: CD Mama's, talk to me.
For me when I started from 2 weeks of age the cheapest route was to go with size 1 prefolds and size 1 thirsties covers. I know there are cheaper covers, but I had everything I needed to diaper him until now for right around 100 bucks. I would have had to drop another 100 to buy prefolds and covers in size 2 and that would have lasted me until potty training, but we had some extra income and sprung for a hybrid system. We just bought Grovias (sweetbottomsbaby.com has a crazy sale on packages right now) which we're hoping will work on the next little one after the second week as well, and we now have all the prefolds to fall back on. One nice thing about CDs is that they resell for nearly their original cost; it's ridiculous!! So if you buy diapers and end up not liking the style you can almost get your money back. We loved prefolds until now but DS is getting too wiggly for it to be worth the hassle. I have no interest in stuffing and unstuffing pocket diapers - just seems like a lot of hassle. And not being able to reuse shells makes me think they'd take up way too mcuh space. So we have 6 grovia shells and 12 inserts to start with and that was 150.
My advice on making the switch is just go for it!! When I switched from disposables to cloth I was really nervous and it definitely took some practice but now I love it. I even thought I'd keep disposables around for going out but honestly, I'm not usually out for more than one, maybe 2 diaper changes and carrying just a few dipes, an extra cover and a wetbag around is not that bad. And definitely consider doing cloth wipes, too, because it's so easy. I use spasilk baby washcloths, and for a solution I use the peri bottle they gave me from the hospital and fill it with a squirt of baby soap and some essential oils for smell/antibacterial purposes, and then fill with hot water and I keep one in his nursery and one in my diaper bag and just wet the wipes as I go. Hope this has helped!
Freya Lillian - 11/15/15
I just bought a few BumGenius 4.0 and I can't figure out how to use them!! I thought I could use them with my pre folds, but that didn't work so well so I think you have to buy the BG inserts for them which are fairly expensive compared to pre folds.
When we move up to the next size I'm just going to stick with what I know and go with the thirsties.
And I'd suggest going with snaps over Velcro fasteners as the Velcro wears out over time.
Ok your BG 4.0s are a pocket diaper not a cover they do make inserts for these but you CAN trifold your prefold and stuff it in the pocket, I do this with my seconds that came without inserts.
Ooh, ok. That's actually what I did, but I wasn't sure if i was doing it right because I had to wash the whole diaper after one use. I guess that's how those ones work. Thanks!
Yep, each cover has to be washed with each change, which is why I had no interest in pockets!! You should look into Grovias
Freya Lillian - 11/15/15
Prefolds are definitely the way to go if you're looking to save money. They're also the easiest to launder, since there aren't any inserts to pull out of pockets and such, and when they're dry you just stack them.
We use Green Mountain Diapers prefolds (ranging in price from $2 - $3 and change each depending on size, slightly more if you get the organic ones) with Assunta Store covers (they're one-size and cost about $5 each, depending on the material and color/print). We did also spring for hemp doublers, which were kind of pricey ($2.95 each), but they really do improve absorbancy and our total cost for everything including the doublers and four wet bags (two large for in the nursery, two smaller ones for when we're out and about) will probably be about $450-475 (plus detergent and water/sewer) from newborn - potty training when all is said and done, so I felt like it was worth it.
As far as true-to-size, the weight ranges they give on the GMD website have been pretty accurate, and we're definitely happy with out experience so far. And our bank account is also happy with all the money we're saving. ;-)
I don't know what your budget is like, but if you wanted to plunge right into it, you could get 2 dozen GMD prefolds and 6 Assunta Store covers for a little over $100 and be able to fully transition to cloth immediately!
What works best for you/why? I use prefolds and flats with covers. I like the cost. I might buy some pockets or AIOs one day for babysitters.
How true to size are some of the popular brands? I've found most sizing to be accurate. DD is just over 12lb and still fits infant sized prefolds and flats and is still wearing her thirsties duo sized 1s with room to grow.
How costly/hard are they to MAKE if anyone is the sewing sort? I used to sew professionally. I've made prefold diapers and cloth wipes. Flats and wipes are cake if you have a serger, but you could do a rolled hem to make those without a serger. Prefolds are easy even without a serger. But those diapers and wipes are so cheap that the only way you could make them cheaper by DIY is if your fabric was free/discounted or upcycled from thrift store items.
I agree with PP about starting right away with prefolds and covers Assunta covers are good and they are the cheapest I know of. But Cottonbabies.com Indian prefolds are cheaper than greenmountain and I LOVE my cottonbabies! With six covers and 2 dozen prefolds and your # of dirties you would be doing diaper laundry every other day. You can reuse your covers that are still "clean" and toss the ones that smell or get poop on them in the hamper after a quick rinse in the sink. Wash all of your covers at least once a week. Find yourself any CD safe detergent (I got mine off of Amazon) and try it. The worst that could happen if the detergent doesn't work for you is that you will have a few leaks, strip your diapers and switch to another detergent that works better. Prefolds and covers are great!
The flats require some extra folding but they wash and dry SUPER quickly and easily, which is why I love them. Folding them is also really easy. Once you learn a fold you don't even think about it anymore. I just fold them when they come out of the dryer and they're all ready to go.
One size flat diaper should last indefinitely because you just fold them bigger as the baby grows. We use Thirsties covers.
The covers fit well for us -we have the kind with snaps instead of velcro
I fell in love with my flats when I first got them! But lately I've been using them to stuff my kawaii pockets.
They're just such a versatile option!
We have several different brands of covers - thirsties, bummis, isme visme and maybe a couple of randoms. I like them all for different things.
We use bumgenius 4.0's. I really am pretty clueless about the entire cloth diapering thing. A aquantance showed me her fuzzibums and I loved them so I got these because they are similar and I had gift cards to BRU. I only have 5 cloth diapers so I am a part timer. My baby is provided diapers at daycare so she really only uses 2 per day - one in morning and one at night. The night one lasts until morning and I havent noticed her getting leaks at night for the most part. Sometimes she leaks but thats mostly because we havent put the diaper on correctly.
On the weekends she still goes through a couple disposables. We wash the diapers at night and hang them to dry for the next day. The 5 diapers last 1/2 the day.
I really like using cloth and would do it full time but financially it doesnt make sense for us to buy more.