Cloth vs Disposable diapers

MarineWife0709 · July 2013

What are your thoughts?

I'm torn. I know cloth are more expensive upfront, but can save money on a monthly basis. Not to mention, they are so much better for baby's bum. Are they really worth the work that goes into them, though? My hubby doesn't want to have to rinse them out or put them in our new washer. He'd rather just buy disposable diapers.

BoothBaby · July 2013

We plan to do cloth, but I'm a FTM, so no practical experience yet. Have you visited the Cloth Diapering board? They have tons of info and experience to learn from!

utlawgirl · July 2013

We did cloth with DD and will re-use them with this LO. I highly recommend going with cloth! They really are not that much work after you get into a laundry routine, and you do so much laundry with a newborn that it hardly makes a dent, IME.

Your H sounds like he needs a little education if you are going to get him to come around to CDing, if that's what you want to do. You don't have to rinse cloth dipes until you introduce solid food, as long as you are breastfeeding, and even then, it's NBD with something like a diaper sprayer. I personally think disposies are pretty gross b/c they just sit there in the pail or trash can and make everything smell gross... not to mention that, technically, you are supposed to dump the poop out of disposies before trashing them, too (although many people don't). CDs won't make your washing machine gross -- if the dipes are clean, the machine is clean.

jamrosj · July 2013

MarineWife0709 said:

What are your thoughts?

I'm torn. I know cloth are more expensive upfront, but can save money on a monthly basis. Not to mention, they are so much better for baby's bum. Are they really worth the work that goes into them, though? My hubby doesn't want to have to rinse them out or put them in our new washer. He'd rather just buy disposable diapers.

We do cloth (not exclusively) and I like the cost savings. We use alvas which are about $6 each and are one of the cheaper brands. It is more work but not as much as I thought. I say go ahead and try it out because you can resell your diapers for pretty close to original price if they don't work out.

kittyh8r · July 2013

We cloth my daughter and will cloth this LO when she quits pooping every time she farts.

It's worth it to us. I stay home and have the time to take care of them. My H is very supportive, but he never has to rinse the diapers. If her poop isn't "plopable"(falls off diaper, into the toilet) I let it soak in a bucket for a day or so. On diaper laundry day, I dump any and all poop diapers that are soaking into the toilet and rinse them with a sprayer. It sounds nasty...and it is, but not terrible. I tell everyone, If I can do it, you can too. I am lazy...so it has shocked my H that I have kept up with it.

Also, it doesn't have to be crazy expensive either. We bought sunbabydiaper.s.com minus the extra . before the s. We bought 12 OS diapers with 2 inserts for $78! That would typically be $400 with BumGenius.

Youtube has a series called "cloth diapering 101" it's a 7 video series and very helpful.

MamaGrillo · July 2013

I am trying to get into a better laundry groove. If I am keeping up without baby girl's laundry, I will consider it. For now, H is using veto powers as far as CD is concerned. He feels it will add to the workload.

BootsOrHearts · July 2013

We're planning on doing cloth, except I guess when we're traveling with LO, disposables would be more practical. Yes, it's a lot of laundry but we have newer high efficiency washer and dryers in a laundry room off the kitchen so it's convenient and I'm hoping nanny/MIL is willing to do some laundry during the day. :-P

snowflake350 · July 2013

We use the AIO (all in one) cloth diapers by Bum Genius. They are very easy to use, since everything is built into the diaper. My husband doesn't have any problem using them. They are easy to wash also.

northport6 · July 2013

emilysalley said:

I'm planning on cloth diapering. We actually have a diaper service near us that I am going to use for the first couple months. You don't even have to rinse they diapers- you just put the dirty dipes on your doorstep and they leave clean ones. Plus, you don't actually have to buy anything but the diaper covers up front because you will be using their diapers.

This. I signed up for a cloth diapering service by me, too. We'll probably use disposables while traveling.

bishesbcrazy · July 2013

For those of you who cloth diaper, how many do you recommend to have a complete stash and how often do you do laundry? I'm thinking about using AIOs once the 14 diapers a day routine stops.

jamrosj · July 2013

MamaGrillo said:

I am trying to get into a better laundry groove. If I am keeping up without baby girl's laundry, I will consider it. For now, H is using veto powers as far as CD is concerned. He feels it will add to the workload.

I am really lazy with laundry and I find that the diaper laundry is easier than regular laundry because you don't have to fold. That being said, we are planning on giving ourselves a break for a month or so on cloth once this baby is born and we're waiting for this baby to fit into the one size diapers.

snowflake350 · July 2013

We started using cloths when ds was 3 months and just bought 13. With those 13 I was doing laundry every other day so I figured I was good with that and didn't buy anymore. We do use disposables at night and on trips.

MalDR0418 · July 2013

We use primarily Bumgenius pockets, a few Bumgenius AIO's and prefolds with covers. We've been able to use the same diapers with DD and DS and plan to use them again with this LO. Yes, they are more expensive upfront but if you buy on sale (we bought all of our Bumgenius as seconds so they were almost half the price) they're really not bad. Plus, with three kids using ours I can't even imagine how much we've saved!

Like others have said, they are really not that hard, your washing machine stays clean because the diapers get clean, taking care of the poo part isn't even that bad and we rarely even use our diaper sprayer. DH was not super excited about them at first but he loves them now...mostly for the cost savings! We've converted many of our friends and they all love it now.

sameoldash · July 2013

my newborn stash just came in the mail. they. are. SO. CUTE. oh man.

TheArmadillo · July 2013

Lurker coming out of hiding.

I cloth diapered my first and just wanted to say that cloth diapers do such a better job of keeping the nasty stuff in that your laundry is likely going to be the same whether you use disposables, which do not, or cloth. We tried disposables for a few weeks and had to change his clothes pretty much every time he pooped because it would shoot out everywhere. Once we switched to cloth, we had zero poop blowouts. Seriously. Zero. Pee leaks out sometimes, but I have never again experienced the surprise handful of poo that we did with sposies.

We are also facing 2u2 and thus 2 in diapers at the same time and plan on sticking with the cloth for both.

bethLenell · July 2013

We do cloth as well. We didn't start with DD until she was about 5 months and we won't go back that's for sure. We will do disposable for traveling but cloth the rest of the time. DH doesn't do any of the rinsing for me either but it really isn't bad and like others have said you don't even have to rinse until they start solids. I will be getting a sprayer this time around though.

kittyh8r · July 2013

Loolaide said:

I have some sunbaby and some alvababy (about $6 each) and some bum genius and gdiapers. I honestly like the cheaper ones better.

Do NOT leave your diapers soaking in a bucket, all of the diapers I use say that can ruin them. I have a waterproof bag that I use and just dump all pee diapers in there and all poop diapers as well after either dumping or spraying the poop off (his poop is usually ploppable now). When he was ebf, all I did was just put them all in the bag (called a wetbag, even though you do NOT put additional water in it) until washing.

It's super easy. I just put the diapers in the wash (I use pockets but the inserts come out on their own in the wash), run a cold rinse, add a little detergent (I have a full load, so I fill my tide powder dispenser up to the 1 line, but if you don't have a full load, you don't need that much), run a hot wash with an extra rinse, put the inserts in the dryer and hang the covers to dry. I do laundry every third day now but will probably have to step it up when number 2 gets here.

We soak ours in a bucket with no problems with them being ruined...

MrsQueale · July 2013

May I suggest Charlie Banana or Flips.

We only cd and I use flips, they're very easy to take care of and wash. And I have some friends who do use Charlie Banana because it has a Disposable insert option and they love it. Flips have the same option but I haven't used them nor have any of my friends.. so I can't provide any feedback.

lollipoppoop · July 2013

I wish I could cloth diaper but my baby will be in daycare and they don't cloth diaper there. I thought about getting a few to use on the weekends/night time.

GTown08 · July 2013

A friend of mine uses DryBees and has nothing but good things to say about them. Dh was against CD until we went to Babies R' Us and he saw the cost of disposables. $50 for 150 diapers! His response - "so, what were you saying about cloth diapers?" I've seen my friend use the DryBees, and it looks just like a disposable - no pins, no buttons. Just some velcro. She's got a "wet" bag too, and just throws the diapers in the wash (baby is still BFing). So, we'll probably disposable when baby is newborn, and then switch to CD after a month.

Jen4033 · July 2013

I have nothing against CD & know many people who do it. We don't simply because it would be too difficult to fit into our lifestyle and DH has zero interest in it. As it is, I already handle all the laundry in the house & since DH has a rather dirty job & his has to be washed separately.. just making more loads. Just not for us. Kudos to those who can keep up with it!

wedbliss5 · July 2013

CitrusXoXo said:

I wish I could cloth diaper but my baby will be in daycare and they don't cloth diaper there. I thought about getting a few to use on the weekends/night time.

FWIW - Many places that say no to begin with may change their minds after seeing just how easy they are. I fought the battle and won with DD's old daycare, and then helped a friend get corporate at a national chain to change their policy. If you really want to CD, do't let an initial "no" be a reason not to since this obstacle is often easily overcome.

**If anyone is intersted, feel free to PM me for more information.

nicholssquared · July 2013

I cloth'd with DS1 and dispose'd with DS2.

Disposable wins in these regards:
1. easier
2. less gross
3. accepted at daycare

Cloth wins in these regards:
1. better for baby
2. better for the environment
3. CHEAPER!!!

That last reason alone is enough for me to do cloth again if I could - disposables are SOOO expensive. I feel like I am literally shitting on my money. However, the boys are in DC now and they're required, so we do them. However, I may end up with a nanny when I have three (cheaper than the DC, so why not?), and then I will cloth diaper again!!!

I would highly recommend cloth if you can.

penelopemaria · July 2013

I really want to CD, but of the 6 daycares I've contacted, none will get onboard with CDs

kittyh8r · July 2013

I forgot to mention that we have 6 FLIP covers. I didn't pay full price for any of them. I found really good sales on cottonbabyDOTcom. Seriously, these are the most cost effective way to diaper. we have 12 prefolds. I want more because despite the fact that pocket diapers SAY they'll last until 35 pounds....they're getting pretty snug on my 27 pounder. I don't see them lasting until potty training. Our FLIP covers will last longer though because of the velcro.

lp0 · July 2013

Cloth works great for some people but I wouldn't do them for all the money in the world. Honestly diapers are not that expensive especially once you get past the newborn stage where you change them ten times a day.

wedbliss5 · July 2013

nicholssquared said:

I cloth'd with DS1 and dispose'd with DS2.

Disposable wins in these regards:
1. easier
2. less gross
3. accepted at daycare

Cloth wins in these regards:
1. better for baby
2. better for the environment
3. CHEAPER!!!
4. CUTER

That last reason alone is enough for me to do cloth again if I could - disposables are SOOO expensive. I feel like I am literally shitting on my money. However, the boys are in DC now and they're required, so we do them. However, I may end up with a nanny when I have three (cheaper than the DC, so why not?), and then I will cloth diaper again!!!

I would highly recommend cloth if you can.

FTFY :-)

notkateanymore · July 2013

I love the idea of cloth, for the environment. But I hate the way they look, our housekeeper does our laundry once a week and that's just too awesome to mess up and the rest of our family would never go for it, so we'd be buying disposables anyway for them.

notkateanymore · July 2013

Oh and for all the cuter people...how much do you stare at your kid in only a diaper? LOL They get covered up...

sabriel1 · August 2013

penelopemaria said:

I really want to CD, but of the 6 daycares I've contacted, none will get onboard with CDs

In my experience the best way to get them to accept it is when you are checking out daycares and doing walkthroughs bring a pocket diaper with you (the most like disposables). I just said, we use these for DD and they are exactly like disposables but instead of throwing them in the garbage just throw them in this bag (I brought a wet bag too). Then I just said, that's no big deal is it (letting them think that I never even considered the fact that they might say no).

I never had a problem after that, but people usually have to see them and touch them in order to get on board, a phone call is usually not enough unless they are already cloth diaper friendly.

sabriel1 · August 2013

BootsOrHearts said:

We're planning on doing cloth, except I guess when we're traveling with LO, disposables would be more practical. Yes, it's a lot of laundry but we have newer high efficiency washer and dryers in a laundry room off the kitchen so it's convenient and I'm hoping nanny/MIL is willing to do some laundry during the day. :-P

Watch out with this for the following reasons:

1) I know many people have an issue using high efficiency machines on cloth diapers because they do not use enough water. Before you invest you'll want to make sure that you can figure out a way to make it work with your high efficiency machine.

2) Having someone else do my diaper laundry is my worst nightmare. I have no problem doing it because I am used to it but there are so many areas someone can screw it up (not enough water, water wrong temperature, too much/not enough detergent, using drier sheets, using the wrong detergent, etc). I would recommend doing the laundry yourself because stripping diapers is a huge PITA

amberpro · August 2013

CitrusXoXo said:
I wish I could cloth diaper but my baby will be in daycare and they don't cloth diaper there. I thought about getting a few to use on the weekends/night time.

A good friend of mine had the same issue, so she brought in the state regulations and a few samples to show them how it works. She also made sure it was just as easy as disposable for them. They got on board. Turns out, they had a completely different idea about what cloth was all about.

Eggerkr · August 2013

I have MOPS friends that use them, I hear the diaper rashes are much less!

penelopemaria · August 2013

holly1416 said:

penelopemaria said:

I really want to CD, but of the 6 daycares I've contacted, none will get onboard with CDs

In my experience the best way to get them to accept it is when you are checking out daycares and doing walkthroughs bring a pocket diaper with you (the most like disposables). I just said, we use these for DD and they are exactly like disposables but instead of throwing them in the garbage just throw them in this bag (I brought a wet bag too). Then I just said, that's no big deal is it (letting them think that I never even considered the fact that they might say no).

I never had a problem after that, but people usually have to see them and touch them in order to get on board, a phone call is usually not enough unless they are already cloth diaper friendly.

That's good advice! I'm going to try that.

HerbanMom · August 2013

I CD'ed DS2 and we are CD'ing this guy. Once you get used to the routine it's easy peasy!

MelbaCat · August 2013

I did not cloth diaper. With my first we were in an apt. with no washer/dryer in unit. So cding would have been a nightmare. So by the time we had a w/d (when DD was 4mos, and she's my 2nd), it wasn't worth it.

We PTed right at 2y with DS and I'll do the same if not earlier with DD. This baby is my last.

Had my living situation been different, I would have seriously considered it.

But I don't think it would have saved me money. Having a boy, and then a girl, I know I would have wanted new covers

and let's be honest, there are some dang cute diaper covers out there. They'd be hard to resist, but I like to shop

sameoldash · August 2013

lrachelle80 said:

I have a whole blog dedicated to CDing, so obviously I'm biased. Check out the siggy - there's a link for how to get started, for newborn CDing, etc. Hopefully it's helpful!

holy crap, how did i not know this. *wanders off to read*

kittyh8r · August 2013

Loolaide said:

holly1416 said:

BootsOrHearts said:

We're planning on doing cloth, except I guess when we're traveling with LO, disposables would be more practical. Yes, it's a lot of laundry but we have newer high efficiency washer and dryers in a laundry room off the kitchen so it's convenient and I'm hoping nanny/MIL is willing to do some laundry during the day. :-P

Watch out with this for the following reasons:

1) I know many people have an issue using high efficiency machines on cloth diapers because they do not use enough water. Before you invest you'll want to make sure that you can figure out a way to make it work with your high efficiency machine.

2) Having someone else do my diaper laundry is my worst nightmare. I have no problem doing it because I am used to it but there are so many areas someone can screw it up (not enough water, water wrong temperature, too much/not enough detergent, using drier sheets, using the wrong detergent, etc). I would recommend doing the laundry yourself because stripping diapers is a huge PITA

A friend of mine had huge problems with cloth and her HE washer. She tried stripping, different detergents, different wash cycles, etc. I think she ended up having to run it on sanitize to get her diapers clean.

YES! I hated using our HE washer. We ended up buying a cheap non HE top loader. SO much better. I was rising and rinsing and rinsing! I also used the sanitize cycle a couple times and then read how it can ruin the water proof part of the diaper.

doublefiesta · August 2013

I always tell FTMs it's not an all-or-nothing decision. We used CDs at home, disposables for sleep and travel. When DD went to solids, we used flushable liners, which work great. Yes it's more laundry, but I feel like I do laundry all the time anyway so it's not a big deal.

My mom used CDs with me and my sister. She and my dad were so poor they didn't own a washing machine, so she had to wash them all BY HAND!!! Whenever I felt unmotivated about laundry I'd think about her and all the other moms around the world who have to wash dirty diapers by hand.

Btw, in general CDs are better for sensitive baby bums, but it wasn't really the case with DD. She didn't really mind a wet diaper, so she developed a rash a few times bc she would have been better off in a super absorbent disposable. After I figured it out I just became more diligent about checking her diaper and it was fine.

hfitz · August 2013

We still have to buy our washer and dryer for our new house. If we are cloth diapering you recommend a non-HE top loader with an agitator?

daisydaisy23 · August 2013

Lots of good recs already here. We cloth diaper and have for over 2 years. It's been great. Yes, more work, but honestly after the first month or two, you don't even think about the extra laundry anymore. My husband was unsure at first but now he loves them.

The reason we did it was for the cost savings--the initial costs have been more than worth it over the last 2 years because we have saved a TON in the long run. Added bonus was the lack of chemicals on baby's bum--he gets WAY less diaper rash than any other kid I know. However, we also quickly saw the environmental benefits. We used sposies for the first 3 weeks after he was born, and the amount of trash was astronomical vs when we started cloth.

We have a HE front loader, which has been challenging...I really have to work to make sure the diapers get enough water in them. Occasionally I have to get the stink out of them with vinegar or baking soda, but it's not hard. We are about to move and plan to buy a top loader so that we won't have as many low-water issues. But again--we've CD'd for over 2 years successfully, so this was not a dealbreaker.

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